Surviving Whole30

So we survived. Barely. After 30 days it just confirmed I heart wine and I heart chocolate. That is all. I thought I would miss my beloved cheese but to be honest after day 3 I didn't think about it. My craving for chocolate though….man its strong. The 30 day no chocolate definitely didn't cure me of my love. But we survived. I'm not gonna lie there were days I felt physically ill and days where I was exceptionally moody….mostly towards the hubs. I wasn't really ever hungry but I was definitely hangry for some chocolate and wine. We had several friends embark on the endeavor before us which helped us tons..my friend Jaimee wrote a great post here on her experience. She is a fellow (though much better than I) practicing Paleo queen. The hubs and I have done Paleo off and on through the last several years, I follow pretty closely but did allow myself to have cheese. Oh and the occasional chocolate and wine obvs.

  • Plan ahead….Costco was our favorite…we stocked up on organic grassfed chicken and ground beef, fruits, veggies, guacamole, Larabars, you name it we got it!
  • Start Pinning recipes, following blogs and gathering recipes weeks before...link to my Pinterest Whole 30||Paleo board here. I also loved following Whole30 recipes on IG. Not all Paleo recipes are Whole30 compliant but are almost always adaptable..
  • Larabars, Larabars, Larabars…I can't say enough about these. I had at least one every day usually for my mid morning snack…I have eaten Larabars for years because they don't have any additives and are soy free but of course liked the ones with chocolate;) On Whole30 my favorites were Coconut cream pie (SO good if you like coconut), Apple pie, and Lemon. Costco has a box with the Cashew cookie and Apple pie that we grabbed:) Complete list of approved bars here
  • Guacamole, Guacamole, Guacamole…I mean we put this on everything salads, chicken, hamburgers, etc. Just make sure you buy or make your own without sugar. 
  • Plantain chips…I mean we are officially obsessed and addicted. We never really bought chips before but now that we have discovered these we are hooked. Even our kids devour them. We use them with sugar free salsa, guac, plain, you name it we love it. I also loved Trader Joe's banana chips as a substitute. You have to find ones that don't have added sugar, that is the secret.
  • Zoodle….buy a Zoodler for sure. We had this easy simple one that we've been using for almost a year and love it. I have several friends that loved this one as well. We would Zoodle zucchini and make spaghetti or just use it as a side. Spagetti squash is also another of one of our favorite pasta stand ins. I have been doing very low, almost gluten free since I was diagnosed with a Gluten sensitivity over 5 years ago so we Zoodle or use spagetti squash a lot.
  • Cauliflower….roast it, mash it, make it into rice. You may not love cauliflower but I promise if you experiment with it you won't mind it. It takes on the flavor of whatever you mix with it. I loved to make ours into rice with a little cilantro and lime.
  • Black coffee…find a black coffee you can stand (if you are addicted to caffeine like me)..you can add a teaspoon of canned coconut milk to it but I honestly found it better without it. Also, black coffee is better served cold in my opinion. When I was in a crunch I loved this iced coffee you can find at Target... 
  • La Croix-if you love carbonated water like me you must stock up on La Croix. My husband drank them like they were going out of style. PS this salad was on repeat for me…lettuce, tomato, cucumber, spinach, turkey, and dash of balsamic vinegar. Find a good sugar free deli turkey….this was a staple for us.
  • Breakfast foods…this frittata, highly recommend, it lasted us almost a week. We made ours minus the basil. Hard boiled eggs and sugar free sausage or these Applegate hot dogs were my jam!

  • Cook ahead…on Sundays we would grill a bunch of chicken or hamburger patties to easily grab for lunches during the week. The hubs also threw together a delicious chicken salad using rotisserie chicken, this mayonnaise, walnuts, black olives, and grapes-it lasted us a week and was perfect to grab for lunch or quick snack.
  • Get creative…if making kabobs make you happy, by golly make kabobs! PS we didn't eat the corn-it is not Whole30;)


Whole 30 isn't a weight loss diet…link to Whole 30 here, but I assure you the hubs lost a substantial amount of weight and I did lost a few, we followed the rules and didn't weigh ourselves throughout the program. I'm excited to see how our bodies handle reintroducing foods. I'm a week out now and so far I'm good with wine, chocolate and cheese;) #theessentials. We plan to continue Paleo from here and I will probably follow it stricter than before with a few cheats in there. My least favorite part of Whole 30 is that my rule following self just couldn't cheat (aside from the couple alcoholic beverages I had out in a few social situations) and the fact that it isn't convenient. You can't go out to eat (because goodness they sneak badness in everything) and when going over to friends it felt weird to say, "hey I'm bringing my own salad." ha;)

Moving forward:
We will allow ourselves an occasional cheat meal (not day) I just want one meal on occasion
Almond milk creamer in my coffee
Honey almond butter if desired
Occasional slice of cheese with my meal (aka on my lettuce wrap burger)
Dark chocolate within reason

You know the small things:)

You can do it. Grab a friend, do your research and enjoy the health benefits!!

Oh also I'm hoping to add a post on how we fed 2 toddlers while we were doing Whole30:)

Favorite recipes:
Salmon-cakes-we made these without the
 almond flour and they were still delish-probably didn't stick together as well but tasted great



1 comment