Starting Whole30 tomorrow!

[sassenach]

Any recipes that you love?

[Slache]

Posting so I can find you in a few hours. This is my thang!

[Murphy101]

I’m in the deep on this. I lost 60lbs and kept it off for a few years.  Then for lots of valid but still crappy reasons I gained a lot of weight in the last 3 years. Depression sucks. I’m down 25 and have 40 to go by November to win my HealthyWage. 

I don’t have many fancy recipes. I eat super simple and often repetitive meals bc I just don’t want to think about food. I just want to eat and be done with the stress. 

A rotes seri chicken deboned and eaten with various steamed or roasted veggies over the week is the bulk of my meals. Sometimes switched with fish fillet or beef patty/steak or a pork chop. 

Breakfast is always either boiled or scrambled eggs and a piece of fresh fruit.

 

[Murphy101]

3 minutes ago, Seasider too said:

Something I love that I believe would work for a Whole 30 (they are great for low carb) is those single serving size packs of Wholly Guacamole. No fuss, ready to eat and a satisfying healthy fat. They also make “wholly avocado” packs. I get them at Costco. 

I also keep those little clementines on hand, a quick and easy sweet-craving cure. 

Olives, boiled eggs, nuts - these are good to have so you will have an acceptable quick and satisfying snack when you’re starving yet still need to prep a full meal. 

 

But .. what do you eat with the guacamole? Cucumber slices sometimes works for me. 

Sometimes it’s not enough to have compliant jam or whatever, if you can’t have what usually goes with it.

I often just slice up some fresh veggies like avocado, tomato and cucumber with some salt and pepper and eat a big plate of that for a snack. 

Guac is my fav condiment though! It takes the place of other things to make a plain burger palatable for example. Or in place of dressing on a salad.

[Slache]

General W30 lifestyle:
Breakfast-Fasted with green tea or black coffee, bacon, eggs and salsa or guacamole if I'm in a mood
Lunch-Salad
Dinner-Typical W30 dinner (see below)
Snacks-Nuts, Larabars, egg salad
Drinks-Water, sparkling water, tea

Each recipe is rated out of 5 stars.

Breakfast:
Breakfast Casserole (***** Family and potluck favorite, seriously try this please)
Pancakes! (**** Recipe includes honey which you should skip for a true Whole30)
Turkey Apple Sausages (*** Good if you can't find anything store bought, otherwise not worth the effort)

Beef:
Chicken Fried Steak (****)
Greek Steak Pitas, (****) Wrap (*** A little sweet)
Meatloaf (***** Huge hit, half veggies, freezes well)
Kima (**** We prefer canned green beans)
Pot Roast (***** This is my favorite meal of all time)
Shepherd's Pie (***** Family favorite!)
Steak Fajitas (*** Slow cooker, easy)

 

I have to go children. I'll be back with chicken, fish, pig, other, vegetarian, salads and sweets. Probably tomorrow afternoon.

Edited May 30, 2019 by Slache

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Sweet potatoes.  So many sweet potatoes.  I'm more than overdue for another W30!  I loved my first experience, but it's now been a few years!

Lots of lettuce wrapped burgers with homemade mayo and a slice of pineapple.  

Lots of salad

Lots of nuts

 

 

[Pink and Green Mom]

Become familiar with Tessemae's dressings and mayo.  You can get some things at WholeFoods (I have even seen some dressings at Target or Publix) or through their website.

Kalua Pork from NomNomPaleo.  Make it over the weekend, lunch for the week.

Whole30 recipes (the official site) instagram - tons of great recipes there, all truly Whole30 (some sites and IG accounts have recipes that claim to be Whole30 but clearly are not)

If you google Whole30 and freezer meals there is a site (can't remember what it is called) with at least 100 meals that can be prepped ahead.  Prepping ahead is key.

Good luck!  In our family, three of us have done Whole30 (I have almost completely cut out grains, dairy and sugar; DS14 is about 80 percent; DH tries but work travel gets in the way) and we all feel, look, and sleep better when we do.

Edited May 30, 2019 by Pink and Green Mom

[Slache]

Chicken:
Oven Fajitas (***Super easy)
Sheet Pan Chicken & Veggies (****)
BBQ Chicken, Potatoes and Onions (****Hot)
Chicken Hash (****Kids love this)
Chicken Poppers (****Kids love this, get a sauce)

Fish:
Tuna Cakes (****These fall apart no matter what you do)
Mexican Salmon Cakes (*****)
Mas Riha (*****My kids did not like this)
Fried Fish (*****Kids beg for this, time consuming)
Grilled Salmon With Avocado Salsa (*****)
Coconut Cilantro Shrimp Soup (****)
Civiche (****)
Bacalhau a Comes de Sa (*****)

Other:
Pho (*****)
Jambalya (*****Sub cauliflower rice)
Shepherd's Pie (*****)
Jack's Pepin's Sausage (*****Very easy)

Vegetarian:
Callaloo (*****)
Red Bell Pepper Soup (****)
Lasagna (*****)

 

The best burger buns you will find.
 

More to come...

[Slache]

Veggies:
Bacon Cucumber Salad (****)
Broccoli Salad (*****Omit the sugar, sub pecans for the almonds if you want)
Bubble & Squeak (*****A personal favorite)
Rainbow Greek Salad (****)
Fried Cabbage (****)
Cauliflower Couscous (****)
Roasted Brussels Sprouts (****)
Roasted Veggies (*****This dish is pretty and impressive for gatherings)

Sweets: (this is against the rules, but I do Whole30 as a lifestyle and if I'm not actually doing a W30 then I will have these)
Chocolate Shake (****)
Brownies (haven't tried yet)

 

 

And that was all she wrote.

[sassenach]

25 minutes ago, Slache said:

Veggies:
Bacon Cucumber Salad (****)
Broccoli Salad (*****Omit the sugar, sub pecans for the almonds if you want)
Bubble & Squeak (*****A personal favorite)
Rainbow Greek Salad (****)
Fried Cabbage (****)
Cauliflower Couscous (****)
Roasted Brussels Sprouts (****)
Roasted Veggies (*****This dish is pretty and impressive for gatherings)

Sweets: (this is against the rules, but I do Whole30 as a lifestyle and if I'm not actually doing a W30 then I will have these)
Chocolate Shake (****)
Brownies (haven't tried yet)

 

 

And that was all she wrote.

Thank you so much for posting these! I know putting up this many links was not a quick thing. 

[sassenach]

For those of you who eat this way long term, what things do you give on vs stay strict with? 

I tend to always either be gaining or losing weight. My body doesn’t like just sitting in one spot. So I’ve been gaining steadily for a few years now and this is my effort to turn the ship around. I don’t just want to do this for 30 days and then slip back so I’m trying to find a way to make this sustainable long term. 

[Slache]

17 minutes ago, sassenach said:

For those of you who eat this way long term, what things do you give on vs stay strict with? 

I tend to always either be gaining or losing weight. My body doesn’t like just sitting in one spot. So I’ve been gaining steadily for a few years now and this is my effort to turn the ship around. I don’t just want to do this for 30 days and then slip back so I’m trying to find a way to make this sustainable long term. 

I don't eat dairy or grains because my body doesn't like them. I make exceptions. Yesterday, I had thrown up several times, gave up and had McDonalds. With a Coke. Judge me.

I would say that I eat Whole30 90% of the time, aside from the fact that I tend to have wine a few nights a week. Sometimes chocolate chips if I'm menstrual.

I do a true Whole30 every January.

If I were you I would do a Whole90.

[sassenach]

21 minutes ago, Slache said:

I don't eat dairy or grains because my body doesn't like them. I make exceptions. Yesterday, I had thrown up several times, gave up and had McDonalds. With a Coke. Judge me.

I would say that I eat Whole30 90% of the time, aside from the fact that I tend to have wine a few nights a week. Sometimes chocolate chips if I'm menstrual.

I do a true Whole30 every January.

If I were you I would do a Whole90.

I love it. 

Whole90- yikes! I mean I wouldn’t say this has been hard but it’s intimidating to think of staying this strict for more than 30 days. I timed this out to finish right before we go to family camp, where I have zero control over the options and it’s camp food. 

The only thing I desperately miss is cream with my coffee. 

[Pink and Green Mom]

58 minutes ago, sassenach said:

For those of you who eat this way long term, what things do you give on vs stay strict with? 

I tend to always either be gaining or losing weight. My body doesn’t like just sitting in one spot. So I’ve been gaining steadily for a few years now and this is my effort to turn the ship around. I don’t just want to do this for 30 days and then slip back so I’m trying to find a way to make this sustainable long term. 

I eat Whole30ish long term and the things I give in on (unfortunately on too regular a basis...) - cheese on my burgers, potato chips (while technically compliant these are complete no brakes food for me) and alcohol.  

And I agree with the Whole90 suggestion.  I did my best when I was strict for 90 days.

Edited June 1, 2019 by Pink and Green Mom

[Slache]

12 minutes ago, sassenach said:

I love it. 

Whole90- yikes! I mean I wouldn’t say this has been hard but it’s intimidating to think of staying this strict for more than 30 days. I timed this out to finish right before we go to family camp, where I have zero control over the options and it’s camp food. 

The only thing I desperately miss is cream with my coffee. 

I never found a good coffee creamer. There is an almond milk one that is Whole30 compliant but it's not awesome.

Do you have time for the reintroduction period after the 30 days? That's important.

In that case I would do a whole 30, go to Family Camp, take some time to think about it and then contemplate a whole 90.

[Murphy101]

1 hour ago, sassenach said:

For those of you who eat this way long term, what things do you give on vs stay strict with? 

I tend to always either be gaining or losing weight. My body doesn’t like just sitting in one spot. So I’ve been gaining steadily for a few years now and this is my effort to turn the ship around. I don’t just want to do this for 30 days and then slip back so I’m trying to find a way to make this sustainable long term. 

 

For me, it was rare choices. For example, if I have to choose between a sugar item or a dairy item, I choose sugar bc dairy hates me and the sugar item can often be closer to compliant than a dairy item.  If I have to choose between grains, I’ll have rice but none other for same reason as sugar vs dairy. Most of the time a rice item will be closer to compliant than a bread or pasta item. And I will only do this for a very important social engagement in small amounts.  So it’s not even once a month. 

The most important thing to my success my past and now is to evaluate WHY I’m eating or tempted to go off grid. Is it emotional? Exhaustion? A desire to participate in something with those I love? For the first two, I’ll have a glass of water or a cup of black coffee, eat something compliant and wait 30 minutes. And usually that curbs the impulse or makes it tolerable. For the social engagement, I plan ahead. How important is this? I mean we have a large family so there’s a lot of social eating. Birthday? No. I can handle not having cake and ice cream. First honeymoon? Yeah I want to be able to relax so I’ll make those choices and limit my portions as a compromise. And only on the trip. With some planning ahead, I’ve gotten savvy at restaurants and that helps bc my husband is a huge foodie.  Though he has gotten better. Changing how I view food helps. I no look forward to eating *most of the time.* It’s just fuel. And that removes a LOT of baggage from food issues for me. 

[Murphy101]

1 hour ago, Slache said:

Veggies:
Bacon Cucumber Salad (****)
Broccoli Salad (*****Omit the sugar, sub pecans for the almonds if you want)
Bubble & Squeak (*****A personal favorite)
Rainbow Greek Salad (****)
Fried Cabbage (****)
Cauliflower Couscous (****)
Roasted Brussels Sprouts (****)
Roasted Veggies (*****This dish is pretty and impressive for gatherings)

Sweets: (this is against the rules, but I do Whole30 as a lifestyle and if I'm not actually doing a W30 then I will have these)
Chocolate Shake (****)
Brownies (haven't tried yet)

 

 

And that was all she wrote.

 

If you use coconut milk instead for that shake, it’s less calories and a bit sweeter imo. Anytime you replace with a nut flour or nut milk, it’s going to have more calories. Which is why W30 often discourages looking for substitutes to things we shouldn’t have for at least the first 30 days. 

My dh is a type 1 diabetic and this is why he rarely gets anything sugar free. Many times the sugar free items have more carbs, which means he has to take more insulin for the sugar free item vs just having the regular item. 

[Murphy101]

46 minutes ago, sassenach said:

I love it. 

Whole90- yikes! I mean I wouldn’t say this has been hard but it’s intimidating to think of staying this strict for more than 30 days. I timed this out to finish right before we go to family camp, where I have zero control over the options and it’s camp food. 

The only thing I desperately miss is cream with my coffee. 

Every 30 days, evaluate how it’s going. What can you do to more realistically succeed for the next 30 days. 

I look at my calendar and try to be brutal honest with myself. 

For example. Alright. Let’s get real. Getting compliant food in Punta Cana is going to be near impossible. But how can I make it better and doable? 

Or holy crap I can’t drink black coffee and it’s not a sane option to just not drink coffee. Okay, I’ll try bullet proof coffee. Yes, that uses real butter. But no sugar or other dairy or fake stuff. It took me over a year to reach a point where I could drink black coffee. And I’m now picky. If it’s black it better be really good coffee. I also allow real butter bc without it, my diet doesn’t get enough fat to curb cravings. All my meats are super lean, and I don’t buy hardly any substitutes like coconut oil or nuts bc that’s an added expense to the grocery budget.

So is it perfect? No.

Is it a tremendous improvement that I see tremendous results from? Yes. 

Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.

Progress is progress regardless of speed.

[Mothersweets]

This thread is motivating for me! I've been trying to stick to a healthy eating plan since the beginning of the year and I keep falling off. I think I just need to truly plan my meals and snacks and don't leave it to "I'll just wing it" because that never ends well. 

I've found several recipes from this site Skinnytaste that my whole family has enjoyed and were easy to fix and didn't have a million weird ingredients. She also categorizes the recipes by Whole30, low carb, Keto, vegetarian, etc.

[Murphy101]

Wrt family meals. I’ve just accepted that if a usual family meal can be compliant - that’s great. And more often than not it can come really close or be so. For example, taco night is okay. No cheese and no chips. Taco salad is just fine if I make the taco meat myself. Or it self of serving whatever on rice or pasta or bread, have skip those and have it on salad instead. 

But if the family wants chili dogs and chips for a dinner. That’s fine. I eat FIRST what I need to eat so I’m not hungry AND feeling deprived. I might still want it sometimes but it’s a lot easier to abstain when I’m not also actually hungry.

Movie night - I’ve got my bag of raw sugar snap peas ready.  Sure not compliant because they are a legume, but I’ll risk it. 

[sassenach]

1 hour ago, Murphy101 said:

Wrt family meals. I’ve just accepted that if a usual family meal can be compliant - that’s great. And more often than not it can come really close or be so. For example, taco night is okay. No cheese and no chips. Taco salad is just fine if I make the taco meat myself. Or it self of serving whatever on rice or pasta or bread, have skip those and have it on salad instead. 

But if the family wants chili dogs and chips for a dinner. That’s fine. I eat FIRST what I need to eat so I’m not hungry AND feeling deprived. I might still want it sometimes but it’s a lot easier to abstain when I’m not also actually hungry.

Movie night - I’ve got my bag of raw sugar snap peas ready.  Sure not compliant because they are a legume, but I’ll risk it. 

 

Your responses are all super helpful. Just hearing real talk about how to navigate this is fortifying for me. Our church leadership did a 1 week fast for Holy week. I ended up doing 5 days because ds was just getting out of the hospital. I had never even done a 1 day fast before that. I learned SO MUCH about my motivations for eating and also tapped into self-control that I didn't know I had. I think that has made doing this so much clearer and easier in a way. I just need to keep processing during this process. Thanks for helping with that!

[Murphy101]

And I’m doing HealthyWage. Money is motivating and I figure if I can get paid to lose weight i need to lose anyway - well that’s pretty dadblum awesome!  If I lose 57lbs by mid Nov after paying in $600 total, I’ll win that back plus another $1600. I’ve lost 25lb so far and dropped 2 sizes in jeans. I’d hope to be doing that with or without $ but the $ will be a mighty nice bonus. 

[Murphy101]

5 hours ago, sassenach said:

Your responses are all super helpful. Just hearing real talk about how to navigate this is fortifying for me. Our church leadership did a 1 week fast for Holy week. I ended up doing 5 days because ds was just getting out of the hospital. I had never even done a 1 day fast before that. I learned SO MUCH about my motivations for eating and also tapped into self-control that I didn't know I had. I think that has made doing this so much clearer and easier in a way. I just need to keep processing during this process. Thanks for helping with that!

 

Wrt fasting. I have an Eastern Orthodox friend and we were chatting about food and fasting during lent and she pointed out how there’s so many good reasons this was beneficial to people over the years in many ways not just spiritually and it got me thinking that I’m rather pathetic in this regard in my opinion. So have started fasting on the traditional days of Wednesday and Friday.  

It’s been a real eye opener to some things. Some spiritual/emotional but many not. For example how often I mistake hunger for thirst. I really didn’t think I did that because I drink what seems like a tone of water and coffee.  And I’ve not suffered any negatives physically. No loss of energy.  Though I avoid heavy exercise on those days, I’m still house painting, going on long walks and park or whatever.