3 Weeks!

Wow, people!   I have been eating, breathing, and sleeping Whole30 for 3 weeks today.  It feels as if 75% of my day involves cooking, cleaning, prepping and/or thinking Whole30.  That's the downfall.  It is a lot of work.  Admittedly, I have not done tons of prep work ahead of time which would definitely cut down on some of the time it takes to make a meal.  It's a whole new way of cooking and one I'm still trying to get familiar with.  So many new ingredients:  fish sauce, coconut aminos, ghee, and coconut cream are just a few that have never been ingredients in my "preWhole30" menus.  That being said, the work is paying off.  I know I am losing weight because I have broken the rule and have been weighing myself.  I do feel better.  Prior to this challenge I would be so sore and so stiff after sitting for just a while.  My knees hurt going up the stairs after watching tv on the couch.  Same thing when getting out of my car after driving for a bit.  I felt OLD.  The stiffness and achiness have definitely improved.  I have been struggling with plantar fascitis and that has improved only a little.  My clothes are feeling looser and that is my favorite "side effect" of all.

I mentioned that I broke one of the cardinal rules of the Whole30 program:  I weighed myself.  The point of the program is for me to develop a healthy relationship with food and the art of being healthy and to not focus on what the scale has to say.  I would like to say that I don't let the scale define me, per say, but then I would be lying.  The upside to this has been it has been motivational!

The scale has not been the only violation.  Last week I made a delicious vegetable beef soup using my own HOMEMADE bone broth and added tons of veggies.  Including peas.  Those tiny, round little green balls are an offender in the Whole30 program.  Sugar snap peas are not.  But regular peas are.  Who woulda thunk?

And that's not all, yesterday the kids and I went out to dinner. I desperately needed a break from the cooking and kitchen cleaning.  We decided on Russ's mainly because the kids had free kids meal coupons.    I came armed with my own homemade, Whole30 approved, ranch dressing and my own ghee.  I ordered a salad sans cheese and croutons, a plain baked potato and a grilled chicken breast.  Before I go on, let me just say that was a victory in and of itself.  That would not have been my first choice, or even my 10th choice, 3 weeks ago.  So I'm feeling pretty pumped with my order.  That is until I took a bite of the chicken.  Immediately I could tell it had been marinated in something.  Now my choice was to skip the chicken and eat everything else or I could be "that" person and send it back telling the waitress it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, or I could just eat it and play dumb.  I chose the latter.  And then I started feeling guilty because I have been doing so well I really didn't want to screw up this far into the program.  But technically I had already failed the program with the first two infractions that I mentioned.  Therefore, I chose to eat the chicken and while not compliant with the Whole30 program I knew it was still a victory for me.  It was still a better choice than many other options.  (On the way out of the restaurant I happened to be chatting up the manager.  I asked if they had an ingredient list for their menu items.  He did.  The chicken was loaded with prohibited ingredients- sugar and cornstarch were the first two that I saw before my eyes filled with tears… just kidding.  I cursed sugar and corn and soy and then left the building.

Today is a new day.  It's been a good new day.  I had BACON.  I found a bacon at target that is compliant which was a pretty big news in the Whole30 world.  There were some pretty excited people when I posted this news.  It is nearly impossible to find bacon or ham or any lunch meat for that matter, that doesn't have added sugar.  Today is starting off on the right foot and I think I will Whole30 on!