Whole 30: Week 1 Review

whole30 review

In November when I hosted my Party for Her, Kayla Fruchtman of Healing Waters and The Her Initiative was staying with me and telling me about her experiences with Whole30 – a program challenging 30 days of extremely clean eating (no cheating!), followed by a 10-day reintroduction process to see which food groups may or may not irritate your stomach (quick rundown here).

I was fascinated.  I’m not one for a rigid eating program, but the purpose of this is to learn more about your body, how it tolerates foods and how you feel when you eat the way we are intended to eat… I feel like it’s a mostly vegan diet with meat and eggs.

SO, after sharing some of my Whole30 journey on Snapchat (CBLied), you guys were asking questions and screenshotting all my meals.  After asking earlier this week if y’all would be interested in hearing weekly updates – the majority of you said yes so here we are! Every Saturday I plan to share some pros and cons of the week and my favorite recipes.

I am 10 days in, so far:

PROS:

I must cook healthier than I thought because the meals taste good and not much different than what we normally eat.

Christian has gotten so into it, which really surprises me!

My skin is totally clear and dewy.

Seeing a refrigerator full of fruits and veggies, organic produce – it makes me feel confident and happy with my purchases. As I learned watching Food Inc. years ago, every time a food item runs across the scanner, you’re voting.  As an animal lover, free-range and grass fed is a non-negotiable.

I feel completely debloated and I never feel swollen or overly full after meals.

CONS:

I miss wine.  It might be my only real craving.

I don’t like that it makes me avoid social scenarios that involve restaurants or alcohol because I’m concerned I’ll cheat.

Traveling is really, really hard. Even if it’s just a staycation or two nights in LA – it’s hard. Thankfully in California we can eat vegan without the soy and get away with it, but if I didn’t live somewhere so accommodating, it would be even harder.

I’ve had some indigestion getting use to eating so many veggies… my friend Marissa recommend this. 

I feel like I spend all my time at the kitchen sink washing dishes, pots and pans… no one likes that!

I’m starting to feel so tired and sluggish all day.  They say mid-way through the program you have tons of energy… ready for that to kick in!

FAVES:

Egg scramble with lots of veggies and avocado tastes so indulgent and delicious.

Clementines and apples are some of my favorite snacks.

Egg salad for lunch never gets old for me.

A banana and almond butter is my go-to if I’m hangry.

Lemon juice. On everything!

This taco salad is so good!

Let me know if there if there is anything specific you guys are wondering and if you’ve done Whole30 before – I’d love to hear about any favorites you might have! Thanks so much for reading – XO –

13 Comments|See Comments

13 thoughts on “Whole 30: Week 1 Review”

  1. I’m vegan and gluten free (for the most part). Our whole family is and we live in El Sobrante,Ca. It’s about 9 minutes from Berkeley and about 25 minutes from S.Francisco. there is a wonderful app called : happycow. Before you go out, look up this app: happy cow. So it will find your location and tell you what restaurants or stores in your area have Vegan/Vegetarian options. It’s super easy! So if there are no options then there’s no reason to go in. Socially, you will no where you can take your friends and the best part is, had we never went vegan we would have never known these new restaurants, we joined some vegan social groups, and I even started my own group on facebook! I’m not saying that you must be vegan, but there’s nothing wrong with a couple of meatless nights. Good luck to you. FYI, my husband says he’s never felt better.

    1. Thanks for your suggestion! We’ve found some similar sites, but I still find eating out a challenge after not being limited for so long! And I guess by eliminating so much during this trial I’ve realized that food brings me joy much more than I thought.

  2. Annie from the Suja Juice solution talks a lot about how eating raw veggies for some people is really hard. I’d recommend eating warmer veggies or at least slightly warmer. And good for you for doing Whole30! We did it last year at this time, and my mom is doing it right now. Your body will thank you! <3

  3. I’ve heard about the Whole 30 program before, but your snaps really make things look delicious. Based on your information and review, it sounds totally manageable and something I would love to look in to more, thanks for the info!

  8. I did my first Whole 30 last October, and I have to say it taught me so much about my body! I actually began eating sweet potatoes on the program. Oven baked sweet potato “fries” and salmon cakes were a great go-to lunch for me. One of the things I learned to do better with Whole 30 is prep my meals for the week. It’s a total lifesaver.

    xo, Amanda

  9. On Whole30 I loved eating bacon chips (just cut a strip of thick bacon into 3 parts) and dipping them in gauc. I would end up making it a meal.

  10. We did our first whole30 this fall and plan to start our second one this week (after a cheese and wine tasting class ha)! If you and Christian like curries you should try the super simple curry recipe that’s in “It Starts with Food”- it’s probably in “The Whole30” too. Just use a compliant curry paste, coconut milk, whatever protein you want, and lots of veggies! Only one pan and delish!

    1. I think the hardest part is hunting down those compliant canned items. It’s just so much work!

Comments are closed.