FOOD

Surviving Whole 30: Week One

January 5, 2018

Hi guys! I’m sitting down after an amazing dinner of cauliflower pizza, I’m surprisingly full, and I am so excited to give you all the details on this first week of Whole 30.

I’ve prepared a lot of information for you guys that I believe will be helpful, especially for those who have never done Whole 30 but want to try their hand at it! We don’t look at Whole 30 as a “diet” it’s more of a reset after the holiday season of binging on carbs, sugar, and general junk food. Whole 30 is a diet that limits you to meals that contain non-processed foods so basically all of your foods should be vegetables, fruits, certain nuts, and meats.

Our Prior Whole 30 Experience

Joe and I did Whole 30 before and it was basically a miserable experience. We were students with a limited budget so most of our meals were chicken and potatoes. Joe got to a point where he said he never wanted to eat another potato with mustard ever again (LOL).

Our Whole 30 Experience Now

I decided to take this experience with Whole 30 differently. I wanted to focus on expanding my cooking skills, really taking advantage of the flavors that can be offered through natural ingredients, and also use herbs and homemade sauces and special add-ins to my advantage. We also were not going to forgo the items that I saw as a luxury such as ghee and La Croix. I have to tell you, it has made the biggest difference.

We are definitely being challenged but it has been a very enjoyable experience thus far. It’s amazing to see what delicious meals you can cook with all natural non-processed foods! If you’ve been following along on Instagram, you’ve seen all of the meals that I’ve been cooking and you guys have been loving it!

IF YOU WANT TO DO WHOLE 30

You can certainly use this post as a reference but I’m going to tell you that the best thing to do is going to be to read the book.

You can get it from Amazon at this link: The Whole30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom

Read the book and then join this Facebook Support Group. It’s the first one I found but I’m sure there are plenty of other great ones out there!!

ALL OF OUR WHOLE 30 DETAILS

I want to share everything that is helpful about Whole 30 to you guys, so to start here is our grocery list for the first week. Your first grocery bill will likely be high but that’s okay because a lot of the essentials that you are getting such as ghee, nuts, and sauces should last you the entirety of Whole 30.

My tip is to go through your pantry and either donate, give away, or hide the items that are not Whole 30 compliant. Right now all of the pantry items that are not Whole 30 compliant are hidden away on the very top shelf of our pantry. I trust Joe to keep his hands away from that portion!

Aldi is a great place to shop for Whole 30 items. Always check the labels and make sure there are no processed or added sugars and watch out for sulfates!

Whole 30 Week One Grocery List

Whole 30 Week One Meal Plan

I’m never that person who really makes a plan and sticks to it but I feel like the MOST IMPORTANT thing to do with Whole 30 is to PLAN, PLAN, and PLAN! You need to have the meals that you know or think you will enjoy planned out as well as PLENTY of snack options so that you don’t get tired of eating the same thing over and over.

Personally, I love leftovers but I can’t have the same meal three days in a row. Some people can, if you are that person props to you! I love having a different meal every day but it’s nearly impossible to have a different meal every day while on Whole 30 because you’ll spend the entire day cooking!

So what I did was I came up with breakfast and lunch options that were either quick or could be prepped ahead of time and eaten straight out of a container. Luckily, we hit the jackpot on our first week with homemade almond butter, Whole 30 Cereal, Chicken Salad, and Sweet Potato Toast. It is also SO important to have your snacks on hand which is where homemade Larabars, the variety of nuts, the different fruits, and epic bars came into play.

When you are doing Whole 30 I can guarantee you that you will be hungry for most of the day. This is why it’s so important to have lots of snacks and plenty of food prepared that you can heat up or eat whenever you want.

Jadoregrace.com / Whole 30 Week One Meal Plan

With Whole 30 you should bank on eating mostly at home. With this in mind, I had to plan the meals for every single day of the week and make sure I had some recipes that would be easy to make right after work. I love cooking so this was no problem to me but if you’re used to eating out or having microwaveable meals you might have to make a bit of a transition to get used to cooking like this!

MY FAVORITE PARTS OF WHOLE 30 WEEK ONE

My favorite recipe from this week was definitely our Whole 30 Chicken Tikka Masala as well as the chicken salad that I’ve been having for lunch. I’ve put both recipes below.

Additionally, our homemade Lara bars have been a lifesaver when our stomachs have been growling and the La Croix has been a crutch for Joe who is used to drinking diet soda every day. I have loved drinking coconut water right after a workout or whenever I want a drink with some flavor in it! The sauces that I’ve made have also added SO MUCH depth to our dishes: homemade mayo, homemade ranch, homemade ketchup, and of course the goods like guacamole and salsa have come to the rescue many times this week. I carry a bag of pistachios with me everywhere I go they are my absolute favorite nuts. And the Whole 30 cereal has been Joe’s favorite, it’s absolutely delicious in almond milk and has made our morning breakfasts so easy!

WHOLE 30 WEEK ONE FAVORITE RECIPES

Now I’m not a food blogger but I got so many requests for these recipes so I am excited to bring you my favorite two! These dishes taste DANG GOOD!