One of the questions people invariably ask when I start to tell them about the Whole30 is - "So...what do you eat?" (Usually accompanied by a somewhat horrified expression, as if the thought of life without cheese is just not worth living.)
So I decided to take a photo of our groceries for the week. (This is from a couple weeks ago.) We already meal planned anyway, so it was only a little extra effort to meal plan for a Whole30 diet. I plan our meals on Friday for the following week, make a list, go grocery shopping Friday night and to the farmer's market on Saturday morning. (I know, grocery shopping on a Friday night, how exciting. But the alternative, which I did for a while, was grocery shopping on Saturday afternoons and that was torture.)
For those of you that don't know, when you're eating what they call "Whole30 compliant" you basically just eat vegetables, some fruit, meat, eggs and nuts. Y'know...real food. Nothing crazy or groundbreaking here. No grains, which I surprisingly didn't miss. No dairy, which, again, I didn't miss as much as I thought I would...not after the first week or so anyway. No legumes, including soy. No added sugar, which was perhaps the toughest part for me.
But I did it! My last official Whole30 day was Monday and I'm feeling pretty great. I have had some dairy since then, but it's no big deal. I have yet to reintroduce most grains - I've had a serving of rice, but no wheat or oats or anything. I did make a beef & broccoli recipe for dinner on Tuesday night that had both soy and added sugar and it tasted so sweet to me. Eating like this for a month definitely changed my tastes - for the better!
I lost 8 pounds, numerous inches and I'm sleeping better than usual, even with a sick baby and a sinus infection. I have more energy and was motivated to take up running! (If you know me at all, you'll know that this is CRAZYTALK.) All in all, though I don't plan to eat this way all the time from here on out, it was a very good experience. It really helped me stop and reevaluate my relationship with food, particularly sugar.
I did not start out with any major problems, unless you count my sweet tooth, so I can't say that it helped any chronic pain issues or anything like that, which is what some people hope for. I do not (yet?) think that I have any real sensitivities to any particular food group, like dairy or gluten, but I suppose I'll find out as a reintroduce more types of food back into my regular diet!
If you're interested, here's what's pictured above:
- 3 dozen eggs
- half a dozen zucchinis
- box of baby spinach
- can of pineapple (fresh ones weren't on sale that week and E desperately wanted pineapple!)
- 6 baby oatmeals for H for breakfasts (the kids were not following this diet, for the most part)
- yellow cherry tomatoes
- cumin (we ran out! *gasp*)
- half a dozen or so kiwis
- half a dozen or so apples
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 3 plantains
- 1 bag frozen broccoli
- 1 bag baby carrots
- 1 bag regular carrots
- 2 bags "sweet butter" salad mix (I'm not a fan of bitter greens, but I love butter lettuce!)
- 1 head cauliflower
- 1 cucumber
- vegetable oil
- 1 head golden cauliflower
- 2 boxes strawberries
- 1 box blueberries (a splurge!)
- 2 shallots
- half a dozen or so sweet potatoes
- 4 avocados
- 1 bunch bananas
- raw cashews
- 4 pears
- bacon
- yogurt (for E)
- garlic cubes (these things are the best)
- 2 cans fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 2 cans tuna
- 1 bunch leeks
- not shown: whatever meat we ate that week (I didn't want it to sit out)
- (also there's something back there in a produce bag that I can't identify...eh)
Thanks for sharing - interesting!
Posted by: Melissa | 16 May 2013 at 08:36 PM