Whole 30, Week 3: What We Ate, What to Expect

On to week 3 of Whole 30! In case you missed it, here is how it went earlier:

This week was a mixed bag. On one hand, I’m definitely getting this whole menu planning thing down. It’s taking less time to plan out meals versus week 1 and 2. Here’s what our menu looked like for the week:

I’ve been using this book to document everything…really helpful!

And lots of great groceries stocked up on too:

I tried several new recipes this week and some were fantastic and some definitely not so fantastic, which was a bummer. That hadn’t really happened much the first two weeks. And literally at Day 15-16, both T and I got so.dang.snacky for the rest of the week! We just wanted to snack allll the time. And had cravings for all the junk. It was rough! (Note to self: watching The Food Network probably isn’t the best idea…nor any food-related commercials.) #strugglebus

Anyways, here is a sampling of what we ate:

BREAKFAST:
-over easy eggs with blackberries, chicken sausage (a compliant version from Costco I stumbled upon), coffee with nutpods
-poached eggs with strawberries, chicken sausage
-mushroom, spinach and bacon egg muffins (SO good- great to make ahead!) recipe here

LUNCH:
-salad with veggies, shredded chicken and side of tuna salad
-salad with veggies, shredded chicken & bacon with balsamic avo oil dressing (plus some spices)
-white chicken chili (from Whole 30 slow cooker book)– I didn’t have some of the ingredients so I improvised…ended up tasting great after I drizzled mustard on it. Weird, but it worked.
-minestrone soup (basically a TON of vegetables with spices, broth and ground beef) – AWESOME dish
-not pictured: sausage, butternut squash and brussel spout packets: always a standby for us (recipe here)

DINNER:
-Paleo Pad See Ew (recipe here) SO SO good! Got this recipe from a friend (thanks Amy!) and followed her advice to marinate the chicken in ginger, garlic and coconut aminos beforehand. And we added a couple extra eggs to it.
-Copycat Chipotle Whole 30 bowls: after eating the real ones at Chipotle last week, we tried to make it ourselves and it was a HIT. We used chicken vs carnitas, made the guac and tomato salsa and some killer fajita seasoning when we baked the chicken and veggies. YUM.
-Pork tenderloin with vegetables, a standby for us.
-Burrito bowls with cauliflower rice- just ok…starting to get sick of cauliflower rice if I’m being honest.

Some recipes (not pictured here) were not so good like I said (I’m looking at you Chorizo Breakfast Hash and Chicken/Kale/Sausage Stew), so we improvised a little bit and switched things around.

A few takeaways from this week:

1) Mix it up with foods. Try your eggs a few different ways. Use different seasonings and cooking methods with your meat and veggies. Try some new ones, too. It can be really easy to resort to the same ‘ol, same ‘ol, but variety really helps keep your taste buds..well, not bored.
2) Be prepared to explain W30 to someone. By this point, you are bound to be in a social situation at work or elsewhere (i.e.- girls night, football game gathering, etc.) and someone is asking what Whole 30 is and why you are doing it. Have your response ready so you can politely educate them on what it truly is. A lot of people just hear you can’t eat this and that and don’t understand the why behind it.
3) Find something to curb your cravings. Like I said, the snacky snacky/cravings hit us hard this week. We amped up our meal portions and I kept a steady supply of hot tea and fruit with almond butter nearby. Technically, you aren’t supposed to snack but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
4) You will definitely see improvements in various areas of your health. Between the two of us, we noticed less joint paint/stiffness, clearer skin, stamina to attempt harder workouts, and better sleep (despite having a baby that is teething and up at all odd hours of the night.) Crazy to see what a difference the food you eat makes!

Meal preppin is my jam…