#fast&easy

I am currently doing my second round of Whole30! I wanted to record my progress in hopes of giving people some insight on the changes that will happen to your body and mind, with a little personal experience thrown in. 

This is going to be a little different than a standard Whole30 because I am essentially doing it from Today Monday, January 22nd, 2018 through Thursday, March 29th, 2018, with a small break from Feb 16th-18th. The first half will be roughly 25 days, whereas the second half will be 39 days. 

What is Whole30? 

Whole30 is a program created by Melissa Hartwig in 2009, that is meant to be a nutritional reset for your body. You eliminate many different food groups for 30 straight days in order to put a stop to food cravings and bad habits. 

See the full description here: https://whole30.com/step-one/

For the entire duration, you cannot eat:

-Grains -Sugar (Real or artificial) -Alcohol of any kind, not even to cook with -Additives such as MSG, sulfites, etc. -Dairy -Legumes (Including any soy products) -No baked goods or junk food made with compliant ingredients! (Melissa calls this Sex with your pants on) This is more about the mentality - it will be harder to break cravings if you do this. 

Other rules include:

-No weighing yourself or taking body measurements for the entire duration. This will ruin the mentality that you are trying to achieve.

-NO CHEATING UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES - for the entire 30 days. If you do cheat, you must start over from Day 1, even if you are on Day 20.

See the official rules here: https://whole30.com/step-two

What are my personal goals?

-Whole30 is *not* meant to be a weight loss program, but people do typically end up losing weight. (I lost 15 pounds during my first one but gained it all back!) Having said that, I do have a weight loss goal of 30 pounds for the end of my program. 

-I also hope to once again achieve a state of ZERO CHRONIC PAIN like I did during the first program. I suffer from PFD and IBS which as people know, can be incredibly painful. Last Whole30 I all but forgot about my conditions. 

-Lastly, I hope to make this kind of eating a lifestyle rather than just stopping completely and reverting back to old habits like I did before. You are supposed to slowly (over 10 days or so) reintroduce food groups into your diet to see what effects you. Once you figure that out, you eliminate them indefinitely. 

-Exercise throughout, because I know it makes me feel so much better.

Tips?

-PLAN AHEAD. If you read about Whole30 and decide to do it, you need to take a week to mentally and physically prepare for what you’re about to accomplish. You should throw anything that is not compliant away to avoid temptation. I also really like to make a food plan with shopping lists for each week before I start, so I have no reason to stray away from the program. 

-Do this program with someone else! I would not have gotten through this program without my lovely boyfriend. It helps to keep each other accountable, and you have someone to complain to when you feel like quitting. He will be joining me in this endeavor as well.

-Meal Prep - Cook as much as you can ahead of time. This will save you a lot of grief, and you won’t have an “I don’t feel like cooking” excuse. 

-Make good choices if you *must* go out during your Whole30. Ask what they use to cook their food in if you are at a restaurant (Remember, no butter! Olive oil is okay). Bring Whole30 compliant salad dressings and sauces. 

-Have a backup plan. In case you *do* come home exhausted and realize you forgot to cook, make sure you have a backup plan, whether it is leftovers from previous meals, compliant snacks, etc. 

What to expect from this blog

I will be sharing all of the food I make with you so that you can see the diversity of the recipes available to you. 

For breakfast, I will typically have two hardboiled eggs or a piece of fruit. (Fruit is okay as long as you are not using it as a crutch for something sweet.)

I am half Cuban, so all of my lunches will be Whole30 compliant versions of Cuban Dishes. I cook one meal for the whole week when doing this, so you will only see lunch on Mondays. 

I will share each and every dinner recipe with you - all dinners will be from both of the Whole30 cookbooks by Melissa that I own. I WOULD NOT have gotten through this program without these. Because I used her books, the recipes themselves will not be available, but I will share photos and which book I got them from. 

Amazon Links to the two books I have:

Whole30 Cookbook:

 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0544854411/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Whole30 Fast & Easy:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1328839206/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

See my next post for Day 1!