Now that I am venturing into my fourth week of this Whole30 adventure it is easier to look back on the past two weeks and think it was easy. But let’s get real. This healthy way of eating is not hard in the way it is difficult to run a triathlon or beat cancer or lose a limb. But it is a challenge. It is difficult.
It takes time to make each meal. For me breakfast has become a serious chore. It takes time to create 60 different meals; plan for them, shop for them, make them. It takes fortitude to not give in and not eat that piece of cheese that sits tantalizingly in the fridge. It takes determination to see this through and see the value. It takes constant reminding that not eating grains, sugar, legumes, alcohol is worth being headache free, because honestly sometimes it does not feel like it’s worth forgoing all my favorite foods. (cheesecake, pizza, grilled cheese, peanut butter, Kopps custard.)
Recap of my second and third week on the Whole30:
Day eight: passed my first real test today. Went out to dinner with my siblings to the Cheesecake Factory. Suffered through reading the entire menu and trying desperately to find an option. Ended up ordering the salmon, steamed broccoli and a side salad. Watched them eat a cheeseburger, fries and cheesecake.
Day nine: feeling good about this second week. Spent a lot of time planning out the week’s menu to make it easier. But I’m still so gosh darn tired. It’s like I am dragging my feet through sludge all day long.
Day ten: perfected the breakfast skillet: sweet potatoes, onions, yellow peppers, spinach, tomatoes, eggs and a dash of coconut milk.
Day eleven: SO TIRED!!!! Skipped my workout because I couldn’t even imagine finding the energy to walk on a treadmill.
Day twelve: discovered Tazo’s refresh mint tea – what I drink when I get sick of water, water and more water.
Day thirteen: spent the day in the kitchen, pre-making some meals for the week. Made a delicious warm spinach, chicken, mushroom, salad.
Day fourteen: invented an AMAZING bean-less chili for this uber cold day. Might be my favorite recipe I’ve made to far.
Day fifteen: feels like everything takes twice as much energy to accomplish and I am STILL so dang tired all the time.
Day sixteen: have made breakfast casseroles so many times I’ve begun to ditch the recipes and create my own. Favorite combination: sausage, sweet potatoes, yellow squash.
Day seventeen: Still tired. They say I should be feeling my ‘tiger blood’ kick in soon, but dang if I don’t know. Haven’t worked out at all this week because I don’t have the energy.
Day eighteen: didn’t plan for lunch and couldn’t handle looking at another blah salad. Caved and ate a PB&J sandwich. It wasn’t as good as I expected it to be.
Day nineteen: bought two new Paleo cookbooks: Paleo Happy Hour
and Make it Paleo
, to help keep this up when the thirty days are over. I also picked up The Paleo Diet for Athletes
, hoping maybe that would explain why I am so tired all the time.
Day twenty: sliced my finger open while making food for the weekend. Need to be more careful with the knives especially since this way of eating requires SO MUCH chopping.
Day twenty one: made an amazing snack-food type feast for the SuperBowl complete with cucumber BLTs, lettuce-wrapped sandwiches, guacamole with veggie wedges, sweet potato fries, shrimp. None of my guests complained the ‘usual’ junk food was missing.
Nine days left of this experiment. I’m anxious to see if I can manage to go a full thirty days without a serious migraine. So far, so good. If I continue to be nearly headache free I think I’ll be doing this, or a version of it, for months to come.
