Greetings from Day 22 of the Whole30! [If you’d like to read about my first week on this journey CLICK HERE or my second week CLICK HERE.]

I’ll be honest, week 3 I kinda felt like I was eating like a crazy person. Not a lot of variety — Lunches consisted of salads and deli meat roll ups with a rotating set of accompaniments. Dinner was spaghetti 3 nights and smoked sausage for 2. And there was a heavy reliance on Lara bars.

But the truth of the matter is, I was BUSY. Several days of week 3 were spent working extra long hours with meal times either squeezed in or at odd hours. So I’m proud of myself for sticking with it…even if the food I ate wasn’t super exciting.

I also didn’t have a huge appetite this week (especially on days 17 and 18) so I just went for what sounded good. (Note: I don’t think the appetite change had much to do with W30 but was more to do with where I was at in my cycle.)

All in all, I’m still feeling great! I’m starting to plan my reintroduction phase and form a vision of what I want my diet to look like once this is all over. But more on that later!

Here’s what I ate on Week 3: 

Some things to note — 

• Whole30 advises to be mindful of snacking and consider eating larger meals instead of eating in between meals (especially if you have binge eating tendencies). Because I lead a pretty active lifestyle (exercise daily and side hustle at a store where I’m pretty much always on my feet running around and sometimes hefting heavy crates of wine) and prefer not to eat huge amounts at a time, I’m staying A-OK with snacking! 
• We are proud owners of an air fryer which is basically a kitchen gadget with powers akin to witchcraft and can make foods taste deliciously unhealthy with mere heat and AIR. (Highly, HIGHLY recommend.)
• Prior to the Whole30, Chet and I were already accustomed to eating at home (or prepared at home and taken on-the-go) for every single meal (unless we were traveling). This made adopting the program a million times easier than I think it would be for folks who eat out or purchase convenience foods for the majority of their meals.

Day Fifteen

Breakfast – Apple Pie Lara bar 
Lunch – Salad with 50/50 mix, baked chicken breast, hard boiled egg, leftover veg, and raw broccoli with Caesar dressing
Dinner – Spaghetti meat sauce over zoodles and topped with nutritional yeast
Snack – Apple and almond butter
Beverages – Coffee, water, kombucha, cold brew coffee mixed with French vanilla nutpod

Day Sixteen

Breakfast – Banana and almond butter
Lunch – Salad with 50/50 mix, turkey, hard boiled egg, broccoli and macadamia nuts with ranch dressing
Snack – Cherry Pie Lara bar
Dinner – Spaghetti meat sauce over zoodles and topped with nutritional yeast
Snack – Banana, 1/2 an apple, and almond butter
Beverages – Coffee, water, La Croix, kombucha

Day Seventeen

Breakfast – Cherry Pie Lara bar and veggie sticks
Lunch – Turkey and salami roll ups, 1/2 an apple with almond butter, and a carrot
Snack – Key Lime Pie Lara bar
Dinner – Spaghetti meat sauce over zoodles and topped with nutritional yeast
Beverages – Coffee, water, kombucha

Day Eighteen

Breakfast – Hard boiled egg with Breaux’s Bayou Shakedown
Lunch – Turkey and salami roll ups, grapes, and plantain chips with guacamole
Dinner – Smoked sausage, roasted sweet potato, and broccoli
Snack – Banana and almond butter
Beverages – Coffee, water, La Croix, cold brew coffee mixed with nutpod, kombucha

Day Nineteen

Breakfast – Hard boiled egg with Breaux’s Bayou Shakedown, banana, and salami
Snack – Apple Pie Lara bar
Lunch – Salad with 50/50 mix, turkey, and broccoli with homemade dressing, grapes, and plantain chips with guacamole
Dinner – Smoked sausage and veggie sticks
Snack – Smoothie bowl made by blending frozen mango and strawberries topped with coconut chips
Beverages – Coffee, water, kombucha

Day Twenty

Breakfast – Banana and almond butter
Snack – Blueberry Muffin Lara bar
Snack – Handful of cashews
Lunch – Turkey and salami roll ups, side salad, unsweetened apple sauce
Dinner – Snack plate: Salami, hard boiled egg, a carrot, macadamia nuts, and grapes
Beverages – Coffee, water, La Croix

Day Twenty-One

Breakfast – Banana and almond butter
Lunch – Turkey and salami roll ups, a carrot, grapes, and plantain chips with guacamole
Dinner – Bacon wrapped sirloin steak, home fry potato medley, and green beans
Snack – Cherry Pie Lara bar
Beverages – Coffee, water, kombucha, decaf chai tea

I’ll report back on Day 29 with Week 4!!! We’re in the home stretch!

Have you ever completed a Whole30? Any tips and tricks? I’d love to hear! Comment below or shoot me an email (ebeth.berger at gmail dot com). xoxo