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

Greetings from Day 15 of the Whole30! [If you’d like to read about my first week on this journey CLICK HERE.]

Week 2 was leaps and bounds more enjoyable than week 1 as my body felt fully settled in to eating this way. Whereas last week I would eat and then feel hungry less than an hour later, this week food felt like fuel. And days 12-14 I started to see a glimmer of the “Tiger Blood” everyone talks about (ie. super-duper energy, productivity, strength, etc.). Especially yesterday when I felt extremely motivated to clean(?) and my workout felt AH-mazing (I was sweating bullets while simultaneously thinking, “I could do this ALL day!”).

I’ve continued to have no gastro-intestinal issues. No bloating, no stomach aches. And since Day 3 or 4 (when I was still detoxing from sugar), I haven’t had any headaches. *knocks on wood like whoa* I’ll be interested in seeing if I get any headaches during the re-introduction phase. I’ve always assumed my headaches were due to allergies, hormones, and barometric pressure. But now I’m wondering if they could sometimes be caused by foods?!

It’s strange to me that I’m not missing or craving the foods I thought I would. I haven’t really missed dairy AT ALL nor have I really felt the absence of bread. Strong statements for someone who is a devotee of Pizza Friday and a life-long peanut butter and jelly sandwich consumer. I’m starting to think I’m going to make some permanent lifestyle changes after my 30 days are up. More on that later! But for now, I’ll stop blabbing and get on to the food diary…

Here’s what I ate on Week 2: 

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.) When listing foods like coated fish, fries, tater tots, and seared scallops – they’ve been prepared in the air fryer.
• 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 Eight

Breakfast – 2 hard boiled eggs with Breaux’s Bayou Shakedown and pineapple
Lunch –Lettuce wraps with turkey, salami,  mayo and mustard and more pineapple
Snack – Chicharrones
Dinner – Catfish filet, scallops, broccoli slaw with homemade dressing, crumbled hard boiled egg and a few crushed cashews + a dried fig as an after-dinner sweet treat
Snack – Apple and almond butter
Beverages – Coffee, water, kombucha

Day Nine

Breakfast – Eggs scrambled with a ton of veggies (purple cabbage, radish, carrots, broccoli stems, etc) and turkey ham
Lunch – Broccoli slaw with Caesar dressing, tahini, turkey ham and salami with plantain chips
Dinner – Brekky for dinner! Scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and avocado
Snack – Red grapes and a dried fig
Beverages – Coffee, water, kombucha

Day Ten

Breakfast – Banana and almond butter
Lunch –Turkey and bacon roll ups, a hard boiled egg, raw broccoli with  ranch  for dipping, and red grapes
Snack – Cashew Cookie Lara Bar
Dinner – Baked chicken breast and raw broccoli with ranch for dipping
Beverages – Coffee, water, La Croix, kombucha

Day Eleven

Breakfast – Banana and almond butter
Lunch – Turkey and bacon roll ups, pickles, red grapes
Snack – a handful of macadamia nuts
Snack – Plantain chips and guacamole
Dinner – Chicken burger topped with mayo, ketchup, and pickles with fries and asparagus
Snack – a little piece of jerky (had to sample the test batch Chet made in our food dehydrator) and a dried fig
Beverages – Coffee, water, kombucha

Day Twelve

Breakfast – Banana and almond butter
Snack – Cashew Cookie Lara Bar
Lunch – Turkey, hard boiled egg, red grapes, raw broccoli with ranch for dipping
Dinner – Chicken burger topped with mayo and ketchup with fries, zucchini, and yellow squash
Snack – a handful of trail mix I made by combining cashews, macadamia nuts, banana chips and coconut chips
Beverages – coffee and water

Day Thirteen

Breakfast – Banana and almond butter
Lunch – Salad made with 50/50 mix, turkey ham, leftover cooked vegetables, pickles and macadamia nuts and sprinkled with  County Clare seasoning
Dinner – Chicken leg and smoked sausage with homemade barbecue sauce and collard greens
Snack – Red grapes
Beverages – Coffee and water

Day Fourteen

Brunch – Eggs scrambled with leftover cooked veg and turkey ham and sprinkled with County Clare seasoning
Snack – Plantain chips and guacamole
Snack – Banana and almond butter
Dinner – Chicken leg and smoked sausage with homemade barbecue sauce and collard greens
Snack – Red grapes and macadamia nuts
Beverages – Coffee, water, kombucha, La Croix

I’ll report back on Day 22 with Week 3!!! Wish me luck!

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