What I Ate on Whole30
One of the biggest question that as come up since finishing Whole30 is what did you eat? I didn’t do a very good job of documenting what I ate. I dug through my photo stream and found these photos that I snapped on my phone. I didn’t focus on what I couldn’t eat or get overly complicated with recipes. I just ate whole food, prepared simply.
One of the things we had almost weekly was pot roast. It was compliant, hearty, simple to throw in the crockpot and everyone loves it. We typically do a roast seasoned with salt and pepper, potatoes, whole carrots chopped (to fit the crock pot), and onion. I use to mash it all up and mix it together and throw on some sour cream, but that isn’t whole30 compliant so I had to nix my sour cream habit. This particular shot was a bundle from the grocery store.
It was one of those, buy this roast get this veggie bundle for free. I wouldn’t recommend baby carrots, because they just don’t have much flavor.
The other weekly dinner was spaghetti. We had to find a compliant sauce (no added sugar, etc.) and we would cook it with either chicken or ground beef and throw in mushrooms. The kids ate their sauce over pasta. The husband and I ate ours over zoodles. I used a Vegetti to make noodles out of a zuchinni. I then would warm them in a pan with coconut oil until they got noodlish. Make more then you think, because it cooks down. Ross wasn’t doing Whole30, but preferred it this way.
Another common thing around here is Mexican food. While others might be making quesadillas or burritos, I was making a taco salad–same ingredients, just combined differently and not centering around a tortilla.
A salad for dinner with olive oil and some seasoning was great for Ross and I. Despite the kids not being picky eaters, they don’t do salad. We practically serve them the same food, just presented differently and they gobble it all up.
For lunch, I got in the habit of eating compliant hot dog (no preservatives, nitrates, etc.) or sausage with fruit and veggies and whatever I could dig up compliant.
Another favorite lunch or breakfast was dicing up a potato, veggies and maybe chicken sausage and throwing it all in a skillet with some coconut oil. I would top it with an egg and it was delicious.
Sometimes life is too busy and a banana and handful of almonds would be all I could manage.
As you can see, no part of this was deprivation. It was about eating real, nutritious food. I didn’t weigh, measure or count a single thing I put in my mouth and was still able to see fabulous results.
In some ways it was so easy. I felt great, I didn’t obsess over food and my body was changing. I was never hungry, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want to snack or stop at Noodles for lunch or eat food because it was there, because I did. Social situation are real tricky too. The truth is, life after Whole30 is harder then Whole30. The rules are cut and dry and it really takes the choice out of it. Figuring out how to live a life of balance all on your own out in the real world is tricky business.
We ate out more then we ate at home before Whole30. We had some seriously bad habits. I am amazed at the changes we have made over the last 6 months. From McDonalds drive through to cage-free organic eggs and pasture raised, organic beef, etc. We don’t have a Whole Foods or any fancy grocery stores. We were able to find this at our local grocery store and Target.
Regardless of where I go from here, Whole30 changed me. It changed the way I looked at food, it made me a more conscious consumer/shopper and it changed the way I fed my family. Perfection is not the goal, but every little bit we can do better makes a difference over time.
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Megan
Hi, I'm Megan--the crazy mom of three behind this blog. Please don't be intimidated by the name. Note it doesn't say BALANCED Home. We hardly have it all together, but together we have it all. Or at least that is what I tell myself. I love rearranging, decorating, creating, crafting, celebrations, family, and holidays. I share a little bit of all of that and more on Balancing Home. I am married to my college sweetheart (Is that a thing? Well now it is.) and he is a very talented designer. I use him for his skills so I can offer up sweet printables to all of you. If you want to learn more randomness about me or my blog, stop by my about page. TwitterFacebookGoogle
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