Ok, first off I apologize that this is almost a week after the fact.
Second, I apologize that I’m not going to post Days 29 and 30…mostly because I don’t remember what I ate.
Third, I’m blaming it on my awesome two mile run in the freezing cold outdoors. Why? Well, because that was Wednesday, and on Friday I got struck down with some nasty cold bug thing that I still haven’t quite recovered from. Which also explains the lack of blog posts since then. My family came down for the weekend which was awesome, but it didn’t do much for recovery. (They will probably all end up sick sometime in the next few days. Oops.)
But I’m feeling *mostly* back to normal now, so let’s talk about finishing my second full Whole30!
As I mentioned during Days 26-28, I was starting to get really bored with everything, to the point where I almost wanted to throw in the towel and call it a Whole28CloseEnough. But the funny thing (or not so funny) was, I didn’t really want any non-compliant foods either. I was just bored overall. And then I wasn’t feeling so hot anyway so the last two days sort of slipped by without any fanfare or huge celebration.
The thing that surprised me? I didn’t go too terribly off-plan after I finished on Friday. Like I mentioned, my family came down for the weekend, so naturally we ended up buying some snack foods that Kevin and I normally don’t keep in the house. Things I usually love, like brie cheese and triscuits and tortilla chips and chocolate chip cookies and BEER. But even when they were placed in front of me they didn’t hold the appeal they normally would. Sure, I did make a taco salad on tortilla chips on Saturday, and I ate some brie and triscuits on Sunday, but overall I stayed pretty compliant. And I didn’t drink alcohol at all – I wasn’t even really tempted, which is a huge accomplishment for me. Oh – and we went to a Mexican restaurant for a lunch and I ordered a burrito, but even then I ended up picking most of the chicken out of the tortilla and foregoing the beans and rice. The thing is, I’ve been feeling so good and sleeping so well that I just don’t want to give that up. (Mostly the sleep, I’ll freely admit that.) And while I do plan on enjoying some of the non-compliant foods I love so much (like cheese, and the occasional tortilla, or maybe an alcoholic beverage once in a while), something is different about the time around. When I did my first successful Whole30 last year, I finished, but I don’t really feel like I learned anything. It certainly didn’t stop me from jumping right back into the way I was eating before. This time I feel different. Maybe a little empowered? And having my husband on-board has been a huge help.
So, what were some of my favorite Whole30 creations? Well, Fiesta Plantain Nachos certainly topped the list, followed closely by the paleo chili recipe I found and made on Day 6. Others include sweet potato hash with kale, bacon and pecans; meatballs and “zoodles” and cauliflower rice. Despite eating the same type of thing over and over again I think the husband and I were able to mix it up enough so that we weren’t too bored – we made it until the last week before I considered calling it quits!
So what now? Well, I’m going to continue to eat as clean as possible, and I’m going to see how long I can go without any alcohol, which should be an interesting experiment. In the meantime I’ll post some new recipes and some thoughts or devotions, and we’ll see where this blog takes me!
Thanks for reading!
Bear Family Strong 