Today I put sugar in my coffee and rice in my chicken soup.
It felt right.
I survived 6.75 days on the Whole30, and realized it's simply not for me in my lifestyle right now. I'm not lazy, but I also don't have or make the time it takes to get fresh groceries, and make all of my meals from scratch for breakfast, lunch and dinner for all of us daily. Super discouraging also when you check your almond milk carton when you get home, rather than remembering at the store, and then realizing it has a small amount of added sugar, and having to retrace back to the store, and then find out that only Whole Foods carries almond milk without sugar, and your children are crankier by the minute...
Perhaps this is only my experience?
I don't have the luxury of a car or a nanny or a chef, or a cleaning crew. It's just me and my little brigade of minis and I'm maxed out. So my almond milk has a little sugar, and so does the salmon glaze that I've added to dinner. I'm cool with that. Everything in moderation, eh? I'm moving on from all that.
I have learned a bit from the near-week that I did follow the rules {mostly}. Ready for it? Okay, here you go:
- Almond butter with bananas is just as delicious as peanut butter and far healthier. In fact, it's an overall perfectly acceptable permanent substitute. Do try it!
- Sweet potato fries. YES. Baked, salt, olive oil, DONE.
- Burgers without buns are also totally acceptable, as long as the condiments are there. I didn't miss the bread.
- Keeping good basics in the house is entirely more helpful than one would even think! It forces you to make better choices on the regular!
- To contrast, keeping chips and ultra-processed snacks around are a good way to maintain an unhealthy balance.
- There are bars that make healthy snacking a breeze and they're good to stock... my favs were select LunaBars, Trader Joe's all-fruit bars, and Nakd gluten free snacks {pictured at the bottom- they came c/o Nak'd and are gluten free, dairy free, no added sugar! Brilliant}.
Without further ado, may I present to you my proudest meals of Whole30. The first was actually my mom's crazy delicious salad, the second is grated zucchini and sweet potatoes, mixed with egg and seared in olive oil with another egg, tomato, lettuce and onion atop. It.was.good. The third was my favorite though: ceviche! Tons of lime juice, diced tomatoes, avocado, onion, and baby shrimp... I'll be making it on the regular {but now with tortilla chips on the side!}
One last tip! If you're going to do Whole30- and I commend you with my whole heart if you do- do yourself a favor and check the following hashtags on Instagram #whole30 #jennaswhole30. SO many beautiful recipes and a whole support system of people working toward the same goal!
xoxo,
Kate
