Saturday, January 10, 2015

Surviving a Whole30

I made myself a list on how I can survive this Whole30 and I hope this can help others succeed as well :)


1. Make 4 egg bakes or something similar for mornings and freeze 3 of them. In our house, between the two of us we can power through one a week. I use this recipe most often and modify it as I see fit. http://hannahshanks.blogspot.com/2013/01/whole30-breakfast-egg-casserole.html

2. Invest in large tupperware - trust me, you'll need it to store your leftovers, your prepped foods, and all other weird things you want.

3. meal plan, meal plan, meal plan!! I write down my meals for each day of the week, then make a grocery list for only what we need. We rarely have to pitch food when I do this.

4. Prep veggies on Sunday - when prepping the veggies do so in different variations; for salads, for roasting, steaming, etc.. freeze some chopped for easy steam veggies later in your whole30 when you're starting to tire of chopping and prepping. Use the energy/excitement you have in the beginning to get yourself as prepped as possible so when it gets harder to stay focused, life is a little easier for you.

5. Hard boil a batch of eggs per week. I typically will make 6 at a time since I'm the only one who eats them. They're great for protein on a salad or for a quick bite when you can't put down your child. Oh, that only happens to me?

6. Find support online or in person. I've made 'digital' friends to support me on my whole30 journey because most of my 'real life' friends just don't get it. I don't expect them to, it seems extreme because of the rules, so I can't expect them to understand what I'm going through at the moment.

7. Make a list of reason to finish or motivation to keep going so you can reflect on it during hard days. It can be 1 reason or 25, regardless, it'll help.

8. Cook extra each dinner so you have a quick breakfast or lunch made of leftovers. This is something I've been doing for years now and it makes life so much easier. When we are cleaning up after dinner, we just portion the leftovers into our respective tupperware containers for lunch the next day, so easy.

9. Buy what's on sale. Say your grocery store has chicken on sale, buy bulk and throw it in the freezer. You'll thank yourself later.

10. Follow whole30recipes, planksloveandguacamole, & amazon_ashley on Instagram for some great recipe inspiration.

11. Try new foods, they may suck, but you also might end up really liking them. For us, parsnips was a new one and I'm a bit of a fan. I'm excited to try new ways to cook/eat it.

12. Stock up on crock pot recipes for lazy and busy days

13. Get familiar with your local stores and farmers markets, you'll know where to get the best produce for the best price.

14. Learn to brew kombucha. It's so good for you and is pretty easy to do once you're set up. Plus, it's pretty delicious too.

15. Invest in rubber gloves or just give in to dry hands for 30 days. Seriously, you'll be doing a lot more dishes than usual and your hands will suffer.

16. Read labels. THIS IS IMPORTANT SO DO IT.

17. Clear your house of any temptation if possible. I got "lucky" and our refrigerator broke a few weeks ago so there is NOTHING in there that isn't whole30 approved.

18. Be creative. Most of my best meals are made by just playing with flavors in the kitchen.

19. Always know where your next meal is. Have a back up plan/emergency plan. Always have a lara bar or something similar handy and know how to order a meal whole30 style if necessary.

20. Learn to roast a whole chicken. It'll feed you for a few days, it's delicious, and easy to do. Here is one recipe I use and LOVE.


Here are some other great resources for your whole30

http://planksloveandguacamole.blogspot.com/
http://nomnompaleo.com/
http://theclothesmakethegirl.com/wellfed/