Here's the next installment of my Whole30 journey. I don't know if I'm going to always do 5 days at a time. Maybe more, maybe less. I think it will depend on how much content I have. The first ten days are supposed to be the hardest so it was nice to really focus on those.
Day 6
I didn't make anything too crazy this day since we were running around taking care of errands. I do have to say one thing though. I. Am. Always. Thirsty. I thought that drinking less would lead to more water drinking (it has) but I can never seem to get fully hydrated. This is way worse on the days that I run. I'll come home and drink a full 32 oz water bottle as well as another later in the day and still not have enough. I read somewhere that eating so many vegetables takes more water to digest. I guess I'll just have to keep upping the water intake.
Day 7
Day 7, I wanted to try out some new things with breakfast. I had some leftover brocolli and bacon, some chicken liver, and a dragofruit. It's a little random but covers several bases.
I didn't love how the chicken offal came out. The dragon-fruit was... interesting. Kind of like a bland kiwi so that was a little disappointing. The bacon and broccoli was good at least so there's that.
But more importantly than food... I got a bike! Not drinking has made me want to do more active stuff in the evenings and enjoy these San Diego summer nights. When we were on vacation, we biked a ton and it made me really want to get a bike again so Dan helped me shop for this one. I'm excited to have one more way to cross train!
After the bike excitement, I made a late lunch of a scallop, beet, and orange salad. It was so good, I had it the rest of the week for lunch as well with the addition of avocado. I feel like this challenge has me really upping my salad game and exploring different ingredients than usual.
For dinner, I made roast duck, carrots, and potatoes. I normally love duck but this one just didn't taste as good as others we bought. It was kind of a bummer because I'd been looking for duck for a while so I'm sad that I found a mediocre one. I think I'm just going to have to keep my eyes peeled for the same brand that I've bought in the past and liked.
Day 8
Slow cooker time! If you want to go Paleo or do Whole30 please buy a slow cooker. There are a ton of things you can make without it of course but everyone is busy and a slow cooker will change your life. I work from home and sometimes I'm too busy to cook. That's where this baby comes in. You just put your ingredients in, hit low, and let it cook while you sleep. The ultimate mult-tasking.
I really wanted to make chili. It's one of my favorite things but since most have beans, it's hard to find some Whole30 approved versions... so I made my own. I just prepped all the ingredients the night before, put them in the slow cooker, and went to sleep. In the morning, I had a pot full of chili. I'm not going to lie - I had some for breakfast. I regret nothing.
The other nice thing is that it's portable in a tupperware, and I was able to freeze tons in case I get in a jam where I'm hungry and don't have any Whole30 options on hand. On Day 8 though, I just took a couple of tupperwares to the beach so my friend and I could eat dinner and watch the sunset.
It was nice to get out of the house again and start to figure out things I could do that were Whole30 approved! I'm excited to keep exploring the options for alcohol-free fun.
Day 9
Random question time!
Did anyone send me this? I got this in the mail last week with no card and I cannot figure out where it came from. It's super cute though so I'd love to thank whoever sent it!
Moving on... as part of a continued effort to venture out, Dan and I decided to check out the Zoo nights. We are members and can go anytime but lately we'd been finding the animals just aren't active during the warm days. We were excited to go at night and see if they were more awake.
And oh they were... this is a great picture of a snow leopard whose attention is drawn straight towards a crying baby. At one point it started freaking out and pouncing on the side of the cage (which was actually a net - the whole thing didn't seem incredibly stable TBH). It was obviously trying to pick off the young and weak which is pretty crazy to see from 4 feet away.
After the zoo, I made some stuffed mushrooms and potatoes. The mushrooms were great! They were a little bit of work but not more than I was expecting. We also ended up with extra filling so I saved that to put into eggs at a future date.
I've been having one really big issue though and that's making dinner later. I guess without the easy options to duck around, when it's 9pm and we haven't eaten, I have to buckle down and cook. I need to get into better habits of starting dinner earlier.
Day 10
Day 10 marked a few things. Day 10 is supposed to be the hardest day of Whole30. Day 10 I also ran 10 miles for the first time in my life. That's just how the Whole30 and my half marathon training program fell but I wasn't too worried about it. I'd been feeling much better about the whole thing all week so what was a little run?
Honestly, the run was really, super hard. However... not because of Whole30. It was hard because it was the hottest weekend of the summer (so far) in San Diego and I was running in 80 degree weather without sun screen or a hat. It was hard because I was dehydrated (from the sun and from somehow never being able to hydrate properly anyways). And it was hard because running 10 miles is hard and no matter how much you stop to take pictures of aircraft carriers and scenery, it gets really boring.
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| The scenery is nice though |
If you run 10 miles and burn 900 calories, there is no way you're looking forward to square healthy meal. I spent the whole day going "I could have 9 glasses of wine. I could have 3 cupcakes. I could have half a pizza." You work out to be healthy. You work out BIG to eat all of the things. It's science. It's like after a big workout your body just expects a big pay off. So to go home and have leftover chili and leftover mushrooms and a banana... felt really unfulfilling.
I felt hungry about every two hours so I kept trying to think of different things I could do or make so I didn't give into temptation. I remembered seeing these little tuna boats in the Whole30 cookbook. The recipe they had was much more involved but I figured just some tuna in endive leaves would be a perfect snack to hold me over until dinner.
It might not have been pizza but if gave my body what it really needed.
For dinner, I wanted to make sure I was covering all the bases I needed to refuel. I made a little stirfry type thing with bacon, chicken, sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, kale, and tomatoes. It was full of protein, veggies, and carbs and really helped me get back all the energy I burned.
I also wanted to change it up from just drinking water so much. I obviously had to drink a ton of water all day to re-hydrate from my run (and still don't feel like I did). I decided to make a little mocktail. I used sparkling water, and muddled it with some basil and strawberries. It was so nice to change it up a little bit.
Summary
We are definitely getting the hang of this! We still have some issues with timing of meals. I think I need to figure out some better post-run recovery food as well because I was definitely RUNGRY all of Day 10. Otherwise, it feels like we are through the hardest days. Now I think the challenge is to get back into society and try to hang out with people without the temptation of drinks or bar food.
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