Whole30 Diary: Making Peace with Real Food and a Messy Life
You could tell the story of my teenage years exclusively through the fad diets of the times: the cayenne pepper cleanse thing, low-fat everything, the one where you eat only cabbage soup.
Fast forward a few years, and I’ve come a long way towards making good choices and treating my body with the respect it deserves, though food and I still have an uneasy relationship sometimes.
So when I found myself in need a dietary kick in the butt after a few weeks of less-than-healthy eating and way too much drinking, I was dubious about another trendy diet plan.
Enter the Whole30
Luckily, the Whole30 turned out to be different. With its focus on ethical meats, sustainable fish and local/organic vegetables, I see it as more or less expanding on the succinct but perfect Michael Pollan rules of eating:
Here are the general rules:
Eat meat, seafood, eggs, tons of vegetables, some fruit, and plenty of good fats from fruits, oils, nuts and seeds. Eat foods with very few ingredients, all pronounceable ingredients, or better yet, no ingredients listed at all because they’re totally natural and unprocessed.
And “no” to everything else, like sugar, processed foods, alcohol, dairy, grains, legumes and more.
I got started on August 3, 2015. Here’s how it went!
My Whole30 Diary
Week 1
Day 0: Nervous. Cooked like a month’s worth of food to prep. Drank wine. Goodbye, wine.
Day 1: Menu: Eggs, tomatoes and chives for breakfast; chicken, broccoli and green beans for lunch; chili with avocado for dinner. :)
Day 2: Blessedly, Blue Apron has some Whole30-compliant meals this week! I will go on to cook variations on this steak meal many more times.
Day 3: I was warned I would feel lethargic and generally hungover-ish around this time — and honestly, I didn’t really believe it. But today, I have a giant headache that lasts ALLLLL day.
Day 4: I used to think I really liked eggs. Now I think I mostly liked them as a cheese and bread delivery system. :/
Day 5: This is the time period where I’m supposed to want to punch people, so I warn my friends and coworkers. I think I must have skipped over this phase, though; I never felt irritable or on edge.
Day 6: Giant day of temptation: Baby shower with delicious-looking cake and the East Nashville Tomato Festival, one of my friend groups’ drinkingest days of the year. I stay cake-free and sober and have a fun day just the same! Drunk people are super fun to talk to. :)
Day 7: Leaving the house sort of makes me nervous now. What if I’m stranded without any Whole30-approved foods to eat? Went over to a friend’s for the day and packed some chili, an avocado, an apple, an entire package of macadamia nuts.
Week 2
Day 8: Today I had catfish and eggplant for breakfast. Everything I’ve ever known about the American customs of meals is totally out the window.
Day 9: So. Many. Dishes. When everything you eat is whole, everything requires a plate or bowl. And a utensil. I’ve literally never run out of clean forks until this week. When I have people over, the kitchen is pretty much always a wreck, which would probably have embarassed me in the past. Now it feels more like a sign that I’m eating the way one is supposed to.
Day 10: Last night I dreamed about pizza. Woke up feeling guilty. It’s becoming really fun to tell people I’m doing this. The general response always seems to be, “But you seem so cheerful!”
Day 11: Argh, the banana chips I bought last Sunday at Publix and have been eating all week have added sugar! Technically I think I am supposed to start over at this point, but that’s not happening.
Day 12: This is the first day I’ve really missed alcohol and I think it’s mostly from a social standpoint. What do friends linger over while playing records on a Friday night, if not wine?
Day 13: Total panic this morning; I am out of protein! Time to get cooking again. This time I view the process of shopping and cooking as less of a chore and more of an adventure, poking around longer than normal at cool local shops like Porter Road Butcher and The Turnip Truck. I’m starting to see that these 30 days are as much about changing my habits as changing my palate.
Day 14: Reflecting on how things have gone so far, and I am feeling very much how it might make sense to feel at almost the midway point. I am looking forward to being able to eat in a less restrictive way (and go out again!) but becoming a little anxious about being out in the freedom of the world again. This program is teaching me new habits, new mindsets, new ways of thinking. Can I keep that up on my own?
Week 3
Day 15: What the hell is kombucha? This fermented, vinegar-y probiotic drink comes highly recommended by The Whole30 handbook It Starts With Food. I’ve never tasted anything like it. Part of me wants to furiously Google everything related to it. Another, larger part of me is sort of afraid to know.
Day 16: Let’s talk about fats. I bought 10 avocados on Sunday — I’ve never eaten so many in my entire life. And macadamia nuts. And cashews. And coconut oil (yum) and clarified butter. There’s something liberating about being able — actually, being required — to have fat at every meal.
Da7 17: Turns out that 9 times out of 10, I would rather go without coffee than drink it black. I can do it, but it’s just no fun.
Day 18: One weird thing that’s been happening since starting the Whole30 is that I’m getting head rushes quite often when I get out of bed in the morning or when I stand up quickly. This is a little bit worrisome; trying to figure things out via the super helpful message boards. I might need to eat more.
Day 19: Fridays are often a bit hard. As I make weekend plans, I become hyper aware of how different this exercise is from most of the world around me. I do think I’ve “stayed in” more this month that normal, which feels like a bit of validation that this isn’t quite a sustainable way to live in the long-term. Can definitely see keeping many elements of it, though. Luckily, I’m on the downhill slope now!
Day 20: Too exhausted and lazy to cook today after a fun night of (sober!) dancing last night. As a result, I ate bacon and blueberries most of today, which is probably not what the Whole30 folks have in mind.
Day 21: Sunday cooking day! Local, free-range chicken thighs are the basis of at least one meal a day for me. I roast a few pounds of them with sweet potatoes and other roasting vegetables (summer squash, carrots, zucchini) and have food for the whole week. Just for fun, today I also made collard greens and bacon.
Week 4
Day 22: Want wine.
Day 23: Chipotle is the MVP of fast(ish) food chains for theWhole30.
Day 24: I had to be “that girl” at a restaurant tonight, with an order than took 20 minutes because everything had to be removed, replaced or on the side. This exercise is hugely increasing my empathy towards those with medical conditions that require diet modifications; I bet it’s really hard for them to go out!
Day 25: Clothes update: everything fits slightly loose now.
Day 26: It has become increasingly clear that I am not going to be able to wake up at 6:00 a.m. with boundless energy and without an alarm, as promised by It Starts With Food. I feel great, just not…on that level. So I was happy to find this post, detailing what the downhill slope of the Whole30 looks like for lots of different types. Apparently I’m not alone.
Day 27: When you have a friend who’s willing to host a Whole30 compliant (and vegan friendly and Advocare acceptable) dinner party, you know you’re doing OK. :)
Day 28: Wow, it’s almost over! Now seems like a good time to give a shoutout to some Whole30 MVPs. Sweet potatoes, avocadoes, macadamia nuts, butternut squash and figs: I couldn’t have done it without you.
Day 29: Nearing the end, I’m getting excited to get back into the “real world.” What’s cool is that there’s nothing specific I’ve really missed — more the overall freedom of food variety. And wine. I might’ve mentioned that I missed that.
Day 30: Well, friends, we’ve made it to the end. I’m proud to have accomplished the Whole30, and I’m surprised at how challenging it was in some ways and how easy in others.
I’m still not sure what my day tomorrow (and beyond) looks like, food-wise. I’d rather not totally flip out and eat a whole pizza and 9 cupcakes (though that does sound kinda fun). My plan is to keep going with as many of these habits as I can, because I can tell they’ve made a difference and it feels like they create a healthy way to live.
Will all food cravings be gone? Will cheesecake taste too sweet now? Will I still want a baguette every time I pass my favorite bakery? I have no idea, but I’m looking forward to finding out.
