The Whole30: Day 9

Day 9 of the Whole30: Thoughts and Progress

Today is my ninth day of my second Whole30. My initial thoughts, thus far, are that this isn't as difficult as it was last time, and that I'm actually enjoying my food. 

I'm not going to say I don't miss some of the things I was eating before; the other day, Giada from Food Network was eating a dark chocolate cake with vanilla icing and I literally had to shut off the television so I wouldn't choke on my saliva. But in general, this isn't too bad. 

Breakfast

Breakfast has typically consisted of two eggs, either fried in coconut oil or hard-boiled, and a tomato.

Yum!

Both the first time and this time around, eggs have been my savior. They're so filling, and luckily I'm a pretty good cook and can have them any way I like. Plus they're cheap and transportable. Gotta love that. 

Lunch

Lunch is really no different from pre-Whole30 lunch: a giant salad, usually with olive oil, nuts, bell peppers, avocado, carrots, and maybe some tuna or turkey breast.

A terrible picture of a salad.

If and when I run out of lettuce (I usually use an entire head of romaine for each salad), I make guacamole instead with some veggies to dip. It's rarely as satisfying, as it normally takes me 45 minutes to eat my giant salad and only 5 to finish the guac, but delicious and Whole30-approved nonetheless. 

Snack

Snacks are almond butter, straight out of the jar, pork rinds*, cashews, coconut flakes, cacao nibs, frozen veggies, and deli meats. Plus too many cups of coffee and tea. 

When I found crunchy almond butter, the sun broke through the clouds.

Be careful with deli meats; some have added sugars (you know, like sweet german bologna, which is freaking delicious, but a no-no on this diet), but plain old turkey breast is usually okay. 

Dinner

Dinner is the only real full meal I've been eating because I can eat it at home. My coworkers may frown upon me heating up some salmon and brussels sprouts at my desk, ya know?

Coconut flour-crusted tilapia, shrimp and guac.

Lemon-garlic snapper with broccoli and cauliflower.

Here are two examples. The fact that they're both fish is a coincidence; I've also been eating a LOT of chicken breast, and recently made some ground beef. It's a classic homemade dinner minus the whole grain, which I don't miss at all.

How I Feel

As aforementioned, I occasionally get a craving for chocolate cake or specialty pizza. But generally I'm doing just fine, and actually look forward to my meals. I'm trying not to weigh myself until the final day, but I can tell I've dropped water weight and bloating is all but gone. Whether or not these effects are due to the Whole30 itself or the low-carb version of it I'm following is not clear. Either way, I'm happy with my progress thus far. 

Let me know your thoughts! If you're following the Whole30, too, how do you feel? 

Lift.Eat.Love.Sleep.

*Okay, so I'm not 100% sure pork rinds are okay on the Whole30, but they're essentially just pork skin fried in its own fat. No sugar, no additives, no canola oil, and a lot of protein. So I'm going to keep eating them until someone tells me not to.