My Whole 30 Experience: Weeks 1 & 2

Danielle Richardson September 21, 2022

WEEK 1

Where to begin! The #Whole30 made its way into my life via friends and Pinterest. I finally decided to join the challenge as a support partner for my manfriend. If you don’t know, the Whole 30 is defined by Wikipedia as “a 30-day fad diet that emphasizes whole foods and during which participants eliminate sugar, alcohol, grains, legumes, soy, and dairy from their diets.”¹

The creators of the program despise the word diet and seek for the Whole30 to be a catalyst to change your life. It aims to change your relationship with food, body weight, and unexplained chronic ailments. The Whole30 is a 30-day eating plan centered around eliminating “all the psychologically unhealthy, hormone-unbalancing, gut-disrupting, inflammatory food groups for a full 30 days”² to allow the body to reset. (More Info)

What’s Out? Sugar, Alcohol, Grains, Legumes (Beans, Peas, Lentils, Soy, Peanuts), and Dairy. Additionally, you’re not allowed to weigh or measure yourself, recreate baked goods, or consume most additives in processed foods.
What’s In? Meat, Seafood, Eggs, vegetables, Fruit, and Natural Fats (including Ghee).

This sounded extreme but I thought could handle it. Last September I undertook a 30-day raw vegan diet for my own personal reasons. My eating habits were permanently changed as I learned first hand the profound transformation your mind + body is capable of undertaking during a one month period. I never readded meat of dairy to my diet. However, I def enjoy cookies, chips, and chocolate!

Week 1 Deets

Grocery: I did not plan ahead so I wasted a ton of money. I made a big Sunday grocery trip and went back mid-week. Additionally, I was out of food/tired of making my meals by the weekend so I ate out Friday/Saturday (Oh hey Whole Foods salad bar!). Week 1 grocery will always be more expensive as you have to get seasonings and stock ingredients like Olive Oil, Ghee, etc. I def want to do a better job planning for next week!

Meals: I ate mostly raw/vegan this week as it was easy and quick. No matter how much coaching and pumping up I do, I just don’t like to cook lol.

Breakfast: Typically an avocado or grapefruit. I’m not super hungry in the mornings and also haven’t figured out a Whole30 breakfast that sounds good. Next week I plan to try sweet potato hash or kale + potato scrambles. This week was a breakfast fail lol.
Lunch: Salad with a mixed base of various greens (Green Kale, Purple Kale, Bok Choy, etc). My salad formula consists of greens + texture + kick + dressing massaged in. I use purple cabbage or nuts for texture and for kick I use fruits (grapefruits, blueberries) or veggies like radishes. I made my own dressing this week! It was an Avocado Sesame dressing (Avocado + Sesame Oil + Lime + Salt/Pepper). FULL DISCLOSURE: I was using Bragg’s Liquid Aminos at the beginning of the week because I didn’t realize it was contraband. Whoops!
Dinner: Same salad as lunch or Rosemary Sweet Potatoes and salad (similar preparation here).
Snacks: Kombucha, Seaweed snacks, Nuts, Blueberries, Grapefruit, or Strawberries

Energy Levels: I was very slugglish Week 1. I felt lighter but also didn’t feel like I had a ton of energy after work. I’ve been getting a good amount of rest (~7.5 hours) and waking up around 6:30am. The sluggishness could potentially be due to the after effects of Daylight Savings Time.

Other: MY FOREHEAD!! lol that was dramatic but my forehead has so many pimples. Is this the sugar leaving my system? Your body detoxes when on an elimination diet and the skin is your largest organ of elimination. I’m thinking my skin should clear in a week or two but man I miss sugar. I found myself craving cookies and chocolate all the time. I didn’t realize how much sugar I was consuming!

Week 2 Goals:

Have a plan when I go to the grocery store! Make specific meals.
Increase water intake and more rest.
Decrease Snacking (Whole30 recommends no snacking and eating larger meals).
Beat my manfriend to the kitchen in the mornings and start making breakfast.

WEEK 2

I’m going to be completely honest here. I’m over it!! I would have quit by now if my boyfriend wasn’t going so strong. I truly think this 30 days for me is more a test of self-discipline than of anything else. I feel like I’m fighting a battle with myself. Normal me is saying “You got this, you’ve done this before, no pressure!” and Inner Kermit Me is like “Just eat a cookie no one will know”. So that is how my Whole30 Week 2 began lol.

This week was a bit better than the first as I started to get creative in the kitchen. I whipped up a yummy Strawberry Salad in addition to my normal salads + potatoes. Although there’s new variety, I still feel very restricted. I’ve been playing with buying new ingredients and additives this week to add new flavors to some of my more basic dishes.

Week 2 Deets

Grocery: I did better with my grocery shopping this week. I realized my core items were greens, potatoes, limes, grapefruit, avocado, and nuts. This week I made some new purchases!

Nutritional Yeast – I’d heard about this for years in the vegan/vegetarian community but had never tried it. I must say I enjoy the flavor! It adds a savory bite to my potato dishes when sprinkled on. I disliked using it as a seasoning while sauteeing as it bubbled and changed the food’s texture.
Leeks – I just bought these because they were on sale and I felt like I could become Rachel Ray with any ingredient. Unfortunately, all the recipes that called for leeks looked disgusting. I had no interest in eating a potato + leek soup and the sauteed leeks did not look like an appetizing spring meal. Sadly I wasted my $$.
Coconut Aminos – I’m not a fan. It just doesn’t taste the same as the Braggs! (Which in theory I guess it isn’t supposed to but perhaps I’m addicted to Braggs?).

Meals: This week was half and half raw foods and cooked foods (Disclaimer: by cooked foods I mean baked or roasted veggies). I also felt very hungry so I allowed myself eggs.

Breakfast: Avocado or grapefruit. Towards the end of the week, I’d have 2 boiled eggs + avocado. Years ago eggs made me sick so I’d stopped eating them but my body seems to tolerate them well.
Lunch: Same salad as Week 1. FULL DISCLOSURE: I continued using Bragg’s Liquid Aminos. It has been my cheating item on the Whole30. It makes my salads taste so much better. Maybe I’ll give it up next week?
Dinner: Same salad as lunch or roasted sweet potatoes + cauliflower (similar preparation here).
Snacks: Lemon LaCroix, Kombucha, Nuts, Grapefruit, or Strawberries

Energy Levels: I feel good. I’m definitely slimming down and waking up at 6:30am is getting easier daily.

Other: I’m drinking much more water, at least 1.5L per day. My forehead is clearing (Thank you, Lord!). I’m also becoming more regular which is an added benefit (Sorry for TMI🙊 )

All in all Week 2 was a mental battle in persistence. I have a tendency to bend and break the rules as my inner rebel spirit just loves to make itself known. During this Whole30 I’m focusing on cultivating a more loving approach to self-discipline as opposed my usual unhealthy form.