So, I’m officially beyond the half way point of my Whole 30. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, this is a short term nutritional reset. For 30 days, I am eliminating all grains, legumes, dairy and added sugar. Most of the time, this hasn’t been that hard. But it hasn’t been especially easy, either. I follow a paleo template anyway, but there are plenty of things that I allow in my personal template that are off limits for a Whole 30.
Namely:
- no heavy cream in my coffee (I miss this… a lot)
- no sour cream on my taco(less) bowls and pakistani kima
- no coconut flour pancakes (a Sunday tradition at our house)
- no peanut butter on bananas (an occassional treat I enjoy)
- no baked goods or ice cream… period (regardless of whether or not they are made without added sugar)
- no dark chocolate (not as big of a deal as I thought it would be)
So 15 down, and 15 more to go. It’s all downhill from here, right? Right?????
Sticking to Whole 30 during the week hasn’t been a big deal. However, I have to dig a bit deeper on the weekends. I would be a big, fat liar if I said that the weekends were no big deal either. I miss the weekend “indulgences”… like my husband’s homemade coconut milk ice cream (his chocolate-peanut butter ice cream is amazing) and pancake Sundays. Oh! And you know what else I miss? Ketchup! For real… ketchup! I love Annie’s Organics ketchup on my burgers and sweet potato fries. I miss ketchup… stupid ketchup of all things! I’m pretty sure I miss ketchup more than dark chocolate. Whaaaaaaat????? Is that blasphemy?
I’m not having any major revelations… just doing my thing. And I feel good. My energy is good and I’m sleeping pretty good. I’m not really fighting any major cravings… just some psycological attachments (like pancake Sundays). Overall, I’m feeling pretty proud of myself.
Anyone else miss ketchup? Anyone?
If you’re doing a Whole 30 or interested in paleo / primal / WAPF / grain free meals, check out these posts:
Shared at: Fight Back Friday
I didn’t join the Whole30 because I’m pregnant and enjoy drinking raw milk!!! But I have to say, it would have helped me stay committed to cutting out sugar. Since the beginning of the year I have been wanting ice cream…all the time… I think I need to cut that out for awhile; reset sugar cravings!
Raw milk is pretty awesome! And so is ice cream.
Day 16 today also…..definately not missing ketchup…sorry, but I didn’t ever eat it to begin with. Yesterday of all days was my hardest day……I wanted something sweet even just a date which I know are allowed on whole 30 but that is what I would eat for something sweet after a meal so I WANTED ONE OR TEN! I already ate about 90% whole 30 prior to this so I haven’t notice any health changes other than maybe my mood seems better but I have noticed a huge change in how my clothes fit. I didn’t want to lose any weight on this so I have made sure I haven’t but the change in my body form is crazy……
Awesome Kristin! I know, I think it’s weird that I miss ketchup. I don’t even think I eat a lot of ketchup. Maybe I eat it more often than I think… or maybe I’m just missing the sweetness of it. At any rate, I’ve never heard myself rave about loving ketchup until I wrote this post… Possibly one of those strange food cravings some people have? Anyway, glad it’s going well for you. Thanks for chiming in!
Hi Leslie – Love your blog! My husband is looking forward to my attempt at your Rocking Meatballs. Today is our Day 16 and we both really miss dairy. A lot! We attempted a Primal diet last summer/fall but slipped back into our SAD ways over the Holidays. We have seen some changes but nothing astounding. We’re staying strong though. Here’s a successful Whole30!
Hey Gina! You’re going to love the meatballs. Hang in there with the Whole 30… maybe your “astounding” changes are yet to come. We got this!
I miss ketchup too! I’m also hardcore missing cheese. But so far so good… I look and feel great! Keep it up
Thanks for the encouragement Amber!
Ha! I’m reading this thread way late, but the ketchup comment made me smile! I am just trying Paleo (not Whole30) and have had a hard time giving up ketchup and Sriracha hot sauce (it has sugar)! Just the thought of Sriracha “rooster sauce” makes my mouth water. Funny what is harder to let go of!
I’m happily back to eating ketchup, Lillian.
It’s so bizarre that I missed it… I’ve probably eaten it twice since that post! Anyway, you might be interested in making your own Sriracha. http://nomnompaleo.com/post/36060636540/paleo-sriracha
Recipe for your husbands coconut milk ice cream??? Sounds delish!!! I miss ice cream!!!! And Almond butter and I seem to becoming really good friends(especially carrots dipped in it)
Leslie, thanks for the Sriracha recipe! I might try it once I can get my (safely gloved) hands on some hot peppers! In the meantime, I’ve been using Melinda’s hot sauce on my eggs and other foods that (for me) require some spice. The Sriracha actually started to taste too sugary to me… But I have been using Annie’s ketchup on my meatloaf.
A question: I’m interested in having a better understanding the Whole30 opposition to any baked goods (even with no honey or maple syrup)? Is it because they are made to look like non-Whole30 foods? Or because it’s about weaning yourself from any dessert-like item?
My take is that it’s because of the emotional attachment that many people have to baked goods. The program is intended to help you identify and break those attachments. For example, the “need” for dessert after a meal is an emotional thing– our lifetime of habits have trained our brain to think we need it. If, while on Whole 30, I trade out my dessert of ice cream for a bowl of berries (which are obviously a Whole 30 approved food), I’m not breaking that emotional attachment to dessert. The Whole 30 guidelines would tell me to eat those berries as part of my meal rather than after to break the attachment to dessert and retrain my brain. Make sense?
I’ve seen some people take strong opposition to this. For me (and my personal habits), it makes total sense and I get it. I didn’t make it through the 30 days, though!
Hi Leslie! Thanks for your explanation. That makes sense. It sounds like Whole30 can be an amazing tool for restructuring how we think about food. Yet, I totally would have an emotional response to this aspect of the program. You would have a hard time prying the post-meal bowl of berries from my hands. That would be hard for me. Not impossible, but definitely challenging.
Is the sweetness of the berries/etc important? What if you had dinner at 6pm and then ate half an avocado at 8 pm? Is all eating confined to 3 meals? I should stop asking and read their website in more detail.
I am also a raw milk drinker, I get 1 gallon every 2 weeks and it lasts me that long. However I’ve been slacking on making my own yogurt and haven’t tried cheese yet (cheese is the one dairy product I would a legitimate hard time kicking) so I buy those pasteurized. I get raw cheese when I can but it’s costly. I started trying to go Paleo, then got on the Weston A. Price/Sally Fallon bandwagon. I’m having a really hard time cutting sugar and refined flour products still though. I eat mostly seafood and fruit, some turkey meat and some veggies (usually zucchini and mushrooms and asparagus as of late). I used to cook everything in olive oil and ate a lot of margarine, then I switched the olive for coconut oil, cut out the margarine, and when I switched to WAP I switched the coconut oil for butter for cooking everything (but I still use coconut oil occasionally)… And of course sweets (things like donuts more so than candy)– mostly ones brought home by my partner. If it’s in the house, I want it, even if I didn’t buy it…. With the Whole30 challenge are you supposed to not pick up dairy and things like that afterwards, or is it just supposed to be a reset? I really don’t want to give up my raw milk now that I’ve finally found the wonders of it…. also, why no ketchup? Could you have ketchup if you made it the traditional, lacto-fermented way? (I haven’t tried making it yet, I don’t eat enough of it, but was just curious).
Whole 30 is a reset. They have a re-introduction plan for foods that are not included in the plan.
I like raw dairy, too!
Ketchup is an is an issue because it has sugar in it.