Whole 30 Day 30!!!!!

     I can't believe it's here!!!  It's actually day 30 of the Whole30!!!  Here is a quick list of the top ten things that made this journey all the more doable.  In no particular order~

Ghee

Ghee is simply butter with the milk solids removed.  Because of ghee I never felt in the whole thirty days that I was going without butter.  It's super easy to make on your own and you discard only the tiniest portion so it's only a fraction more expensive than just using butter.  

Bulletproof Coffee

           Oh joys!  I love my coffee.  But I'm a coffee wimp.  I like my coffee creamy.  It doesn't have to be sweet, but it must be creamy.  Day two of the Whole30 I tried coffee with coconut milk and almost burst into tears.  B I T T E R!!!  Enter bulletproof coffee.  It's this magical experience of blending (in an actual blender) your black coffee with about a teaspoon of ghee or coconut oil and it becomes frothy and creamy.  No joke.  It's amazing.  I add a good splash of coconut milk for flavor and more creaminess and it's downright delicious.  Now, while this is totally "on plan" they really discourage you from drinking your calories so I saved this for now and then times.  To have coffee that I enjoyed made the whole experience a little less hostile though!

Homemade Mayo

Super good.  Super easy.  I can still have mayo with my asparagus.

Homemade Sausage

           We found plan approved sausages at Costco, but to be honest, we really didn't love them.  We especially didn't love the price tag.  Especially while trying to feed eight people.  It took us a couple of weeks to discover that it was incredibly easy to make our own homemade sausage patties and ground sausage from ground pork.  Super discovery.

Sweet Potato Apple Bake

            I know I mentioned this before, but this stuff is amazing.  The plump, sweet raisins with the crunchy baked walnuts.  Yes please!!!  We had this about twice a week and my kids always jumped for joy whenever they saw it brought to the table.  I may have done a little happy dance in the kitchen myself.  This is one they have begged to keep on the menu in the future.  The recipe is here.

Sweet Potato Mash

            It goes like this.  Bake some sweet potatoes (when I say sweet potatoes, I mean yams.  The yummy orange ones.  I know I'm wrong.  I'll never be right.).  Dump the baked insides in a bowl.  Throw in a tablespoon or more of ghee.  Sprinkle in some salt and cinnamon.  Blend with an immersion blender.  Devour.  So, so good.  I was voted mom of the universe whenever I brought this to the table.

Frozen Grapes

        These were my fail proof weak moment get out of jail free card.  Any sugar cravings, late night tummy rumblings, "I just can't do this" moments were quickly and easily resolved with a couple of delicious frozen grapes.  I know a huge part of the program is to break the bad food habits you have like needing to snack all the time, and I feel like I made huge strides in this, but every so often it was so helpful to have a safe place to indulge.  Frozen grapes are possibly the best things ever.

Publicity

           I really tried not to become the next Whole30 spokesperson.  But the people who were around me much knew I was doing it.  Anyone here on this blog obviously heard about it.  Once you tell someone that you will be eating a certain way for thirty days it becomes exponentially harder to simply cheat and ruin the whole thing.  Tell someone if you are planning on doing this.  It's accountability and it works!

Motivation

       I want to be healthier, which for me means figuring out the health issues I'm dealing with.  My desire would be to have another baby someday.  That's pretty good motivation for doing something hard.  Hopefully it's a single step along the road to those hopes.

Participation

    I really don't think I could have accomplished the full thirty days with no cheating without my family's participation.  No, they didn't stick to the plan fully when they were out and about.  But at home we ate only Whole30 meals which made it a breeze for me.  I wasn't constantly tempted and the work load was much smaller (though not the grocery bill) than if I had to cook two breakfasts, two lunches and two dinners.  And they were TERRIFIC sports!  My husband and kiddos never complained.  I'm so, so, so blessed.

Only a couple of days into it, my mom decided to do her own Whole30 so that made it all the more fun as we traded recipes and encouragement!

      So here is the final recap.  In all I lost eight pounds, which for me and the way I work is pretty good.  I felt "better" but not significantly so.  The energy I thought I was gaining didn't amount to too much and I even had some head aches return.  I think what I discovered is that I don't have any great food sensitivities.  I am very interested in looking at how food effects your hormones though as that is where a lot of my issues lie.

     To me this was a wonderful experience.  I have friends who finished it and said they hated it.  I thought it was amazing.  To learn that for an entire month I could put only food in my mouth that was healthy and beneficial kind of blew my mind.  We ate delicious food.  And there was plenty of it.   I feel super encouraged by the good habits that were developed over this period of time and I'm eager to see how things go moving forward from here.  I could easily see another Whole30 in the future!