Since I am coming to the end of this program, I thought I'd skip the "what's helping me succeed/what's been the hardest" section and focus on what I tried this week.
New recipes I've tried:
- Moroccan Chicken Salad - I highly recommend this salad as it has so many great ingredients with different flavors and textures. Modifications included leaving out the avocado (felt there were enough ingredients without this) and making a white wine vinaigrette because I couldn't stomach buying another bottle of vinegar (I had to replace my red wine and balsamic vinegars since they had sulfites in them so I've purchased enough vinegar recently).
- Banana Soft Serve - I needed a little treat after my RA injection last week, so I made some banana soft serve. You just put 1-2 chopped frozen bananas in the food processor or blender (let them soften a bit first) and add almond milk until it reaches the desired consistency. Then you can add a little cocoa powder at the end if you'd like (I did). This is borderline cheating as you aren't supposed to recreate treats with Whole30 ingredients, but oh well. I really need a pick-me-up after my injection because I still hate doing them, even though I've been giving them to myself for 2.5 years.
- Chicken Chowder - This is from the Whole30 cookbook but I couldn't find the recipe online. I know the green color is a bit off putting but it was actually very good! The green comes from the broccoli in the soup as you puree cooked broccoli with coconut milk and chicken broth. It also has jalapeno in it so it has a hint of spice. I'd definitely make this again!
- Crockpot Thai Beef Stew - This is probably the best recipe I've made during Whole30. The combination of flavors and spices is so delicious and the crunch from the jicama and carrots gives it great texture. This will definitely go in our regular meal rotation. We ate it over cauliflower rice.
What comes next:
- The reintroduction process starts on Wednesday. The way it works is I add back one food group for one day, starting with legumes, and have something from that food group with every meal. So on Wednesday I'll have black beans with my sweet potatoes and eggs for breakfast, an apple with peanut butter at lunch, and chickpea curry for dinner at our favorite Jamaican restaurant (but no rice). Then the next 2 days I go back to the Whole30 diet and assess how I feel. The order of reintroduction is legumes, non-gluten grains, and dairy. I obviously won't be reintroducing gluten since I already know I have an intolerance to it but that would be the last thing non-gluten sensitive people would add back.
- I'm curious to see how I feel after introducing things back. I am pretty sure I will not go back to eating dairy as I think that's the main stomach issues culprit. Also, in week 2 I ran out of the medication I take for my acne and decided to not refill it and see how I do. So far I haven't had any breakouts. I've eliminated dairy from my diet in the past to help with my complexion so I know there is a connection there. I haven't really missed dairy all that much during Whole30 so avoiding it in the future wouldn't be too hard. But we'll see how I feel when I add it back during the reintroduction phase.
Are there any foods that you have a sensitivity to or think you might have a sensitivity to?
17 comments:
On the day you reintroduce alcohol, can you have it at every meal? ;) Kidding.
I have to say even though the Whole 30 does not sound like it would be for me, the recipes you have made do all look and sound really delicious!
Also, reading your posts have helped me to see my questioner tendency, because every time you say one of the "rules" i'm like WHAT? WHY? WHY can't you recreate treats using the whole 30 ingredients?! WHY. haha. I wonder if Phil was like this the whole time too, ha ha.
Dairy seems to be a problem in our family so am not surprised it may affect you, but I would have a difficult time not eating cheese!
I hope lentils agree with you as I know you consider them a staple diet item!
I'm glad you are on the upswing of this diet regime as it did sound pretty intense.
I LOL'd to Kelly's comment as I have a lot of questions about food regimens and what not in general (including the one I am on!). I know Whole 30 is not something that would be for me either, but I give mad props and kudos to those who can do it and who can/make permanent diet changes as a result. If there's one thing I've learned, diet/eating habits are extremely personal and to each their own. Our bodies all respond differently/need different things.
I hope reintroduction goes well with the food that you'd like to be able to add back in and that there are no breakouts for you on the horizon.
I find dairy the hardest thing for me to give up next to bread and sweets. I'm on the 90 day healthy eating challenge and I'm having a very hard time resisting the candy. My parents bought chips over the weekend, something we typically never have laying around, and they bought bbq chips, which means that I'm going to have to be more cautious.
that chicken soup sounds delicious!!! so did the other recipe that you really liked!!!
Not recreating treats with Whole 30 ingredients?!?! That seems really draconian.
I hope the reintroduction goes well and that you are able to add things back in without problem!
I'm impressed that you made it through the four weeks- I have a feeling I would really struggle with it. Your recipes/meals look delicious though so I may have to check them out
Congratulations, Lisa! That's really great about the Acne! Here's hoping intro is A-OK!
Congratulations on being ALMOST DONE! You are amazing!
What's your 1st meal going to be?? Lol
I need to make that chicken soup! Yum!!
I love banana soft serve with cocoa powder in it! Sometimes I put frozen strawberries in it too.
I was thinking about the whole W30 thing, and how I didn't do it. It made me think about that one personality test we took a year ago - re: "The Rebel" "The Rule Follower" -- and that definitely goes along with our personalities! Haha!
Good for you, just about done!
I eat (and love!) just about all foods, but I have a problem with eggplant. When I was a kid, it made my mouth swell. Now I just don't like it and PRETEND my mouth still swells ;-)
Kidding. I have an eggplant in the fridge. But I am only eating it because it's healthy.
That does look like a lot of yum! Enjoy the black beans. They are one of my favorite things to put with sweet potatoes.
banana soft serve - what a genius idea! I'm definitely going to try that :) and your chowder looks yum!
I don't have any sensitivities but I did find a lot of good things happened when I gave up dairy. I still don't have milk, but I notice when I over do it on the cheese or milk chocolate. Mostly my nose and ears gets congested and for Kane he gets an itchy scalp. Weird huh?
Congrats on finishing! I think I mentioned this in your first post on Whole30, but I'd be interested in doing the challenge just for the reintroduction phase. Sounds so interesting to add certain food groups back into your diet to see how your body reacts! I hope you'll do a follow-up post on the reintroduction phase. :)
Congrats on finishing! I'm pinning the Thai beef stew recipe. :)
That chicken chowder looks great!! Right up my alley :-)
I am allergic to pine nuts, and find that dried red-chilies (like the kind you can shake over pizza or pasta) bother my stomach.
Onions are awful for me. I get crazy bloated! I admire your ability to follow through on this. I'm awful at cutting foods out of my diet.
Congrats on being nearly done! I am with your mom, re not eating cheese! I don't really like milk anyway, but I do like cheese and if I couldn't have it I think I would want it even more. My Dad would have a hard time cutting out ice cream, but I could do without that I think (?) Of course you never know, and of course if you are restricted from it, it is harder because you want it just because! So...when you are here we will eat beans and pasta (j/k) and sweets and dairy, just because you can!
I thought going gluten and dairy free would help my stomach earlier this year but it actually made my stomach feel MORE off. Which is weird, I know. I do think that eating LESS gluten / carbs is good for me though as they usually make me feel quite bloated. I'm very interested to try Whole 30 and see how it makes me feel!
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