Our fearless leader, Tricia, is taking off on her Whole30 journey! Find out why and follow along for encouragement and inspiration from this real life experiment.
I’ve been intrigued by this whole Paleo thing since Kelly posted her story months ago. Yes, I know we are a site that has Paleo MENUS, but that doesn’t mean I cook all of them! š Kelly (and many of our readers) shared with us the need for the Paleo menu, so we decided to meet that need, but I had no intentions of jumping into the lifestyle. Over the last couple of months as I have reviewed and edited Paleo menus I find myself saying, “I would eat that. I would eat THAT. I would eat THAT TOO!” The menus look absolutely delicious to me. And then I find myself telling Kelly that I think I could do Paleo, as I load my plate with pasta and bread. Sigh. If I CAN do it, why DON’T I do it? Good question.
Fast forward to last week when a blogging friend of mine revealed she would be doing a Whole30Ā to see if it improved her health. This came on the heals of a visit from Kelly and at a time when I am just really fed up with our eating habits. So I took a leap, and said I would join this friend (and several others) in a Whole30 journey.
So here I am, on the eve of the journey. Meal planning, freezer cooking and preparing for the 30 days ahead. I am excited because my husband has also agreed to join me on this journey, I have blogging friends coming along side, and now I have YOU! You accountability keepers, Paleo eaters, freezer cookers – I am sharing this Whole30 journey with you because I thought that many of you who have gone before can help encourage me. And perhaps some of you have even entertained the idea of a Whole30 yourself. Would you like to join us on our journey? The more the merrier!
My plan is to have a weekly meal plan, to reportĀ regularly through Facebook, Ā and to encourage any of you that are on this journey as well. Perhaps together we can lead healthier lives. What do you think? (Please note: I am NOT a Whole30 expert. If you have specific questions about Whole30 you will need to visit Whole9life.com or get the “It Starts with Food” book/ebook.)
Whole30 Journey Motivation and Goals
Someone in my accountability group asked us our goals, and I was left with mostly a blank slate. I know it is hard to accomplish something if you don’t have goals, but I am more motivated by the reasons behind the change and less by actual goals ahead. So here are my motivations:
- To experiment to see if I feel better not eating sugars/carbs.
- To see if this helps curb some of my drastic symptoms during “that time of the month” (and for once I am NOT talking about freezer cooking). š
- To prove to myself that I CAN do it.
- To lose some of the bloat I currently carry with me.
Whole30 Meal Plan
Okay, so what you really want to know is my plan, right? That is the HARD part I think. (Well, at least until I get to day 2/3 and have that massive carb withdrawl headache.) If I don’t have a plan I am a sunk ship. 
So here is my plan for this coming week:
- I am going to prepare the Slow Cooker Paleo Mini menu that just came out because that will give me 10 dinners out of the starting block that I don’t have to worry about preparing through the week.
- I am going to prepare some other meals (such as Paleo “Sausage”Ā and some simple marinades)Ā to have in the hopper as well.
- I ordered heavy from my CSA box this week in preparation for the extra fruits/vegetables I will be consuming.
- Making a meal plan for the kids thatĀ correspondsĀ but is not the same as my husband’s and my meal plan.
- Putting the grandparents on childcare standby in case mom and dad get “ugly” over the weekend.
Our meal plan for the first few days looks like this (I’ll give next week’s schedule to you on Sunday. I want to try it out for a few days first to see what we are liking and not liking):
- Thursday:Ā Bfast – Eggs, Avocados, Bacon; Lunch-Salad with Grilled Chicken, Nuts, Veggies; Dinner – Stir Fry Veggies and Beef.
- Friday: Bfast –Ā Egg Muffins, Bacon;Ā Lunch-Salad with Grilled Chicken, Nuts, Veggies; Dinner – Beef Fajita Bowls, Guacamole.
- Saturday: Breakfast – Eggs, Sweet Potato Hash; Lunch – Salad with leftover Fajita Beef, Veggies; Dinner – Grilled Ranch Burgers (no cheddar), Guacamole, Roasted Brussel Sprouts.
- Sunday: Breakfast – Omelets, Breakfast Sausage; Lunch – Stir Fry; Dinner – Buffalo Ranch Meatballs, Carrots, Celery.