Wow…three weeks down for Whole30!
How am I feeling?
Really good! My digestive system is happy and my energy levels are really good. I haven’t noticed a change in my sleep habits at all though as I wouldn’t say that I’m sleeping more soundly. My workouts all went really well this week.
What has been tough?
I had a bit of a tough time finding recipes to put on our meal plan this week. Some dishes looked delicious but required chicken broth and I haven’t been able to find sugar free broth here. Or otherwise they looked too time consuming to make for a weeknight meal. Not to worry though, I did find several new recipes to try that should be simple and hopefully delicious.
Let’s not forget I got a little bit overwhelmed with just how much time meal prep was taking last Sunday, but it is starting to come together now. The key to fitting in all of my training and eating healthfully requires preparation and planning!
Solving my food aversion dilemma…
Last week I had developed some weird aversions to my usual breakfast of eggs and veggies. To try something new I put together a few breakfast bowls with the most unusual combo of breakfast ingredients ever (to me at least). Roast chicken, roasted butternut squash or sweet potatoes, spinach, toasted hazelnuts, shredded coconut and a splash of coconut milk. Boy this is yummy! It helps to keep me full through the morning and I feel well fuelled for my lunchtime workouts. I found the recipe here.
Luckily no other food aversions this week!
Solving my post-workout snack dilemma.
I attempted to do a little research to figure out why even though Larabars are Whole30 compliant (several varieties contain just dates and nuts) they aren’t recommended. I gather there is a concern that you’ll want to eat them like candy bars and the general advice is to limit dates because of how sweet they are. After all, we are trying to get past sugar cravings on Whole30. I definitely don’t want to eat them like candy bars, I just want a simple and portable snack that I can eat within a 30 minute window after my workout is over to help fuel my recovery. I decided to give in and just pick up some Larabars. FYI, the cashew flavour (just dates and cashews) is tremendously delicious!
(post swim with a hot tea and a coconut cream pie Larabar…happy Leana!)
What am I amazed by?
I can’t believe how quickly we are going through vegetables. We had to make a trip to Costco a few days early as we were running low on a few things. Thank goodness for Costco and their inexpensive and great quality vegetables!
(tomatoes, broccoli, zucchini, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, kale salad mix…oh my!)
What about other changes?
Last week I mentioned that I had to go buy new bras because all of my old bras were suddenly too large! This week I noticed that my pants are fitting on the looser side. Today I dug in the back of my closet where I had stashed a couple of old pairs of Editor pants from Express. Those pants haven’t fit since 2010 (and happily they still sell the same pants)! It feels really good to see these changes as I’ve really struggled to lose the weight that I had gained after my first Ironman in 2010.
What did we make this week that was delicious?
We had a few “meh” recipes this week, but one of our successes were these pineapple meatballs. We made a sauce to go with the meatballs that helped to bring the dish together. We took a touch of pineapple juice that our pineapple was canned in, added coconut milk and some yellow curry paste. The heat and spice from the curry paste really complemented the meatballs.
We also made one of my favourite dishes from when I lived in Indonesia, rendang. Rendang is a slow cooked beef and coconut milk dish full of spices. I’m happy to say that our rendang tasted delicious! I can’t wait to make this dish more often. It has been something I’ve thought about making for some time now and realizing we could make the dish Whole30 compliant was a great motivator. I was able to find all of the spices we needed at T&T Supermarket here in Calgary.
So here we go…it feels like we are on the home stretch of Whole30 now!
So funny, I totally started eating what is thought of more as lunch for breakfast for awhile and really loved it. I’m off that kick at the moment, but will probably go back as my miles ramp up more!
I know post is about whole foods an veggies…but honestly….coconut cream pie Larabar?????? i want me some of THAT!!!! hahaha. the cauliflower looks good too tho! 🙂
I still have Editor pants… from 2001. LOL. I think I refuse to buy a new pair because they’d have to be a bigger size. These have grown with me over the years… Yep, still wear em. Guess at least they’re worth the $50! (or whatever price they are now)
I think a Larabar as a quick post-workout snack is totally allowable. That “rule” will keep you from eating them like candy bars. You’ve been really dedicated to the Whole 30! It’s not easy!