Whole30 Favorite Things (sorry if I were Oprah you would all get them for free! Sorry I'm not Oprah)

In talking with friends and Instagram followers who are on whole30 we typically discuss specific food items that are compliant and helpful. Whole Foods and Trader Joes are my favorite places to shop. I have to drive about an hour to get to these stores so we go maybe once a month. These two stores are so very helpful on whole30!

Below each picture is a little about the food item and how we use it. I hope this is helpful. Please comment with your own favorites and ideas. Also other bloggers please consider a similar post as we are all in this together!!!

Skipjack Tuna from Trader Joes only 1.49 and does not contain soy as most canned tunas do. I am trying this variety for the first time but will use it like the other variety below. 

Albacore Tuna from Trader Joes. 1.69 per can and also does not contain any soy. I use this tuna for last minute meals. When a plan fails or I fail to plan I grab tuna, drain it, put it in a skillet and sprinkle with lemon pepper and almond meal. Stir and warm and it's so good with some last minute veggies. We are talking a 3 min meal here. I also use this as a pre gym snack. I'm looking forward to attempting my own mayo and tuna salad? Maybe? Any recipes?

New item to try. My mom uses canned salmon I think for compliant salmon patties I think. Chime in *here* Mom! 

This picture shows how simple these canned fish ingredient lists are. 

Almond Meal - 1 pound for 4.99. Ingredients are: almonds

What more could you ask for. I use this for sprinkling on the tuna (above) and to sprinkle or lightly coat zucchini, broccoli, and cauliflower to be baked. I also do zucchini with Chesapeake seasoning in a skillet. Oh and on chicken wings with hot sauce! It just adds texture.  This is the cheapest I've found it. 

My husband's favorite. The ingredients are : plantains. Easy as that. For when you need a to go snack or a bit of crunch. Possibly SWYPO food but it didn't bother us at all. $2+ Each if I remember correctly. 

Freeze dried fruit. Not dried fruit but FREEZE dried. It's awesome. It's purely fruit. The ingredient picture is below. It is very light. Almost like space food or marshmallow texture (lucky charms type marshmallows). A great snack. Technically the whole bag is one serving but I got like 6 servings from one bag. A nice snack for when you are hungry after work or everyone at work is eating something sweet and you need something. $2+ each

Spices are next - all Trader Joes

21 salute is amazing on pork chops. It's 21 seasonings in one. Basil goes on a lot. Curry is a favorite chicken seasoning for us. I'd like to try it with coconut milk to make a super good curry dish. 1.99 each

Purely pepper and garlic here. 1.99 each

The lemon pepper is huge for me. I use it on fish, chicken, tuna, broccoli, and everything else I can. Haha. This one has no junk. A lot of them have sugar?!?! Why would they put sugar in lemon pepper? (Lemon pepper ingredients below) 1.99 each

New spices to try this time. (1.99 ea, smoke flavor is 2 something)

Ghee from whole foods. A little goes a long way and can help make flavor more savory. Trader Joes also has ghee. 

Hallelujah!!!!... bacon with no sugar! This is the only compliant bacon I have found. It's at Whole Foods. Below you can see the ingredients listed. It's nice to have a piece with breakfast or to add to a dinner entree or into a salad. ($6 a pack so it's a treat but well worth it) my friend Melissa who introduced me to Whole30 brought me a package of this my first week on Whole30 and hung it on my classroom door and all of a sudden a light appeared in the long tunnel. Haha. 

Love these fully cooked chicken meatballs from Whole Foods (about $5). They go great on spaghetti squash with a compliant tomato sauce!

Chicken Brats from Whole Foods are a good grill food as well! Paired with some grilled veggies. Super good! 

Trader Joes almond butter. This one is my husband's favorite brand. We've tried a few. It's creamy. My husband likes to eat it with bananas and strawberries. I don't remember the price but it's cheap. 

Super simple ingredients!

A peak at my "yes" shelves in our pantry. 

I hope this post will help someone in some way. Again please share either in comments or on your own blogs or Instagram with your favorite things. 

Oh I almost forgot one! 

Our dogs eat wellness whole dog food and they love these treats from trader joes. They are only like $3 for the whole box ! I highly suggest Wellness brand food. Our dogs are very healthy with great skin and coats which is not an easy task in the yorkie world. They've eaten Wellness for about 6 years. 

Have a great whole day! 

Today is officially day 1 for my round 2. I attempted it earlier in the week and had some obstacles but here I am. Day 1!!!

Who's with me?!?

Vacation and Whole30

So I was on vacation for quite some time. About 16 days! It was so amazing. I saw family I hadn't seen in 12 years! We laughed and had so much fun! Tried new things and remembered old times too! 

Here are a few pictures! 

We did Miami (where my family is), Key West for our anniversary, also Cocoa Beach, Daytona Beach, St. Augustine, and Savannah, GA as we traveled home. 

Coconut water from the front yard!

Airboat ride in the Everglades!

Key West sunset!

South Beach

Southernmost point!

Southernmost beach

St. Augustine

On top of the fort in St. Augustine

Segway tour in Savannah GA. Super fun

Paula Deen's restaurant in Savannah!

So I didn't stick to 100% whole30 compliant eating while gone. I had many childhood favorites like my favorite Cuban restaurant Pollo Tropical. I ate a lot of seafood which isn't bad at all. Yellow rice was a downfall. Also doughnuts. I had them twice! One from a gourmet donut shop. See picture! 

The other doughnuts were Krispy Kreme. They were hot and somehow hijacked my cousin's car and got in the house. Haha. 

I had bread at a few restaurants as a treat and a few breaded foods like Aligator Tail with a jalapeño sauce! 

So good!  Past that most everything was decent choices. More cheese than usual. I did turn down sweets a few times (like ice cream once) which is actually a big deal for me but at that moment I just simply didn't want any. I find this to be a success for me in my change of habits with whole30. 

However.... On the way home I told my husband I felt as though I had been torturing myself. I would know some thing wouldn't feel great (maybe bread) and eat it anyhow. I felt unable to be totally compliant on the trip but actually wished at times I was totally compliant so that my energy level wouldn't be down so much. I took workout clothes and never worked out. I believe this was due to my decreased energy from non compliant food. 

So as I got home I was not regretful at all of my decisions. I had had improvements in my habits and decisions and had truly enjoyed some of my Florida favorites. However I was curious to weigh, measure, and get back to compliant food. 

So in 3 weeks I gained exactly 3 lbs even and gained 1.5 inches in my waist and 1.5 inches in my belly but no where else. This makes sense as that is where the inflammation is going first in my opinion. 

I was quite thrilled with these numbers. I've had people say. "I don't want to do whole30 for 30 days then gain back all the weight when I go back to my usual eating". Well. Guess what? You won't go back if you do whole30 correctly. Your habits truly change along with your mindset and cravings. 

I didn't "go back" to eating the way I did before but simply enjoyed my vacation while making decent decisions based on what I learned about how I feel when I eat terribly.

Now I've been back for 1 week. I thought if be about 6 days into another whole30 but I taught a camp this week for high school drum majors and we've had a few other things going on but tomorrow we plan to start on Day 1 again. Who's with me on this 30 day cycle? 

I'm not sure what comes after that next 30 days?

Some people say they do 80/20 but I heard someone say (maybe it was Chris Powell but I'm not sure) that that means you're eating junk 20% of the time. That's a lot. If you eat 3 meals and 2 snacks a day that means once a day your eating non compliant. This works for some people but my body demands more from me. My body wants way more. 

Some people do a cheat day but I don't like how I feel if I were to eat non compliant for a day. 

So I'm leaning toward a number of non comoliant food items to allow myself per week. Maybe 2 per week? I'd love input here. Have you tried something like this to maintain whole30 as a lifestyle? I need to read those chapters in the "It Starts with Food" book. 

I can't wait to see how I do!