Hey Friends! So, I’ve been a little absent here… which means I’m already failing at one of my 2015 goals… but I think I have a valid excuse this time :) I’m not sure if any of you have heard of the Whole 30 Program or not but I somehow stumbled upon it and for some reason it stuck out to me. The basis of this program is to cut out all grains, dairy, added sugar/processed foods, alcohol and legumes for 30 days and see the amazing things that happen to your body and health. After 30 days you can start to reintroduce these foods back into your diet and you’ll be able to pinpoint if any of them have been having a negative impact on your health. I honestly never thought I would do something like this but I was really interested to see what Mike and I would feel like if we stopped our normal diet for a month. We didn’t eat that unhealthy… but we definitely had a lot of room for improvement. So at the beginning of this month we decided we would start the program. The last 3 weeks of my life have been researching Whole 30 approved meals, meal planning/prepping and grocery shopping. We started this past Monday, January  19th and our 30 days will be done on February 17th.

This week has been easier then I thought in certain ways but much harder then I thought in others. We’ve definitely been craving sweets, especially after dinner. That’s when I just really want to have a chocolate chip cookie! Even though the cravings are there, they have been tolerable… or at least more manageable than I expected. The hard part has been planning/prepping meals. I have been to the grocery store 3 times so far this week and have spent hours in the kitchen prepping food. There is SO much stuff that you can’t get at the grocery store because it has added sugar in it or it’s HIGHLY processed. This week I have made our own mayo, chicken bone broth , salad dressings and so much more. I even attempted to make homemade apple chips which turned out great once I put parchment paper on the cookie sheet! Don’t even ask about the first round of apple chips! I definitely should have started prepping before we started this.

For breakfast we have been having eggs with hash browns and veggies and some fruit. Mike is still able to drink coffee in the morning because he likes black coffee… me on the other hand hasn’t had coffee all week because I can’t use any sugar or creamer in it :( I’ve been surviving though. For lunches we have been eating homemade coleslaw, unsweetened applesauce with cinnamon, mason jar salads with chicken, hard boiled eggs, chicken salad and homemade larabars. For dinner I made a sweet potato chili, whole roasted chicken with yams and broccoli and a shrimp stir fry with cauliflower rice . Click HERE to view my pinterest board with most of these recipes.

I can’t believe that we aren’t even done with our first week yet! I feel like these 30 days are going to go by SO slow! This week we’ve felt pretty tired from the lack of added sugar in our diets and I had a headache the first two days. All of which they say is normal as your body goes through withdrawal from the sugar. I would suggest reading the book It Starts With Food if you are thinking about trying the program. It explains a lot of things in detail to help you get the most out of this whole experience… if you can call it that. Anyway, I’m off to plan next weeks meals and go grocery shopping for the 4th time this week. Hopefully by next Friday I can report that we are feeling much different, in a better way. Right now I’m just feeling annoyed at myself that I forced Mike and I to try this ha! Everyone says it will get better, so we will see!