While hiking three miles Saturday morning at Island Ford on the Chattahoochee River, I was contemplating what I was going to eat for the next thirty days, or rather what foods I would be giving up. I seriously wondered if I could do without donuts, cookies, pies, ice cream, cheese, milk, pasta, brown rice, wine of all flavors and Grey Goose Vodka. This sounded more and more like a horrible idea, but if I could reset my metabolism and have a healthier body, then I was willing to try this crazy diet one day at a time.
I had read every word of the Whole30 website and Amazon was delivering the book to me today. However, I had already committed to trying the diet even though I did not have all of the details in hand. OK, so I finish with the hike, drive home, take a shower and I'm ready for breakfast, not. Well, let's see, no oatmeal, no granola, no cheese toast. What am I going to eat?
The reason I include this Whole30 journey in my Tony's Return to his Vegetarian Roots Blog is for two reasons. One - vegetables are the star of this show and Two - I am really getting in touch with food, cooking and tasting each ingredient while coming off of my sugar, grain and dairy addiction.
Whole30 - No Grains, No Dairy, No Legumes, No Alcohol for 30 Days
Day 1 - Saturday
Breakfast
I scrambled 2 free-range eggs in olive oil, baked a sweet potato and peeled a mango. I also brewed a cup of Rooiboos that I brought back from South Africa. I even drank a glass of spring water.
So far so good! I was in full compliance with Whole30! Kind of...
I kept kidding my wife that I probably would not make it 10 minutes on the diet without messing up. Be careful what you say, because it can come to fruition. I worked so hard to get started on the right foot. I woke up at 5:45 that morning, came down stairs to take my vitamins, popped a chewable vitamin B, crunched it and swallowed. I went, that tasted way too good, and sure enough, it had sugar in it. So Whole30 says when you mess up, you start over. Luckily I was starting over at the same time I started so no foul no harm, right?
I had late morning nap after waking up so early. When I woke up, my Whole30 bible was in the mailbox. I quickly searched through it to try and come up with a grocery list so I could have lunch which at that point was quickly turning into dinner. Before I set out for a trip to a new Sprouts, I ate a couple of spoonfuls of cashew butter since peanuts are not allowed. You can eat cashews or a few almonds which are not rated quite as high as cashews. Seeds and other nuts are lower on the totem pole but ok to eat. I think walnuts, hazelnuts and macadamias are pretty healthy for you and authorized on the diet.As I shopped the produce department at sprouts, I picked out carrots, cauliflower, vidalias, spring onions, red leaf kale, mushrooms, butternut squash, parsley, coconut milk, coconut water, celery, cucumbers, zucchini, lemongrass, avocados, grapes, apples and an assortment of dried herbs and spices. I also bought some coconut oil, chicken stock and ghee. These are all of the foods I ate for the next six days. I also added some chicken, salmon and a few other delicious foods during the week.
I had a grilled chicken breast for dinner along with a handful of grapes and called it a night. I was full and thought, wow, this diet is going to be a breeze.
Day 2 - Sunday - Loving life!
Breakfast
I made kitchen sink scrambled eggs - red kale sautéed with vidalia onion, mushrooms, avocado and a little sea salt with pepper. It was delicious.
Lunch
Even better, I made no-fuss salmon cakes with salmon of course, sweet potatoes, an egg, almond flour, parsley, dill, paprika, black pepper and paprika sautéed in coconut oil.
Dinner
I ate leftover salmon patties and some cashew butter.
So far, so good, easy enough.
Day 3 - Monday - A bit of a hangover feeling!
I woke up with what felt like a little hangover. This was the beginning of sugar withdrawal probably.
Breakfast - Thai coconut soup, chicken broth, lemongrass, ginger, shallot, jalapeños, limes, chicken breast, mushrooms, red bell pepper, carrot and coconut milk. After cutting up the fresh ginger and putting it in the chicken broth with the limes, lemongrass and jalapeños, the infusions of the exotic scents were intoxicating.
I stood over the pot and had an aromatherapy experience that took me back to the aromas of Bangkok. When I poured the coconut milk in, it was like this creation that materialized in this majestical way. Needless to say, I am totally getting off on the new food experience.
Lunch -Chicken breast
Dinner - More thai coconut soup.
Day 4 - Tuesday - Slight headache, a little cloudy!
Breakfast - I made another egg scramble with red peppers, vidalia, mushrooms. dee-lish.
Lunch/Dinner - Butternut squash with red kale cooked in coconut butter.
Day 5 - Wednesday - Horrible headache!
Breakfast - Butternut squash soup. Onion and squash cooked in coconut oil, with garlic and ginger, chicken broth, salt, pepper whizzed up in a food processor. This was absolutely amazing and was sweet enough for breakfast.
Lunch - Sockeye salmon caught in the wild baked with dill and lemon along with a sweet potato with nothing on it. I am actually starting to enjoy these without the butter that I have put on them my entire life. After a few days your taste buds begin to appreciate the little subtle tastes of each bite of food you eat.
Dinner - I finished the butternut soup, had about 6 red grapes and a spoonful of cashew butter.
Day 6 - Thursday - Feeling rough, have had this headache for over two days now.
Breakfast /Lunch- I made this incredible chicken curry with chicken stock, curry, cumin, onions, ginger and coconut milk that I poured over spaghetti squash. The spaghetti squash was fun to cook and hard to cut in half. You score it with a paring knife and then use a sharp larger knife to cut it lengthwise, remove the seeds and drizzle with olive oil, place it flesh-side down on a cookie sheet that has been coated with coconut oil and cook for an hour. I ate half of the squash with chicken curry on it for breakfast and the other half for dinner.They say that on Day 6 that you begin to want to eat everything in sight. I did have hearty meals on this day.
Dinner - Cauliflower rice with a grilled chicken breast that had an apple cider, ginger, orange reduction sauce on top. Cauliflower with carrot, garlic, parsley, chicken broth. This is the first time I riced cauliflower in a cuisinart and it was so cool watching the florets turn into rice. I also had the pleasure of using ghee for the first time. Ghee is used in Indian cooking and is a clarified butter that is heavenly. This was also the first butter I had tasted in almost a week. Butter is not allowed on Whole30 but ghee or clarified butter is because the milk solids have been removed and then you have pure butter that is smooth and looks a bit like yellow vaseline but much nicer.
Day 7 - Friday - Feeling better, a little more energy, a little less hung over.
Breakfast - Free range scrambled eggs with green onion, parsley and avocado with a glass of spring water.
Lunch - Wild caught sockeye salmon and cauliflower rice
So I have broken one of the cardinal Whole30 rules, but hey I am not always a rule follower for those who know me. They ask you not to weigh or measure yourself during the program. To this day I have not eaten cheese, yogurt, milk, butter, peanut butter, pancakes, waffles, bread, rolls, pasta of any type, pizza, cookies, pastries, croissants, jelly, cinnamon rolls, brownies or ice cream and I have not consumed a sip of Coca-cola, Grey Goose, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or Cabernet. But I have stepped on the scales and feel that I am aware enough to not allow that to rule whether I continue on the diet or not. I am very happy to announce that I have lost six and a half pounds during my first six days of eating Whole30 Food Freedom, as they call it. It is not a diet, it is the 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom.
