The Whole 30.

So, I try to be a supportive husband.  I do so for a couple of reasons, for one – my wife puts up with me, and that shows she needs all the support she can get, and secondly, she is simply an awesome woman and I am proud to be able to support her.  So when she came to me, and suggested we do the Whole 30 diet starting January 1st, I immediately agreed. Now, I will admit, that MAYBE, I should have done some research into this before agreeing.  It wouldn’t have changed my answer however, so I suppose it’s worked out just fine the way it is.

Now we did push it off until the 2nd as our start date, because the only food we had in the house on the first – was the left over items from our in-house family New Years Celebration. It’s not like those chips were going to eat themselves you know!  We did get out and get the food required to start our new plan (By we, I mean her) and kicked it off on the 2nd.

So what is the Whole 30?  Well, I won’t lie – I’m still figuring it out myself regarding all of the specifics, but in general it is an attempt to remove any foods from your diet that might be having any potential negative impact on your health/lifestyle for 30 days.  This includes Sugar, Dairy, Grains, Legumes, and a bunch of stabilizers/additives.

While the webpage of course reads like a giant marketing page (Which it is), claims such benefits as weight loss, better sleep, more energy, and just about everything else except for raising from the dead.  Seriously, the claim diabetes cures, Rheumetoid Arthritis cures, and more.  I don’t know about all of that – but the  idea of cutting back to basic, non-chemical foods for 30 days – I don’t see how that could be a bad thing!

This of course means eating out is shot – and that the meals are now in-depth home cooking.  You can see in the picture up to the right, that my wife made a wonderful slow-roasted  roast beef on Saturday. 

Come Sunday morning, I rolled out of bed to my wife making home-made chicken sausage.. And was promptly treated to a marvelous breakfast of sausage and eggs!

(I could tell by now that this was going to be an awesome 30 days!)

Lunch (sorry no picture) on Sunday?  A nice, juicy roasted turkey breast with a marvelous fresh salad!

When my wife ground up the chicken for the sausage, she also ground up 2.5 pounds for meat balls!   Dinner was the wonderful meatballs with a Kale/Dried Cranberry/ brussel sprout/olive  oil/lemon juice salad.

Now I’m not posting the pictures just to brag (although I do love bragging about how awesome my wife is), but to show that even with the “restrictiveness” of the Whole 30 diet, the possibilities of great food – still exist, and in my limited experience so far – are more likely! (Although, your mileage may vary – depending on how awesome your spouse is.)  Good Wholesome food is tasty, and filling.  The only aspect that is easily miss-able, is the convenience..  Fortunately there are a lot of people who have done this – and they have been kind enough to post food recipes, shopping lists, and ideas for convenient snacks that are easy, and Whole 30 compliant.

No, it isn’t as easy as hitting a drive through.. Though it is much more satisfying.

As I learn more about this, I will keep you updated!