Hello from the “other side” of Whole30. I am currently on Day 17 and officially have less in front of me than behind me! Feels good.

Before I get started with my recap of days 13-16, I wanted to address the topic of “a perfect Whole30.”

On day 3 of Whole30, I inadvertently went off-plan by adding corn to my crockpot salsa chicken. I somehow missed the memo that corn in all forms is prohibited on the program and thought that fresh corn was okay. A reader pointed out to me that it was no allowed when I posted my day 1-4 recap on day 5. I spent all day wondering whether or not this warranted a restart. I googled “accidentally ate corn on Whole30” and the answer to accidentally eating anything from the Whole30 gurus was generally to restart. Honestly, I was pretty crushed to think that after five strong days that I needed to start over again.

Later that night, I was reading the labels of some of the Yogi Teas (Bedtime and Kava Stress Relief) that I drink and noticed they had stevia leaf in them…off-program. Two nights later, I was taking my skin/nails/hair supplement and noticed it had carrageenan in it…off-program. I went to my favorite bakery and had an almond milk latte. I read the ingredients first and was delighted to find it was unsweetened almond milk with no off-limits ingredients but then some reading on the Whole30 forums basically bashed any store bought almond milk because it’s so processed and watered down. (I can honestly appreciate this now that I’ve been making my own but it definitely took the wind out of my latte sails.)

I have a tendency to be a little hard on myself and I came to the realization that trying to achieve a perfect Whole30 was a) nearly impossible and b) not the best thing for me. Don’t get me wrong, I think saying “screw Whole30, I’m having a cheeseburger” warrants a restart but small, accidental slip ups are going to be okay in my book. I’m doing my best and that’s all I have to give!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!

Here’s the recap of days 13-16.

DAY 13

We left West Virginia on the morning of Day 13. We stayed at the Hampton in and the options on the breakfast bar were pretty abysmal. I asked about the ingredients in the scrambled eggs and discovered that they not only came frozen and pre-cooked but included around 15 different ingredients including dairy and soy. The remainder of the breakfast options featured things like waffles, french toast, cereal, sweetened yogurt, bagels, toast and muffins. I found some hard-boiled eggs and used what I had packed to round it out with a banana, almond butter, chia seeds, cinnamon and raisins.

Lunch at the Cafe at Y2 when we got back to Charlotte was a salad with arugula, apples, avocado, beets, pumpkin seeds and chicken. Dressed with olive oil and balsamic.

I treated my parents to dinner at Rooster’s. In the grand scheme of things, it’s a pretty Whole30 friendly restaurant. They source almost everything locally and seasonally and the food is simply but well prepared. The duck breast is one of my favorite things on the menu. I asked our server if it came with any kind of sauce. She told me it was a “duck jus” and I just went with it. Do I think there may have been some wine or butter in this jus? Yes. Did I stress about it? No.

On the side we had braised spaghetti squash and roasted brussels sprouts.

I have to admit that watching my mom and dad enjoy dessert was the hardest moment I’ve had yet on Whole30. Dessert is like my mom and I’s THING! I was so sad not to share this amazing coconut cake with her. I glared at them (kidding) from behind my cup of coffee.

I was super grateful for a wonderful meal out with my family!

DAY 14

Ch-ch-ch-chia! (Recipe for chia pudding here.)

Obsessed with this salad combo. Maybe the best one yet of Whole30. Arugula blend, avocado, cucumbers, radishes, carrots, celery, tomatoes and canned pink salmon. Dressed with olive oil and balsamic.

Dinner via the crockpot. I did two chicken breasts with half a can of coconut milk (full fat), chicken stock, lemons, mushrooms, artichokes and some herbs. It was pretty good but not share-worthy yet.

Served with roasted brussels and herb-roasted potatoes.

DAY 15

Another day, another bowl of chia pudding.

Butternut, apple and sweet potato soup from the Cafe at Y2.

And a salad from the cafe that had arugula, purple cabbage, avocado, beets, pumpkin seeds, apples and hard-boiled egg. Balsamic and olive oil for dressing.

Random dinner creation of sauteed chicken, white asparagus, eggplant, mushrooms, napa cabbage, spinach and water chestnuts with coconut milk, chicken broth, green curry paste and coconut aminos. We normally would have had something like this over rice but kind of ate it like a soup/stew instead. We ended up eating the entire skillet of curry that I made!

Saturday night “dessert” for us to share was sliced bananas with raisins, almond butter, cacao nibs, coconut and cocoa powder.

DAY 16

Chia and coffee. I used coconut milk instead of almond milk in the chia pudding (from the can) and topped it with Trader Joe’s salted almond butter (so good), blueberries and frozen raspberries.

Lunch was two scrambled eggs, sauteed spinach and tomatoes, avocado and smoked salmon.

Dinner was a seared tuna steak with a lemon pepper butter sauce, roasted herb potatoes and broccoli.

I’ll skip the “how I’m feeling” this time around since I wrote an essay at the beginning of this post. I will give you a good update next time for days 17-20! Home stretch! 🙂

What are your feelings on a “perfect” Whole30?

Fellow Whole30ers…check-in! How are you feeling?

More Whole30:

I’m Doing My First Whoel30
Recent Eats: My First Whole30 Days 1-4
Recent Eats: My First Whole30 Days 5-8
Recent Eats: My First Whole30 Days 9-12