Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend. I’m skipping the weekend recap in favor of sharing Whole30 days 5-8 with you (read about my decision to do Whole30 in this post). We started our 200-hour yoga teacher training over the weekend so my weekend pretty much looked like teaching yoga, talking about yoga and practicing yoga. And with Whole30 it’s a little hard to go out so we have mostly been staying in for meals.

One of my goals for Whole30 is not to repeat meals, especially with lunch and dinner. I’m trying to mix things up to a) keep me interested and b) give you guys ideas. I gave up on trying to switch up breakfast once I discovered chia pudding. Y’all…I just can’t with eggs first thing in the morning. No matter how hard I try, they are just palatable to me at 7 a.m. Give them to me after 10 a.m. and I’m all about it but I can’t wake up to them. I don’t know why. Chia pudding has been a lifesaver!

Also, I’ve been making my own almond milk and I LOVE IT! It tastes amazing and it’s so creamy. It’s also pretty simple and only takes about 5 minutes (plus soaking overnight).

Whether or not you’re doing Whole30 this month, I have a ton of clean and healthy eating ideas and inspiration for you in this post. Scroll to the end for a recap of how I felt day 4-8 of Whole30.

(Catch up on Days 1-4 in this post.)

DAY 5

Scrambled egg “tacos” in lacinto kale with avocado and salsa. Berries on the side.

Leftover shredded chicken with a mixed greens salad dressed with Tessamae’s Caesar and a baked sweet potato with ghee, kosher salt and cinnamon.

Balsamic rosemary salmon with roasted brussels sprouts and acorn squash.

DAY 6

Chia pudding topped with almond butter and berries.

My first meal out on Whole30! I met a friend at Crisp for lunch. I asked what they cooked their grilled meats in and they said soybean oil so I skipped the grilled proteins in favor of hard boiled eggs. This salad had spinach, mixed greens, eggs, cucumber, walnuts, artichoke hearts and pears. I had it tossed in olive oil and balsamic.

We loved this dinner! I sauteed shrimp and cherry tomatoes in Dizzy Pig’s Fajita-ish Rub and served it over zoodles and topped it with guacamole.

DAY 7

Chia pudding made with mashed banana and homemade almond milk topped with bananas, berries and sunflower seed butter.

Lunch was a salad with a pan seared chicken breast that I seasoned with a chili powder blend with avocado, olive oil and balsamic. Sweet potato on the side with ghee, kosher salt and cinnamon.

We had teacher training until 9 p.m. so I made a big pot of crockpot beef stew with the leftover roast from earlier in the week. I didn’t use a recipe but into the crockpot went roast, carrots, mushrooms, celery, potatoes, a can of fire roasted tomatoes, garlic, onions and broth. It turned out so well!

DAY 8

I told you I’m stuck on chia pudding for breakfast. Haha. Same thing, different day!

Lunch was a salad with spinach, chicken breast, pears, almonds, radishes and avocado and dressed with olive oil and balsamic.

We had dinner at a friend’s house for a visiting yoga teacher. Luckily, her husband is also on Whole30 with us so we had tons of options. Between the meat eaters, Whole30s, vegans and vegetarians, my poor friend had to make like four variations of these soups! High maintenance crowd, huh? I had a bowl of bean-less chicken tomato chili topped with avocado and a bowl of the soup on the right, which was potatoes, cauliflower, leek and escarole. Really yummy!

I have really tried to follow the Whole30 guidelines of not making dessert-type creations but on Saturday after a long day of training and teaching, I said “F-IT!” and when I got home from dinner I made a little plate of banana slices topped with almond butter and dates. I have been trying to eat dates in moderation because they are SO sweet and I’m really trying to break that “gotta have something sweet” thing. Most nights we have a bowl of berries for something sweet after dinner.

SNACKS

Still doing the apple and nut butter thing most days, but not all days.

HOW I FEEL

• Overall, GREAT!
• I’m having a hard time winding down at night. I still feel full of energy at 10:30 p.m. when I should be winding down. I’m trying to have a cup of hot tea every night and then read in bed to signal that it is sleep time. Sleep is still hit or miss. Some good nights, some toss and turn nights. I’ve also had some night sweats, which is normal for me but never fun.
• Waking up in the morning is getting easier and easier!
• I’m sure you’re interested in an update on my skin…sadly…no improvement yet.
• Digestion feels really great. One of my favorite things about Whole30 is that I never feel bloated after eating.
• No crazy hunger between meals. I’m hungry for meals when it’s meal time but I always feel satiated after eating and my meals hold me over. I credit this to really focusing on making sure I’m getting good fats in with all meals and eating balanced meals.
• I got my monthly cycle during days 4-8 and it was the first time in over a year that I didn’t have to take anything for my cramps. Usually I’m doubled over, nauseous and miserable for the first day unless I take some ibuprofen. I don’t know if this was Whole30 related or not but I have to believe it was?
• I feel super hydrated. Something about Whole30 is encouraging me to drink a ton. I feel like all day I am either drinking coffee, water, hot tea or kombucha. I probably have 3-4 cups of tea a day.
• Related, the peeing constantly thing did level out, thank god!
• We had quite a few people in our group fall off the wagon days 4-8. According to the Whole30 timeline, it’s pretty normal to feel pretty blah during this time and several jumped ship. I feel lucky that I have felt really good throughout this whole thing and that my energy for workouts and daily activities has been normal if not higher than normal.
• While energy has been good, I did feel super emotional around days 5-6.
• I’m committed to finishing the program. It really hasn’t been that hard to make this my new day-to-day. I just feel SO lucky that I work from home most of the time. I think this would be extremely hard to do if I had to prep a ton of food to take to work or if I traveled for work. I’ll be traveling for the first time this week (two trips during Whole30) so we’ll see how it goes. It’s just an overnight trip so I’m planning to pack some staples.

As always, let me know if you have questions. I’m happy to answer!

Fellow Whole30-ers, how’s it going?

What’s your favorite healthy “dessert” that’s not really a dessert? I’m thinking maybe some baked apples or pears this week?

Does anyone have breakfast ideas for me as a Whole30, early morning egg averse person? Should I just get over it and eat it anyway?