Let me just preface this post by saying that The Whole30 is not easy.  Doing a complete overhaul of my diet was hard.  Altering my mindset and learning to eat a whole new way was hard, but what wasn’t as hard as I thought was the meal prep involved.

After reading through what the Whole30 entailed, I felt completely overwhelmed.  I looked at gorgeous pictures of Paleo-friendly recipes online, and questioned whether I had it in me to keep up with it.  I knew I needed a good game plan to help me stick it out.  Elaborate meals and fancy, expensive ingredients weren’t exactly giving me the mojo I needed to “fight the good fight.”  Pre-cooking most things was key in helping me stick to the Whole30 without burning out.

This was my process:

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  • Spend a weekend afternoon, or weeknight (after the kids go to bed) to cook.  This upfront time spent cooking (about 2 hours) saved me time cooking and cleaning in the long run because I hardly cooked during the week!  My favorite time-savers included pre-washed and bagged veggies, and a mandolin.
  • Use the steam-saute method.  Basically, this is just throwing washed veggies in a pan, and covering it so that the steam will make them soft and tender.  That link tells you not to cook your veggies all the way, but I do.  I laid out all the vegetables I wanted to use, washed and cut them accordingly, then steamed-sauteed them in my wok (or any high-edged cooking pan) with ghee, salt, and pepper.
  • Put everything in separate tupperware containers.  Some veggie inspiration – Bagged spinach, mandolin sliced zucchini, pre-cut mushrooms, shredded brussels sprouts, bell peppers, cabbage, eggplant… seriously, the possibilities are endless.  Once I finished cooking my veggies I put each of them in separate tupperware containers.  I just cooked them one right after another, using the same wok.  It made life easier not having to pull out a gazillion gadgets just to get some food on the table.  It’s nice having a vegetable side dish at your disposal all the time.  That way, all you have to do is focus on a protein for most meals.
  • Stir fry some ground beef and/or turkey in the same wok.  I liked to stir fry my ground meat with onions and garlic, then season with salt and pepper.  Put all the meat in a separate tupperware container.

Now I have the components of a yummy Whole30 approved meal at my fingertips at any given time.  I often ate a ground beef bowl topped with a number of veggies (already cooked of course), then let the microwave do the work.  To really bring the dish together I’d top it with a fried egg and sliced avocados.  There you go – quality protein, good fats, and hearty vegetables ready for you in the span of 5 minutes.

And really, you don’t even need to spend 2 hours on a Sunday afternoon doing all this.  You can just pick 1-2 vegetables and cook up a big batch, as well as some meat to go along with it.  That’ll take at most 30 minutes.  Then during the weekday, when the mood strikes… follow the same process again, just making sure you never let yourself run out of ready to eat meats and veggies.  Doesn’t this sound so much more appealing than cooking and cleaning every night?

Foods I always have around:
  • Mason Jar Salads – I made these based on Mrs. Deer’s post, and they make for such convenient, healthy lunches!
  • Defrosted protein – Most anything can be tossed into a stir fry with lots of veggies, or baked in the oven for a simple meal.
  • Roasted sweet potatoes (baked at 400 degrees for ~45 min) – In Asian culture, it’s really popular to eat roasted sweet potatoes whole or sliced for breakfast or as a snack.
  • Boiled eggs – As an on-the-go breakfast, snack, or to toss into a variety of dishes.
  • Soup on the stove – It’s Fall, and the many varieties of squashes are all so delicious that you don’t need much more than some onions, water, and seasoning to doctor it up!  Favorites in our home include: kabocha squash, butternut squash, and cauliflower leek soups.
  • Nuts and avocados – As snacks.  I like to eat avocados as-is with a spoon.  So creamy, delicious, and keeps me satiated!
  • Cauliflower – the single most versatile vegetable out there!  I like dumping it in my food processor to make “cauliflower rice,” so whenever the mood strikes me, I use a number of mish mashed ingredients to make “cauliflower fried rice.”
For the most part, I didn’t snack too much because my meals were pretty filling.  I didn’t count calories, but controlled portion sizes, and tried not to over think what I ate.  As long as it was unprocessed and natural I ate it.  I did get cravings for sweets, but biting into a juicy, in-season Honey Crisp apple or noshing on some frozen grapes really helped with that.
I came out of this with three things that really surprised me:

– The first, is that cooking the Paleo way actually isn’t as overwhelming, scary, or time consuming as I thought it’d be.  In fact, it streamlined my life in so many ways.  Limiting my diet to protein, fresh produce, and good fats made decisions easier.  It also made me more comfortable experimenting with lots of different spices without reserve.

– The second, is that I thought the hardest food groups for me to give up would be dairy and sugar, but the one food group that nearly made me give into temptation was soy!!  Asians eat a ton of soy-based foods, and I was really yearning for my mother-in-law’s homemade soups and stews.  Soy sauce and tofu, I miss you.

– The third, is that I didn’t know that garlic salt had sooo many ingredients!  Luckily I double checked before I tried seasoning my food with it, but the list is long and terrible.  Lesson learned – always double-check the ingredients list no matter how harmless the food seems.

Going on the Whole30 has been such an eye-opener for me.  I am learning so much about myself, my body, and the subtle ways that the food industry sneaks nasty ingredients and chemicals into seemingly harmless foods. This is my first Whole30 experience, but I know it won’t be my last.

Going into this, I wasn’t sure what I wanted out of it at the end.  I started this as an experiment to see if it would help with my health problems, and it’s exceeded my expectations.  I haven’t felt this good in a long time.  My vegetable consumption has gone through the roof.  I’m mindful, but not obsessed with my food.  Post-Whole30, I plan to continue to eat mostly Paleo (less strict than the Whole30), with exceptions here and there.  I know I can never fully give up soy, but I don’t think I’ll miss the dairy or the grains.  I can take or leave legumes without a second thought (except at Chipotle!  Yum).  Sugar will be a rare treat.  I was a skeptic when I started this, but I’m a believer now, and I’m not going back to my old way of life when I’ve tasted how good a healthy body can feel.

Did you ever start a new venture that seemed more daunting than it turned out to be?  Do you have any tips or tricks up your sleeve to make healthy eating easier for you?

Paleo! part 4 of 7

1. Paleo Baby! by Kristin @ Paleo Plus One
2. Whole30 Adventure - Part I by Mrs. Deer
3. My Whole30 Experience (So Far...) by Mrs. High Heels
4. The Whole30 Made Easy by Mrs. High Heels
5. Toddler Paleo Lunches by Kristin @ Paleo Plus One
6. The Wonderful Pressure Cooker by Kristin @ Paleo Plus One
7. Changing the Way We Eat by Mrs. Bee

The Whole30 Experience part 4 of 7

1. Whole30 Adventure - Part I by Mrs. Deer
2. Whole30 Adventure - Part II by Mrs. Deer
3. My Whole30 Experience (So Far...) by Mrs. High Heels
4. The Whole30 Made Easy by Mrs. High Heels
5. Pre-made Paleo: A Whole 30 Meal Delivery Service by Mrs. Bee
6. Swarm: Whole30 by Swarm
7. My Essentials For Surviving Whole30 by Mrs. Bee