Well, there comes a time when I feel like I hit a wall health wise, and I can just feel that my body needs a break and needs a reset…meaning that I need to reprogram the way my body is processing food and give it an opportunity to function the way it was designed, by giving it the right foods to balance everything out and get it working more efficiently…in essence, to give it a break from processing so much sugar and junk!
Jacob and I have been talking about doing another round of Whole30 for a while now, but I just couldn’t bring myself to commit to the meals/prepping/planning involved…it really does require more mental and physical energy!
But, after the stress of the holidays and other things going on, I just felt like I couldn’t take anymore and my body needed some help to feel good again. I read somewhere recently that the food you put into your body basically tells your DNA what to do, so I kept thinking, what message am I sending my body? It really started making me realize that I just needed to back up and start making better choices again.
It has been a couple of years since we have done a round of Whole30, so I had to go back and look at a lot of my informational posts! They are under my Food tab, but I will link them here as well for easy access! There are also meal plans for 3 other rounds we have done if you are interested!
Whole30 Series – Information and Meal Plans
Whole30 – Information & Introduction
Whole30 – Getting Ready
Whole30 Basics
It always helps me to meal plan when we do Whole30s, and I have found over the years that many friends have benefited from having a place to go and look for ideas, so I plan do keep this post stuck to the top of my blog for this month. I will come back and update or change things as we go along, but I just thought I would include the whole month in one place this time. So let’s get going! Good luck to you all!
Update: Well, I wouldn’t have expected this to have happened, but this is the first time I haven’t been able to finish out my Whole30! Devastating, I know hah! We had a few different things going on personally this month, I think being a busy mom I got dehydrated during my second week and something got off, whether it be electrolytes, sodium or potassium, and I started having heart palpitations/irregular heartbeats. I kept trying to push through but they were not going away, so I cut out some of the restrictions, chugged a few Liquid IV drinks and went to the doctor. A week later I am feeling better, my EKG showed that my heart was having premature ventricle contractions, so we had some more tests ran and I am waiting back to hear on that.
I chalk it up to cutting out processed foods and not drinking enough water, being a busy mom, I’m praying that it’s not anything more than that. If I’ve learned anything from this month, it’s that I have to prioritize my health better and really get serious about making better choices, getting more sleep and having daily activity. I’m trying to rest a lot right now and listen to my body, and right now my goal is to eat Whole30 when I can, so I will keep posting some meal ideas here to finish out the month. My thought as always is just to do the best you can, seek out help when you need it, and be kind to yourself.
Meal Plans
| Whole30 | Date | Day | Menu |
| 1 | Jan. 11 | Mon. | Plantain Rice Taco Bowls |
| 2 | Jan. 12 | Tues. | Zuppa Toscana |
| 3 | Jan. 13 | Wed. | Leftovers for dinner, Chicken Salad for lunches |
| 4 | Jan. 14 | Thurs. | One Pan Steak Bites and Sweet Potatoes |
| 5 | Jan. 15 | Fri. | Grilled Chicken – Just season and grill, Roasted Veggies – Squash/Zucchini, Baked Potato Bites |
| 6 | Jan. 16 | Sat. | Clean out the fridge! Leftovers! |
| 7 | Jan. 17 | Sun. | Miranda’s Pot Roast, Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans (canned, sea salt, pepper, chopped onion, cut bacon) |
| 8 | Jan. 18 | Mon. | Leftover Roast |
| 9 | Jan. 19 | Tues. | Spicy Fish Tacos (with plantains instead of tacos) |
| 10 | Jan. 20 | Wed. | Sweet potato and bacon fritters with fried eggs |
| 11 | Jan. 21 | Thurs. | Sloppy Joe Bowls |
| 12 | Jan. 22 | Fri. | Sausage, Potatoes, roasted broccoli, aioli sauce |
| 13 | Jan. 23 | Sat. | Grill Burgers, homemade pickles |
| 14 | Jan. 24 | Sun. | Eating Out for Lunch Sandwich Lettuce Wraps for Dinner |
| 15 | Jan. 25 | Mon. | Leftover Burgers |
| 16 | Jan. 26 | Tues. | Apple Cider Pulled Pork, Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Fresh and Crunchy Coleslaw |
| 17 | Jan. 27 | Wed. | Leftovers |
| 18 | Jan. 28 | Thurs. | Pizza Pie Casserole |
| 19 | Jan. 29 | Fri. | Leftovers |
| 20 | Jan. 30 | Sat. | Grilled Chicken – Just season and grill, Roasted Veggies – Squash/Zucchini, Baked Potato Bites |
| 21 | Jan. 31 | Sun. | BBQ Chicken Lettuce Wraps |
| 22 | Feb. 1 | Mon. | Jambalaya |
| 23 | Feb. 2 | Tues. | Leftovers |
| 24 | Feb. 3 | Wed. | Asian Lettuce Wraps |
| 25 | Feb. 4 | Thurs. | Easy Skillet Parmesan, (leave off the cheese) Caesar Salad (Primal Kitchen and Tessamae make a great dressing!) |
| 26 | Feb. 5 | Fri. | https://www.paleonewbie.com/paleo-potato-bacon-pancake/ |
| 27 | Feb. 6 | Sat. | Cauli Shrimp Fried Rice |
| 28 | Feb. 7 | Sun. | Leftovers |
| 29 | Feb. 8 | Mon. | Hawaiian Shredded Chicken Wraps |
| 30 | Feb. 9 | Tues. | Pork Carnitas, Ashley’s Pico de Gallo |
As you can see, we eat leftovers a lot. I almost always try to make enough in one meal for two, because cooking every night is the easiest way to get burnt out. I’m currently working on some posts regarding breakfast, lunch and snacks, which I will try to link here once I’m done.
I also found this graphic that I thought could be helpful as well. The only thing I will say about it though, is that a big part of doing a Whole30 is to change your mental habits as well as your physical eating habits, so personally I would ignore the “sweets” section at the bottom. You want to try and work on not rewarding yourself with a sweet treat kind of thing and break that habit if you can. It’s probably what I struggle with personally the most!
Once completing a whole30, make sure to look into reintroducing foods back into your day to day diet. One of the most beneficial things about doing a Whole30, is that it helps you identify what your body is sensitive to, what it has a hard time processing, or what “hurts it” so to say. Take your time with this part, it is important to pay attention to you feel when you eat certain foods, and then you can make personal decisions on if it is worth it to eat those items or not.
I hope this has all been helpful, good luck in your food making decisions! I hope that your month of eating well went better than mine haha! Maybe next time!
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