Whole 30 – Week 1 – Mama Chit Chat

I love food. Cooking food, trying new food and talking about food. However almost always I have an ache afterwards.

I’ve tried different medications, had a endoscopy, taken allergy tests and more. Ultimately I was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Basically a bunch of nonsense.

After a dinner last year I decided I was done being in pain. I Googled a few things and came across Whole 30.

What is Whole 30 you ask? Whole 30 is not a diet. It centers on eliminating certain food groups such as sugar, dairy, grains, and legumes for about a month to improve health. Processed foods and alcohol are out; but, you can eat meat, seafood, eggs, fruits, vegetables, oils and healthy fats, like avocado.

The first time I did Whole 30 I successfully did 30 days, but with a few modifications. It wasn’t easy! I didn’t tell my family I was doing it. I didn’t want to spook them or think I was doing a diet. I wanted to see if removing certain food from my diet would help me feel better. And it did!! I started feeling better after 5 days. I wasn’t bloated, in pain or ill. To think some of my favorite foods was making me ill was just awful.

I was heartbroken. I love food!

I loved Whole 30 and even lost some weight, but then someone had a birthday, we made plans to check out a new restaurant in town, it was a holiday, etc. You get the point. Something was always in my way.

Then my sister’s bachelorette weekend in Mexico was coming up and I remembered how I felt (and looked) so I did it again. This time I only lasted the two weeks up to her bachelorette. Hello vacation food and cocktails!

After a painful episode last December I deiced on the first day of the year I was going to commit to my health and do another round.

This time I talked it over with my family, read books (thanks Whit!), saved recipes, shopped for food, prepped and did my research.

The first week was hard! Like real hard. I so miss my morning (and sometimes afternoon) coffee with milk and brown sugar. But I decided to stick to the plan, so I haven’t been drinking coffee, because coffee with almond milk is just plain nasty.

After completing the hard week I thought it was best to remind my self of all the yummy recipes we tried and liked.

Here are some of my favorite recipes from Week 1.

Southern breakfast bowl http://thedoitallmama.com/2016/05/whole-30-southwestern-breakfast-bowl.html