Well, it's been a minute since I last posted. I figured you had your fill of my cooking adventures, but for the past week, I've been doing a round of the Whole 30, which has both challenged me in the food/cooking department and made me focus much more intently on food and meal planning. What is Whole 30? It's a 30 day dietary reset of sorts that eliminates foods that either tend to irritate people (gluten, dairy, soy, additives) and/or that create cravings (sugar, booze). At the end of 30 days you reintroduce each category one by one to see how your body reacts both physically and mentally. On a practical level it means that you are eating meat, seafood, eggs, veggies, fruit, nuts, and healthy fats like olive oil, and avocado. And coffee is allowed, thankfully! For me, I've gotten into some less than healthy eating habits during the pandemic and wanted to reset.

That said, the Whole30 is extreme. It doesn't allow legumes (beans) or grains, and between that and the other restrictions it is NOT intended to be a forever shift in your eating. And given how much I LOVE food, it is not something that would ever be sustainable. I'm looking at it as an experiment and a challenge, and it's definitely easier to do now, during the pandemic, when I'm not going out and have no social or professional obligations that involve food/drink. 

Lessons learned so far: 1) If I had to do this during normal times, it would involve a massive amount of weekend meal prep to keep up. Even now, I'm prepping stuff constantly to ensure that I'm meeting meal guidelines (protein, veggies, plated healthy fat); 2) I am blowing through produce like a maniac, which is no doubt good for me; 3) I'm sort of enjoying the challenge of cooking this way, but I'm already really missing some of my favorite foods, and I'm only on day 9; and 4) I can't decide if, given the state of the world, this was an ideal time to give up booze. ;)

If you want a meal-by-meal showcase of everything I'm eating/cooking, I've created a highlight called "Whole30 Meals" on my Instagram page. Otherwise, here are some highlights so far: