Another Round of Whole30.

Here we go again. I did my first Whole30 Feb of last year. It was hard and amazing and I learned a ton. I learned that I am an emotional eater. Specifically a stress eater. I got the best sleep I've ever had in my entire life, even better than when I was on sleep medications. I felt awesome about myself and had incredible energy and cooked some amazing food.

I get horrid morning all day sickness when pregnant. Earlier in this pregnancy I wanted to do another round and lasted I think 3 or 4 days before I decided to call it quits until I had better control of my stomach. Finally, at 6 months pregnant, I only almost throw up when changing diapers or someone's cooking eggs in the kitchen. Or eating eggs. Anything egg really should be banned from the house, but they're staples in Ross' diet.

Tiegan came into this world au natural. It was a fantastic labor and I loved being able to get up and go to the bathroom by myself and take a hot shower right after vs. not being able to move or feel your legs or rear for hours after giving birth. I still remember it vividly and have been really on the fence about what kind of labor experience I want this time. All natural was fantastic, but I remember shooting Ross "I hate you looks" and that holy ring of fire business. The good news is, once that new babe is out, it's over! I'm leaning towards natural again and I really wanted to see how eating a Whole diet would affect labor, delivery, recovery, my energy/mood in the last couple months leading up to having a new babe, sleep before new babe (which is notorious for being AWFUL), new babe's health, maybe it'll affect not having a preterm baby for once... all kinds of things running through my mind. That's where this round of Whole30 comes in and may or may not go until I'm in the hospital with a squishy new baby and a menu of hospital food a phone call away.

Two days ago marks one month that I actually gave up soda (my beloved Diet Coke and all other sodas). I decided to drop the pop before starting this round and it's made all of the difference. Tomorrow will be Whole30 day 7 for me and this first week is night and day different from my first round. I got to skip the hang over phase, the exhausted phase, the kill everything and everyone phase, and have been feeling pretty fantastic. The last couple nights I've gotten some better sleep than I have in a while. I'm playing with the girls and going on outings and keeping up with the crazy busy schedule. (Working (preggo) mom with 2-3 doctor appointments/week and a kid in school)

Though, I'm not sure what's worse: Early pregnancy cravings or mid Whole30 cravings. I've fallen asleep thinking about gooey hot chocolate chip cookies and French Toast smeared with syrup a couple times. But the difference between early pregnancy cravings and mid Whole30 cravings is I know I'm not going to throw up if I put something other than those chocolate chip cookies or french toast in my mouth. Early pregnancy, when I thought of something like that, nothing else would stay down. 

So tomorrow is one week in and here's what we've been eating. We eat the same thing for breakfast every single day. Makes life a million times easier. (And true love is your husband waking up an hour before you to get things done and have the children happy and fed and going AND also cook your bacon for you so it's ready when you roll out of bed.)

Also, side note, here's what I love about Whole30 food: It is beautiful. And filling. And recipes make a TON. Enough that Ross and I can both eat leftovers for lunch and sometimes STILL have leftovers for evening snacks.

BREAKFAST:
Bacon (you guys, Costco has COMPLIANT bacon!! #eatallthebacon)
Fresh Pineapple, Cantaloupe, Grapefruit, or any combo of the 3
Sugar Snap Peas, maybe some spinach, too.

LUNCH: 
Originally I had planned on an awesome Southwest Meatloaf, but all of our dinners have made TONS of leftovers and that's been easy. For the days that I packed the girls lunches and we went to the park or zoo, I packed myself a loaded salad, some fruit and veggies to snack on, and a Larabar.

DINNERS:
Shepherd's Pie with some raw fresh veggies on the side. (I think we might have had cantaloupe, too.)

LOADED Taco Salad (The natural/organic section usually has compliant taco seasoning that's to die for)

Sausages and German Potato Salad

Steaks with Asparagus grilled with some GORGEOUS assorted baby tomatoes and garlic, fresh pineapple, and leftover potato salad (I'm not a food photographer, but I wish I was because the asparagus dish was beautiful with all of the tomato colors and they were AMAZING.)

The best Chili ever

That Southwest Meatloaf I was talking about earlier with salad and sliced strawberries


Now I get to start planning the menu for Week 2! Any Whole30 veterans, I always love new recipes! (Seriously, what did we do before Pinterest?) My 1st round all of the recipes were elaborate and while great, I'm enjoying the simplicity. The meals this week took some time in the kitchen, but overall super simple.