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Audrey JoAnn | Content and Copy Writer

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WHOLE30 THOUGHTS AND MEAL PLAN

January 3, 2017

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Tomorrow marks the first day of what may very well be the 30 most difficult days of my life. Dramatic? Perhaps. Probably true? Most likely.

I start the Whole30 challenge tomorrow with my boyfriend, John. (It took about three days of begging him to do it with me before he caved. Misery loves company.) It was his idea to start on a day that would coordinate our timing to wrap up the program on a Thursday, so we can then indulge in the foods we’ve missed starting on a Friday, the weekend. Sometimes it’s nice dating such a smartypants. So, that’s why we’re starting on January 4 instead of the 1st, like a lot of other people.

Apparently this program has been around for years, but I only heard about it for the first time a few weeks ago. My boss was talking about how she wanted to do it to cleanse out holiday goodies, and my initial thought when she told me the details of it was that she must be crazy.

And then came the holidays. And the bread, and the cookies, and the ice cream, and the wine, and the enchiladas, and the casseroles, and the cheese and crackers. Suddenly, a cleanse didn’t sound so bad after all. Like I’ve talked about before, I’m not big on jumping on board with health trends — I think a lot of them promise more than they result, and some can be unhealthy physically and mentally.

But when I started researching Whole30, I became excited and terrified all at once. This program encourages eating real food: veggies, meat, seafood, eggs, seeds, nuts, and fruit. Any processed food is discouraged, and sugar, legumes, grains, dairy, and alcohol are not allowed at all. I realized after reading about it that this isn’t really a “cleanse” in the sense I think of, like a juice cleanse where you feel like you’re starving the whole time, but it’s more of a real-foods boost for your body and metabolism.

I also realized, with pure terror, that most of my favorite foods would be nixed from my diet for 30 whole days. But, while I LOVE food and am one of those people who works out almost solely to eat good stuff, it might not be so bad to lay off some things for a few weeks. (Lookin’ at you, ice cream and wine.)

I consider myself to have a pretty healthy mindset toward food, and let me be clear that I’m not doing Whole30 as a punishment for indulging in lots of delicious holiday meals for the last month. It’s more of a way to feel some balance and get back to a simplified way of eating after so much richness. I think everything nutritionally should be a balancing act, so since I’ve had my fair share of junk for the last few weeks, my body is, dare I say, sorta craving healthy, whole foods.

John and I created a Whole30 meal plan for ourselves, found below, for the next four-and-some-change weeks that will help us stay on top of our meals and still feel like we’re eating yummy food (I hope). If you’re considering doing the program, or if you’ve already started it this week or want to start with us tomorrow (eek!), feel free to use our plan for inspiration during your 30-day endeavor.

I am certainly nervous, since I’m an emotional/stress eater and love a glass of wine with dinner, but I’m also pretty freaking excited. I think this will be an interesting challenge for self control and mental toughness, and from what I’ve heard, it’s totally worth it for the way you feel at the end of the 30 days.

Have you done Whole30 before? Leave me a comment below or shoot me an email at audrey@audreyjoann.com with suggestions or advice! Happy Whole30!

Whole 30 Meal Plan — Wednesday, January 4 through Thursday, February 2

(Edit: Most recipes are hyperlinked below. Click on the name of the dish to be redirected to a different blog that provides the recipe. The ones that aren’t hyperlinked are things that I know by heart or have in a cookbook at home, but a quick Google search should provide easy recipes. Also! Some recipes use bacon and sausage; make SURE you buy varieties that are made without sugar. We’ve had luck finding them sugarless at Whole Foods.)

Breakfast

Week 1:

Egg + Veggie “Muffins”

Week 2:

Mexican Frittata

Week 3:

Paleo Breakfast Casserole

Week 4:

Breakfast Sausage, Eggs, and Avocado

Lunch

Week 1 W-Sa:

Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps

Week 1 Su-Tu:

Avocado Chicken Salad

Week 2 W-Sa:

Bacon + Guacamole Sammies

Week 2 Su-Tu:

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Apple + Bacon

Week 3 W-Sa:

Greek Chicken Salad

Week 3 Su-Tu:

Chicken Avocado Lettuce Wraps

Week 4 W-Sa:

California Chicken Bowls

Week 4 Su-Th:

Hearty Vegetable Soup

Dinner

Week 1 W-Th:

One-Sheet Roasted Brussels Sprouts + Sausage

Week 1 F-Su:

Sweet Potato Noodles with Beef Bolognese

Week 1 M-Tu:

Easy Turkey Meatballs

Week 2 W-Th:

Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas

Week 2 F-Su:

Slow Cooker Loaded Mashed Potatoes

Week 2 M-Tu:

Zuppa Toscana (photo example at the top of this post!)

Week 3 W-Th:

Sausage Stuffed Peppers

Week 3 F-Su:

John’s Bean-less Chili (make enough to freeze leftovers)

Week 3 M-Tu:

Paleo Baked Spaghetti

Week 4 W-Th:

Sausage + Sweet Potato Hash

Week 4 F-Su:

Pecan Crusted Pork Chops (healthy cookbook for couples)

Week 4 M-Tu:

John’s Bean-less Chili (leftovers)

Week 4 W-Th:

Nachos

Snacks

Nuts

Dried Fruit

Larabars

Drinks

Coffee

Tea

Infused Water

La Croix

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6 Comments in Food, Health, Life

« THE IRONY IN GETTING WHAT YOU WANT
OH, 2016 »

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Comments

  1. Julie says

    January 3, 2017 at 6:23 pm

    Where would I find those recipes???

    Reply
    • audrey swanson says

      January 4, 2017 at 2:22 pm

      Most of them are hyperlinked; click on the name of the dish and you’ll be redirected to the website. Sorry for not making that clearer! The ones that aren’t hyperlinked are recipes I already know, but you can google them to get a quick answer to them. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Emily says

    January 8, 2017 at 9:21 pm

    I did this the month before the holidays! It was amazing! Something that didn’t feel so much like a diet but just kind of an, “oh, I should probably just eat like this because I feel good, look good, and everything tastes so damn good” moment. Thanks for all the links to recipes because I’m definitely starting it up again this week to cleanse all of the joyous (but horrible) treats that the holidays brought!

    One of my favorite snacks was no bake cashew date bars. I would buy the bag of cashew halves from the baking aisle and put them in a blender until they were more of a powder. Then I would take 18 medjool dates (pitted) and knead the two ingredients together in a bowl. Then you just section them off however you would like them to be size wise, wrap them in plastic wrap, and put them in the fridge for later!

    I did this every week and a half or so and it made 12-15 bars 🙂

    Good luck! I’m excited for you!

    Reply
    • audrey swanson says

      January 10, 2017 at 2:19 pm

      Uh, YUM. Those sound fairly similar to the “cashew cookie” Larabars, but I like that with yours, you can choose the serving size yourself! Larabars run around 300 calories a bar (not that I’m super calorie-conscious during this program, but if I just want a bite of something sweet, your recipe is better for that!). Thanks for the idea, and good luck to you as well!

      Reply
  3. Grandpa Al says

    January 18, 2017 at 2:47 pm

    I remember a quote from Joseph Campbell that I would like to share:
    “The privilege of a lifetime is being
    who you are”

    Reply
    • audrey swanson says

      January 18, 2017 at 3:12 pm

      I love that, Grampa! Thanks for sharing!

      Reply

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Welcome! I'm Audrey, and I adore connecting with female founders and telling their stories in a way that matters & lasts for years to come.

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audskelton

Me, trying to figure out what to do with my hands Me, trying to figure out what to do with my hands without a bump. 👐🏼 Wallace, trying to figure out what we’re doing out of the house. 🤨

First family walk in the books! All of 10 minutes. 🤪 (Also, does anyone else notice the rainbow over Wally?... My heart. 🌈🥺)
1 week old. 🤎 The hardest, most emotional & mos 1 week old. 🤎 The hardest, most emotional & most rewarding week of my life. Babies’ sleep schedules, y’all. They are not for the faint of heart.

Wallace is hitting all his milestones, has learned the alphabet, and is picking up Latin. Just kidding. But he CAN poop 3 times in an hour and a half 😎, and he eats like a champ, is so strong that we prefer to tag team diaper changes for now, and makes the sweetest, cutest noises all day long. (And night.) Like even his cry is cute. 😩

One of my friends called this time the “wet weeks”: urine, breast milk, spit up, night sweats, tears, blood, more tears. It’s a lot, and it’s temporary. So even in the hard moments, we are reminding ourselves that the hardest things are often the best things. 

And this really has been the best thing.

So, so thankful for a hands-on husband who’s been so involved in everything... there’s something indescribable about watching your partner care for your child and step into a big, new role like this so gracefully. And we are thankful for ALL of the support, near and far (... mostly far), from our family and friends and coworkers. What a week... here’s to continuing to figure it all out together as a family. 😌
At 5 a.m. my water broke and at 3:44 p.m. our worl At 5 a.m. my water broke and at 3:44 p.m. our worlds and hearts were changed forever. Everything in between was a gritty, fast-moving tidal wave of emotion, pain, instinct, and a kind of love I never could’ve imagined.

Welcome, Wallace Ronal Skelton. 🤎 You kept us waiting until you decided, very quickly, you’d like to be here. I’m still in disbelief that you are ours. 

January 4, 2021 • 7 lbs 4 oz • 20.5 inches • Sweet as can be.
Well, this baby friend doesn’t exactly have our Well, this baby friend doesn’t exactly have our sense of punctuality which realllly threw me for a loop after thinking & saying for months that I was certain he/she would get here early. I’ve drank 3 boxes of raspberry leaf tea in 3 weeks, walked dozens of miles, eaten way too many dates, done hundreds of squats and bench step-ups... and now I’m surrendering. You come whenever you feel like it, little one. I’m comfy enough and can still sleep through the night (minus a bathroom break or two) so we will just keep on waiting and letting you teach us our first lesson of parenthood: PATIENCE. I knew I could always use some more of it. 😉 #40weekspregnant #pregnancy
scenes from our blissful, muddy, much-needed morni scenes from our blissful, muddy, much-needed morning hike. ☀️🍂 in a year that’s felt like 5, getting outside whenever we can has been my favorite way to reset. so thankful to live in such gorgeous surroundings!
our first and probably only christmas just us thre our first and probably only christmas just us three! quiet and simple and a little sad but mostly filled with hope and gratitude. hope yours is special in all the best ways. 🤍
the most freeing parenting advice i’ve heard so the most freeing parenting advice i’ve heard so far? (and i’ve gotten a lot this year!) our children NEED to see us to mess up. they need to see us walk through mistakes, fix our messes, apologize, learn, and readjust.

as someone who very much realizes i’m nowhere *near* perfect but is also terrified something i’ll do might mess my kid up for life... hearing this advice has stuck with me so profoundly. i think about it every day, especially as we get closer and closer to becoming parents.

we don’t need to get it right. in fact, we’re serving them better when we get it wrong AND course correct openly. when we can admit our faults and say we’ll do better next time.

i had a friend tell me a few months ago she apologizes to her baby all the time. she’ll say, “i’m sorry that i really don’t know what you need right now, but i’m learning... i’m sorry that you’re upset, let’s figure this out together.”

and i thought that was a beautiful way to own and lean into the truth that parenting isn’t having the answers all figured out—at all. it’s guessing and learning as you go and being able to be humble enough to apologize to your infant when you don’t get it right (and then your toddler, and then your kid, and then your teenager).

these next 18+ years are going to be an adventure, i can already tell. lots of mess-ups. lots of sorry’s. lots of goodness. 🤍

oh, and... can we all agree that the worst parenting advice is “sleep when the baby sleeps”?! as the lightest sleeper ever, i don’t need that pressure in my life. 😅 

photo by @jilliangoulding
the body of the grinch but the heart of cindy lou the body of the grinch but the heart of cindy lou who. ♥️

(wrong holiday, i know—but let’s not pretend 90% of us don’t already have christmas stuff up already okay?)

however you’re celebrating & whoever you’re celebrating with today, i hope it’s special. happy thanksgiving, friend! 🦃🍂💛 #thanksgiving #35weekspregnant
simple joys today: 🍂a pecan praline almond mil simple joys today:

🍂a pecan praline almond milk misto in the @starbucks holiday cup.
🍂early monday morning grocery run with my husband for simple thanksgiving ingredients for our 2-person party (well, 3 technically i guess 😜) on thursday.
🍂cool mornings.
🍂fall colors.
🍂the charlie brown christmas album on repeat. (i honestly think this is my favorite album of all time. 😂 we even got it on vinyl this year. i listen to it from end of october through january every single year.)
🍂random fall-y at-home manicures.
🍂2 short weeks in a row.
🍂phone calls with family.
🍂baby hiccups, kicks, and rolls & starting to distinguish between knees, hands, and a booty sticking out of my stomach. 😂
🍂sleeping in.
🍂finishing up home projects. (y’all, WE FINISHED THE FLOORS. praise.)
🍂a clean home.
🍂daily walks & clean air.
🍂soaking in the joy of our last childless vacation/staycation.

so much to be grateful for. and this year it’s really the little things that are the big things. what are your simple joys you’re hanging on to right now?
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