I breezed through the first week pretty easily (other than that epic headache on Day 2). But by the first full weekend, I was feeling kind of bored already, and desperately craving sugar. I did a lot of cooking. I did a lot of Zumba, too. By Monday I was coming out of my funk, but it’s finally hitting me that I still have a few more weeks of this!
Day 7
It’s Saturday, and I did double Zumba classes today (my usual morning class and a 90-minute special fundraiser in the late afternoon!) In between workouts I managed to throw some balsamic chicken in the crock pot and make a Whole 30-friendly potato salad (used more coconut yogurt than mayonnaise as the Primal Kitchen mayo has a strong flavor and added extra mustard.)
Day 8
Zuppa Toscana (an Olive Garden fave) with a Whole 30 twist.
Despite sleeping over 8 hours, I woke up feeling super tired and craving sugar. I thought it was probably because of my mega workout the day before, but I struggled to shake it. I had a lazy morning on the couch before dragging myself up to make a Whole 30-fied Zuppa Toscana (used tapioca starch in place of flour and cornstarch, used 1/2 cup canned coconut milk in place of heavy cream.) I knew I needed to get moving, so I walked about a 1/2 mile to my local Whole Foods to see if their prices were really any lower since Amazon bought them (uh, no). I picked up some smoked salmon, some freeze-dried strawberries to try to satisfy my sugar craving, and a couple other things.
That night I made cauliflower rice sushi – I did one roll with smoked salmon, avocado, cucumber and chives, and the other with tapioca-battered (oops) green chile strips, avocado, carrot and cucumber. I made paleo sriracha mayo (full disclosure: I used regular sriracha without realizing it had added sugar. My bad.) I used coconut aminos in place of soy sauce.
Cauliflower rice sushi. Meh.
It made a huge mess because I riced my own cauliflower using a cheese grater, and it was only marginally enjoyable. Sushi rice is a particular flavor and texture that I just couldn’t match with cauliflower. I ate it all, it wasn’t terrible, but I didn’t find it satisfying either.
After that I made my apple sweet potato bake and portioned it out for breakfasts this week. Even with all this cooking, I’ve only got a few meals ready for the week, so I’ll probably need to cook again this week. I ran my dishwasher four times. So much work!
Also: I was hungry all day, and probably ate every couple hours the entire day. Here’s the whole day:
Breakfast: coffee, apple sweet potato bake
Morning snack: 1 slice of bacon, a bowl of potato salad
Lunch: a big bowl of Zuppa Toscana
Pre-gym snack: a cup of pineapple, some freeze-dried strawberries
Post-gym snack: some Yuca fries
Dinner: Two cauliflower sushi rolls + the extra fried green chile
Okay in hindsight, this was super carby and pretty low on protein. Guess I’m not doing a good job of slowing my potato roll…
Day 9
This was a sad attempt at “cauliflower risotto.” It sucked. I ate it anyway.
I tried to upgrade my coffee this morning by adding cinnamon and cocoa powder to coconut milk and whipping it in the Magic Bullet before adding it to my coffee. I was hoping to achieve froth. I did not. I like the addition of cocoa though, so that will stay.
Still craving sugar. Freeze-dried fruit, regular dried fruit and actual fruit have all been thrown at this issue. Not all at once though.
I am out of potatoes and have decided to take at least this week off from them (not counting the sweet potatoes in my breakfast.)
Day 10
For lunch I had a fried egg, bacon, smoked salmon and an avocado. It was pretty great but my hair smelled like bacon all day.
For dinner I decided to brave going out, so we went to a Mexican restaurant that has half-price salads during happy hour. All I had to do was ask for no cheese (and olives because ew) but somehow they screwed it up. Then they “forgot” half the toppings that were supposed to be there. I used salsa for dressing and boy, was it spicy. Still, I survived dinner “in the wild” so that’s a win.
Day 11
I am so over cauliflower. There. I said it. Also, I really miss wine.
Day 12
Sauteed asparagus, fried egg, avocado. Easy and really good.
Food boredom has really set in so I’m trying to mix it up a bit. For lunch, I made a saddo taco salad with ground beef filled with red pepper, onion and green chile, toasted cashews with green chile seasoning, romaine, and salsa as dressing. I miss cheese and sour cream, and corn chips.
For dinner I decide I am sick of meat, so I make some ghee-sauteed asparagus with a fried egg over it, and a side of sliced avocado. It was pretty awesome.
Day 13
The worst of the cravings are easing up and I’m starting to feel like a kind of normal person again. I’m still enjoying my daily breakfast of apple sweet potato bake and I’m getting used to sugar-free coffee. I think I’m going to make it.
Apparently my Week 2 experience is pretty typical, at least according to this article and many others like it. But the good news is that Week 3 is “tiger blood” week, or the week you start feeling awesome. I’m here for it.
Got any ideas for what else I can eat? No cauliflower please. Can you teach me to not be afraid of seafood? Tell me in the comments!
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