Week three is coming up. Here's how we are all doing on the plan: The children (toddler wasn't really participating as he can consume whatever he wants) fell victim to a birthday party and sweets from school. Twin daughter 1 won 3 batches of cookies at the birthday party! One was still in dough form so we froze that. The other two came home. Guess who fell victim to an entire batch of cookies. My husband. When confronted by twin daughter 1, he said you're not supposed to be eating that anyway. Great example dad. Sigh.
I am coming to the end of a successful two weeks. I really think that grains aren't in my best interest on an everyday basis. If you've read the Whole30 blog and book, you'll remember the classic signs of sugar and carb addiction. I have all of those. At first it was all the time, I wanted bread and sugar. Immediately after eating I would still be hungry. The up and down of the sugar roller coaster. While I won't say my sugar/carb addiction is fully gone, it is waning. It has hit me at night a lot. I snack on fruit instead and it sort of satisfies my cravings. But sometimes I just want a crunchy chip! Not sure how to solve that one. But hopefully by the end of the 30 days I will be in control of my cravings and be feeling like a new person. This is what I'm told will happen. Fingers crossed.
Even with my family "off the wagon," I am committed to seeing this plan through. I get to celebrate all by myself at the end of the 30 days. What should I do? Spa day? Night out? Ideas?
Although I am going to continue the Whole30 as closely as I can, I am going to allow some off-limit foods into the house for the kids. The toddler doesn't eat veggies consistently and meat is hit or miss. He also doesn't particularly like any of the fats so I am going to get some dairy for him: Milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, regular cheese. The cheese will be the hardest for me to keep from snacking on but I think I can manage. I will probably let the big kids have some dairy as well. I just think that the best "milk" is from animals. Almond milk has additives and sugar, soy milk has hormones, and pure coconut milk is way to thick to drink. Organic cow's milk it is! I don't drink milk at all so there you go. I would also like to add some vitamins into our routine: Multivitamin for the kids, Multivitamin and D3 for myself (sun is coming out so the kids should be good), and fish oil for everyone.
I have also found that my meal choices have been very expensive. I'm thinking we will have to cut out a lot of, it not all, of the red meat and stick to more inexpensive protein sources like chicken, ground turkey, and eggs. I love that my grocery lists consist mainly of protein, fruits, and vegetables. We finish the fruit every week and have been pretty good about the vegetables too. Although I had my husband buy way too many cucumbers than we needed. Oops.
So my goal for the next two weeks is to figure out a way to keep this meal plan under budget (or to alter our budget if this is unrealistic). I have tried Safeway and Trader Joe's so far each week. Both stores were missing items that I needed and I had to do an extra run to a different store to finish my shopping list. For example: Mainstream Safeway doesn't have any Whole30 approved deli meats or ghee. Also their "speciality" items are way more expensive than TJ's. TJ's was out of ingredients that I needed due to supply and demand as well as them not carrying pure coconut milk. I am going to try Central Market this week to see if they will have all of the items I need as well as at a good price. Here's hoping. I will let you know!
Wish me luck in week 3!
