If you know me AT ALL, you know I like to eat.  You also know that I love sweets, and basically if chocolate were a man, we’d be happily married with 2 kids and one on the way. Another thing about me is that I pride myself on talking to my clients about not restricting  their diets, balance, giving yourself grace if you “fall off the wagon,” and if you want that piece of cake – HAVE IT.

Now, my views have not taken a drastic turn, so don’t worry… but as I’m getting older, I’m noticing changes…and things just aren’t as easy as they used to be.  I always heard people say that, but I don’t think it ever truly sank in that it would inevitably happen to me.  Well, it’s happening.

I’m also not a fan of “diets,” but for some reason Whole30 has been IN MY FACE lately… clients asking about it, fellow musicians doing it…  So, I thought – let me look into this, and let me ask around.  To my surprise, I heard ZERO bad from ANYONE who has done it.  ZERO.  I thought – wow.  I mean, it’s eating whole, natural foods for 30 days – it’s probably going to be pretty great.  It just so happens that I’m doing a Summer Shape-Up with my clients, and gave them the option of hopping on the Whole30 bandwagon.  Success in numbers, eh?!  And because I’m leading the pack – I decided to start 3 days before they do to report how it’s going.  Here’s how it’s going…

Day 1 rocked.  I felt satisfied all day, and didn’t miss sugar at all.  The “bulletproof” coffee is the bomb.com!  All you do is take your black coffee, put it in the blender with 2-3 TBS of coconut milk and 1-2 tsp of coconut oil – blend it up until a little frothy, and BAM – Life. Changed.  No sugar needed!

Dinner was also awesome.  I invited my friend Liz Derck over who also started Whole30 with me.  We decided to have our first and last meal together.  I made steak with roasted carrots and brussels sprouts with a balsamic glaze and cilantro cauliflower rice.  NOT MAD AT THAT.  It was delicious.  And look at the pretty rainbow carrots!  Talk about taste the rainbow…

I have to say…day 2, and it’s not terribly different from how I normally eat, minus the SUGAR.  It’s also super fun to find new recipes!  I loved the balsamic glaze so much from last night and the “rice” that I made them again (with a little twist on the glaze), with seared tuna.  I’m going to post the recipe after I finish this post, so stay tuned!  So far, the recipes are super simple and DELISH.

When taking on any goal – I feel like you’ll learn some things about yourself.  It’s been about 48 hours, and I’ve learned a few of those already, and also a few things that I think will be helpful if you decide to take this on.  Here you go:

• Lara Bars are only $1 at Kroger!!  Make sure to check out which are Whole30 approved though – the ones with chocolate unfortunately aren’t approved.
• You can’t chew gum.  (I didn’t realize this day 1 – I had a piece of sugar free gum so I wouldn’t breathe dragon breath on my clients, but this is a no-no.)
• Think about what you CAN have rather than what you can’t.
• Be creative!  Have fun with your favorite foods.  Really everything you love, there’s a way to make it healthy and Whole30 approved.
• If you “need” something like a soda or a draaaank – try a St. Criox.  They have tons of flavors, and all are Whole30 approved!
• Trader Joe’s has cauliflower rice in bags!!  AMAZING!  This saves so much time.  They also have a lot of prepped veggies – chopped onions and garlic, ready to sauté asparagus and so much other goodness!
• I definitely have sweet cravings after dinner.  It could also be that my special time decided to show up on Day 2… but I’m hoping that the more the sugar gets out of my system, the less I’ll have these cravings.  At this point – fruit is better than a cookie.

So, that’s it for now…  Wish me luck, pray to the sugar gods that I stay on the train, and come on and follow me on this journey!  I’ll be posting along the way, and sharing some of the recipes as well.  Here’s to the next 28 days!