whole 20 + whole life.

you guys.

after 20 days, we decided to end our fabulous stretch of #whole30 living. 

basically we failed.

Eugene went out with some of his classmates and had soft shell crab sliders + a drink. I had a latte (intentionally, knowingly, rebelliously -- and I had no regrets. It was pure bliss.)  I also had become slightly lactose intolerant after abruptly stopping my daily milk intake and was advised to reintroduce dairy to prevent becoming lactose-intolerant for life! 

of course we are a bit disappointed. 

but to be honest, we are proud and happy of how far we had come and how much we learned and how much perspective we gained during our 20 days. although our whole30 ended up being a whole20 - we hope to continue living life eating nutritious, "whole" foods and making more intentional decisions about our food intake for the rest of our lives!

challenges

 If I am completely honest with you - I am a bit relieved that we decided to end early. i'm sure there is no "perfect" time to pursue this whole30 challenge. However, due to the nature of our day-to-day schedules, we realized that we frankly did not have sufficient time/energy/attention at our disposal to devote to this program.

1) Our days usually start really early (usually we are out of the house by 5:30am!) which makes breakfast a really tough feat. We can only eat scrambled eggs for so long -- and making over-easy eggs and storing it in the fridge overnight is usually not recommended due to risk of salmonella. 

2) In this current stage of life, eugene and I are rarely ever home.  Eugene is usually out all day for school, work, gym, tutoring sessions, etc. I am usually out all day because of work (12 hour shifts!), running errands, meeting with people, serving at church, etc. This means that I have to package most, if not all our meals in tupperware so that we can take our food to-go. not being able to make our meals fresh posed a challenge for me because I would have to meal prep for days at a time and food never tastes as good when it's been sitting in the fridge overnight!

3)  On my days off from work, I sometimes meet with people for every single meal and this makes it extremely challenging. Although there are a lot of excellent whole30-complaint ways to enjoy dining out -- it's really hard to do it without being that annoying customer who asks 1,000 questions about how they make their food and what kind of ingredients they use for every part of the dish. 

"What do you have in that cilantro-lime dressing besides cilantro and lime?"

"What oil do you use to cook the meat? or do you use butter? is it clarified?"

"Is there anything that I can substitute my bread for?"
"Can I have olive oil and balsamic vinegar instead of the creamy horseradish?"

i'm telling you...i was pretty annoying.

My lunch on the right was the Rib Eye Steak Salad with EVOO + Balsamic Vinegar from Marketplace Grill + Cafe.

4) the hardest part though was honestly trying to keep my always-hungry, huge-portion eating husband's stomach full with just veggies, fruits and meat. without major snacking. and with three-balanced meals a day rather than 5 meals spread out over a course of 19 hours. Because it was near impossible for us to eat whole30 complaint whenever we were out of the house, I would have to cook at least 6 hours a day on my days off (to prepare for the week) and an additional 3 hours after I came home from my 12-hours shift to prepare food for the following day. there were a few days when I would be so physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted that I would want to cry while cooking because I was so tired and there was a never-ending pile of dishes and pots and pans and cookie sheets in the kitchen sink. I cried twice. such a baby, i know! (just bein' real, bro..)

Swai + Tilapia fish on a bed of roasted kale and sweet potatoes.  // Tuna salad made with homemade mayo, tomatoes, avocado, olives and apples on spinach // Eggs, proscuitto, steamed broccoli and potatoes.

things we learned during whole30:

There were so many things we learned during our 20 days. 

• how to make whole30 complaint mayo and sriracha (with no added sugar or processed ingredients)
• butter lettuce + cabbage are fabulous substitutes for taco shells and tortillas

• zoodles + spagetti squash is so delicious that you almost don't miss the actual noodles
• what you eat makes a tremendous difference on how you feel. our energy level was through the roof and we actually didn't even need to drink a cup of coffee every day to stay awake
• what you eat affects the quality of your sleep (i had the best sleep ever while doing whole30...partly because I was so tired from cooking for hours after working my 12-hour shifts!)
• substituting bread for cucumbers is actually pretty delicious and you don't miss out on much!
• ghee (clarified butter) is actually very delicious and we may never use regular butter again
• when cutting potatoes or sweet potatoes, it's good to cut thicker slices and apply EVOO generously
• almost all almond milk found in stores have added sugars and processed ingredients so the best way is to make your own!
• there is a lot of processed/un-natural ingredients that sneak up in the food we buy every day (I read every single ingredient list before I bought anything at the store and was so shocked to find out how much the food we buy regularly is heavily processed!)
• farm fresh eggs/cage-free eggs are worth the extra money you spend on them
• buying high quality meats, although more costly, has richer taste and you tend to eat less of it because you don't have as much (which is probably a good thing, too!)
• eating healthy fats (coconut oil, avocado, almonds/cashews) are good for you and very much needed.
• seed oils are heavily processed and hold very low nutritional value (i.e. canoli oil, sunflower oil)
• Healthy snacks to get you going through the day are good in moderation only. And this combo is basically one of my faves (avocado, nori and coconut aminos aka soy sauce substitute)

• COCONUT CREAM IS EVERYTHING.
• fresh cooked eggs  > scrambled eggs re-heated after being in the fridge. all day, err' day.
• when making soup or stews, a few leaves of bay leaves make a world's difference.
• korean barbeque (especially at home) can be enjoyed without rice!

• we eat a lot of unnecessary carbs and sugars throughout the day (especially for me at work -- on one of the days at work we had krispy kreme donuts, cookies and chocolate covered pineapples all in one day.) the struggle was real but I endured.
• even chewing gum and sucking on candy throughout the day has sugar! (eating onions at work was definitely not allowed since I couldn't even chew gum aftewards!)
• carbs should be eaten in the morning and during the day, and salads should be reserved for dinner (more time to burn off the carbs if you eat it earlier in the day)
• Sleepy Tea is the basically most important and valuable tea created for the well-being of mankind.
• I CAN drink my coffee black (although I realized through all of this that I honestly drink my coffee for the milk and sugar.. because black coffee truly does not give me any joy haha)
• In-N-Out truly makes your burger in any way you like. I so appreciated this whole-30 compliant way: Double meat, no cheese, mustard fried, no sauce, no ketchup, add mustard and extra pickles, extra tomatoes, whole grilled onions, protein style! (that's a mouthful - both literally and figuratively speaking!)

they accidently gave me bread so I had to throw it away. *sob

• one-pan/one-pot meals are the best. This breakfast in particular was fantabulous. and the prosciutto wrapped avocados have easily become my favorite breakfast item.

• No matter how beautiful and luscious and soft and chewy a piece of bread that is included with you dinner may seem, life is lovely without it and halfway through your salad you will no longer care for it. so either, ask them to leave it out or give it to a friend!

Honestly, this is just a fraction of what we learned during Whole20.
We hope to incorporate many of the things we learned into our day-to-day practice and hopefully change the way we eat for the rest of our lives - one day at a time! We may have only lasted 20 days on this round -- but cheers to a (hopefully) "whole life".

For the time being I will continue re-introducing rice and my beloved dairy...in moderations

Cheers to healthy living. and yay for lattes!

<3