Whole30 Round #2 – Recap

My second Whole30 officially came to its end on 30th November.

Round 2 was more of “30 days of Paleo”.

Why? Well because I understood the ground rules.  I knew what I was getting into.

I loved the restrictions, of whole30, but 30 days of paleo has a little bit more flexibility.  Take for example honey. Honey is out in whole30, but in normal ‘everyday’ Paleo it’s ok.  And that’s what I wanted.  I wanted that flexibility.  Even though I didn’t abuse honey, I only ended up having a small amount during the entire month.

The first time I did whole30, eating only 3 meals a day was overwhelming.  During this round, I ate 3 meals properly 70% of the time.  Yes, I will admit that I did need a snack every now and then.  A whole30/paleo snack, but a snack all the same.

In Round 2 I tested out a lot of new recipes from various paleo cookbooks, websites and apps. I had a field day testing out new recipes.

Here’s a small selection of some of the recipes I tried out during Round #2:

• Crockpot Cabbage Rolls
• Spiced Lamb Meatballs (from Well Fed)
• Banana Split
• Coconut Lemongrass Chicken (from Nom Nom Paleo App)
• Vampire-Fighting Paleo Pork Stew (from The Clothes Make the Girl)

One of the great things about eating Paleo is that you never get bored with food. In round 1, I found that I ate pretty much the same thing just different variations of the same thing.  Which after a while can get boring.

During this round I decided to dive in and dry lots of new things.  As I tell my kids, “how do you know you don’t like it, if you’ve never tried it.”

I’ve discovered so many different new flavors in Round 2.  Like caraway seeds, and lemongrass. That Coconut Lemongrass Chicken from Nom Nom Paleo is sensational. And kid-friendly (my two loved it).

I’m still having issues with nightshades, mostly eggplant, capsicum, and sometimes tomatoes though. They make my lips feel like they are on fire, and super itchy. Yeah, no fun there. So I really have to limit those particular foods, which makes for “spag bol” night (cabbage or zucchini noddles in my case), a bit of a challenge, as my kids love spag bol, and we can easily have it once every 10 days or so.

All these new recipes meant lots of meal planning, and sitting down and writing down what I wanted to make (and actually making a note of the recipe name and where it came from) really helped me be less wasteful.

So even though Whole30/Paleo30 is over, one thing is for sure, I doubt I will go back to the way I was eating 6 months or even a year ago.  I enjoy eating this way, I feel so much better for it.

I do miss cheese, so I will have cheese every now and then. Which is the other thing I discovered.  Full cream milk I’m ok with, I can handle it in small doses. Providing that I don’t have it more than 3 days in a row.  I’m learning my triggers and I know what my body can handle.

I don’t really care for bread, although I do miss “crunch”. I had a burger the other day, and only ate 1 quarter of one side of the bun.  Just wasn’t doing it for me.  The rest of the burger was delightful.

I’m still yet to try out protein powder. Which I have a feeling is the real ‘dairy’ culprit.

Overall I’m happy with my Whole30 results.

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 Footnotes

1 – The Nom Nom Paleo App is AU$6.49 and is only available in the Apple store for iPad.

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Have you done the whole30?
Do you have any food allergies or sensitivities?