Low Carb Whole 30 – Week 3

Well I’m past the halfway point of my Low Carb Whole 30 challenge and doing OK. I do miss my cream and stevia but I’m not out to kill anymore. I’ve become obsessed with red bell peppers and consider them candy and had them in almost every meal and alone as snacks. Interested in reading the journey from start to finish? Here are links to Week 1 and Week 2.

I’ve actually witnessed my physiological sugar cravings rapidly diminish. Walked right by the tray of (amazingly delicious) brownies at work today (my place of employment somehow has the tastiest desserts ever) and had ZERO desire/craving for said brownie. I also constantly craved pizza for emotional eating purposes and this has drastically decreased as well.

Also, a major physical change that has occurred (although a bit TMI, sorry) is highly improved bowel movements. I’m textbook constipated (sorry again, TMI) but uhm no longer. After my Low Carb Whole 30 challenge is complete, the first week I intend to re-introduce just dairy (no grains) and see what impact that has in this department.

Here are the meals I consumed for the past week! Hopefully it can help provide guidance/ideas for anyone looking to do a low carb Whole 30 challenge. FYI I have been snacking here and there on nuts (cashews/almonds) but don’t really mention that below. Be careful with nuts, they can be a slippery slope since they are so addictive.

Thursday: I just can’t get enough… Breakfast: Bacon and tea with coconut cream Lunch: Big spinach salad covered in olive oil with some strips of bacon Daytime Snack: Avocado Dinner: Rib eye with sauteed veggies Evening Snack: Red bell pepper

Friday: Breakfast: Bacon and tea with coconut cream YUMMIEST THING EVER Lunch: I brought my final rib eye steak into work, as I was getting tired of the meat options at work. So I loaded up a big salad and nuked my delicious rib eye. Daytime Snack: Avocado Dinner: A delicious seafood curry on a bed of cauliflower rice. MMM Here is the recipe, if interested

Saturday: Breakfast: Egg scramble with broccoli, kale, red bell peppers and some bacon, and tea with coconut cream. Egg scramble wasn’t as good as last week’s. Lunch: Leftover seafood curry on cauli-rice yay! Dinner: Rib eye with glazed carrots* and steamed artichoke, with a poorly made Hollandaise sauce on the side

Sunday: Brunch: 2 eggs and a New York steak, plus my tea with coconut cream (I brought the coconut cream to the restaurant LOL) Victimized daily by me. Dinner: The rest of the seafood curry. Still tasted amazing even after two days. I was a tad worried, being seafood and all. Nope! Polished it off. I don’t remember my snack but chances are high that a red bell pepper met it’s fate.

Monday: Breakfast: 3 strips of bacon and an avocado This Tilapia will tell no tales. Lunch: Rib eye and a veggie saute (kale, broccoli, carrots and red bell pepper sauteed in ghee and coconut oil) Dinner: Tilapia smothered in a coconut oil-ginger sauce and the rest of the veggie saute from lunch. Snack: Red bell pepper – I went to the grocery store and bought six more lol

Tuesday: Breakfast: 2 strips of bacon and my tea with coconut cream Lunch: Chicken breast with a spinach/broccoli salad with hard boiled egg, mushrooms and almonds, smothered in olive oil Daytime Snack: Avocado Dinner: Leftover tilapia from the night before and raw red bell pepper. I didn’t feel like cooking. Evening Snack: I ate dinner WAY too early so I got hungry a few hours later – my dinner didn’t have enough fat. I ate another red bell pepper and the rest of my bacon.

Wednesday: Breakfast: Since I ate all my bacon, I had my tea with coconut cream AND 1/2 tbsp of coconut oil for extra fat Lunch: Spinach salad with a little bit of shaved jicama, carrots and radishes, cucumbers, and a tablespoon of sunflower seeds covered in olive oil. Plus some roast chicken. Daytime Snack: Avocado Dinner: Grilled Bison rib eye steak with mushrooms, bok choy and red bell peppers sauteed in tallow.

I am so in love with tallow. It has no scent or flavor (unlike lard, olive oil and coconut oil) and leaves your veggies with such a ‘clean’ taste. Got a huge vat of grass fed tallow from US Wellness Meats!

Shopping List, which includes the ingredients for the seafood curry (Please note my workplace supplies lunch, so these things are not included in the list and this is for a single person):

• 1 lb bacon (no nitrates or sugar!)
• 4 cans of coconut cream (read the ingredients! Some have weird stuff. Xanthan gum is OK)
• 2 large, thick cut rib eye steaks
• 1 dozen eggs
• 1 cauliflower
• 8 bell peppers, your choice on colors
• 4 tilapia filets
• 2 tablespoons fresh ginger
• 1 lb shrimp (frozen, pre cooked, fresh, your choice)
• 1 lb white fish
• 1/2 pound scallops
• Curry (link goes to the product I used)(your choice, but read the ingredients to ensure Whole30 compliant)
• Kale (your choice, I had dinosaur kale) or raw spinach
• 2-3 heads of broccoli
• 2 bunches of carrots (optional)
• 5 avocados

I will have a separate post regarding the bison (and where I bought it)

*Carrots are higher in carbs/sugars, so please use sparingly. I normally don’t cook with them but got two large batches in my CSA basket. Didn’t want to waste food.