What is Whole30 you ask? When you go to the internet, you will hear people call it a “diet”, or a “life style change”. . . well for me it was my “doctors recommendation”. For lack of a better way to describe it, it is a stricter version of eating Paleo. What is Paleo? Well that is for someone else to describe. But lets just say that there is no fast food, no processed foods. This is slow, knowledgeable, cooking and really looking at ALL the ingredients.

Whole30 cuts certain foods out of your diet for 30 days, then you reintroduce them. It is a way to see how foods react to you personally instead of the generalizations we read everyday on the internet. Whole30 cuts sugars, alcohol, grains, legumes, and dairy from what you eat. No processed foods. Lots of veggies and organic meats.

It helps you learned about what is in the foods you eat and how we genralize foods that are "healthy" and are not. Do you eat a lot of processed foods, sweets, or fast food? Then you know that you are making a choice to eat less healthy. But what about when you order the “healthy” foods, salads, turkey burger, fruits and granola. You may actually be surprised at how your body reacts to those foods, and everyone's does react differently. Here is the link to the real info: http://whole30.com/whole30-program-rules/

Quick FYI, I can say it that some people take it too far, there are posts of cures for everything from diabetes to seasonal allergies. I am not a doctor, but let’s just say, for me I wanted to have a little more energy and to control my blood sugar. Losing weight would be a bonus, after all this is a diet right. :-)

Now I am not claiming to have run a marathon every day, nor ate as strict as the Whole30 diet had me eating. But I thought I was eating good, and exercising regularly. I might have a piece of candy at work to beat the 2pm energy drain. Or have a cookie from time to time, Tim-Tam’s are a weakness I admit. If you don’t know what these are, you are missing out on the best cookie EVER. But my husband and I don’t eat fast food, we cook at home regularly, watch our portion sizes and always have veggies with our meals. So, I was a bit surprised at what I learned on the Whole30 diet. Here my my story of my 30 day's of Whole30.

Step 1: Disclaimer

Let me start with saying I didn’t choose this, my doctor recommended it, so I figured, what is 30 days, sure I can do this.

Next warning, this is NOT easy. The first week is horrible. Read up on this and be prepared. The website whole30.com has a lot of great info to get you started and what to expect as you go through this. The warnings they give you, they are real! And they aren’t meant to make you run away, but I defiantly wouldn’t have volunteered for this.

Lastly a little disclaimer about me personally, I am a newlywed, my husband and I were married just 2-1/2 months before starting this diet. I am not one of those binge diet people, or really a do any diet all kind of person, so this whole thing was new to me, and forced on him. I had only ever done one other diet in my life, (Weight watchers for my wedding). And what I know about diets come from news reports and the internet. Talk about jumping in with both feet and hoping you can swim.

My husband was very supportive and went along with the plan, and I do appreciate that. He ate the breakfasts I made (no complaints about his new wife getting up and cooking breakfast every morning) and he cooked dinner or ate dinner per the menu, other than cheese a few times and when we went out to eat he got the "food of the gods". He was on the bandwagon for breakfast and dinner and on his own for lunch. He paid more attention to lunches, but I can't say he stayed strictly Whole30 for those.

Step 2: Menu – Week 1

Picking food for week 1 was fun. My husband and I like to cook and we enjoy trying new meals, so this was exciting. I typed up a whole menu of what I would have for breakfast lunch and dinner each week, and even tried to prepare most of the meals in advance. I can say that most of the food on this plan was great, and the recipes are easy to search for on google. I never bought any books, as you can find and print anything you needed very easily. Some people also have great Pinterest pages for ideas. I have copies of all the recipes I mention below, but you should be able to google them easy too.

The one meal we had on this Whole30 that I didn’t like was Thursday’s Sauerkraut and Spareribs. Just not a flavor we enjoyed. At the end of week one, my husband actually said “let’s not do that meal again, please, EVER”. And I agreed.

Here is week 1's menu.

WEEK 1

Monday - Day 1

*Breakfast - Denver Scramble* –Whole 30 compliant ham or chopped sausage or prosciutto

*Lunch - Chopped Salad* w/Avocado and Radish with Spice Rubbed Grilled Chicken

Dinner - Shrimp on the barbie & Mixed Grilled Vegetables, roast Sweet Potatoes.

Tuesday - Day 2

Breakfast - Denver Scramble – Same as yesterday

Lunch - Chopped Salad– Same as yesterday

*Dinner - Grilled Steaks* w/sautéed Mushrooms, Roast Sweet Potatoes, Grilled Veggies

Wednesday - Day 3

*Breakfast - Scrambled Egg w/homemade spicy turkey sausage & roasted vegetables*

Lunch – Grilled Steaks – Leftovers from Dinner

Dinner - Grilled Salmon w/Spicy Seafood Rub, w/Cajun Spiced Cauliflower & a green salad

Thursday - Day 4 (Slow cooker Dinner)

Breakfast - Scrambled Egg– Same as yesterday

Lunch - Chopped Salad w/Avocado and Radish with Spice Rubbed Grilled Chicken

*Dinner - Sauerkraut and Spareribs* – Slow Cooker – w/boiled potatoes. Limit your potatoes

Friday- Day 5 (Slow cooker Dinner) -

Breakfast- Denver Scramble –Whole 30 compliant prosciutto

Lunch - Sauerkraut and Spareribs - Leftovers from Dinner

*Dinner - Beef & Eggplant Stew*– Slow Cooker – w/Rebel with a Cause Potatoes & Easy Garlic Green Beans

Saturday - Day 6

Breakfast - Sweet Potato Hashbrowns w/Chicken Apple Sausage, Sautéed Mushrooms, Sliced Tomato, and Avocado (one white, one sweet potato)

Lunch - Poorman’s Chicken Caesar Salad – No cheese or croutons

Dinner - Beef & Eggplant Stew– Slow Cooker – Same as yesterday

Step 3: Per the Whole30 Timeline - Week 1

A timeline from the Whole30 website (http://whole30.com/2013/08/revised-timeline/) is a great resource for knowing what to expect. This helps describe what will happen over the course of the next month. And is a little funny to read. You can see where you fall into the norm and later laugh about the whole experience.

Day 1 is easy. And they are correct, you are all pumped up to start a new thing and the food you are eating is great. Plus the meal planning for the week give you something exciting to look forward to. Oh, a word of advice, coffee tastes HORRIBLE with coconut milk.

Day 2-3 are supposed to be “the hangover”. I had my sister doing this plan with me voluntarily from another state (I can't believe she did this). While she may not be the smartest for choosing to participate with me, she was a great support and it was nice to have someone to cheer on, or complain to. For her, day 2 was bad, for me the hangover didn’t hit until day 3. This was a weird kind of hangover, not the lay in bed hangover, more the back of the skull, throb that comes and goes.

Day 4 – Kill all things! – Yes, Kill all things was accurate. By now, my sister and and I a had "hangovers" for 24+ hours and we were tired, hurting and ready to kill. This was the cuddle in a blanket, watch bad TV, and curse at anyone that comes near you kind of kill. Unfortunately, since we were both employed, and surprisingly still employed, this was AVOID EVERYONE day. I almost chewed off my bosses head, my sister did have words with her boss and co-workers. FYI, you should NOT go to work this day if you have a customer service job. And driving is probably a bad idea too. Being a girl, I am sure everyone thought it was PMS, but seriously it was BAD. Oh and coffee, I still want coffee, I didn't even want the "bad" full fat creamer, non-dairy would have been fine, but I couldn't because of that sugar thing.

Day 5 – After our tremendous day 4, both my sister and I took chill pills. My husband was still walking on pins and needles with the “good morning honey, how do you feel? Is it safe to be around you?" kind of concern on his face. But I was feeling better. The headache came and went a little, and I defiantly got my attitude in check.

Day 6 – Headache’s gone, we all feel human again. My husband gets his first real hangover headache, he says he has had this dull throb for a few hours. HA! Looks like he was dieting with me for real!! The timeline says we should be tired, instead I feel great. That is, until we went shopping for next week’s meals. Surprising how easy it was to get distracted. The gourmet cheese right next to veggies. The smell of fresh bread all over the store. It was hard! Then we started talking about what we would eat first when this was “all over”. Also, a bad conversation to have on the way into a store. Now I was REALLY wanting creamer in my coffee in the morning. Then we had to combat the "grab a take-and-bake pizza cause it is so late to cook" feelings. And yes, I was still complaining about my morning coffee.

Step 4: Menu – Week 2

My husband and I switch weeks to cook, we always have. I cook one week and he cooks the next. Week 2 was his week to cook. I still made the menu and gave him a shopping list, this is not normal, but because I was being the picky eater, we decided that this was the way to go unless I wanted grilled cheese sandwiches and tuna noodle casserole. I tried to pick a few easier, less time consuming meals for him, as he has been having some very busy days at work and I needed his participation for the next 3 weeks.

I can say that the Mocha Rubbed Pot Roast was amazing and that the Habanero Chili recipe by Ashley Thomas was too (http://myheartbeets.com/habanero-chili/). The Chili wasn’t chili, obviously, since you can’t have beans or cheese or corn bread. But it was still really very good veggies and stuff. This meal is where my “diet buddy” first failed me. He just couldn’t have the chili without the cheese. But I was good about it, and found that I wasn’t really craving it. In fact he even got to eat his cheese smothered chili it in the same room as me.

Week 2 - I have copies of all the recipes I mention below, but you should be able to google them easy too.

Sunday – Day 7

Breakfast – Sweet Potato Hashbrowns - Same as yesterday

Lunch – Poorman’s Chicken Caesar Salad – No cheese or croutons - Same as yesterday

Dinner – Left Overs

Monday - Day 8 (Slow Cooker Dinner)

*Breakfast - Denver Scramble* –Whole 30 compliant ham or chopped sausage or prosciutto

Lunch - Leftovers from Dinner or Salad

*Dinner – Mocha Rubbed Pot Roast*– Slow Cooker – w/Rebel with a Cause Potatoes & Easy Garlic Green Beans

Tuesday - Day 9

Breakfast - Denver Scramble – Same as yesterday

Lunch - Leftovers from Dinner or Salad

Dinner – Mocha Rubbed Pot Roast – Slow Cooker – Same as yesterday

Wednesday - Day 10

*Breakfast - Denver Scramble – Same as yesterday

Lunch –Leftovers from Dinner or Salad

Dinner - Grilled Halibut w/Spicy Seafood Rub, w/Cajun Spiced Cauliflower & a green salad

Thursday - Day 11

Breakfast - Denver Scramble – Same as yesterday

Lunch - Leftovers from Dinner or Salad

Dinner – Grilled Steaks* w/sautéed Mushrooms, Roast Sweet Potatoes,

Friday- Day 12 (Slow cooker Dinner) -

Breakfast- Denver Scramble – Same as yesterday

Lunch - Leftovers from Dinner or Salad

Dinner - Habanero Chili & a green salad

Saturday - Day 13

Breakfast - Sweet Potato Hash browns w/Chicken Apple Sausage, Mushrooms, Tomato, and Avocado

Lunch - Leftovers from Dinner or Salad

Dinner - Habanero Chili– Same as yesterday

Step 5: Per the Whole30 Timeline - Week 2

Days 8-9 you are supposed to feel like your pants are tighter and wonder if this is working at all. Instead I felt energetic, to the point, of I am sure, annoying. Hyperactive, talk to fast, run around the block, energetic. This was great!

Days 10-11 are suppose supposed to be the hardest days, you should be wanting to see results but instead feel like you “can’t have that”, or you "can’t eat that”. Again, I didn’t feel this way. I was still on an energy high. And suddenly the lack of coffee was fine, I could have tea instead. After all, black coffee is disgusting.

Day 12-15 this is when the energy was to kick in, too late. Already felt it! You are also supposed to have weird cravings, and I did later. More on that in a bit.

Day 12 was a Friday night for us, and on at least an occasionally Friday night we go to Happy Hour with friends. My husband advised me that I didn’t have to go, it was fine to stay home. Very sweet of him to think of me, but I wasn’t going to lock myself up for the next 3 weeks. So, with my best smile I said, ”at least we know who will be the designated driver this time”. I had a great time with friends and since we went to a place that mostly serves beer (I am more of a cider person), I felt less tempted. Things went well, still on track.

Step 6: Menu – Week 3

At this stage I was over scrambled eggs for breakfast. No matter how you dress them up, still blah. I needed something else or breakfast was out for good. That and better coffee, yes I am back to wanting coffee, creamy tasty Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte type coffee. But regarding eggs, I needed something fast so I could get to work on time but still on plan for this diet. I spent a few days texting friends during the week and eventually came up with some new plans for breakfasts. Scotch eggs and Frittata's. Not bad either, I still make Frittata's every week.

And now, on to my weird craving – BACON. For a while I had looked at recipes that included bacon, you may have already noticed a few. YUMMY! Since this was during football season the Whole30 website also included some quick treats for watching the game (wrapped in bacon). The trouble is Whole30 compliant bacon is HARD to find. Most stores won’t carry it, it has to not be cured in sugar or starch. Turns out even uncured bacon is packaged in sugar or starch! So I had be substituting pancetta, it worked, sort of, but salty. Very salty.

I live in a very hippy, love granola, don’t use plastic bags, bike everywhere, all organic type of town and even with all those specialized stores, I couldn't find any Whole30 compliant bacon. Seems, bacon is usually either cured or packaged in brown sugar. DARN YOU ALL! The Whole30 recommendation is to find a local butcher shop that can special prep it to you request. Well thanks to the power of google, and a few phone calls, I did find 1 shop that would, only they were a 3-1/2 hour drive away. There are places on Amazon, but I think they get that the Whole30 crowd is dying without bacon and thus they price accordingly $$$$.

Surprisingly, after threatening my husband with a 3-1/2 hour drive, we/he found bacon at a local chain grocery store! While not the same, as this was beef bacon not pork, I really could have cared less. It looks like bacon, it smells like bacon, and for the next 2 ½ weeks it would taste like bacon. And yes, I totally had the “dogs don’t know it’s not bacon” commercial in my head. If you don’t get the joke, don’t worry, you can youtube it later. So yes, my weird craving was defiantly bacon. You will see a lot of bacon on the recipe this week (and next . . .)

Week 3

Sunday – Day 14

Breakfast – Sweet Potato Hash browns w/Chicken Apple Sausage, Mushrooms, Tomato, and Avocado

Lunch – Poorman’s Chicken Caesar Salad – No cheese or croutons

Dinner – Left Overs on potato or salad

Monday - Day 15

*Breakfast – Broccoli Spinach Frittata - w/Caramelized Onions top with Salsa, guac or avocados

Lunch – Fruit Salad with coconut and cashews (bananas, cashews, apples, coconut, kiwi, raspberry)

*Dinner – Bacon wrapped poppers* w/guac and steamed veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots)

Tuesday - Day 16

Breakfast – Broccoli Spinach Frittata – Leftovers from yesterday

Lunch – Leftovers from Dinner or Salad

Dinner – Steak w/Cajun Spiced Cauliflower & a green salad

Wednesday - Day 17

*Breakfast – Scotch Eggs

Lunch –Leftovers from Dinner or Salad

Dinner – Chicken Fajitas* – w/guac, salsa and salad (big leaves to wrap)

Thursday - Day 18

Breakfast – Broccoli Spinach Frittata – Leftovers from Monday

Lunch - Leftovers from Dinner or Salad

Dinner – Chicken Fajitas Leftovers from Dinner

Friday- Day 19

Breakfast- Scotch Eggs

Lunch - Leftovers from Dinner or Salad

Dinner - Shrimp on the Barbie & Mixed Grilled Vegetables, roast Sweet Potatoes.

Saturday - Day 20

Breakfast - Sweet Potato Hash browns w/Chicken Apple Sausage, Mushrooms, Tomato, and Avocado

Lunch - Leftovers from Dinner or Salad

Dinner –Bacon Sweet Potato Sliders w/salad and guac

Step 7: Per the Whole30 Timeline - Week 3

Day 12-15 this is when the energy was to kick in, too late. Already feeling it! You are also supposed to have weird cravings and well, yes, I had that covered. BACON!

Day 15 – BACON!! Oh how I missed you. YUM YUM YUM. So, my sister at this time was having a weird craving of her own. You must understand that day 16 was her birthday. Her craving started because she needs to find a Whole30 complaint cake/dessert/item to share on her birthday. If she left it up to co-workers she wouldn't have been able to eat it. After much research we find a chocolate cake recipe, that she could make at home. She lives out of state, so I didn’t try it, but I hear it needed. . . . well, sugar of course. So not only craving cake, she also had to think of a birthday dinner, thus this was her birthday craving, Chocolate Cake and Hot Wings. Yup, she is full-fledged crazy.

I haven’t mentioned my husband much on this. Cause while a great participant, he was more the silent, “this too shall pass", kind of guy. He did start having a craving at this stage, PIZZA. Cheesy, bready, greasy, delicious pizza. Of course there is no way to put this on the menu, so he just had to crave along with the rest of us.

Day 19 – THE WORST WEEKEND OF THE WHOLE(30) THING - This was to be Shrimp on the Barbie and a nice quite evening, instead, we end up volunteering to watch his nephew overnight. Great kid, 8 years old, so full of energy even I couldn’t keep up. But a picky eater. Has to have cereal right before bed, and again in the morning. This mean milk in the house. Wouldn’t that go great in my morning coffee. The nice thing was that for once, the nephew decided to sleep in, until almost 7am!! After a cup of black (yuck) coffee, and a dream about using the milk (that we had in house) to make my coffee taste better, we were off to entertain the young man.

Day 20 – My next biggest challenge - When the parents came to pick him up, we went to lunch. Mexican (AHHH!), at our favorite restaurant, sad face. That is Ok, I will just have a salad, No cheese, no beans, no sour cream. All good. But then there is that salsa, tasty delicious salsa and chips. Just look away. You can make it.

After surviving lunch we were invited by a friend to meet up and talk business. We had a lot to catch up on. We met at a local watering hole, called Elizabeth Station. While the guys talked beer and business, sipping on some new exotic brew. I forced down a glass of hot tea, and drooled over all the great new ciders they had on tap! Our meeting went longer than expected, so we had to grab a quick bite, it was getting late, really late. There is a restaurant right around the corner that we enjoy from time to time, called Nick’s Bella Marina. Great place for seafood, burgers and grub, your typical greasy restaurant food. Turns out that there is almost nothing on the menu that isn’t fried, covered in butter or smothered in cheese. Or all of these above, yummy, but no can do on this visit. I had to be the one that ordered the steak with no butter glaze or anything, steamed veggies, no butter again, and a side salad no dressing. My “diet buddy” orders their amazing Bacon Blue Cheese Burger with mushrooms (Food of the God's again). He had to have the homemade hamburger bun, with blue cheese dressing, bacon (not the sugar free kind), mushrooms cooked in butter! It smells AMAZING and based on his facial expressions, it must have tasted a million times better than it smelled. It took everything I had not to throw steamed carrots at him, as he licked the gooey blue cheese awesomeness from his fingers.

I almost made him walk home that night.

(Husband chiming in here... It would have been worth it, a burger has never tasted sooooo good...)

Step 8: Menu – Week 4

Ok, no more going out to good restaurants, I couldn't handle the amazing blue cheese burger a second time. The end of week 4 my husband leaves and I am on my own to complete this ordeal. I don’t feel like it is a challenge anymore (so long as I stay in the safety of my own home and away from yummy, tasty diners with blue cheese burgers). I defiantly want coffee. I decided that I would start back into civilized life with dairy first, so I could get cream in my coffee.

During this adventure, I have discovered an amazing salsa and a guacamole recipe that is to die for! I think I can survive the next 2 weeks on guacamole and homemade salsa alone if I have to. Bacon dipped in guac . . . maybe??

The timeline sais I would feel like I am over this and that I will just be ready to go back to real life. I agree! Knowing that this is not going to be a lifestyle change, but instead an eye opener to what I really eat, I can’t wait for simple things, like my coffee.

Week 4

Sunday – Day 21

Breakfast – Sweet Potato Hash browns w/Chicken Apple Sausage, Mushrooms, Tomato, and Avocado

Lunch – Poorman’s Chicken Caesar Salad – No cheese or croutons

Dinner – Bacon Sweet Potato Sliders w/salad and guac

Monday - Day 22

*Breakfast – Prosciutto-Wrapped Mini Frittata Muffins - top with Salsa or avocados

Lunch – Fruit Salad with coconut and cashews (bananas, cashews, apples, coconut, kiwi, raspberry)

*Dinner – Chicken Broccoli Bake*

Tuesday - Day 23

Breakfast – Prosciutto-Wrapped Mini Frittata Muffins – Leftovers from yesterday

Lunch – Leftovers from Dinner or Salad

Dinner – Chicken Broccoli Bake*– Leftovers from yesterday

Wednesday - Day 24

*Breakfast – Prosciutto-Wrapped Mini Frittata Muffins – Leftovers from Monday

Lunch – Turkey BLTA Roll-Ups*

Dinner – Leftovers from Dinner

Thursday - Day 25

Breakfast – Prosciutto-Wrapped Mini Frittata Muffins – Leftovers from Monday

Lunch - Turkey BLTA Roll-Ups Leftovers from lunch

Dinner – Grilled Steaks* w/sautéed Mushrooms, Roast Sweet Potatoes, Grilled Veggies**

Friday - Day 26 – Husband leaves

Breakfast- Breakfast casserole

Lunch - Turkey BLTA Roll-Ups Leftovers from lunch

Dinner – Coconut Lime Chicken – with sweet potato fries and guac

Saturday - Day 27

Breakfast - Sweet Potato Hash browns w/Chicken Apple Sausage, Mushrooms, Tomato, and Avocado

Lunch - Leftovers from Dinner or Salad

Dinner – Leftovers from Dinner or Salad

Step 9: Menu – Week 5

It's over!!

The timeline makes it sounds like you will have separation anxiety at this time, I can truly say that I did not. All I could think of was COFFEE. Bring me COFFEE! Lots of delicious coffee with creamer.

Week 5

Sunday – Day 28

Breakfast – Sweet Potato Hashbrowns w/Chicken Apple Sausage, Mushrooms, Tomato, and Avocado

Lunch – Grilled Steaks* w/sautéed Mushrooms, Roast Sweet Potato & Grilled Veggies**

Dinner – Fajita-Stuffed Jack ‘O Lanterns

Monday - Day 29

*Breakfast – Prosciutto-Wrapped Mini Frittata Muffins - top with Salsa or avocados

Lunch – Leftovers from Dinner or Salad

*Dinner – Grilled Steaks* w/sautéed Mushrooms, Roast Sweet Potato & Grilled Veggies**

Tuesday - Day 30

Breakfast – Prosciutto-Wrapped Mini Frittata Muffins – Leftovers from yesterday

Lunch – Leftovers from Dinner or Salad

Dinner – Coconut Lime Chicken – with sweet potato fries and guac

Wednesday - Day 31 – VICTORY!! And Dairy!

*Breakfast – Prosciutto-Wrapped Mini Frittata Muffins – Leftovers from Monday

COFFEE WITH MILK! – 2%

Lunch – Leftovers from Dinner or Salad With Cheese

Dinner – Leftovers from Dinner With Sour Cream

Thursday - Day 32- Dairy

Breakfast – Prosciutto-Wrapped Mini Frittata Muffins – Leftovers from Monday - COFFEE WITH CREAM!

Lunch - Leftovers from Dinner or Salad With Cheese

Dinner – Grilled Steaks* w/sautéed Mushrooms, Roast Sweet Potato & Grilled Veggies** With Cheese

Friday - Day 33- Dairy

Breakfast- Breakfast casserole COFFEE WITH CREAM!

Lunch - Leftovers from Dinner or Salad With Cheese

Dinner – Greek Meatballs with Avocado Tzatziki – Salad and Sour Cream

Saturday - Day 34- Grains

Breakfast – Bagel Sandwich

Lunch – Pasta Salad

Dinner – Leftovers from Dinner on a tortilla

Step 10: The Run Down

I slowly weaned the foods back into my life. Mostly because I thought that having a big bowl of Craft Velveeta Mac and Cheese would just wreak havoc on my body and make me sick for days. I wanted to take it slow. After all I did feel better, more energetic, happier and less confrontational. That must have had something to do with the choices I made over the 30 days. Except maybe coffee, that I jumped into 200%. I had two Starbucks Coffee's on day 31! I was caffeine sick by noon, but I felt satisfied. Now I order sugar free, non-fat coffee's. Still not going to go for black coffee, YUCK!

I did not lost much weight, but I did gained a new perspective on what I was eating. My doctor was very happy with my blood sugar results, and I have kept it down since. I never realized how much sugar is added to EVERYTHING. From bacon to canned veggies, even normal table salt. Really do my peas need to swim in sugar before going to my plate? During one shopping trip, I was looking for dried dates, like the fruit, I found a package and read the ingredients on the back, sugar. OK, that is a no. Package next to it says “no sugar added” SWEET! Grab that and look in the back, instead of sugar, they used . . . honey! REALLY!! Technically correct, no sugar added, but isn’t honey a type of sugar? Just word play.

This is the same lesson I learned about a lot of the food I was eating. I thought I was making heath choices, eating turkey burger instead of hamburger and making mashed potatoes instead of buying the packaged stuff. Only with all the additives, the food I was buying was not always the best option. If your turkey burger has sugar and corn starch in it, and hamburger is just ground meat, the hamburger is better (if your buying good quality meat). If the packaged mash potatoes are just freeze dried potatoes and you add water, versus making it at home with sour cream, salt and butter, the freeze dried are better.

I won’t say that the Whole30, changed my life, nor will I be going Paleo from here on out. But it was interesting, and I will continue to in the future. More fresh veggies, read the label, and understand what I am reading, understand what I am eating.

Lessons have defiantly been learned.