In the real world, I have totally finished my vegan whole 30, but here on the blog I’m compiling my diary entries and reflecting on what worked for the third week. You’ll have to wait a few days for week 4, and early next week for day 31 and the big result reveal…
If you’re just joining me now on this journey, you might like to read about why I did a vegan whole 30, and how my first and second week went (spoiler alert: horrible, and better).
(Psst if you’re just joining me you can check out my weekly reports, menus and my final results here in my whole 30 section).
What I learned during Week 3
Hmmm. Not a whole lot I guess. I was kind of over the Whole 30 thing this week. After passing the halfway mark, I felt like I should get some reward or the rest of the Whole 30 should just fly by, and when it didn’t…Well. I just kept plugging ahead.
I still felt really good, and slept really well, but wow was my skin the worst it has been since I was a teenager. Definite food fatigue also set in and to top it off I totally rebelled against cooking ALL DAY LONG (but I got through it, read on to find out how).
What did I eat during my third week of a vegan Whole 30?
This week I veered between two different styles of eating. A super lazy style where I subsisted on leftovers and frozen food (rebelling against cooking so much I guess), and a potato-loving one.
I’ve been a bit leery of potatoes for years, scarred by too many servings of lumpy mashed potato while growing up in Ireland.
To make it worse, starchy-vegetable fear also struck, brought about by all the fairly-recent high-protein low-carb diet fads. However, this week I rediscovered my mild love of potatoes and feasted on potato salad and wedges!
Along with all the fruit – I’ve mentioned this before but sorry-not-sorry I’m not following the whole 30 “template” regarding only having fruit occasionally. I’m good, but even I would find it extremely challenging to survive a month on just vegetables nuts and seeds.
| Day | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner |
| Monday | Pineapple and mango with banana coconut chia pudding and mixed seeds | Leftover meatless bean-less chilli and cauliflower mash | Gazpacho olives, grapes and peri peri vegetables |
| Tuesday | jalapeño stuffed olives, pineapple and blueberries with banana chia almond milk pudding and mixed seeds | Leftover meatless bean-less chilli and cauliflower mash | Potato salad, coleslaw, leftover peri peri veg |
| Wednesday | Banana chia seed pudding with strawberries and mixed seeds | Leftover potato salad, peri peri vegetables and coleslaw | Baked potato wedges, Whole30 sugar-free ketchup, cauliflower steaks. |
| Thursday | Banana chia seed pudding | Leftover wedges & cauliflower | Cauliflower tabbouleh |
| Friday | Chopped melon, coconut milk and seeds, a small avocado, fresh pineapple. | Cauliflower tabbouleh | Broccoli with cashew cheese sauce |
| Saturday | Melon, blueberries, coconut milk, mixed seeds | Tabbouleh with cashew sauce | Whole 30 coleslaw, vegetable burgers |
| Sunday | Whole 30 coleslaw, vegetable burgers | Whole30 coleslaw, vegetable burgers | Cauliflower sushi |
01/07/2019 Day 15
Half-way through the Whole 30 today! Slept deeply as is my new usual norm, skin still breaking out slightly, seems like my normal mid-cycle spot-a-thon, but doesn’t seem as bad as usual.
Had a strange dream last night where I was visiting Ireland and broke my Whole 30 and was really upset about it.
People at work today asked me if I had changed my makeup or something as apparently my skin seemed very “porcelain-like”, despite the breakout and the fact that I was just wearing my usual BB cream. There were also some comments that it seemed like I had lost weight (here’s hoping…).
Had breakfast at around 8.30 today, I was hungry despite the fact that I had a massive helping of chilli and mash. Mixed some chopped pineapple and frozen mango into my banana pudding, and sprinkled a tablespoon of mixed seeds on top.
Lunch is leftover meatless bean-less chilli and cauliflower mash, very satisfying.
Was really in a terrible mood today. And where is my “tiger-blood”? According to the original Whole 30 timeline
“Days 16-27: Tiger Blood. Goodbye cravings, hello Tiger Blood! This must be what everyone is talking about. You’ve hit the downhill slope of your Whole30 and life is beautiful. Your energy is through the roof, you’ve kicked the cravings, you’re experimenting with new, delicious food, and you’ve finally got the time to notice that your clothes fit better, your workouts are stronger, and you are generally more awesome.”
Okay, to be fair it’s only day 15. But still. Give me tiger blood or give me a medal! Dinner was a bit of a disaster, I’d been hungry all day, and when I was on my way home I actually felt dizzy and like my blood sugar was plummeting.
So I ended up eating a handful of gazpacho olives, and half a punnet of grapes. I could then only eat a few mouthfuls of my dinner, which was peri peri vegetables, so I put it away for Wednesday lunch.
The grapes were definitely feeding my sugar dragon and a bit of food without brakes for me, and they are definitely one of the more sugary fruits, so I’m going to steer clear of them for the rest of my whole30.
My skin was breaking out even more by the evening. I guess I’m either eating too much fruit, I looked up what people were saying about acne on the Whole30 and nuts came up, but god I hope it’s not nuts.
I’ve also slacked off a bit with drinking water, I’ve been drinking too much soda water and mineral water, which is compliant, but I’m not able to drink as much of it as regular flat water. So back on the super-hydrated train tomorrow.
I’m going to continue having fruit for breakfast until the weekend and then come up with a vegetable burger or rösti to have instead for breakfast, to dial back my fruit to the “occasional” recommended amount by the meal template.
Still really hot today but not as hot as last week. Hubby and the kids were down by the pool but I didn’t have time as I was working on the blog. At least there is enough leftover chilli for dinner tomorrow from yesterday, so I won’t have to make dinner and can free up some time.
02/07/2019 Day 16
Did not sleep enough, so it was an effort to get up. My own fault as I went to bed late as I was working on the blog. I really do have to prioritize sleeping at least 7 hours though. Starting tonight I’m going to drop everything by 11 and aim to be asleep by 11:30.
I had a grand plan to be running early in the morning this week, but I’m 100% NOT doing it, as I’ll have to get up even earlier until I get enough sleep.
It seems crazy but having removed so many of the factors that were obviously making me feel a bit unwell, it has become super obvious how my body and mood are affected when I don’t get my forty winks.
Breakfast was a handful of jalapeño stuffed olives, a few slices of fresh pineapple, and some banana chia seed almond milk pudding with two tablespoons of frozen blueberries and a tablespoon of mixed seeds.
I put on a pair of “danger pants” today. You know, the ones that are just tight enough on you that the button MAY be in danger of popping off and taking someone’s eye out.
They definitely fit a bit better, but not a lot better…Resisting the lure of the scales. Really don’t feel like I’ve lost any weight. My face is definitely slimmer and my tummy is flat but I’m putting that down to less inflammation.
Still waiting for my medal and/or tiger blood. Either will do at this point.
Lunch was another tasty meal of meatless chili and mashed cauliflower. I was hungry again a few hours after and realized that although it may be a pretty tasty meal, it’s pretty low in fat, and between you and me I’m all about fat for satiety right now. Fat me up, please.
Dinner was some potato salad, coleslaw, and leftover peri peri veg (the coleslaw and potato salad with avocado mayo). I aimed to make the same delicious potato salad I had at the weekend, but with less dressing, and it ended up being yuck, so not ready to exit the recipe testing kitchen yet. Was still full though, couldn’t finish my meal.
MInor skin breakout has now become an epic epidemic, the likes of which I haven’t seen since I was a teenager. Help!
03/07/2019 Day 17
Managed 6.5 hours of unbroken sleep last night. Hey, it may not be 7, but it’s better than 6! For breakfast, I had banana chia seed pudding with some frozen strawberries and a sprinkle of seeds.
Read somewhere that smoothies and puddings were not exactly “encouraged” on the Whole 30, but honestly it’s the only way you will get me near a banana because I usually despise them.
The epic skin disease acne outbreak continues. Oh, the joy.
Lunch was leftover not-right potato salad, peri peri vegetables, and coleslaw. Filling, but still starving come hometime and scarfed down a handful of pickled gazpacho olives.
Was feeling a bit mutinous today (still waiting for my medal or tiger blood) so I “rebelled” and had a compliant but not amazingly healthy dinner. Made baked potato wedges (had a sudden craving for them today), whole30 date-free ketchup, and cauliflower steaks.
Was my first time having cauliflower steaks. Don’t really get the hype. Totally the same as roasted cauliflower florets, but the florets get crispier. Go figure.
04/07/2019 Day 18
Skin outbreak continues, is it too early to call the center for disease control? In other news, slept deeply and got to sleep quickly, but not enough (went to bed too late again, was working on the blog, my bad).
Breakfast I had some more banana chia seed pudding, lunch was leftover wedges and cauliflower. I was very excited about the wedges so, unfortunately, convinced myself that 12 is as good as 1 for lunch, and was then really hungry later. BUT SO WORTH IT.
Dinner I went a bit off plan as I had a ton of cauliflower in the fridge and make a cauliflower tabbouleh which was really good, except I put cucumber in it and turns out I’m not really a fan of cucumber when on the whole30 for some reason.
Possibly also the reason I hated my salads the first week as they had a lot of cucumber.
I do have a ton of the snotty green vegetables in my salad crisper though, so I guess tomorrow I’ll try spiralizing them with a little vinegar and sesame oil or convince the kids to eat them.
05/07/2019 Day 19
Skin officially driving me mad. Went to bed late again (this is such a bad habit) and couldn’t get to sleep as I was thinking about everything I need to fix on the blog.
Breakfast was some chopped melon sprinkled with seeds and some coconut milk, a small avocado with a sprinkle of salt, and a few chunks of fresh pineapple.
Lunch was a bunch of leftover cauliflower tabbouleh. For dinner, I was super lazy and panfried some frozen broccoli and had it with cashew cheese sauce.
06/07/2019 Day 20
Breakfast was some melon and blueberries with coconut milk and a mix of seeds. Lunch Was leftover cauliflower tabbouleh with some cashew cheese sauce.
Hubby did the shopping and went to a different shop but still no sweet potatoes to be found (why have you forsaken me oh tasty sweet potato? Where art thou in Madrid?).
For dinner, I made perfect whole 30 coleslaw (it really is perfect now, I need to put that recipe up *UPDATE I did put it up!), and veggie burgers.
The burgers aren’t blog-worthy yet, but oh they were so tasty, crispy on the outside and creamy but with just the right amount of texture on the inside. I made them with potato, carrot, onion, tahini, ground almonds, and spices.
I wanted to add sweet potato and spinach as well but the shops were out of them.
Today I really started noticing some changes in my body composition. Eyed my scales before bedtime but managed to convince myself not to step on them by rationalizing that it was the end of the day and I’d probably weigh more than in the morning and get all demoralized and throw the whole 30 out the window and that if I still really wanted to weigh myself, I could do it in the morning (delaying tactic).
07/07/2019 Day 21
The urge to weigh myself thankfully wore off. I don’t bother writing about the quality of my sleep or how long it took me to fall asleep anymore as you can pretty much assume awesome quality, and it took me no time. Sleep is AWESOME on the Whole30.
Breakfast and lunch were the same for me today, two veggie burgers with coleslaw, I was one super happy well-fed bunny.
After lunch, we chilled with a movie while my daughter had a nap and I did have a handful of cherries and some sparkling water. For dinner, I made cauliflower sushi and dipped it in coconut aminos.
The cauliflower sushi was really tasty but a bit too wet. Today we cleaned the house, cooked, binge-watched stranger things 3 on Netflix, and lazed down by the pool.
I felt quite bloated down by the pool after snacking on cherries and sparkling water, hmmm, wondering which one was the culprit.
My skin outbreak seems to have stopped and is healing, fingers crossed.
Week 3 done and dusted!