One Week Down, Lunch and Dinner

Tonight's dinner marks the end of my eighth day of whole30, and is the first day of my second week. I'll be totally honest, I haven't really felt any of the myriad benefits most people report when they complete a whole30, but I think that's only because I was already eating paleo/primal for three months before. If I had kicked off back in March with a whole30 I bet my changes would have been more noticeable. That said, after my first month or so of paleo, I noticed many positive changes, including a more even, constant energy level, no bloaty feelings, never feeling uncomfortably full, and of course the weight loss (about ten pounds in the three months of pre- whole30). The biggest thing I've taken away from the whole30 so far is what my comfortable, maintenance outlook might be. Before starting the whole30 I rarely felt "deprived" I really enjoy cheese, chocolate, and cocktails and those things fit comfortably into my primal day-to-day. I know I can happily and healthily go without them for a month, but I will admit, it can be very frustrating to hold yourself back from enjoying something you know you'd enjoy, especially when you know that thing can be part of your healthy diet. Oh well. Armed with all the delicious food I made yesterday and the fact that I'm off tomorrow (I haven't had a Sunday off in months!) I'm looking forward to facing week two head on. 

Today for lunch I had a bowl of chili with an over-easy egg on top. It was incredibly tasty, but full disclosure, I did spend much of the afternoon hungry and found myself snacking on olives, nuts, and dried fruit for much of the afternoon. It's entirely possible that this lunch wasn't big enough (I should probably have had a salad on the side) or that I didn't eat enough after my run this morning (I did run for an hour and twenty minutes straight, and according to Nike+, burned over 800 calories). Awesome lunch though, and I bet it would be an amazing breakfast too.  

For dinner I made Thai chicken curry using this recipe from Bon Appétit. The only change I made to the recipe was using coconut oil instead of vegetable, and I threw some kale in at the end. I served it over zucchini noodles, made very simply with my vegetable peeler and this method.