It finally happened. After nearly three years of green smoothies for dinner, I got tired of them. Also, it's winter. I wanted something warm to eat. Which is just one of the reasons I decided to finally try a Whole30. Let's not talk about the KIND bar I was eating for breakfast every morning or the jars of candy on my co-worker's desk that I was regularly raiding.

Basically, I needed a food reset.

So I ordered this book, which has been my guide through the past two weeks. Well, three weeks if you count the trial week I did before I officially started. (I decided I needed to ease into this a little, and I think it helped.)

Honestly, this isn't that far off from how I normally eat. Except I was eating what is essentially a candy bar for breakfast every morning (I got lazy). I also wasn't diligently checking labels except for gluten. Now I'm also checking for dairy and sugar (IT'S IN EVERYTHING).

So what am I eating?

For Breakfast:
I've been making this Fiesta Egg Casserole, cutting it into 5 portions and storing it in the fridge. I made this recipe to the letter the first time, but the second time, I used some leftover ground turkey and roasted butternut squash. That's become my new favorite version.

For Lunch:
I make 5 days worth of food on the weekend, so it's grab and go in the mornings. I've been relying on my Well Fed cookbooks for recipes. I already had a couple of favorites in the first book but received the second one for Christmas and there's a bunch of recipes I want to try in there, too.

For Dinner:
I've been making what I affectionately refer to as a "food pile". Sautee some protein (usually ground meat cooked with onion that I made on the weekend), add some vegetables (chard, spinach, cauliflower rice, butternut squash), and top with some sort of sauce (guac, pico de gallo, etc). Since I've pre-cooked everything, this is a super quick way for me to make dinner.

I'm finding that I'm snacking less than I used to, but if I do need something, a handful of nuts (cashews, macadamia) is usually enough.

The hard part? Going out to eat. Any time someone suggests going out to eat, mild panic strikes because it can be hard to figure out where to go that will have something I can eat. I end up ordering a lot of salads with dressing on the side and then not using the dressing. Which actually isn't so bad. Thankfully, friends and family have been pretty agreeable about where to go so I can eat with them.

What about caffeine? I've seen some people mention that it's not allowed. In the book I'm using as my guide, it doesn't say anything about no caffeine, unless you're trying to eliminate IBS or IBD symptoms. Since that doesn't apply to me, I'm still drinking caffeinated beverages. I had been a one cup of coffee a day person and I couldn't drink it without milk and some sort of sweetener. During my trial week, I switched to green tea. I don't need to add anything to that to make it drinkable, and so far, it's worked out well.

Things I've discovered:

• I like sweet potatoes way more than I thought I did
  
• Same goes for butternut squash
  
• Ground turkey thigh meat is actually really tasty
  
• All this planning ahead makes meals a no-brainer, which is nice

Today is day 14, and I guess I feel pretty good? I think I'm less groggy in the morning when I get up, which is nice. I'm hoping I feel even better in the next few days. After tomorrow, only 15 more days to go!