Day 5 :-)

Hi. My name is Robin and I am addicted to Diet Coke.

I have loved Diet Coke since I was in high school. I'm 42. It's been a long time.

Prior to going Whole30 I was also enjoying Diet Dr. Pepper and Diet A&W Rootbeer. Oh and Diet Sunkist. I do love an orange soda...

All of the above are outlawed for Whole30. You know what? I quit cold turkey. I'm not a coffee drinker. Diet Coke was my morning caffeine. I haven't missed it. I haven't been craving it. Although sitting here thinking about it right now there's nothing I would love more than holding a big Polar Pop cup with crunch ice and a fountain Diet Coke - sipping those fizzy bubbles. Ahhhh...but yeah, nope. It hasn't been nagging at me like "go get one from the vending machine, it's just down the hall" or "there are still three 12 packs of rootbeer in the living room...you know you want one".  Honestly, I'm fine without. On December 31st I walked into the office with my last extra large Diet Coke from the fountain at RaceTrac. When I got home from work, I was up until nearly 1:30am partly because it was New Year's Eve and partly because there were enough fireworks on my street to rival the evening show at Disney. I drank can after can of Diet A&W rootbeer. At midnight I dumped what little bit was left in my current cup (another of my beloved Tervis tumbler 24 ounce collection) in the sink and went back to my office to write thank you cards for Christmas gifts. 

I have had nothing but water to drink since I got up and out of bed on January 1. Honestly I haven't had any real cravings for anything. 

Today one of my co-workers asked me what I was doing. I looked at her like she was crazy. "Uhhh working?" she says "No...what are you doing? Your face looks different - less puffy?" Was my face puffy? I never thought it looked puffy...so of course when I got home I went right to a mirror and stared at myself. I think she's right. My face does look different. Just over 100 hours (HOURS!!!) in to the Whole30. Are you kidding me? Changes that fast?

So it's day 5. Getting close to a full week in! That's kind of exciting. After making dinner last night I told Mr. P. that I had no idea what I would make for dinner tomorrow. He said "I'll pick up some steaks or something" and this morning he hit the snooze button one less time and got up to make his fried eggs. Some things haven't changed yet...like the skillet tossed in the sink and the plate and fork with dried egg yolk sitting on the counter. Seriously...dried egg yolk is like a natural superglue once it's dried. Baby steps...

I will say I'm tired of the frozen veggie mix that I have. I guess I'll have Mr. P. stock up on green beans (seriously, my favorite frozen veggie is PictSweet whole green beans - they are so good - it's like buying fresh beans and not having to snap the ends off! I could eat a full family size bag of them and call it a meal.) Other than that. No complaints about the food outside of it being a lot more work.

Today I am had a repeat of day 4 for breakfast and lunch was leftover chicken from last night (seriously it was JUST as good reheated as it was for dinner) and a sweet potato.

I came home to find Mr. P. making dinner! Yesterday he said he was going to pick up steaks...but he didn't. Even though he went to Publix. So he made Garlic Lemon Shrimp (basically a scampi and it was DELISH) and Whole30 Balsamic Rosemary Roasted Potatoes...which were amazing. AMAZING. Oh and asparagus.

Recipes:

Garlic Lemon Shrimp - gluten free and Whole30 compliant!

Balsamic Potatoes - apparently these also call for sun dried tomatoes (which I just bought, but he probably didn't realize - SO adding them next week!)

If you're interested in doing the Whole30 yourself here are my initial suggestions. 

• Read the book "It Starts With Food" cover to cover (really it's an easy read)
• Research recipes for each meal - pick 10 for a dinner rotation (it will be SO much easier to have those specific ingredients on hand because let me tell you trying to FIND any sort of canned/frozen/refrigerated ready to go items to make prep easy is a CHORE - you will read the labels, you will google "Whole30 yeast extract" or "Whole30 modified starch" - 99% of what you put your hands on at your regular local grocery store will be off limits. You would probably have better luck at Whole Foods - but I cannot stand going in that store - there is no "good" time - it's always a mad house and those damn sample things and people standing around eating OMG I just want to grocery shop can you get the hell out of my way?!) Pick 2 or 3 for breakfast and lunch - you will most likely go with what is easiest and eat it every day. It's only 30 days.
• Clean out your fridge and freezer. You will need extra room for pre-packing your lunch foods (I don't know about you, but I don't want to make a salad every night - I buy the stuff and divide it up into enough Mason jars for the week - grab and go). 
• Shop. Buy everything you need to make enough of those meals for a full week. You may have to go to multiple stores (including a health food store) or order things from Amazon or whatever. 
• Make anything you will need ahead of time - like mayo and salad dressing and clarified butter/ghee (if you don't want to pay extra for it already made - assuming you can find it).
• NOW start "tomorrow" (whatever that day is after you've done all of the above).  

Just my two cents...