Week 1

Jan 7

Written By Kieu Vo

Wooohooo! I hope you’re as excited as I am to start Whole30. 🤗 Not going to lie, I was not prepared to start this week so I basically winged it. 😬 This week, I used ingredients I already had that were Whole30 compliant. (I’m not a fan of wasting good food 😋)

Keep in mind Whole30 doesn’t have to be boring and the flavors can be amazing! So have fun with it!! 💃🏻

Meals prepared for the week:

Breakfast

Sweet potato breakfast casserole recipe here

Lunch/Dinner

No bean Chili
Korean Beef Bone broth soup — I got from H Mart, but you can find this at Central Market
TJ chicken sausage & veggies
Unami chicken thighs & veggies
Salmon with mashed potatoes & asparagus
Beef Stroganoff (ended up using turkey vs ground beef)
Vietnamese braised beef & eggs

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Primal Kitchen - get 10% OFF with code: NORIBELLA
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Monday, January 3rd

Breakfast

In the morning, I started off with a bottle of celery juice from Trader Joe’s. Than I had a slice of sweet potato casserole. Recipe here ⬅️ It’s so good and you can freeze it!

Lunch

Did a quick workout during lunch and then had a small bowl of No Beans chili.

Dinner

After running 3 miles, I cooked chicken thighs in the air fryer and served it with mixed field greens and Primal Kitchen Greek Goddess dressing ⬅️ Click for my fave Whole30 friendly dressing. Get 10% off with code: NORIBELLA

Tue, January 4th

Breakfast

The day before I made my most favorite breakfast — you can find the sweet potato breakfast casserole recipe here. Each casserole has about 8 servings so I packed 6 slices into these BPA free microwaveable containers and freezed two slices for emergency breakfast.

Lunch

I made a quick lunch with Trader Joe’s Italian sausage and stir-fried veggies and cauliflower with a side of bone broth soup.

Dinner

After running 3 miles, I was craving salmon so I cooked it in the air fryer and served with mashed potatoes and asparagus.

Air Fryer salmon recipe: Seasoned 2 salmon filet with olive oil, garlic powder, paprika & salt & pepper and cook @400 degrees for 8-9 minutes in air fryer

Mash potatoes recipe: Boil 1.5 lbs of small gold yukon potatoes for 45 minutes. Drain and add back to pot and mash potatoes with 2 tsp of garlic, 1/2 cup of chicken broth, 1 tbsp of olive oil, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp of black pepper

Wed, January 5th

Breakfast

I actually only had celery juice this morning since I wasn’t hungry.

Lunch

I had leftover chicken thighs, carrots, and a side salad. I also did a quick workout.

Dinner

I got home from my run a little late and didn’t have time to cook so I had leftover TJ sausage and stir-fried veggies , cauliflower and a side of bone broth soup from Sunday. The ingredients of the sausage are Whole30 compliant!

Thu, January 6th

I had a family emergency so I quickly grabbed my celery juice and these Turkey Sticks.

Lunch

I was in the hospital all day and was able to sneak away to grab lunch at Chipotle! Did you know that they have a Whole30 friendly menu?! It was great. I had a salad bowl with half chicken and half carnitas with tomato salsa, fajita veggies and guacamole. I was in a rush so I did not take a pic.

Dinner

For dinner, I had leftover salmon and mashed potatoes. This was the only pic I took that day. It felt great to be home with my pups after a long day in the hospital. I’m very proud to say that I did not get off Whole30 during the chaos!

Friday, January 7th

Breakfast/Lunch

I had my celery juice in the AM and ended up having the sweet potato breakfast casserole again! —— I can eat this all the time. It has so much flavor and keeps me full!

Dinner

I had ground turkey and mushrooms in the fridge so I decided to make a rendition of Beef stroganoff with ground turkey. Recipe here

Saturday, January 8th

Breakfast/Lunch

I had celery juice and turkey stroganoff and ended up going for a run afterwards. It felt so nice! 🙌🏼

Dinner

I had leftover turkey chili that I put in the freezer last Sunday.

Sunday, January 9th

Breakfast

I had my celery juice and a glass of Vital Proteins Get & Glow to give me a little pick me up.

Lunch

I polished the rest of the turkey stroganoff and mashed potatoes and it was delish!!

Dinner

I was craving something Asian so made Vietnamese braised beef & eggs with cauliflower rice and grilled romaine heart. Recipe here ⬅️ This is sooooooo good!! 😋😋

Thoughts from Week 1

Below are pics from my first day and morning of the 8th day. You can’t see a huge difference, but I lost about 2.5 lbs. The goal isn’t to lose weight, but to reset my body. However, losing weight and fitting my clothes better is a huge benefit! 🙌🏼 I also feel that my tummy area is getting flatter and more defined. I did have cravings, but ended up having Whole30 friendly snacks to help with that. 😬 My energy level at the beginning of the week was a little low. (that’s what happened the last time I did this) I felt like week 1 was a success and am motivated to continue this journey!