4. th weeks in to my Whole 30

Let me start by saying that I do believe that eating paleo-style is really really worth it in terms of improving ones health and well being.  But man, is cutting out grains, sugar, alcohol and dairy for 30 days hard!

I have bombed on my self imposed Whole 30 challenge.

I actually had every intention of doing it right up until Christmas (so it was more like a Whole 50) but only really made it properly for 2 weeks.  These past 2 weeks I have eaten bread and cake and even lollies.  I have had 3 sips of alcohol - had to try the port that went into the Christmas pudding (it was very port like).  I have even had a few meal replacement shakes.

I think I bombed for a few reasons:

• My food variety was lacking.  
• I was not preparing enough extras before hand - you know cook a whole zucchini slice and freeze some of it for those days when you suddenly realize you haven't had lunch and now you're starving.  
• I stopped meal planning dinners - I did 2 weeks worth at the start and I stuck to it even if I shuffled meals around a bit.  After that I got complacent I think.

I need to re-evaluate what I am eating in terms of variety and need to ensure there is emergency "omg I am starving right now and I can't be bothered cooking from scratch" food.

I also need to get back into the habit of planning what we will eat for the next week for dinner - write it down and stick it up on the fridge.

I am not going to be hard on myself over this attempt.  Hell I did it for 14 days and feel so much better for it.  No more falling asleep watching tv early in the evening - in fact so alert at times I don't want to go to bed at a reasonable hour.  I am still following  paleo eating stlye - sort of.

I used to have 4 toast for breakfast, then possibly 4 more slices of bread at lunch or pancakes.  Dinner could be a casserole/stew or pasta or crumbed chicken/fish cooked in the oven with steamed veges.  In between there was the biscuits/cookies or cake mid morning and mid afternoon or a muesli bar.  Then after dinner there was often a similar snack even if we had dessert.

Now I try to eat a 'proper' breakfast (though this morning it was 2 toast with jam) and I try to have soup or eggs with grated veges for lunch and not have any grain things for dinner.  I did have home made spaghetti bolognese for dinner the other night - the pasta was sooo good, the sauce not so much.

In two weeks hubby and I go away to our caravan for 3 weeks - this is where I usually go a bit crazy with food.  It has been a tradition for years that I take cocoa pops with us - a big box - for breakfast; We always have cream biscuits and chocolate too.  Not to mention the lollies and nuts and muesli bars.  Dinners are usually quite good - bbq meat with salad; only occasionally will we do a pasta dish.  To top it all off there is a bakery in town that sends around a van selling their wares - bread, rolls and cakes.  My mum used to call the van meals on wheels.

At this point I don't have much of a plan to combat 'bad' food choices whilst away.  Maybe I will make some granola and some bars to take away with me - I don't know.