So…exciting news! I only have 8 more days left on the Whole 30 challenge. I haven’t talked much about Whole 30 on the blog, mostly because I haven’t been blogging as much as usual lately.
I’ve heard it said that you can have two out of the following three things in college: sleep, schoolwork, and a social life, and I definitely feel the trickiness of balancing those…and then blogging ends up being a fourth item on that list. So, even though blogging has taken a bit of a backseat right now, I still love it and wanted share today a little bit more about how I’ve been doing on Whole 30. For a brief and oversimplified rundown of the program, it’s basically eating no grains, dairy, peanuts, or sugar (aside from natural sugar in fruits and veggies) for 30 days.
Here’s a sample day of Whole 30 meals from a day where I remembered to capture everything:
Breakfast was a Cherry Pie Larabar. Gotta love the simple ingredients- just almonds, dates, and dried cherries.
Eggs or something a little more substantial would be ideal, but it’s hard to beat the convenience of a bar.
I pack my lunch almost every day to meet someone on campus for lunch (or occasionally, eat really quickly in the library right before an exam or something), and during Whole 30, I’ve been packing mostly mason jar salads. My first class after lunch was actually canceled on this day, though, so I had some extra time and one of my best friends came over to my dorm for lunch. For a super easy lunch, I roasted veggies for us and made “green” smoothies with almond milk, coconut milk, spinach, unsweetened protein powder, frozen mixed berries, and frozen bananas.
When I got back to my dorm early in the evening, I snacked on some celery, almond butter, and raisins while I made dinner. Growing up, we used to always call this combo “ants on a log.” Anyone else?
For a quick and easy dinner right before a meeting, I chopped a large sweet potato to make crispy sweet potato fries and I scrambled 3 eggs with spinach and tomatoes. 
And for a nighttime snack, I had some Granny smith apple slices drizzled with almond butter. 
So, how do I feel?
I honestly don’t feel much different than I did before, which I’m guessing is because my eating patterns haven’t changed significantly. I’ve noticed that I haven’t experienced that uncomfortably full feeling in a while since all of my meals are pretty basic. I’ve also enjoyed eating more substantial snacks, such as a whole sweet potato, instead of a couple squares of dark chocolate for the same amount of calories.
Is there anything I miss?
I thought I’d miss ice cream and sweets (and I do), but I think I might actually miss pasta most!
*As a housekeeping sidenote, I’m still working on the blog’s makeover! I’ve been determined to do it all myself, but the tech stuff goes way over my head, so it’s taking a little while. Thanks for your patience!
Questions for you:
Favorite type of snack bar?
Favorite veggies to roast?
Any other “ants on a log” fans out there?
For bloggers: how do you balance blogging with everything else you have going on?
I’ve kind of been wanting to try Whole30. I might wait until after holidays though, because I intend to enjoy ALL the food at those 🙂 I have been making a conscious effort to cut back on sugar and eat more substantial snacks, though, and that’s felt pretty good.
And the last few weeks of midterms have definitely had me struggling with the whole blog balance thing. I’m hoping that’ll get a little easier in the coming weeks, since my exams are over now, but it’s an ongoing challenge!
I’m happy that Whole30 will be over for me before Thanksgiving (although I still do want to make an effort to eat really mindfully during the holidays and not eat tons of sugar just because it’s available!) Hope all of your midterms went well, and phew, thank goodness they’re over so you can take a breather 🙂
Ironically (after saying I wouldn’t survive) I might be doing a similar thing in a few weeks. SO I’m glad to hear it’s possible coming from an oatmeal lover 🙂 And YES I still eat ants on a log. Lately I’m loving roasted carrots with cinnamon.
Mmm, roasted carrots with cinnamon! You’ll have to let us know how it goes if you try something similar 🙂
Finding a balance with blogging and everything else that is involved with college is definitely not an easy task. Especially this semester for me has been crazy hectic that I feel like I never found a good blogging groove, which sometimes makes for some late nights unfortunately. I think the biggest thing is to do what you can when you can, so if that means some weeks are better than others, that is still okay!
PS… LOVING the blog design! I have the Fun theme and it is so great to use!
I’m loving the Fun theme so far and just needing to spend some time customizing it a bit more 🙂 You do such a great job blogging consistently, Brie! Most of my blogging is done pretty late at night, too, which explains why sometimes it just isn’t going to happen haha.
So many good questions! I love roasted vegetables! Especially starches like sweet potato and squash and parsnips. Sometimes it’s hard to find balance between blogging and life, but since I mostly blog for fun and to keep up with family and friends who don’t live near me, I’m able to keep it pretty low key and not feel guilty if I don’t post. I do love ants on a log! But I’m not a huge raisins fan, so I usually put dried cherries or craisins.
I think remembering that the reason I blog is for FUN has been key for me to not feel guilty for not always being able to stick to a consistent posting schedule (although I wish I could for my readers’ sake!) Love me some dried cherries and craisins, too, especially in my oatmeal 🙂
Favorite roasted veggies: brussels, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, asparagus, parsnips, squash and sweet potatoes (ok I know those last two aren’t really veggies but they are too good to leave out)!
Does Whole30 seem like a diet? Or is it more like a ‘rest period’ for the body? I’m always a little leery of trying diets, but it seems like Whole 30 is really balanced and a great way to just get in some extra healthy foods! Favorite type of snack bar is definitely the peanut butter chocolate chip larabar. Favorite veggies to roast are sweet potatoes or butternut squash! I guess you can tell that I like sweet food. 🙂
I have mixed feelings about all of the “rules” in Whole30, as I’d say it’s definitely pretty restrictive in terms of what you can eat. On the plus side, though, it’s definitely not restrictive in terms of how much you can eat (i.e. calories) or anything like that, so I definitely don’t feel like it’s a weight loss strategy.
We just bought some Lara Bars the other day!! I love the simple ingredient list – although there isn’t much protein to them! I still find them to be a fantastic snack option. That dinner of yours is so dang simple but so on point!! I could roast up sweet tater fries every night for dinner. In fact, I used to alternate between those and carot fries on nights when my hubby was out!
I agree with your thoughts on Larabars- bummer that there isn’t much protein in them but I LOVE the simple ingredients and definitely prefer them over eating plain nuts and dried fruit so I’ll keep buying them 🙂
As a new blogger I am very much so trying to figure out not only when to post but also what to post! I want to say so much yet at the same time I wonder if that is what people want to read. I’m glad Whole 30 is going so well for you! Are you planning on sticking to anything that you learned from it? My favorited roasted veggie would have to be sweet potato…if that is a veggie! Or I have come to like roasted carrots! Also I am loving your blog design so far :D!
I think you’re doing a fantastic job as a new blogger! Figuring out what your readers want definitely takes time (and I feel like different groups of my readers want different things anyway, haha) so I try to just post what I enjoy writing about and hope that my readers will be cool with it when they can tell I’m excited about what I’m writing about 🙂
And YES, I definitely plan to continue eating less sugar once Whole30 is over, including keeping ice cream/desserts as an every once-in-a-while treat instead of an everyday thing.
I couldn’t live without pasta either. It’s my happy place. Kudos to you for getting in so many delicious looking veggies though. I am impressed, especially those sweet potato wedges. Nom!
Happy WIAW and thanks for linking up.
I’ve been contemplating doing a whole 30 for the past couple days. I feel like I need to hurry up and do it in time for Christmas!
I’d love those roasted veggies.
I would love to try a Whole30 but since none of my friends or family are interested, I would have to go it alone which I can imagine being quite difficult on the accountability front…
In the summer I love roasting Mediterranean vegetables like peppers, red onion and zucchini, but at the moment I am enjoying carrots, parsnips and beetroot (which occasionally dye everything a lovely shade of purple).
Looking forward to seeing the blog’s new-look as it comes together!
x
It’s definitely been helpful to have friends doing it alongside me me for encouragement!
Your Mediterranean veggie combo sounds wonderful- I went to my favorite Mediterranean restaurant tonight and had a side of roasted veggies that was really similar to what you described!
And thanks so much, Charlotte- just have to find the time to make the rest of the changes come together!
I LOVE YOUR NEW BLOG. I know it is not completely done, but it already looks amazing Liv! I adore your new sidebar image. Seriously, you’re such a stunner!
I had ants on a lug while growing up, but since I was not a fan of raisins, we subbed chocolate chips. 😉 Dark chocolate is healthy, right? Hehehe.
Haha! Chocolate and celery- what a combo 🙂 And as always, you’re the sweetest, Julia!
I would miss pasta sooo much if I did this! Those sweet potatoes and apples look amazing though! I’ve been having a hard time balancing blogging with the rest of my life lately so I am the wrong person to ask haha!
Pasta will always have my heart- I could never give it up completely!
Way to go girl!! I know how hard it can be to balance everything in college! …and if I’m honest, I always choose the sleep and social life options!! hahah, but for reals though, your doing great! Your eats look amazing!! …and you got me thinking maybe I should do a whole 30 challenge!! I love all of your eats! Very balanced!
Olivia going a whole month without ice cream… say what?! Sounds like you’re doing a great job 😀 I feel lik eI eat mostly the same way, but stay up too late.. and then i need a homework snack.. or two. Haha oops. Workin on that.
Favorite snack bar- usually home made, but I like zone perfect perfectly simple cranberry almond (but i think they stopped making them!) almond cookie pow wow (because of their short ingredient list), nugo slim (high protein, not bad ingredients) and sometimes larabar, but i prefer more protein or rather eating the fruit/nuts.
Roasted veg- cauliflower! and eggplant. zucchini. brussel sprouts. haha.
Also, are beans/legumes allowed on Whole30? there’s bean fettucini and lentil pasta on the market now!
ANd blogging– haha that falls by the waysde a bit for me too. The # of “drafts” i create to finish with recipes, WIAW, is crazy. most get up eventually! lots of recipes…. haha.
I know, I know…going so long without ice cream has been crazy! But I feel like I’ve broken my addiction a little bit, which is awesome (I think- hah).
Beans and legumes aren’t allowed on Whole30, unfortunately, but I actually did try black bean pasta a few weeks before! It was surprisingly really good and super high in protein, so I ate it just tossed in some olive oil and herbs. So yummy!
OKAY you make me wanna roast ALL the veggies!!!! ALL OF THEM 😛
larabars are my fav! and they are such a great convienant breakfast too. my favorite roasted veggies are brussels and broccoli, can’t get enough! good luck on your last 8 days!
Gotta love an apple and AB. It’s the best!
I love this! I’m going to have to try to make the sweet potato fries, they look so good! I can’t believe how you balance being an RA, school, a blog, making your own food, etc. I’d love to read a post about a day in your life!
–Megan
I’ll be sure to do a day in the life post soon. Thanks for the suggestion, Megan!
Ants on a log was the BEST! I always would lick out the ants and PB and then leave the celery haha. My mom was not impressed so then I had to eat all the celery at the end.
I like the new layout!!
“Lick out the ants” hahaha. Pretty sure I was guilty of doing the same thing!
Ahh seriously balancing blogging with uni is a major challenge!!(hence the major fail in commenting lately :s ) whenever I’m at my computer I really feel like I have to study!! Full disclosure- I wrote most of my blog posts while on public transport. Living the dream 😉 whenever I look at your meals I remember how bad I miss having an oven to roast veggies!! That will be a must in my next apartment haha
Wow, I’m amazed that you wrote most of your posts on public transport! You’re incredible! I hope you get that oven ASAP or find some awesome grilled/sautéed vegetable recipes 🙂
Gah I’ve missed so much! I’m glad I’m here to listen to the last few days of your challenge 🙂 this looks so much like my eats lately, and I’ve experienced the same results. Being able to have a sweet treat at the end of the night is something I miss, but it’s not too difficult to go to bed without it. Delicious, whole food eats! Can’t believe you’re doing it in college haha you’re impressive!
I feel you on the blogging taking a back seat lately! I hardly have time to sleep, let alone blog- but I still enjoy it and try to get content out there as often as I can. Also, those sweet potatoes look divine! Sweet potatoes are my favorite food ever. I do like larabars, but they are so small and don’t fill me up as much- I recently got to review Nugo dark bars and those became my new favorite!
I love Larabrs but I agree that they aren’t super filling. I actually don’t feel like nuts fill me up that much in general. Ooh, I’ll have to check your your Nugo dark bars review!