How to Survive Whole 30 (I'm Halfway Through!)

Spinach, smashed potatoes, and a turkey patty with mustard. (Hey, does it look like an English muffin with tons of butter or am I just having hunger hallucinations? LOL)

My favorite snack: apples and homemade cashew butter

A few of the Whole 30 essentials I rely on. (Top two photos by Pau Loyo Fernandez.)

If you're a regular watcher of my Instagram stories, you likely know that I'm in the middle of doing Whole 30! I wasn't psycholologically ready to do it during January like the rest of the world (lol), so I started February 1st. That means, I'm in the home stretch now! I'm planning to do a full recap after I'm totally finished, but I wanted to do a little check in now to talk about how it's going, what's worked for me, etc. Here it is, broken down into a little Q&A format.

First, what's Whole 30?
Quick summary in case you've been living under a rock: Whole 30 is a 30-day clean-eating plan where you eliminate all dairy, grains, legumes, sugar (and that's all sweeteners including maple syrup, agave, artificial sweeteners, etc), alcohol, and soy, as well as any baked goods with "approved" ingredients (i.e. pancakes made with coconut flour and almond milk). I know, I know--it sounds totally crazy.

Why did you decide to do it?
Because I'm a horrendous eater. With the exception of a few months, a few years back, when I did the Paleo diet (remember that?), and of course, random stints throughout my life when I briefly decide to "be healthy," I've been a longtime crappy eater. I love carbs, and I rarely crave vegetables or meats. I'm also in a long-term torrid love affair with dairy. I would be perfectly happy spending every day eating pasta and cold cereal, drinking Starbucks lattes, and having some sour gummies for dessert. So, I wanted to challenge myself to give up all of the crap I naturally gravitate to, while at the same time forcing myself to consume more vegetables and protein. And I wanted to see if I felt--or looked--any different after eliminating the not-so-great stuff and loading up on the good-for-you stuff.

So, how hard has it been? 
Honestly? Not that hard--most of the time. If I have a stocked fridge and a plan of what I'm going to eat, it's really, truly not bad. Most of the moments that have been difficult have been 1) random times when I haven't gotten to the store and my greens have gone bad or we're out of eggs or something and I just have no clue what to cook. Then suddenly I'm starving and thinking how easy it would be to whip up a box of mac n' cheese or grab a few crackers. Whole 30 is brutal if you're not prepared, but not so bad if you are. 2) Dining out. It's a huge bummer to go to a restaurant and avert your eyes from the pasta section of the menu or from the dessert your tablemates are getting, and then order a salad without cheese and a sad piece of salmon. And don't get me started on parties! So far, I've had three small cheats, and two happened at restaurants, one at a party.

How do you feel? 
Pretty good! But not like "transformed" or anything like that. You hear a lot of people talk about how they have so much more energy on Whole 30 or how they feel like a new person. That's not my experience--at least so far. For the first three or four days on Whole 30, I was exhausted. It was horrible! I felt like I could fall asleep at any moment! That did go away though, and ever since, I've felt like I have my normal energy levels. I'm also way less bloated in my tummy area. That happens very quickly--within the first few days.

Are you hungry all the time?
No. Most of the time I'm fine, but I am definitely usually famished right before a meal (and in a way I never was with "regular" eating--I just never let myself get that hungry). I've had two days so far where I've been weirdly starving ALL DAY, basically no matter what I ate. On those days, I just ended up snacking a little more (on Whole-30-compliant stuff), and just tried to deal. Luckily that has only been two days out of over 20 so far! Most days I'm fine with three meals and small snacks after lunch and dinner.

What do you eat for breakfasts?
Eggs. It's almost always eggs. I usually make scrambled eggs and then combine those with tomatoes, spinach, or bacon. And then sometimes, I'll have a Daily Harvest* smoothie, as well, in order to get some greens in. Smoothies are Whole 30 compliant (as long as they aren't made with dairy, sugar, etc), but they are frowned upon. The Whole 30 gods prefer you to chew your food, which I get, but sometimes you're busy or you hate straight kale, and a smoothie works for you. I don't do them every day, but I do have them a few times a week. And I always do the green-veggie-heavy ones (nothing overly fruity) and then mix them with coconut water or almond milk, and Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides. On those mornings when I couldn't look at another egg, I would put dijon mustard on a slice or two of deli turkey and roll it up. (These are also one of my favorite snacks!) With Whole 30, you're supposed to get rid of the whole notion of "this is a breakfast food" or "this food is only for dinner," so this was one way I did that. 

*I'm obsessed with Daily Harvest, by the way, and will likely do a separate post about why they are so awesome. (So yummy! So healthy! Beyond easy!) But in the meantime, if you'd like to try them, you can get three free smoothies on your first order if you use this link. Definitely worth a try!

And what do you eat for lunches? 
Usually either leftovers from something I had cooked for dinner earlier in the week or a big salad. My favorite salad combo is arugula, proscuitto, sun dried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, avocado, and pistachios. Yum! I also love eggs for lunch and one of my favorite lunch creations is two eggs over easy, served over guacamole, cherry tomatoes, sausage, and hot sauce. But lately my most frequent go-to has been a turkey burger slathered with dijon mustard (no bun--duh). 

And what about dinners?
I try to cook a couple of times of week (but I definitely don't have the bandwidth to make something fully from scratch every single night--or even most nights). I've done various forms of chicken, steak, etc. I once made a fabulous spaghetti squash dish (recipe below), and if I want something quick and easy, I love spiralized zucchini noodles with Italian sausage, and jarred spaghetti sauce (just make sure it doesn't contain sugar--most do). 

Snacks?
Snacking is frowned upon (though not prohibited) with Whole 30, but screw that--I get hungry between meals! My go-to snacks are unsalted cashews, dried apricots, and (my ultimate favorite) sliced apples dipped in homemade cashew butter.

Any favorite recipes? 
Yes! I've been amazed how yummy a great Whole 30 recipe can be. These are few of my favorites so far, and all of these healthy recipes are truly delicious enough to make whether or not you're doing Whole 30. This chicken-sundried-tomato-and-spaghetti-squash casserole is surprisingly yummy, this Whole 30 chicken piccata is out of this world, this cashew butter is lifechanging (it tastes like frosting! But there's zero sugar!!), and this Mexican Shakshuka with Spiralized Sweet Potato is fabulous.

So that's where I am! I'll be back with a full report once I'm done with the entire program (FYI, I'm adding a day since I had a few cheats in there, so consider this a Whole 31!). I'll give tips and suggestions at that point, but if you have any questions in the meantime, feel free to ask them here. 

And of course, if you've done Whole 30, I'd love to hear any tips you have, and I'd loooooove any suggestions for favorite recipes or snack ideas. Tell me below!

The Lazy Girl's Guide To Outdoor Entertaining

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Pier 1 Imports via Mode Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Pier 1 Imports.

Beverage tub and stand, cobalt blue pillows, Mediterranean-tile print pillows, rope lantern (large), rope lantern (medium), gold garden stool, blue tumbler (used as utensil holder), wooden cake stand, fringe napkins, placemats, Carmelo melamine dinner plates, Carmelo melamine bowl, Trellis melamine salad plate, Trellis melamine serving bowl, Trellis melamine platter, rope Mason Jar lanterns.

I love entertaining. I love having people over. But, despite what you might think from having seen some of my children's parties, I do not like the last-minute prep work usually required. Particularly the cooking. That's why I subscribe to the "semi-homemade" brand of throwing parties. I love to make it look like I've done a lot of hard work--without really doing much at all. Fake it 'till you make it, baby.

Recently, I wanted to throw a little girls' night in for a few friends, and I knew that the new outdoor space I created with Pier 1 Imports (and my new outdoor entertaining stuff!) would work perfectly for this. But, again, I didn't want to do a ton of work--I just wanted it to look like I did!

So, here's my advice for throwing a great outdoor party, the low-maintenance way:

1) Stick to a color theme. This is my rule for pretty much every party I throw and it really elevates the whole bash. It makes everything look so much more cohesive and upscale. (Even plastic cups or paper plates--both of which I very often use--look fancier if you stick to the color theme!) Here, I mixed two different collections of Pier 1 dinnerware, plus assorted linens, but all in shades of blue. The solid-colored plates and bowl are from the Carmelo line, and the blue and white patterned pieces are from the Trellis collection. I also threw in this wooden cake stand (which BTW, I have become totally obsessed with--it looks so much more expensive than it really is). I used it here as a cheese server, because it tied in with the rustic thing--using wood outside always seems to work.

2) Dress up your outdoor furniture. My table is low, and a bit of an odd size, so it would have been hard to find a tablecloth. (Plus, a tablecloth for a casual night outdoors seemed a little much.) But the weathered wood tabletop wasn't the most appetizing thing either. I kind of loved my solution: I placed four of these durable woven placemats side by side on the table so that they looked like one big square. It added an easy-to-clean surface and looked so much better. I then layered it with an unfolded fringed cloth napkin to serve as a sort of second tablecloth and make the whole tablescape feel a lot warmer. And of course, all the accessories--like the pillows and lanterns I added a few weeks back (read all about it here!)--made a major difference in making the space feel pulled-together and party-ready.

3) Serve one drink and have it easily accessible. All of my friends love wine, so that's all I needed here. I chilled a couple of bottles in my new beverage tub server, which I'm loving. Since my outdoor space is a flight of stairs--and a hike through the length of our house--away from our kitchen, it would have been annoying to traipse back inside every time someone needed a refill. This keeps the drinks close at hand--but still nice and cold. It also gives you a quick and easy place to stash any additional bottles that guests might bring over.

4) Use unbreakable dinnerware and glassware. I'm usually barefoot on our terrace, so the last thing I need to be worried about is stepping on broken glass. That's why, even though all of the dishes here look like fancy ceramic pieces, they're all melamine, which is pretty much impossible to break. Also, remember that, if you are entertaining outside, you need to carry everything outside, and melamine platters are way lighter than the real thing. When I was carrying everything you see here up a flight of stairs to set up for the night, I was very, very happy about that. 

5) Serve easy food. I am always stressed-out in the last hour or so before a party. I'm worrying about every last little detail, doing last-minute clean up/de-cluttering of my home, and of course, getting dressed, putting on my makeup, etc. More power to the people who also want to be spending that time standing over the stove or reaching into an oven, but that is just not me. So, hence this menu, which is almost embarrassingly easy--but also zero stress and a no-fail crowd-pleaser. Here's what I served:

• Cheese plate: Simple and who doesn't love cheese? Just buy a few different varieties, unwrap them, and that's it. Lazy girl's best friend. And if you think your cheese plate looks a little blah (like I did at first!) just throw on some dried fruit that you probably already have in your pantry.

• Marinated olives: These are a mix from the olive bar in our local grocery store. Just open the plastic container and dump it into a bowl. Done.

• Marcona almonds: These are a total party staple for me. Beyond easy (again, open the package, pour into a bowl or onto a plate), and everyone loves them. Plus there's something about them that just feels a little more special than regular everyday nuts. 

• Spicy Caprese salad: OMG. This one is a total fakeout. Doesn't it look like I slaved and slaved over an Italian grandma's recipe? Nope. I bought three containers of those mini balls of fresh mozzarella--two plain and one marinated. (You could do all marinated, but I personally find the marinated to be a little too spicy, so I like to add some plain into the mix to tone it down.) Then I poured it into a giant bowl, and added a carton of cherry tomatoes sliced in half and some fresh basil that I just ripped up and threw in.

• Olive and goat cheese crostini: This used to be one of my random go-to snacks, and then I realized it would be a really great party hors d'oeuvre. You just buy some pre-made crostini (they have them in bags in the grocery store cheese section), spread on some goat cheese, and then finish with a dollop of kalamata olive spread (also usually found in little tubs in the cheese section). They are soo good!

So what do you think? Do you have any outdoor entertaining planned for this summer? And if so, are you going to take the low-maintenance approach to party-throwing like me? (And speaking of which, if you have any lazy entertaining tips, I would love, love, love to hear them!)

Find what speaks to you. See our Outdoor Living Collection in stores or at pier1.com/outdoorliving.

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