Above: Some of our meals from the last week. New experiments in the kitchen included: kelp noodles (top middle, the noodliest noodle substitution we've tried so far), bone marrow (middle left, with PORK-BELLY-WRAPPED TENDERLOIN AND BLACKBERRY-BALSAMIC REDUCTION), and romaine "tortillas" for fajitas (bottom middle, with some homemade mayo we mixed with salsa to make some sort of Mexi-cream-sauce). All fun and delicious! Not pictured: the hilarious emergency lunch we had one day when we were out shopping and did not go prepared. After roving around Target like starved aliens on a mysterious food planet, we found, bought, and inhaled two hardboiled eggs, a packet of compliant sliced turkey breast, dried apples, and Larabars.
We're done with Week 3, and three-quarters of the way through our Whole30. Creating these balanced, clean meals is now routine, and we're riding the wave of continued energy, leaner bodies, and deep sleep. We know we can rock this last week, and instead of looking forward to it ending, we're actually a bit apprehensive about what life looks like post-Whole30. How will our bodies react to diary, or gluten, or legumes, or sugar? Will our favorite foods even taste as good as we remembered them? Will we immediately gain all the weight back? What will we do without the rules?! Will we get totally drunk off one glass of wine? (That last one is more of a bemused query than a worry). The day after we finish our Whole30, we're celebrating my birthday with drinks and dinner. But right now I'm totally overwhelmed by trying to plan where to go and what eat. I want to respect the process of reintroduction, but I also want to celebrate. Also, I've been away from all my favorite Durham restaurants and bars for the last month – which old friend do I visit first? It's all food for thought (pun intended) over the next week.
UPDATE: You can read a recap of my entire Whole30 experience here.