Here it is, my latest edition of Lily's Lunchbox. In this post, I am including both vegetarian/vegan lunch boxes which my daughter actually took to her Montessori school, as well as nut-free, non-vegetarian lunches that she had at home! Enjoy!

Lunchbox 1
This is an actual lunch my daughter took to school.
Sundried tomato basil hummus (recipe)
Olives and Multigrain Pita Break Mini Pita
Cucumbers, Cherry Tomatoes, Peppers
Watermelon
​Apple slices

Lunchbox 2
Chicken Burrito Bowl with Avocado (Leftovers- Recipe minus the cheese)
Peppers and Cucumbers
Apple Slices
Red and Green Grapes

Lunchbox 4
Thermos: Vegetable Beef Soup (Recipe)
Apples
Pears
Strawberries
Cucumber, Peppers, Olives and Hummus​

Lunchbox 5
Apple Onion Chicken Breakfast Sausage (Recipe)
Carrots, Celery, Cucumber
Apple Slices
Grapes, Raspberries, Blueberries
Raisins
​
And just a few more of her actual school lunches.....

(Clockwise from top left):
Lunch box 1: Peaches, Strawberries, Watermelon, Cauliflower, Cucumber, Dried Cherries
Lunch box 2: Peppers, Watermelon, Apple/Almond butter rings, Cucumber, Olives
Lunch box 3: Watermelon, Apples, Cucumber, Peppers, Olives, Sun dried Tomato Basil Hummus
Lunch box 4: Watermelon, Green and Red Grapes, Cucumber, Classic Hummus, Almonds, Dates

​Happy Lunch Box Packing!!!

Disclaimer: Naturopathic Doctors strive to provide individualized health care. The information contained in these topics is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, it is provided for educational purposes only. This information shouldn’t take the place of seeing an ND for individualized health recommendations.

Only on Day 2 of school lunches and already starting to struggle for ideas? A few months ago I posted about my daughter's lunches....with a great response! However, there was a common thread- "Do you have any ideas that are nut free?" haha I hear ya! Because my daughter is in a home based Montessori which also happens to be a vegetarian home, it has no restrictions on nuts but animal proteins are a no go. At home, however, we are not vegetarian and once my daughter transitions to public school her lunches won't be vegetarian based either. So, I started to document some of the lunches she has had in the last few weeks (and even put them in the Planet Box!) to help with public school lunch ideas. I don't have a tonne of pictures...yet. But because this has had such a great response, my goal is to start a monthly series to keep you going with 5 new lunchboxes a month, because, let's face it, by Thanksgiving creativity is usually dwindling...
So, here is my first (technically second) instalment of Lily's Lunchbox! 

Lunchbox 1
Mini Cucumber
Apple slices and grapes
Left over Bacon Braised Brussels Sprouts (I wasn't lying about her loving Brussels Sprouts..) Recipe (just leave the Pecans off for nut free)
Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs with Teriyaki Dip Recipe
Jelly Bean Treat

Lunchbox 2
Cucumber and Peppers
Grapes
Watermelon
Pasta Salad- Brown Rice Pasta, Grilled Greek Marinated Chicken, Cucumber, Peppers, Tomatoes, Goat's Feta with Olive Oil and Vinegar

Lunchbox 3
Cauliflower
Field Green Salad with Cucumbers, Tomatoes and Olive Oil and Vinegar
Left over St Jacob's Market Schnitzel
Nectarines
Oatmeal Raisin Cookie

Lunchbox 4
Peppers, Cucumber, Tomatoes
Greek Lemon Potatoes (potatoes, chicken stock, water, garlic, lemon, salt, pepper)- left over
Greek marinated Chicken (Red wine vinegar, olive oil, oregano, garlic, salt, red pepper flakes)- left over
Grapes, Kiwi, Watermelon
Dried Cranberries and Cherries

Lunchbox 5
Egg Muffins (Red peppers, Mushrooms, Broccoli, Egg)
Romaine and veggie salad with cucumber
Peaches
Watermelon and Strawberries
Dried fruit

A few notes:

• Yes, all these lunches require cooking, however, all of cooking part can be done in bulk ahead of time. Even the chicken is actually just left overs and I actually packed that lunch as I put left over supper away! Doesn't get much easier than that...
• All of these can be customizable- mix up the fruits and veggies based on availability/season and what your child likes!
• Generally we are dairy and gluten free, however, none of us are extremely sensitive so we do consume some in small amounts. Some of these lunches contain dairy (Goat's feta) and gluten (Schnitzel breading) but can be easily left out if there is a sensitivity.
• Need some more ideas? You can find my original Lily's Lunchbox post here. Most of these contain nuts, however, the nuts can easily be substituted for a non-nut protein whether it is animal based or not. 

Happy Lunch Box Packing!!!

Disclaimer: Naturopathic Doctors strive to provide individualized health care. The information contained in these topics is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, it is provided for educational purposes only. This information shouldn’t take the place of seeing an ND for individualized health recommendations.

My daughter, 3 years old, started pre-school at the beginning of this year. This was also the kick off of making kid lunches for the next decade and a half. As a Naturopath, I have to say, I am not an extremist. I really do try to keep it realistic- I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old, I am far from perfect. However, I will admit I am most neurotic about what my kids eat. I think about the stuff that I ate as a kid, and even what I ate while I was in undergrad, and it gives me palpitations. I run a pretty tight ship but also have a 3 year old who, when asked what she would like for dinner, requests Brussels Sprouts. No joke. This is not to say she hasn't eaten McDonald's before (she has) but on the whole we keep it pretty clean. So, when it came time for lunches, I obviously wanted to continue this trend. I know many parents struggle with what to send for lunches, so I have been documenting a selection of my daughter's lunches since January. 

A few notes:

• All of these lunches are prepared the morning of within about 10 minutes.
  
• I say 'lunches', but my daughter only goes to school for a half day (8:45-11:45) so it's really supposed to be her snack. However, I tend to pack a lot of food- some days it's all gone, some days it's barely touched. If she hasn't finished it, she will usually finish it when she gets home and some more food as well.
• Her Montessori school is home based, so there is no restriction on nuts. However, it is a vegetarian home so animal proteins (even eggs other than in baked goods) are restricted, so you will see a lot of nuts in her lunches. This is because I want her to get protein sources. When she does transition to the public setting, the nuts will be substituted for animal proteins- grilled chicken pieces, eggs, meatballs, etc.
• Like I've said before, I am a creature of habit. I do not pack completely different lunches every day. I do not have time for that. So, she tends to have variations of similar lunches and she will usually have the same lunch selection for a few days at a time before it is switched up based on groceries in the house. 
• I generally fill her lunch with fruits and veggies, add some nuts, limit grains and add in a 'treat'. A treat could be anything from raisins, to the "Granola Bars" or, on a more rare occasion, a baked good like a bit of cake.
• We avoid dairy for the most part. However, my daughter loves yogurt, probably because she never gets it, but the odd time I let her have it as a treat. 

(Left to Right/Top to Bottom)
1. Watermelon, Apples, Raisins, Cucumber, Rice Cake with Hummus (Sunflower Kitchens).
2. Apples, Cucumber, Raisins, Hazelnut crackers with almond butter and raspberry jam, oatmeal with unsweetened applesauce and cinnamon (unfinished from breakfast).
3. Carrots, Cucumber, Raisins, Almonds, 1/2 GF/DF Morning Glory muffin, Greek Yogurt.
4. Peppers, Rice Cake with Hummus, Blackberries, Grapes, Almonds, Chocolate Chips and Raisins.
5. Blackberries, Strawberries, Blueberries, Grapes, Almonds, Cucumber, Rice Cake with Hummus.
6. Strawberries, Cucumber, Cauliflower, Ranch Dip, Dark Chocolate Almond Butter "Granola Bar" (Against All Grain), Brownie.
7. Watermelon, Strawberries, Blueberries, Cucumber, Apples with Almond Butter, Raisins and Cinnamon.
8. Cauliflower, Cucumber, Hummus, Apples, Raisins, "Granola Bar", GF Cake.
9. Peppers, Strawberries, Cucumber, "Granola Bar".

(Left to Right/Top to Bottom)
1. Strawberries, Apples, Grapes, Almonds, Dried Fruit, Peppers, Cucumbers, Carrots.
2. Carrots, Cucumber, Almonds, Grapes, Strawberries, Oatmeal.
3. Blackberries, Strawberries, Peppers, Carrots, Cucumber, Raisins, "Granola Bar".
4. Apples, Strawberries, Blackberries, Grapes, Cucumber, Almonds and Dried Fruit.
5. Strawberries, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Peppers, Veggie Dip, "Granola Bar".
6. Almond Butter and Raspberry Jam Rice Cake Sandwich, Bananas, Strawberries, Cucumber, Almonds and Blackberries.
7. Hazelnut Crackers with Almond Butter and Raspberry Jam, Apples, Cucumber, Raisins.
8. Bananas, Strawberries, Grapes, Almonds, Cucumber, Avocado, Rice Cake.
9. Strawberries, Blackberries, Mango, Grapes, Apples, Cucumber, Almonds and Dried Fruit.

This was Monday's lunch- Carrots, Strawberries, Apples, Grapes, Mango, Blackberries, Gluten Free Pancake 'Sandwich' with Almond butter and Raspberry Jam. Her class spent the day at the Community Garden getting the soil ready for planting, so I wanted to pack extra fruit to help keep her hydrated! She ate everything, except for the pancake sandwich. She started the morning with Oatmeal (with unsweetened apple sauce, cinnamon, coconut almond milk, raisins and a few chocolate chips- her favourite), this for school lunch and then she came home and had eggs and more veggies and dip to finish her lunch! That would be a pretty typical day for her meal/food wise. And then of course dinner is whatever we are having!

The recipe for the Dark Chocolate Almond Butter "Granola Bars" can be found here at the Against All Grain Blog. Though the original recipe calls for peanut butter, I substitute almond butter and use semi sweet chocolate chips. These bars are amazing and work great because you can make a tray of them and just keep them in the freezer, cutting off pieces as needed. My daughter loves these! I also like to keep things like no bake cookie balls and other no bakes bars in the freezer for more treat options! I will usually add a scoop of Vegan protein (Sunwarrior Warrior Blend is my preference) to increase the protein in her lunch and make even her treats a bit healthier. Overall, I find my daughter loves her lunches and I do tend to ask her every morning what she would like or give her options of what she could have so she feels like she has a say in what she is eating. It is not uncommon for her to get home with a lunch box that looks like this...

...and I'm not complaining!!

Disclaimer: Naturopathic Doctors strive to provide individualized health care. The information contained in these topics is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, it is provided for educational purposes only. This information shouldn’t take the place of seeing an ND for individualized health recommendations.

30 Days. 30 days of no sugar, grains, legumes, dairy, alcohol, processed foods or additives.
I completed my Whole 30 just over two weeks ago now. Throughout the 30 days, I got asked a lot of questions, I think the most popular being, "What do you eat!?" which I covered in my halfway mark post. This post is going to be my wrap up- what I learned, how I felt, how I feel now that I'm done, etc and the answers to the questions that have come up over the last 30 days.

How did you feel?
Honestly, I can't say I felt a whole lot different while I was on it. The original challenge says you will likely feel pretty junky the first week or so, however, I never really experienced this. I didn't notice much of a difference when I started, but this is likely because our diet is pretty clean to begin with- we don't really consume much gluten or bread, I have very minimal amount of dairy and I avoid all processed foods for the most part.

Was it hard?
Yes and no. It was hardest starting out because there was a lot more planning that had to go into it and a lot of 'staples' needed to be figured out- like mayo, ketchup, marinades, etc. There was a lot of label reading and a lot of realization just how many products contain sugar. (The answer= A LOT).  This was probably the most challenging part because we use marinades and spices for a lot of our cooking- even our favourite Jerk marinade which we have almost weekly contained sugar, so a lot of recipes/meals needed to be adjusted. However, once the ball started rolling on these it became a lot easier and a lot of the recipes we found we loved and will go into our regular rotation.

What did you miss the most?
Chocolate. Hands down, for me, chocolate. I craved it at the beginning, in the middle, at the end. I could do without the rest but the chocolate I missed. I also think this may be because I might be Magnesium deficient since I did notice more leg/calf cramping over the 30 days. I think this is probably because I am nursing and could benefit from a nutrient boost in general. Magnesium deficiency can present with chocolate cravings. However, I really love chocolate so it may just be that too...

Did you have 'tiger blood' in Week 3?
If you read the full Whole 30, they claim you will have a huge boost of energy by week 3- you will feel as though you have tiger blood. I also did not notice this just like I didn't notice the run down feeling at the beginning. I think this is again because I didn't feel badly before starting this and my energy has always been pretty good. Well it's as good as can be expected for having a 3 year old and 1 year old who still doesn't consistently sleep through the night. And my diet wasn't horrible to start with.

What I did notice
Though it was not my goal or the reason for doing this, I did lose weight and my pre-pregnancy clothes fit well again which is a great bonus. I also found that my skin was fantastic. Disclaimer: I do have pretty good skin to begin with but do tend to have the odd blemish here and there, however, while doing the Whole 30 I had no issues at all and I found my complexion improved as well. I also learned I can not tolerate a lot of eggs, at least not the amount I was eating on this diet. I ended up with a slight rash on my abdomen, I cut back on the eggs and it improved. 

Now that I'm finished
Since finishing, my diet has definitely gone a bit crazy- my last day was a Wednesday (though I broke and ate chocolate after dinner on Day 30), Thursday was our anniversary and my daughter's preschool Mother's Day celebration, Friday we took the in-laws to the ROM for the day, Saturday was my son's first birthday party and Sunday finished off with Mother's day. It was a sugar/gluten/dairy filled weekend!

Thursday kicked off with a Mother's Day celebration with my daughter's preschool at Rumbletum Cafe in Conestogo. We had the most incredible Lemon Blueberry Scones. Seriously, I am still thinking about them. However, within about 20 min, I felt terrible- nauseous, fatigued, bloating- just overall not great. Totally worth the amazing scones which I will have again, but still terrible. The rest of the weekend went similarly, however, nothing shocking. This is where I noticed the difference the most, when I added things back into my diet. Because I have done gluten/dairy free and hypoallergenic diets before, I did know what to expect. For myself, I know that I can tolerate dairy quite well- it's only if I gorge on it that it really affects me. My diet is very low in diary in general so I don't worry about this too much. When it comes to gluten, I can tolerate small amounts, but the less the better. Generally, I find if I have maybe one serving of gluten in a day, I'm fine, but if I was to have it more than that in a day, not so good and likely if I was doing this daily it would be worse. I also find my gluten sensitivity is worse if it's combined with sugar- think amazing scone. I find just the shear amount of sugar/starch is too much and I feel awful. Even now, about 2 weeks after finishing, my diet isn't back to where I want it to be as we've had my husband's parents staying with us from Ireland so our routine has been a bit thrown off and I can definitely feel it. We are slowly getting back on track and I do want to adopt a majority paleo/no sugar diet for our 'normal'.

Will I do this again?
Absolutely! I think it was a great experience and really not as hard as you might think. Again, once you have a bit of a game plan and get into it, it's actually pretty easy. I found this was a good time of year to do it (Spring) since a lot of fruits/veggies are coming in to season and bbq season is kicking off as well. I could live on grilled chicken and vegetables. I think this will become my 'detox' of choice as I still find sugar (chocolate) my greatest challenge. I am already planning my next round for September (Fall). However, I don't think I will do the full 30 days again, as I found it a bit long. Because I am going to make this a routine detox, I will probably do 14-21 days (2-3 weeks) instead to make it a bit more feasible, though I would recommend doing it for the full 30 days at least once. I will also add some liver support supplements as well once I am no longer nursing to really up the benefits. Overall, it was a great experience!


Disclaimer: Naturopathic Doctors strive to provide individualized health care. The information contained in these topics is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, it is provided for educational purposes only. This information shouldn’t take the place of seeing an ND for individualized health recommendations.

Today is Day 15 of my Whole 30. The halfway mark. Fifteen days of no dairy, no grains, no legumes, no preservatives and no sugar (even natural maple syrup, honey, etc). I decided I wanted to do the Whole 30 since having my second child. He turned one this past Saturday and for the last year, I have been eating too much sugar and craving sugar after meals. I didn't want to feel like that anymore and I really wanted to cut down on the sugar so, The Whole 30 seemed perfect. I have to admit our diet is pretty clean to begin with- limited gluten and dairy and aside from my sweet tooth, not much sugar, so I haven't actually found this diet too hard to do. I miss chocolate, sure, but I was very motivated to make the change so I find every time I want sugar, it almost reinforces my desire to break the habit and increases my willpower. There is however, a lot I have learned in the last 15 days both with recipes and things I plan to continue indefinitely and things I know I won't. I have also gotten the comments, "Why are you doing that to yourself" or "So what are you eating"- well I answered the why above, but I will also share the what I've been eating as well. Here is my half way mark insights:

What I Have Been Eating

I have actually been loving what I am eating! And pretty much all the new recipes we have tried, we have been super happy with and plan on keeping them in our regular rotation. Here's a little photo recap of most of our meals (I tend to be a creature of habit and can eat the same left overs for days without complaint so I don't have photos of every meal since there would be a lot of overlap and some days I just forgot to photo!).

This is a good array of the meals we have been eating- from left to right and top to bottom:

1. Veggie Scramble with homemade ketchup, 2. Spinach salad with chicken and apples with cinnamon and almond butter, 3. Lemon Pepper Salmon with hollandaise and steamed broccoli, 4. Chicken Fajitas with salsa and homemade guac and coleslaw, 5. Mixed greens salad with sunflower seeds and chicken, 6. Bun-less burgers with baked sweet potato 'fries' and coleslaw, 7. Egg Salad with Almond rosemary crackers and field green salad with sunflower and pumpkin seeds, 8. Chicken Korma with cauliflower rice, 9. Coconut ginger chicken 'stew' with broccoli, cauliflower and green beans, 10. Marinated grilled chicken with grilled peppers and coleslaw, 11. Left Over Coconut ginger chicken stew with raw veggies and apple slices; 12. Grilled marinated chicken with grilled peppers and mushrooms and field green salad, 13. Sun dried Tomato Meatballs with steamed broccoli, 14. L/O Meatballs with mixed green salad, 15. Turkey Burgers with grilled pineapple, baked sweet potato 'fries and coleslaw, 16. Scrambled eggs with sautéed peppers and onion, bacon and apple slices with almond butter, 17. Apple Slices with cinnamon and almond butter (a dessert), 18. L/O Turkey burger with pineapple, mixed green salad and raw veggie slices, 19. Marinated grilled chicken with grilled peppers and baked kale 'chips', 20. Scrambled eggs, field green salad, sautéed mushrooms and onions and bacon.

I dare anyone to say that those meals look boring. Some are breakfast, some are lunch and some are dinner but all have been delicious!

Flops and Learning Curves

Mayonnaise: I never really liked mayonnaise growing up but then I met my Irish husband. The Irish put mayonnaise on everything. Mashed potatoes and mayo is potato salad, mayo based coleslaw, baked potatoes get mayo not sour cream, they will even slather bread with mayonnaise and have a mayo sandwich. You can also find turkey/stuffing/mayo mixed and put on bread to form a pretty much bread/mayo sandwich at any gas station, grocery store or airport in Ireland! Needless to say I have come around and it is probably my guiltiest pleasure. However, the processed conventional stuff is filled with not great ingredients- from junk canola oil to preservatives to sugar. It's not exactly a health food. However, by making it yourself, you can skip all the added junk and make a spread that isn't all that bad- it's really only eggs and oil, and on this Whole 30 it's pretty non-negotiable since you will be hard pressed to find a pre-made version that is compliant. I did my research and decided the immersion blender method looked the best- and most difficult to screw up. My first 2 attempts were disasters. They were egg/oil soup. The problem was the mixing jar. Our immersion blender was my husbands before we even met and it did not come with a blending jar (or so I am told). So I first tried using a magic bullet cup- it was too small so it didn't let the oil down into the blade and when I lifted the blade to get the oil- disaster. Next I tried a jar we had from honey- it was too wide and allowed too much to mix, too fast without creating the emulsion. Apparently, you can't just buy the mixing jar and I did not want to buy a second immersion blender just to get the jar. Then I found this blog with instructions. She used a wide mouthed 500mL mason jar. Perfect. I popped out to Canadian Tire and bought the mason jar (actually 12 of them since they are only sold by the case of course but glass mason jars are my storage of choice so c'est la vie). This time, nailed it! And I have done multiple batches since without fail. And it's already in the storage container, soooo convenient. My first few I just used egg, lemon juice, salt and pepper. They were good but not like the standard Hellman's. So I found a copycat recipe and have tweaked it a bit to get what I think is almost identical. I use:

• 1 egg
• 3 tsp white vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 cup light olive oil

You can mix all the ingredients into the mason jar in that order preferably. Give it a minute to settle. Place your immersion blender over the egg yolk and press it all the way to the bottom of the jar. Switch it on and just hold it there. I am extra paranoid about it turning to soup so I go painfully slow. I hold the blender down for a good 30 seconds and will ever so slowly then start to raise the edges of the blender to try and encourage more of the oil down. Once I am getting no more oil movement, I will slowly start to raise it slightly to encourage more down. When I'm finally left with only a few tbsp of oil on top I'll try to start mixing it a bit. The whole process probably takes me a good 1-1.5 minutes and I NEVER stop the blender until it's done. A few notes: the light olive oil is VERY important as apparently the extra-virgin version makes a very bitter terrible mayonnaise. I did not try this, I took everyone's word for it and stuck with light. Do the same. Yes, this uses raw egg. I am fine with that since we get our eggs local from St Jacobs and the risk of salmonella is extremely low (1 in 20,000 eggs). However, you can apparently find pasteurized eggs (in the shell) but I haven't looked for them. Honestly, I don't think I will ever purchase mayonnaise again. It's so easy to make and I find more convenient to just make more than to go out and buy more and I get to control the ingredients!

Turkey Burger Mush: You may notice in the photos above that the turkey 'burgers' look more like cooked ground beef than burgers. That's because they were. They turned pretty mushy and wouldn't hold their shape at all. I went back to the original recipe, and read that if you use fresh pineapple juice then you can not let them marinade longer than 30 min or they turn to mush. The author's hypothesis is it may be the enzymes in fresh pineapple juice that is to blame. Well, I didn't buy juice at all, I simply pureed some of the pineapple I had bought for the rings in the bullet and added that. And after reading that and thinking about it, it makes perfect sense. Pineapple is a source of bromelain which is often used as a digestive enzyme. All pineapple juice you would get in the grocery stores would be pasteurized which would destroy enzymatic activity. But fresh pineapple would have all it's enzymes intact, hence turning my turkey meat to mush. Though the texture wasn't great, the flavour was and I will definitely try this recipe again but this time just leave out the pineapple juice in the patty completely.

Compliant Bacon: A lot of people are surprised to hear that bacon contains sugar. It does. We usually get our bacon from Dar's at St Jacob's Farmers Market. When I started this I went in and asked if it contained sugar. The man who makes the bacon said no but dextrose (a simple sugar) is used. I passed and went to Goodness Me where I had seen a brand that had no sugar, Mark's Mennonite Meats. I actually ended up meeting Mark as he had a little sample booth set up at Goodness Me, and was able to speak with him. His bacon also contained dextrose, however, it wasn't on the label because it was undetectable. It is added because the meat is cured with live culture/bacteria and dextrose is added to feed the bacteria. However, it's consumed by the bacteria so it won't actually be in the final product. So, moral of the story, added dextrose is fine and we have been using both Dar's and Mark's.

Thing's I'll Maintain and Things I Won't

• I miss chocolate. It's probably the thing I miss the most. I love chocolate. I will not be sugar free forever. It's not realistic. However, I will be a lot more mindful about where I am getting sugar and making choices to decrease that amount. I will also make a larger effort to find 'treats' that are healthier- like chocolate protein balls made with dates- that I can have throughout the week so I don't feel deprived but I am not overloading my body with sugar either.
• I will continue to make my own mayonnaise but I won't keep making my own ketchup. It's a lot more work and for the amount we consume, there is no point- a batch only lasts 2-3 weeks and we only use it for a few things that we don't eat often.
• I will continue to drink my coffee with only coconut milk and/or cream and skip the cream and sugar unless out or as a 'treat.'
• I am glad to have gotten back into having healthier snacks like raw nuts and dried fruit instead of grabbing sweets. I will continue that. (I also love that my 3 year old LOVES these types of 'treats').
• I will go back to having the majority of my breakfasts be protein smoothies. I love them and miss them. Especially with summer coming and both my 3 year old and 1 year old love them as well which makes breakfast fast and easy for us!
• I will continue to try to use cauliflower rice instead of regular rice. The one day I was too lazy to put it in the food processor (and I didn't want to have to wash it after) so I just chopped it finely and sautéed and done- actually faster than making rice and delicious!
• I will continue to highly limit dairy. Though this is something that I do generally so not a huge revelation.

Overall, my husband and I agree that we will strive to continue to be grain and sugar free throughout the week and be less strict/indulge a bit on the weekends. We want to get to a point where being grain/sugar free is second nature. And yes, both my husband and my children are doing this 'diet' as well for the most part. My children still have oatmeal with unsweetened apple sauce and cinnamon for breakfast and will have rice cakes and hummus for snacks. However, because we all eat the same dinner and usually lunches, the majority of their meals are Whole 30. And no, I am not concerned about this not being healthy for them- increasing vegetables will never be unhealthy. I feel great eating this way and I know the weekend I end (actually my last day is a Wednesday, Thursday is our wedding anniversary, Saturday my son's first birthday party and Sunday Mother's Day) I will be indulging...a lot...and I'll probably feel like garbage. So by Monday I will be more than ready to get back on the train.

The big question though, will I do this again? Absolutely. I think this will actually be my 'detox' of choice.

Disclaimer: Naturopathic Doctors strive to provide individualized health care. The information contained in these topics is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, it is provided for educational purposes only. This information shouldn’t take the place of seeing an ND for individualized health recommendations.