Day 29 and Weird Meat Sticks, Cashew Butter, and Kale

It is 8:00 pm, and I survived Day 29 of the Whole30.  Tomorrow is my last official day on the Whole30.  What does that mean?  I'll probably talk more about that tomorrow, but I have been thinking about life and what it looks like after tomorrow.  Frankly, it will look pretty similar to how it looks now with the occasional regular ketchup.

Today started early, 3:45 am.  I was meeting my friend Tracy at the pool by 4:45 am to swim before work since it has been so stormy after work lately.  It was early, and I needed to make sure I ate something before swimming so I didn't get way hungry during the morning.  I considered frying an egg, but I opted to try one of my Epic bars instead.  Epic bars are made of meat and other ingredients.  The one I grabbed from the variety pack was lamb and currant, but since I threw away the packaging, I picked up the pork bar to illustrate the Epic bars in a picture.  You can see the consistency on the photo.  It is almost like a slim jim mouth feel with less snap. 

A week or so ago I ate the chicken sriracha variety, and it was fine.  I wasn't blown away, but it was edible. The lamb and currant....gag-a-rific. I put one bite in my mouth and my jaw refused to chew because chewing would lead to tasting and swallowing. I struggled to eat that bite and tried to force myself to eat another bite.  It wasn't happening.  No way, no how. So I ended up eating almond butter and rushing out the door. 

After swimming, I reheated pork loin and also reheated the brussel sprout/onion/butternut squash roasted veg with balsamic.  The more I tried to eat it, the more I couldn't.  It was getting more and more disgusting as time when on, so I threw the rest of those leftovers away.  Goodbye.  Life is too short.  

I had leftover pork loin for post-swim breakfast, for lunch, and for dinner today.  Unlike the pork chops that were gross, the loin was really flavorful and didn't dry out.  I didn't mind eating it for all three meals today, and I will have it for at least one meal tomorrow. 

I also sauteed kale for dinner in a bit of olive oil and low sodium chicken broth.  It was really good....way more delicious than the brussel sprouts and butternut squash from last night.  I finalized the dinner menu with some sweet potato and cinnamon.

All in all it was a good day.  It felt natural and comfortable choosing to eat what I ate.  I feel myself further and further away from instances where I crave something not on the plan.  That's very nice.  Oh, I had an afternoon snack of apple and cashew butter today.  Man...cashew butter is delicious.  Super delicious.  Eat more cashew butter!