Cheater, Cheater Pumpkin Eater... and a Revised Meal Plan

It finally happened. In a big way. For one meal. And now we're back on track for the remainder of our family adventure. It was race day, and in our household, race day = cheat day. It has since we were married. That's 11 years of you run hard, you eat what you want. Only I didn't run. I just walked all over and trucked 3 kids around with me and logged 4.8 miles and managed to keep us eating whole 30 style while travelling and staying in a hotel. Except for that one post-race meal. Do I regret it? Kind of, I didn't HAVE to do it, I wasn't having major cravings, I could have picked salad off the menu. But I didn't. At least we all shared the bacon cheese fries and the oreo milkshake. How did I feel? Bloated. Tired. Not energetic. But other than that OK. Just not great. I'm learning that some people react more strongly to things, be it dietary changes or poison ivy. My husband and my oldest didn't feel great, but the rest of us seemed OK other than just feeling kind of blah.
Here's a few things that I AM noticing a difference in: heartburn(which is seriously ONLY pregnancy related) is GONE. Have not had an issue with it once, whereas normally in the 3rd trimester I can't sleep without medication for it. I'm really not hungry all the time like I thought I would be. I feel like I'm sleeping a little better(maybe the heartburn thing?). And I definitely have more energy in the afternoons, I don't crash after lunch, I can keep going even if I'm a little tired.
So here's my prep day advice:
1)Hardboil eggs, they are amazing go-to snacks and salad additions. We went through 2 dozen of them the first week.
2) Chop a bunch9and I mean a TON) of veggies and fruit, carrot sticks, bell peppers, celery, apple slices, melon. They are super easy to grab snacks, and it saves time in the morning when you're trying to pack 2 lunches and make breakfast for everyone at the same time.
3) Put nuts into Ziploc bags according to serving size, or else you'll eat the whole bag at once.
4) Broil up some chicken breasts to use in salad or wraps, and precook your bacon and sausage. Saves a ton of time in the early mornings!
5) Have a favorite berry, melon, or fruit ready to go for the kiddos, I bribe them with it to get them to finish their spinach. They also love pistachios.
6) Premake your mayo (I'm using this recipe from www.whole30.com and I use my food processor, haven't had it fail yet!) for the week, I made it 3 times last week! It's a base for ranch, tartar sauce, and lots of other things. Plus its just so yummy when it's homemade! I also recommend going ahead and have some dressing(ranch or otherwise) ready to go so again, you're not making it at 6am.
7) Paper towels work wonders to keep your chopped veggies fresh. Dampen it for carrots and celery, put a dry one under your bell peppers.

That's what I've learned. I hope it's helpful! And see below for my revised and revisited meal plan and journal.
Day 4 (the end): Dinner didn't go as planned. Z ended up working late, so we rushed and took him dinner, and as we were driving home an hour past dinner time with 3 hungry kids, pizza just sounded so EASY. It's not my favorite food, it's just easy. Plain and simple. So we survived the trip home, and I shredded up some sweet potatoes and carrots, mixed in eggs and cinnamon and fried it up like pancakes. Topped with banana slices and applesauce, YUM! 2 of the 3 critics loved it. Joey said "Let's KEEP this recipe!" Even Sarah was on board, "Can we eat this for dinner tomorrow night?" Gid on the other hand, let me just say: it had sweet potato in it. He has a huge aversion for some reason. Oh well.
Day 5: Hashbrowns, eggs, avocado and tomatoes for breakfast, chicken salad wraps for lunch (I never knew I liked chicken salad, maybe it's the homemade mayo), and failed zoodles with steak and roasted broccoli for dinner. At least they ate the broccoli. Gid and Sarah ate a bunch of stuff today, between Bible study snack and Costco samples. HYPER! They went to bed early.
Day 6: Crazy run around day! Smoothies and eggs for breakfast, got home with 10 minutes to make and eat lunch, so I ended up using the only lunchmeat I had (sugar and soybean oil and who knows what) to make veggie wraps to eat in the car. So disappointed that it wasn't even a yummy or good cheat! I would much rather have had a big yummy sandwich from subway, would have been just as fast and tasted better. The worst part is that as we were driving I remembered that DUH I did have a plan, heating up leftover stew. WAA. So I was totally tempted to throw in the towel because by the time we got home I was SO tired and we still had soccer practice, but I got up off my buns and made dinner that I left on the stove so that we could eat after soccer. Baked salmon, roasted potatoes and roasted cabbage. It was yummy, and so worth it. Even Z said as soon as we got home "Awesome. I liked all of it." Made it totally worth it!

Day 7: Insanity and craziness! Nut/coconut/banana pancakes for breakfast(YUM). I had a plan for eating on the road. But then we had a sick kid in the morning. So plans changed, and I was going to stay home with the kids. And get caught up, and prep food for next week, and find some lunchmeat we can really eat. And then everyone was fine, and everyone still wanted to go. SO I threw together everything I had planned and packed and we were in the car and on the road in an hour. I grabbed every easy thing to eat in the house: fruit leathers, apples, bananas, larabars, nuts, chopped veggies, more fruit, and all our leftovers (salmon dinner, and the stew I forgot about) and we were off. We snacked the whole way (after eating BLT salad for lunch YUM), and then met friends when we arrived. I borrowed their microwave to reheat leftovers and voila! Dinner.
Day 8: Breakfast was good! Larabars, bananas, and eggs and fruit juice from the hotel breakfast. And then lunch happened. It was race day, and if you run hard, you get to eat what you want. It's a family rule that has been established since we were married. So Carl's Jr. it was. And cheeseburgers. And bacon cheese fries(we all shared one). And even an Oreo milkshake that we all split.(Hey, don't judge!) And after that meal, we were back on track. We all felt bloated, full, and tired. Several in the family had some intestinal discomfort later in the evening. I really didn't feel horrible, just felt blah a not great. For dinner, I had fresh veggies, fruit, deviled eggs and grilled chicken. Win. Back on track.

Excerpts from Joey's log:
Day 4: I like the banana crunch better than the applesauce crunch. I am starting to like the diet. I think I can live for two more weeks.
Day 5: I like the diet but it's almost over (I showed him that we are almost halfway!). Although I would like sugar once again.
Day 7: Here's a poem: I wish for good foods, oh how I wish for vegetables. Oh how I wish for fruuuuit. Oh how I wish for protieen. Oh and how I wish for you is called good foods. (He sang it to me.

Menu Plan (Revised version):
Fri: Smoothies and HB eggs
      Turkey wrapped veggies/leftovers
      Baked Salmon w/ roasted cabbage and potatoes

Sat: banana nut pancakes with cinnamon and apples
      salad
      eating out (aka: salad. This turned into leftovers heated up at a friend's house)

Sun: Larabars, fruit, eggs
       Restaurant - race day cheat (or lettuce wrapped burger)
      potluck (grilled chicken, fruit, veggies, deviled eggs)

Mon: sweet potato/zucchini pancakes w/ applesauce, scrambled eggs w/ spinach, sausage
       steak, avocado, pistachio salad
        skillet beef "stew" and roasted potatoes
       chia banana pudding (tastes great with fresh berries!)

Tues: egg & sausage "muffins", leftover pudding
       chicken veggie lettuce wraps
      skillet chicken thighs w/ artichokes

Wed: Smoothies, HB eggs
     BLT salad
     baked fish w/ potato "chips" and broccoli

Thurs: fried eggs w/ hashbrowns
     tuna patties w/ broccoli & apple slices
     taco salad

Fri: egg, spinach, bacon "quiche"
     leftovers/chicken salad wraps
     crockpot kaluah pork over steamed cabbage

Sat: sweet potato & carrot pancakes
     deviled eggs, chicken wraps or salad
     hamburgers w/potato "buns"

Sun: banana nut cakes
     leftovers
     grilled salmon & veggie skewers

Mon: Reintroduce legumes:
     eggs, bananas w/ Peanut butter
     taco salad w/ beans
     crockpot chili

Tues: smoothies w/ eggs
     salmon patties w/ broccoli and fruit
     baked potatoes & chicken

Wed: Non gluten grains
     eggs, sweet potato pancakes
     corn chips w/ guac & salsa, turkey wraps
     stir fry chicken & rice

Thurs: baked egg muffins
     leftover chili
     BLT salad

Fri: Dairy
     yogurt & fruit or non gluten cereal w/ milk
     cheese w/ salad or in wraps
     crockpot roast w/ potatoes, carrots, celery
     ice cream

Sat: larabars, HB eggs, fruit
     deviled eggs, lettuce wraps
     leftovers

Sun: gluten
     pancakes
     Sandwiches
     pasta/spaghetti