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- Hey Munchers,
welcome to the channel.
If you're new or if you're not,
I'm Alyssia,
and I am stoked you're here either way.
Today, I have a Trader Joe's haul for you,
and this is a haul of goodies that are all paleo,
because they are Whole30 friendly.
So that also means that some of them
are keto friendly too, inadvertently.
If you're not familiar with Whole30,
it is an elimination diet of sorts.
So for 30 days,
you remove grains, legumes, dairy,
and all sugar, and sweeteners,
and alcohol,
preservatives, like MSG,
carrageenan, sulfites,
that kind of stuff.
The idea is that in removing these items for 30 days,
you see what happens to your body,
sort of like an experiment.
You see how it changes and responds to eating whole foods.
And at the end of the 30 days,
you reintroduce those eliminated items slowly
to see how your body responds.
So you can really learn
if you are sensitive to dairy,
or grains, or whatever,
rather than just being,
you know, suspicious without having any real data.
Now, I am actually not doing Whole30 this January.
So, for years I did it every single January,
and last year in 2021 was the first year
I did not do a Whole30 at all the entire year.
And this is my second January
that I'm not doing Whole30.
So why am I doing this video?
Stay with me.
While Whole30 was a huge part of my journey
to healing my relationship with food,
I now see that it's a tool
I don't need any more right now.
It's an outer wisdom tool,
and it's still available to me
should I want to return to it,
but the truth is,
I feel really at peace with food now.
Whole30 used to be this exciting thing
that served almost as like a reset for me
after the holidays,
but it still is very restrictive, you know?
I mean, just technically,
there's a lot of things you're not allowed to eat
that you have to restrict,
even if it is for 30 days.
Now, since I'm not restricting anything in my diet,
I don't really need these black and white tools,
because I actually have learned to live in the gray.
That being said,
I still think Whole30 can be a really useful tool.
And I still actually offer it to clients
if it's appropriate for their needs and goals,
and only you can know if it's right for you or not.
I made a video last year about my thoughts on Whole30,
if you want to hear more about the details
of how I look at it now.
But if you are doing a Whole30 this month,
congratulations,
and I hope it's going amazing for you.
This haul will offer some Whole30 compliant foods
from Trader Joe's.
Now it's always a good idea
to keep compliant snacks,
and items on hand during Whole30,
because you don't want to get into a ravenous state,
and have nothing available for some reason.
But also, a lot of people get afraid of Whole30
thinking it has to be really boring,
or that you eat the same things all the time.
And I want to show that there are more ways to get variety,
and then you might think.
If you're not doing Whole30,
then here are some paleo,
and you know, whole foods-ish snacks
that might offer you some snack ideas.
So the first category is fruit-ish snacks.
Trader Joe's does a great job of making freeze-dried,
and dried fruits available,
and a lot of them don't have added sugar.
So these crunch dried honey crisp apples
are the only ingredient is apples.
These freeze-dried strawberries,
the only ingredient is strawberries,
and they have more than this,
I just got these two as examples.
But that's a fun way to have something crunchy,
and Whole30 compliant,
it's literally just fruit to snack on.
They also have these fruit bars.
These two are apple and mango,
and apple and strawberry,
but they have multiple flavors.
They're vegan, and raw.
And the only ingredients are apples and strawberries,
and apple, and mango.
Sometimes I'm like,
I would rather just eat an apple,
and mango like fresh,
but if you need something on the go,
these are great.
And then same with these apple and apricot,
and apple and strawberry dried fruit bars.
These have more ingredients,
I think they use puree.
Yeah, some of the ones they have use concentrate,
but these just use puree.
They also used to have these dots,
which were like these little,
almost like fruit roll-up strips that were Whole30,
but I couldn't find them at my Trader Joe's this time.
Maybe yours still has them,
but they're really good.
Applesauce, another great snack.
The only ingredients in the Trader Joe's applesauce
are apples, and apple,
natural apple flavor,
which technically is Whole30.
But anyway,
a great snack to keep on hand.
Now, a caveat to remember about Whole30,
is they don't recommend that you just snack on fruit,
or snack on anything, right?
Like you're supposed to kind of stick to three meals a day.
And if you're turning to a snack
to include some protein or fat,
because they want,
rather than something like sugar or carbs
that are just gonna spike your insulin,
give you some fat or some protein for more satiety,
and pair it with something like that.
So just keep in mind
if you're actually following the Whole30 rules,
you would want to pair this with some protein.
The last thing, olives.
These little olive packs,
I love these.
They're great to just like throw in your bag.
And these actually have fat in them, right?
'Cause olives are a fruit that have fat.
So this might technically be more Whole30 compliant
than the rest of these on their own.
All right.
Next, some snacky food.
So first, roasted seaweed with sea salt snacks.
I have shown these before on Whole30 videos,
but these are just good little kind of salty, crunchy bites.
I would not say that they're like filling.
I mean, there's literally 60 calories in this pack,
so it's not gonna fill you up,
but sometimes you just want a,
you know, you want a crunchy, salty snack.
These garlic and onion pistachios.
I've actually not tried these,
and never seen them before.
They do have tapioca dextrin,
but that's technically Whole30
actually, so it's allowed.
But they're seasoned with salt,
garlic powder, onion powder,
garlic extract, onion extract.
Anyway, I actually I want to try them right now.
I know I said I wasn't gonna taste everything but..
They smell really good.
Oh my gosh. (laughs)
Oh my God.
Num, num, num, num.
Oh my God, these are so good!
Also, here's the thing about these pistachios,
which are still in the shell,
you have to,
I find I have to be more mindful
when I'm eating them this way,
because they're a pain in the butt
to get out of the shell.
Although that one was pretty easy actually,
to just get out,
like they're pretty open.
But rather than buying them shelled,
and just like eating them by the handful,
like really just putting a couple of these in a bowl,
and bringing intention to it,
and paying attention to it,
and noticing how good it tastes,
because these are so good!
Oh my gosh.
Also, this snack mix,
savory banana and nuts trek mix,
made with lightly seasoned green bananas,
cashews, and pecans.
I love this stuff.
I buy it year round.
Whether I'm doing Whole30 or not,
it doesn't matter.
And it's, it uses coconut aminos in it,
which I think is so cool.
How progressive Trader Joe's,
I love you.
So if you're wanting a crunchy,
nutritious snack,
these are three great options.
But really, oh my gosh.
So next is drinks.
Now with Whole30,
I think a lot of people feel so restricted.
You can't have cream, right?
You can't have sugar.
So coffee is a hard one,
because you got to have your coffee black,
or with like a nut milk creamer that's Whole30.
It's just a whole thing.
The coffee is a whole thing.
So a lot of people just end up drinking water.
But there is other stuff you can drink.
You're not supposed to have juice, right?
Like sugar just for the sake of it.
Even if it's fructose.
But one thing I still have over Whole30 is coconut water.
And Trader Joe's coconut water
the only ingredient is organic coconut water,
and it's really sweet and delicious.
And the smoothie,
coconut smoothie is literally
the only ingredients are coconut water, and coconut.
So, two really great options.
Again, being mindful of the rules,
but you know the rules,
but coconut is a higher fat fruit, right?
So if there's actual coconut meat in this,
like this has six grams of fat,
maybe this is considered a,
a more wholesome well-rounded macronutrient wise,
Whole30 snack.
I don't know, you'd have to ask Melissa,
Next, kombucha.
Also a Whole30 thing,
because a lot of people,
so first of all, I just got to say,
I hate kombucha.
I think it's nasty, I don't drink it.
But it's a thing when you go on the forums,
a lot of people really love their kombucha.
And then on Whole30,
they can't have it,
because there's sugar in it.
But this version brand,
what does it?
GT Synergy the Watermelon Wonder flavor is Whole30 approved.
There's a couple that don't have sugar in them.
So this is one of them,
but I'm not drinking it, bleh.
There's also Trader Joe's has this organic,
sparkling green tea
with grapefruit and mint flavors.
It's all Whole30 approved ingredients,
and you know,
no calories, no sugar, no nothing.
So it's kind of like just something to enjoy.
So if you're someone who likes to have
like a sparkling you know,
water with lunch,
or dinner, or something,
and don't want to break that routine,
you know, go with it,
try it out.
And then also,
you can have hot teas of course.
So, I really like Trader Joe's
has a huge variety of hot teas.
The this is the peppermint herbal tea,
and this is the ginger turmeric herbal tea.
They also have like a Moroccan mint one.
But you know,
tea is definitely Whole30 approved.
And it's just nice to sit down with a hot tea,
especially in January,
if it's cold where you are.
All right, so those are some ways
to switch up your beverage routine,
and still stay Whole30 compliant.
Next up, seasoning.
So, on Whole30,
I think it's really important
to have fun with seasonings and spices,
because you can use seasonings and spices
to make your foods taste different.
You don't have to feel so bored with what you're eating.
The problem is,
you have to check the ingredients of the seasoning,
especially at Trader Joe's.
A lot of the seasonings have non-Whole30 ingredients,
or non-compliant ingredients that you wouldn't expect,
like rice concentrate,
or chickpea flour, right?
So, these seasonings are ones that I love in regular life,
but I won't,
I can't have them on Whole30.
Like that chili lime one,
actually I remember on my second Whole30 ever,
I realized I had been eating the chili lime seasoning
the entire month,
and never stopped,
stopped to actually look at it.
And I was like, "Oops, blew it."
Anyway, these ones are some Whole30 compliant options.
You know, green goddess,
vegan chicken-less seasoning,
everything but the bagel,
I literally put on everything,
every Whole30 meal that I have,
and this is a new one,
I haven't actually tried yet,
Ajika Georgian seasoning blend,
spicy, garlicky, and deeply aromatic, and savory.
I'm not gonna try this right now on camera.
But, if you've tried it,
let me know in the comments how it is.
So, similar to the seasonings,
you can switch up your Whole30 routine,
and have more variety,
by using dips,
and spreads, and dressings.
And Trader Joe's has a lot of Whole30 compliant options.
So this salsa,
the organic tomatillo roasted yellow chili salsa,
it's really good.
I eat it all the time.
And they have more salsas than this that are Whole30,
but you have to read the label,
because some have sugar,
or other stuff in them.
But but that's a great way to switch it up.
This olive tapenade.
And it's pretty much a bunch of olives and peppers diced up,
but you know,
you could throw this on protein,
throw it in eggs, whatever,
and it's gonna add a totally different flavor
to whatever you're eating.
Also this vegan kale, cashew, and basil pesto.
So regular pesto,
you know, it has Parmesan in it,
so it's not gonna be Whole30,
'cause you can't have dairy,
but a vegan pesto you can totally have.
And I haven't actually tried this,
but I'm sure I've had a lot of vegan pestos before,
and they taste pretty good.
And then the last thing is dressing.
So Trader Joe's has these refrigerated dressings.
They have more than this.
These two, the green goddess salad dressing,
and the vegan creamy dill dressing are Whole30 compliant,
but not all of them are.
So they have a couple others.
You have to read the labels to know which.
But this is a way that, you know,
even if you're not using them on a salad,
you can put this on protein,
or you can use them as a marinade for protein.
So you can get creative,
and just make it a little bit more interesting.
So the last thing I wanted to bring attention to
are not actually snacks,
but these are interesting
Trader Joe's Whole30 compliant finds.
First of all,
these roasted vegetables
simply dressed with garlic and herbs.
And they are Whole30 compliant ingredients.
It's pretty much sweet potato, potato, brussel sprouts,
red onion, zucchini, squash, bell pepper,
and then like herbs and seasonings.
So this is like vegetables ready to go.
If you're like looking for
how can I make it easier than having to cook all the time,
this could be a great option for you.
And then also this kettle cooked chicken soup.
I was really surprised to find a Whole30 soup there,
but I looked at the ingredients,
and I was like, "That is definitely Whole30."
It's chicken stock,
vegetables, chicken,
and like spices.
And that's it.
So this could be another thing to just keep in your fridge,
have it, you know,
with your lunch,
or with your dinner,
or whatever,
and Whole30 compliant.
So, there you go. (bells chiming)
So there is the haul.
I hope you enjoyed it.
Let me know if you are doing anything this January
regarding health goals, you know?
Are there any resolutions out there?
What is it like for you,
and your relationship with food?
I want to know.
So please feel free to share in the comments,
and please share any Whole30 favorites.
Favorite products from Trader Joe's
if there's something that you love that I missed.
I hope you will subscribe and hit the bell for more.
I've got videos coming twice a week,
all month long.
Thank you for being here.
I will see you soon with a brand new episode,
and remember,
it's all a matter of mind over munch.
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