Hi! i’m michelle and welcome to my blog, A place for sharing everything from what I’m eating (or not eating) and why to venting about being a toddler mom. i share my stories to inspire others to feel, and hopefully, laugh.

Quarantine: Day...Whatever. Whole30: Week 1

Michelle Nance

I signed the lease on my Brooklyn apartment about one month out from the onset of the pandemic on New York City. Covid-19 and Coronavirus were simmering in the news cycle, just a light bubbling on the surface, at the time, but it wasn’t yet boiling over so I moved forward with my life plans:

  • Lease Signed on the new apartment, check!

  • Brand new job offer, check!

  • People in place to support the return to my favorite city, the city I really consider home, check!

I put a well thought out plan into motion on March 6th, 2020 when I arrived in NYC, worked my very last day at The New York Times from my colleague’s apartment and shortly after EOD we ventured off into downtown BK for the first of many shopping trips to fill my space with necessities. Thinking back on it, that’s actually the LAST time I took the MTA. Wild.

Friends came and went in and out of my new place, each stopping by for hugs, quick catch ups and to help with something. Building my daughter’s crib and shelves. Assembling my bed frame. Cleaning the entire place top to bottom. Unpacking and organizing. Along the way we spoke in fleeting moments about what was happening in Wuhan. We analyzed how China compared to Italy. And we all started to wonder how seriously we should be taking this pandemic.

On March 13th, back in NC, my daughter’s grandmother had driven up to take us back to Brooklyn. We agreed that driving would be a much better experience with my two year old daughter. Trying to get on a plane with the amount of things I still needed to transport would have actually been impossible. So we hit 95-North around 10am on that Friday and along the way stopped at a Panera Bread for lunch. I had no clue that would be the last time I’d sit in a restaurant for a meal in a very, very long time. I had visions of Pilar, Cafe Rue Dix, Peaches Hot House and Michelin Star restaurants I had yet to explore dancing in my head. The restaurant scene is one of my favorite things about New York; I never thought I’d see the day all their doors were closed because sitting shoulder to shoulder over a beautiful meal wasn’t safe.

March 16th was my 32nd birthday. It went by quite unremarkably in comparison to birthday celebrations of years before. I did manage to get out of the house on a solo mission to downtown BK for a Target run (more home necessities) where I snagged some lifesaving items like my NutriBullet and a weighted blanket from the Casper store. Also, my couch was delivered from Feather, a huge deal considering how much time I spend on this couch day in and out.

Pandemic developments evolved by the day: Wear gloves. No, wear a mask. Stock up on food. This will be a month. Two months or…more. What’s the big deal? What is social distancing anyway? Are children safe? Am I safe?

March 22nd was the first official day of NYC’s quarantine with shelter in place orders officially going into effect as issued by Cuomo. I was fortunate to have stocked up at Wegman’s the day I got back to NYC so I wasn’t strapped for food. I did another round of shopping for fresh items and got comfortable with the idea of staying inside.

March 23rd, my first day on the new job. I logged in to a Zoom meeting for my orientation and I’ve been rolling ever since.

Over the weeks since then I’ve had some amazing moments and some extreme lows. I’ve gotten reconnected with music and my natural inclination to select sounds that make me feel good. I’ve cooked, a LOT, some healthy things, some unhealthy things, some meals that were impressive and some that were just enough to ensure we were not hungry. I’ve mixed my own cocktails. I’ve joined FaceTimes with friends and my parents, who I actually miss. I’ve watched my daughter grow and get inquisitive about the kitchen (right now her designated cooking duty is peeling the paper off of garlic). I’ve cleaned up massive messes left in Melody’s path of destruction. We’ve taken accidental afternoon naps together that restored my faith in my ability to do “this”.

As time ticked on, the routines and feelings of quarantine more and more natural, including the negative things, I knew I needed to make some personal changes in order to not let this time get the best of me.

Over indulgence is a go-to coping mechanism for me. When I’m on the verge of spiraling it’s not uncommon for me to seek out all my favorites in a 24-hour window. Ordering tacos? Yep. Don’t forget to add the churros for dessert and make sure I have all the ingredients to mix up the perfect margarita. 6 margaritas later I feel deeply disgusted with myself. But don’t worry, you get to do this all again tomorrow!

So, just before May began I found myself flipping through my journal where I was reminded of a promise I made to myself about keeping my health and weight in check. I committed to doing one Whole30 reset per quarter and May felt like the perfect time for a few reasons:

  1. I was already headed towards full spiral mode with an inability to get a grip. Chocolate chip cookie with coffee for breakfast? Sure. 3 margaritas to end the day? Yep. Blame it on boredom. Whatever the case it was excessive and needed to stop.

  2. If there’s any chance at summer I can’t be out here looking like a complete dumpling when I get the chance to finally show some skin in the sun. Everyone knows weather doesn’t truly break in NYC until June so I can use these weeks to trim down just by eating well.

  3. Though I’d like to be hopeful for some relaxation on the shelter in place regulation, I’m not confident about it. I have a good feeling we’ll be at home more than ever in this NYC summer. Now that I have the space I’ve been craving to create I need my brain to be clear to do the work and get me to places I’ve never been able to go with my writing. What I eat (and drink) directly impacts my mental clarity, so, with that, this reset is about way more than physical fitness it’s about my mental health and ability to express creatively as well.

Q2 Whole30 kicked off for me on May 4th, coincidentally the day before Cinco de Mayo. If all the margarita and taco references earlier in this blog didn’t give it away, I’m a Mexican food fanatic and I will work for margaritas. But this year, my desire to pull it together was way more important than a day of indulgence.

So what have I been eating? Happy you asked!

  • Fried Eggs. Okay so, hear me out. I grew up eating scrambled eggs. And, I hate those things to the core but the relationship was tumultuous because on occasion they’re not so bad when smashed between two crispy, buttery slabs of toast and sprinkled with lots of cheddar cheese. It’s the smell though. What I did NOT know is that fried eggs do not have that smell and can be fried to a doneness that yields a firm, non runny yolk. I’ve been frying those bad boys every morning! With sweet potato hash, with bacon, in a Shakshuka. Gimmie ‘em!

  • Smoothies. I have at least one smoothie a day to pack in nutrients and take the place of snacks. I’m not really stocked up on compliant snacks like nuts and Larabars so I just throw as many things into a blender as possible (that make sense together) and rely on add ins like chia seeds and moringa powder to make them that much more beneficial.

  • Chocolate for Breakfast (or lunch, or dinner really). I have a deep and undying love for chocolate, especially dark chocolate. But it usually only hits as a craving the week before my period and guess who decided to embark on Whole30 the week before her period, me. Luckily on my last grocery run I grabbed some raw cacao powder — a damn life saver. I blended it in with frozen bananas and a host of other things and out came a creamy bowl of goodness that satisfied my need for chocolate.

  • Lamb Meatballs. Nothing more to say. Those babies were delicious. I followed this recipe.



How close Melody gets to me when she demands snacks.

How close Melody gets to me when she demands snacks.

So far, we’re rocking and rolling as my toddler would say. I’m grateful for the opportunity to regain control.

Thanks for reading!

XO,

Michelle

Archive Block
This is example content. Double-click here and select a page to create an index of your own content. Learn more

A return to the music. A return to me.

With Clarity. Whole 30 Days 7 - 11