For Hollis Branwen, dinner used to be the hardest meal of the day—especially on Whole30. The first time she tried the program, she found herself tired and irritable by sunset. “I’d eat a compliant lunch and feel okay, but by dinner, I was starving and uninspired,” she says.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to cook. Hollis actually enjoyed being in the kitchen. But the early days of Whole30 left her cycling through grilled chicken and steamed broccoli, night after night. “I was compliant,” she laughs, “but I wasn’t happy. And I definitely wasn’t full.”
She knew she had to rethink her approach if she wanted to stay on track—and stay sane.
That’s when Hollis began viewing dinner not as a time to be restrictive, but as an opportunity to build something deeply nourishing. She started layering her plates: healthy fats, fiber-rich vegetables, and slow-digesting proteins that actually satisfied her.
Roasted root vegetables with a tahini drizzle, cauliflower rice cooked in bone broth, and sheet pan salmon with citrus became her staples. But it wasn’t just the food that changed—it was her mindset. “I stopped making dinner about what I couldn’t have,” she says. “And focused on what would make me feel good the next morning.”
As her meals became more balanced, she noticed fewer cravings, better sleep, and steady energy well into the night.
“I finally felt full—in every sense of the word,” Hollis says. “And Whole30 didn’t feel like a struggle anymore. It felt like support.”
