Tigers and Turtles - 2016

[misslindy]

I have typed two responses in here and lost half the sentence, then the whole sentence now am starting over.

I have joined the January thread you suggested, Vozelle. I will be a bit more relaxed around the few days our company is here but no sugar is the rule, will still have either an apple or blueberries but not every day. 

I am also going to be counting backwards from 60, kooky but works for me. 

Talk soon.

Oh, by the way: 2017 has dawned sunny and calm--good year ahead--best wishes to you all. Glad we are still standing together. xxxL

[C_Cezeaux]

I am in definite OUCH mode this evening! We got home yesterday evening and had an extra day to recover from traveling, so naturally I decided to restock the fridge and get my food done up for the week before we dice back into work tomorrow.

Long story short, I managed to drop a chicken breast into a skillet of very hot oil, leaving me with a rather large burn up my arm where the oil splashed. NOT the way I had intended to start this round of W30. :-(

Hope the rest of you are starting off a little smoother than me.

[vozelle]

4 hours ago, C_Cezeaux said:

I am in definite OUCH mode this evening! We got home yesterday evening and had an extra day to recover from traveling, so naturally I decided to restock the fridge and get my food done up for the week before we dice back into work tomorrow.

Long story short, I managed to drop a chicken breast into a skillet of very hot oil, leaving me with a rather large burn up my arm where the oil splashed. NOT the way I had intended to start this round of W30. :-(

Hope the rest of you are starting off a little smoother than me.

Yikes, so sorry to hear that! Hope you heal quickly...

[vozelle]

Hey, wait! I didn't actually COMMIT to a whole year of no sugar yet, was just thinking it sounds like a good idea... ; )

We shall see!

[misslindy]

On 12/29/2016 at 6:43 AM, vozelle said:

For those of you planning to do a January Whole30, here's a link to join in the "official" fun (you'll get emails and other swag by joining). Start date is Monday  Jan 2nd:

 http://whole30.com/2016/12/join-januarywhole30-2017/

 

 And here's a forum thread that is gaining momentum, if you want to follow along with a group:  

 

 

 

 

I just registered for this but will be a bit relaxed about it all while company is here for 4 days, no sugar but may not be as rigid as I have been.

 

[misslindy]

On 1/3/2017 at 7:23 PM, vozelle said:

Hey, wait! I didn't actually COMMIT to a whole year of no sugar yet, was just thinking it sounds like a good idea... ; )

We shall see!

 

I don't know that I could do an entire year --sounds massive undertaking but when you think of it we don't have sugar 98% of the time anyway if we are following W30 either strictly or relaxed so a year is a doddle.

[misslindy]

On 1/3/2017 at 3:06 PM, C_Cezeaux said:

I am in definite OUCH mode this evening! We got home yesterday evening and had an extra day to recover from traveling, so naturally I decided to restock the fridge and get my food done up for the week before we dice back into work tomorrow.

Long story short, I managed to drop a chicken breast into a skillet of very hot oil, leaving me with a rather large burn up my arm where the oil splashed. NOT the way I had intended to start this round of W30. :-(

Hope the rest of you are starting off a little smoother than me.

 

Oh dear, hope you are feeling better now, slap on some Aloe Vera and stick to raw greens! Hope you are recovered, Cynthia.

 

[misslindy]

Company arriving in the morning so won't be around until later in the week. So excited to see my friends, have so many lovely dishes prepared for meals and they are all W30 but no one will ever know so won't be hard to follow my programme, they will have whatever they want extra or different but the main courses are all geared around what prefer to eat! How's that for control? Now, is control a bad thing???? Hmm.

[C_Cezeaux]

I did manage to keep the burn from blistering with use of aloe and cold pack, have been coating it in Vitamin E oil, have had good luck with that before to decrease the damage and avoid scarring. It's an ugly dark red and quite sensitive, but could have been worse. Oddly, my mom did the same thing to herself on the same night.

MissLindy, I like your dinnerans. 

I'm following the official link, have you admit I'm already rolling my eyes at the number of people asking what they can have for snacks.

I'mI'm also following the January 2 start date group, as soon as I quit being grouchy, I'll try posting again, lol.

[vozelle]

On 1/4/2017 at 7:15 PM, C_Cezeaux said:

... I'm following the official link, have you admit I'm already rolling my eyes at the number of people asking what they can have for snacks.

I'm also following the January 2 start date group, as soon as I quit being grouchy, I'll try posting again, lol...

I know, right? We should do a thread for experienced Whole30-ers who have at least one round under their belt, that would be nice. I'm following along with the January 2 group also...  Nice to see you commenting and helping out over there.  : )

[NancyW]

On 1/6/2017 at 3:36 PM, vozelle said:

I know, right? We should do a thread for experienced Whole30-ers who have at least one round under their belt, that would be nice. I'm following along with the January 2 group also...  Nice to see you commenting and helping out over there.  : )

I belong to a couple of W30 groups on Facebook, one for recipes, one for W30 Instant Pot users, and it's so hard to see all the misdirection going on! One rather contentious thread dealt with someone who truly believed that the banana/egg/blueberry combo called muffins was totally compliant. Lots of back-and-forth about it. Even after people posted the official word about W30 baked goods, they weren't willing to back off. Glad I have enough experience to know the difference. And after my recovery I'll be getting even more experience as I do another 30 myself.

[C_Cezeaux]

I finally dropped off the facebook groups because of things like that.  I picked up the official one, where the moderators catch and correct for this January W30.  Between the misdirection and the arguing, it just wasn't worth it for me, lol.  For me, the groups were to be support and ideas (like here!  ) and it's just stressful to show up and find contention.

On the upside, I had a marvelous birthday lunch with my dh. I had a totally compliant crab tower with side salad for lunch at our favorite place, and we had our favorite table in the corner with picture windows on both sides to watch the bay and the birds.  And some seriously dedicated fishermen, all wrapped up in coats and scarves headed out on the water.

[NancyW]

2 hours ago, C_Cezeaux said:

I had a marvelous birthday lunch with my dh. I had a totally compliant crab tower with side salad for lunch at our favorite place, and we had our favorite table in the corner with picture windows on both sides to watch the bay and the birds.  And some seriously dedicated fishermen, all wrapped up in coats and scarves headed out on the water.

Happy Birthday!!!

[vozelle]

3 hours ago, C_Cezeaux said:

I finally dropped off the facebook groups because of things like that.  I picked up the official one, where the moderators catch and correct for this January W30.  Between the misdirection and the arguing, it just wasn't worth it for me, lol.  For me, the groups were to be support and ideas (like here!  ) and it's just stressful to show up and find contention.

On the upside, I had a marvelous birthday lunch with my dh. I had a totally compliant crab tower with side salad for lunch at our favorite place, and we had our favorite table in the corner with picture windows on both sides to watch the bay and the birds.  And some seriously dedicated fishermen, all wrapped up in coats and scarves headed out on the water.

Oh yes, Happy Bday to you!!  : )

[Crimsann]

15 hours ago, C_Cezeaux said:

On the upside, I had a marvelous birthday lunch with my dh. I had a totally compliant crab tower with side salad for lunch at our favorite place, and we had our favorite table in the corner with picture windows on both sides to watch the bay and the birds.  And some seriously dedicated fishermen, all wrapped up in coats and scarves headed out on the water.

Adding my "happy birthday!" and what a lovely image this conjured up...I love how it's a bit about food, good food, but also shows just how much you were "in the moment" and enjoying yourselves and the ambiance beyond just what you ate for lunch. 

 

This is so what it's all about.

 

As for me, I'm still a mess.  This horrible chest cold thing has been going around (and around and around) the office here and my luck being what it is, I got it on Christmas Eve.  Given that it has a two-three week lifespan...that means I'm still chasing down the last of it now and have been completely miserable right when I should have been starting my year off with a bang.  I couldn't give up cough drops, just couldn't go there, and I had no energy for meal prep not to mention zero appetite...it was a recipe for complete failure. 

This past weekend I managed to get out of the house long enough to market and got my lunches made, but the recipe I went with isn't completely compliant.  I'm not sure I can really explain what is going on in my head right now, but I'm going to take a stab at it because we always share where we are.  I think, in the back of my mind, I'm looking at the calendar and I'm pretty sure there aren't enough weeks between now and my birthday (and it's the unfortunate 4-0 this year) for me to get to my goal.  It's possible, it would mean killing it every single day though and that's a lot of pressure.  I keep thinking about last summer and how close I got, but not quite, to that goal for vacation and how it sort of derailed me altogether just like weight loss goals nearly always do.  I don't think I can start anything specific now without also hearing that clock start ticking.  I could dress it up all kinds of ways, not weigh in now so as to not put a number in my head, but the minute I start a diet plan...tick-tock, tick-tock.  And my fortieth birthday is such a built in milestone that I can't see around it.

So I am kind of toying with letting my restart happen on my birthday.  Maybe like doing a Misslindy and counting backwards in a way, so that the countdown is more towards starting a new decade of my life rather than seeing it as an end goal.

But getting to April without taking steps backwards?  That's going to be about gearing up for a whole new "year" by just working on some of the things I need to shore up to be ready to hit the ground at a run.  So I'm not going to take the time to kick back and snack, but instead I'm going to try to view this as training time.  I want to be eating cleaner and working out regularly BEFORE I start for real.   

Maybe I'm on the right track, and maybe I'm way off base...all I know is, mentally, I'm not there for jumping into a January W30.  But I'm definitely going to need this group more than ever so I'm really glad to hear from all of you and belated but best wishes for an awesome 2017!

[Crimsann]

Um, okay...this is just creepy.  So nearly right after I posted the above, I did my daily check in on Audible for what is new/on sale/daily deal...we all know I have a thing for audio books...and to my delight "Food Freedom Forever" was (finally!) available in that format.

So I'm like part of the way through the intro and getting chills when Melissa said, and I quote, "...to focus on more productive things like how you'll celebrate your birthday this year.  The first year of your food freedom journey."

In light of what I was just saying about this coming year, serious goose flesh going on.  We've all kind of joked about her speaking directly to us, but sheesh.

[vozelle]

Message from above, LOL! Sorry to hear you've been sick, Crimsann... cruddy way to start off the new year! Hope you're  back to 100% soon. It's just some dates on the calendar, after all...

Now about that birthday...

Sounds like a great idea to start then! Maybe do some 1-week resets here an there as "test-run" practice?

[Crimsann]

On ‎1‎/‎9‎/‎2017 at 9:30 PM, vozelle said:

Message from above, LOL! Sorry to hear you've been sick, Crimsann... cruddy way to start off the new year! Hope you're  back to 100% soon. It's just some dates on the calendar, after all...

Now about that birthday...

Sounds like a great idea to start then! Maybe do some 1-week resets here an there as "test-run" practice?

We think alike! 

Yes, that's sort of exactly what I have in mind.  I've been working on a list this week of things I want to shore up and I'm writing out a calendar of when to tackle each thing (most of them are not huge) with the idea that it won't be just for that week either...so the first thing on my list is to get back to filling all three rings on my Apple watch tracker or at the very least hitting the activity ring which is the one that will restart another streak.  If I start that one first I think it's going to help with some of the others and by the time April rolls around I should be at or close to a new record with that which is a great place to be.  It means working out at least at a brisk walk for 30-60 minutes a day which isn't a huge commitment really and it's something I really need in my life with the years of a sit down job to combat.  It is one that takes discipline and has very specific tracking though so it can't be fudged. 

Another week I will focus on drinking more water again, something that has dropped off when I stopped packing my lunch every day.  Around mid-February, unless I move it to an earlier date, I'm going to switch it to all Whole30 for lunches.  Not a full on the program since my breakfast/dinner options could still be non-compliant, but it's a step.  I'm also thinking of rounding out the last three weeks before my birthday with removing gluten one week, taking out dairy the next, and finally eliminating sugar the last week.  That should make switching over to Whole30 a little less painful.  I'm not sure how that's going to work out with birthday cake, but I don't actually care for cake that much so I've plenty of time to plan for a different kind of birthday celebration. 

I'm still working this out, but what it feels like it might be leading up to is a Whole365 or at the very least a 30-day reset followed by a very specific plan where I only reintroduce a few things.  This is actually a bigger step maybe than the sugar free year we talked about, but I kind of think it's what I want to do.  With that problematic milestone out of the way I think I can focus on doing it for the right reasons.

[vozelle]

22 hours ago, Crimsann said:

We think alike! 

Yes, that's sort of exactly what I have in mind.  I've been working on a list this week of things I want to shore up and I'm writing out a calendar of when to tackle each thing (most of them are not huge) with the idea that it won't be just for that week either...so the first thing on my list is to get back to filling all three rings on my Apple watch tracker or at the very least hitting the activity ring which is the one that will restart another streak.  If I start that one first I think it's going to help with some of the others and by the time April rolls around I should be at or close to a new record with that which is a great place to be.  It means working out at least at a brisk walk for 30-60 minutes a day which isn't a huge commitment really and it's something I really need in my life with the years of a sit down job to combat.  It is one that takes discipline and has very specific tracking though so it can't be fudged. 

Another week I will focus on drinking more water again, something that has dropped off when I stopped packing my lunch every day.  Around mid-February, unless I move it to an earlier date, I'm going to switch it to all Whole30 for lunches.  Not a full on the program since my breakfast/dinner options could still be non-compliant, but it's a step.  I'm also thinking of rounding out the last three weeks before my birthday with removing gluten one week, taking out dairy the next, and finally eliminating sugar the last week.  That should make switching over to Whole30 a little less painful.  I'm not sure how that's going to work out with birthday cake, but I don't actually care for cake that much so I've plenty of time to plan for a different kind of birthday celebration. 

I'm still working this out, but what it feels like it might be leading up to is a Whole365 or at the very least a 30-day reset followed by a very specific plan where I only reintroduce a few things.  This is actually a bigger step maybe than the sugar free year we talked about, but I kind of think it's what I want to do.  With that problematic milestone out of the way I think I can focus on doing it for the right reasons.

Nice! I like the long-term thinking/planning. From where I stand now, I really GET IT that making healthy choices consistently over many months/years really can't be beat. Your body just finds its natural rhythm, its own healthy weight, and deep reservoirs of vitality and wellness. I'm so grateful that my gut-healing journey actually *forced* me to keep a squeaky-clean diet so I could experience these long-term benefits for myself... what an eye-opener. 

[C_Cezeaux]

Crimsann, hope you're feeling better by now. 

I'm still fine tuning on what I know I need to do and sticking with it at least the majority of the time.  Interesting that I have had far less trouble with sugar dragon this year, wasn't tempted by most of the goodies, just certain holiday food triggers and chocolate is probably always going to be all or nothing, lol.  Where I find myself sliding back is in the mindless snack attack while I'm reading or watching tv.  That, and the corn tortillas and gorditas at our Mexican place.  Maybe I should up my magnesium again.  Or just limit my exposure to the Mexican place.

Part of the lifestyle for me has been to focus more on non-food "treats" and enjoying being "in the moment" as you said, without the focus being on the food.  At the birthday dinner, the food was quite tasty and enjoyable, but the real treat was the location.  We spent a couple hours in our corner watching the water.  I'm working on "earning" my next deep tissue massage now.

I like the one week focus, would certainly give room to repeat the focus on another week in case of backsliding.  I have a few I need to focus on and it would be easier to tackle one at a time.

[C_Cezeaux]

I was really struck by the difference this program has made in my eating when I walked into Sprout's (organic/health food store) today and discovered they were having a 72 hour sale. Even though I went on a bender, not one grain product, sweetened anything, candy like substance or processed food tempted me today. Instead, I bought way too much... PRODUCE.  I have produce I don't even know how to cook yet, lol.  I have some beets that are bright orange, baby squash medley to roast, rainbow carrots in 3 sizes, purple sweet potatoes, and about three more reusable shopping bags of produce, even an orange cauliflower.  I almost bought a purple one, but left it to try another week, lol.  They had grass fed beef on sale so I have steaks, ground beef, and a couple of the cheaper cuts of roasts to make stew out of.  My freezer is fully stocked and I have to get to roasting my veggies so I can divide them up and pop them in the freezer.  I feel some serious protein salad and roasted veg soups coming up.

 

[NancyW]

Good morning! I'm 3 days post-surgery, and feeling pretty good. My knee is kind of wonky, but I guess that's to be expected after knee surgery... 

Here's what I love to do with a big pile of roasted veggies: Freeze them in individual serving sizes, and the give them a quick saute in avocado oil when I'm ready to eat them. This crisps them up again quickly, and takes a fraction of the time that roasting them did. Now that I have a freezer, I'll be able to do this again. It's really good with eggs and sausage, and a good way to get veggies in early in the day. 

I'm thinking even more than usual these days about what to do going forward. I find that all of the planning and sharing that all of you are doing is very inspiring--thank you for that. I'm hoping to get some additional help in the form of input from a company that does blood analysis to see which foods you are reactive to. I hope it doesn't turn out to be a farce... I think that could be really good info to have! It tests for 96 different food compounds, rating reactivity from zero to four. I'll send that in soon, and look forward to the results. 

Now, on to the business of rehabbing this knee. I was sent home with some exercises to do, and I will do them as instructed, hoping for good news at my post-op visit next week. And while I do that, I will continue to reflect (obsess?) about what to do with my eating. 

[vozelle]

Glad to hear your surgery well, Nancy. I hope the healing process goes smoothly. What is the name of the test you're doing? I wonder if I'm doing the same test?

So, I was cruising along great with the January 2 group, when I had to take an unexpected detour. Now I am on Day 3 after resetting. My functional medicine MD ordered a "Gluten-Associated Cross-Reactive Foods and Foods Sensitivity" test that required me to eat a variety of off–plan items (corn, soy, dairy, yeast and non-gluten grains). The test is called "Cyrex Array 4" and it will show if I have any autoimmune reactions to those foods. In other words, producing antibodies (and having related intestinal permeability issues).

I did NOT react well to the test foods; had bloating, gas, constipation, weight gain and moodiness. It was a Trial By Fire kind of experience, eating 19 different off-plan foods (daily !!!) for a period of 7 days. So I'm sure that was kind of like getting hit by a train in the gut. Again and again. UGH. I had a checklist, and it was really weird to be working hard to actually consume so many off-plan items every day.  Shopping at the grocery store was a 180° turn around, LOL. I thought I would enjoy it more, getting some dirty little pleasures out of eating popcorn or whatever, but it was actually a lot of work and I was pretty uncomfortable. 

But I'm DONE now, and I'm hoping it will be worth it, because the test will identify off-plan foods that I can safely eat. I'm hoping this will help me diversify my diet as much as possible without compromising my gut healing process (which as y'all know, is a long-term kinda deal). I've been reading a wonderful book lately on the microbiome, and they said that diversifying your diet (with a wide variety of high-quality, organic, whole foods) really helps diversify the number/types of species of micro-organisms inhabiting your gut.  Apparently, this is especially good to pay attention to as we are aging, because it is very common to lose micro-organism diversity as we get older, which has been linked to degenerative diseases of all kinds.

Right now,  I'm just happy to be back "home" with the Whole30.  My mom is doing it with me, so that's fun!

 

[Crimsann]

Thanks for checking in Nancy, I've been thinking about you and wondering how that knee was going...I remember Mom after hers and I think "wonky" is exactly right for this stage. 

This is the "rubber plan meets the road" day for me, I had sort of thought I would take the plunge over the weekend even though I usually think of Monday as the first day of the week...but PMS had me grouchy about that.  I'm trying to consider it good timing though because it's past and it means I can be well into my new routine before it shows up again.  No excuses for tonight though.  That first day is always the hardest I think. 

I did the scary weigh-in though and it wasn't as bad as I had geared myself up to expect, so in a weird way I'm finding that rather inspiring.  My lunches this week are compliant, though that wasn't exactly intended it just sort of worked out that way.  Dinners are not, but I was looking for something I knew I would eat and that would be quick to fix after working out so there was no excuse for cutting it short because I had to cook.  And vice versa, something I wouldn't skip eating because I felt like the workout was cutting into my time.   I've had a couple weeks on my new schedule, but being sick for most of them, I don't feel like I've leveraged that time the way I wanted to and I need to break that habit NOW before I start to feel like I deserve to come home and hit the couch.  Mentally I know if I was once able to workout after working such long hours, I shouldn't be less able to do so on short hours, but I will also admit that working later often put me into a second wind which weirdly enough made it somewhat easier.  It's just an adjustment, and I'm hoping that stronger lunch choices will help.  I need to figure out some strategies for ensuring that I get home with energy to spare, and we all know....blah, blah, it starts with food.  LOL!

 

There is something else I kind of wanted to share, it's sort of late notice...but I've been enjoying some of the challenges from this "Rock Your Happy" thing I stumbled on.  Two of my friends and I are taking a stab at this and comparing notes on how we made them happen.  It's basically daily prompts for something to keep yourself focused on "happy", I was a bit skeptical because I pictured this as trying to schedule a full spa day of pampering every other day and I didn't think it would be achievable or realistic...but to my surprise these seem pretty well thought out and well balanced between actual treats and just doing some free and easy things.  Now, full disclosure, this is not necessarily W30 friendly...there is a day this week in fact when the prompt simply says "cookies", so you will need to get creative on how you work these in.  But for the most part I found some good inspiration for non-food treats and mindfulness.  I'm going to share the January calendar of events below, but you can read more here.  http://dineanddish.net/2017/01/365-days-to-rock-your-happy/

 

 

[Crimsann]

Did anyone else see the links at the bottom of the latest Whole30 email?  If you missed them, or didn't check him out, I have to tell you I was nearly in tears giggling at some of the entries on this blog.  http://kaleandcigarettes.com/tag/whole-30/  It's a guy doing his first Whole30 with his gal...who lucky for him is doing a ton of amazing cooking (so snagging some meal ideas as a bonus)...and it's both totally relatable and seriously funny.  A little explicit here and there but I've already sent the link to a ton of friends because I think his way of explaining what it's like is so approachable and actually rather inspiring.  It really reminds me of what it was like to go through that the first time, with all the ups and downs.  I'm really rooting for him to finish....mostly because I want all 30 days of reading entertainment!

It's definitely energized me this week and I'm rehashing my meal plan for next week because of it.  Well because of that and the moment of "crap these pants are tight" this morning...I'm still not planning to launch an all out on-the-plan initiative but I'm tightening the belt a bit in solidarity (f not yet in reality.)