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Monomeal Mania!!!11


kirkor

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As this year drew to a close, I was reflecting on 2016 and realized that while I've been merrily riding my own bike, I was getting kinda itchy to try something new.  I've done 5 or 6 Whole30s, and lately I've been doing them with some sort of theme (see links in my signature below).  The common thread has been simplicity, reduction, minimalism, bare-bones, etc.  Partly I do this just for the heck of it and to see if I can, but also to serve as an example to other people of just what is possible within the Whole30 framework when you get down to the bare essentials. It truly is not coming from a place of "look what I can do" but to show "look what YOU can do!"  Whole30 can be intimidating with all the label-reading and meal prep and different ingredients and I am really interested in demystifying all that. (and having fun along the way!)

DISCLAIMER: I'm not dealing with any autoimmune issues or other health concerns I am trying to diagnose or alleviate. I'm in my 30s, not overweight, and am active and healthy. I work 50+ hours per week.  I don't have kids and am single.  This is all just a self-experiment trying to find value in these fun little tweaks --- so what I do is not to be taken as an example for others. 

With that being said, my goal for this round of Whole30 is to eat the same meal over and over and over!  Monomeal, baby!

This is NOT the crazy vegan mono eating thing, like 30 bananas a day or whatever. (seriously, google it a bit and you'll see all kinds of nutty stuff ... a la Fruitarians ;)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXIdcA6mlV4

This will be a Whole30-template meal of protein, fat, and vegetables.  Just super repetitive. Jbchrhj.gif My meal of choice = ground beef, zucchini, coconut oil, and salt. It's compatible with AIP and low FODMAPs too.

I plan on posting my observations throughout, regarding hunger, satiety, and other things.

You know how for the Whole30 in general the whole "hunger test" thing is if you could go for "something bland" like steamed fish & broccoli?  Hehehe so the only reason I didn't do that specific combo is because ground beef is cheaper than fish and broccoli in enough quantity wouldn't jive with low FODMAPs.

But I am genuinely curious how it's going to feel after a week or so. Will I be desperate for steamed fish?  Give my kingdom for an egg?

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Some points on simplified diets vs. wider nutritional needs:

https://zerocarbzen.com/vitamin-c/

http://paleoleap.com/reducing-variety-paleo/

http://mostlymeatiswhatieat.blogspot.com/p/nutritionally-perfect-carnivore-diet.html

I plan on exploring this more as I progress.  Might keep "green vegetable" as a component of the monomeal within the spirit of the endeavor, and swap out the zucchini sometimes for spinach or kale or broccoli or seaweed or something.

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Very interested in following your whole 30.  My meals are always very simple - whole 30 or not.  My idea of cooking is putting the food in the oven (no spices), turning oven on, and removing food.  I have some medical issues and must follow a low fodmap plan.  It is really easy for me to eat the same foods over and over but not sure I could do the same meal 3 times a day for 30 days.  Are you going to eat any fruit.?  I know  you exercise so are you going to eat pre and post workout meals, and if so, what are you going to eat?

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My whole30s have been this way, too.  I have tended to cycle through 1 or 2 favorite recipes and just rotate which one of them I ate.  Except for my first two  whole 30s, I had found any variety was a recipe for failure and breaking the whole 30.   

 

 Are you using this forum  to blog  your own journey, or are you inviting people to tag along?   Because I have been mulling this same concept for myself.  I have failed so many whole30s in the past few years and I am desperate to find a way to make this last and work for me.  In addition, I will be traveling and working blocks of overnights, another reason for me to minimize the variety that I get through this whole 30.  

 I suspect the founders of the whole30 may discourage this minimalism - however, in order to change my relationship with food, this may be my solution. 

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8 hours ago, Laurie said:

 Are you going to eat any fruit.?  I know  you exercise so are you going to eat pre and post workout meals, and if so, what are you going to eat?

Nah, no fruit.  I do the low carb thing anyway so it won't be a change. re: the workouts, I already do IF so I am used to fasted training most of the time.  Depending on the workout I'll probably just adjust my size of the meal.
And actually I recently broke my arm and am still on light activity, so my workouts aren't going to be very demanding for a while.

 

7 hours ago, drtracyb said:

Are you using this forum  to blog  your own journey, or are you inviting people to tag along?   Because I have been mulling this same concept for myself.  I have failed so many whole30s in the past few years and I am desperate to find a way to make this last and work for me.  In addition, I will be traveling and working blocks of overnights, another reason for me to minimize the variety that I get through this whole 30.  

 I suspect the founders of the whole30 may discourage this minimalism - however, in order to change my relationship with food, this may be my solution. 

Ya, tagging along would be cool!  Even if you want to do it as a "minimalism month" rather than full-on monomeal style.

You mentioned past attempts --- do you have at least one successful one under your belt? The paleoleap link I posted above addresses some of the potential psychological benefits of eating from a simplified menu.

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So the same meal, x3 times a day, for 30 days? (Or as many meals fit in to your IF window...) Seriously?

@drtracyb - as a (v soon to qualify) nutritionist I'd discourage the minimalist approach purely from a micronutrient perspective. And as someone who eats this way as their norm (with a few exceptions ie. v v occasional dairy - particularly around the holidays, not super vigilant about added sugars when eating out etc) I've found in recent weeks that variety is actually really helpful in terms of FODMAP tolerance, digestion etc. Also, some say that a huge degree of mimimalism is unhealthy/likely linked to eating disorders and/or an unhealthy relationship with food rather than actually helping it.... Just my tuppence worth though!

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15 hours ago, kirkor said:

Nah, no fruit.  I do the low carb thing anyway so it won't be a change. re: the workouts, I already do IF so I am used to fasted training most of the time.  Depending on the workout I'll probably just adjust my size of the meal.
And actually I recently broke my arm and am still on light activity, so my workouts aren't going to be very demanding for a while.

 

Ya, tagging along would be cool!  Even if you want to do it as a "minimalism month" rather than full-on monomeal style.

You mentioned past attempts --- do you have at least one successful one under your belt? The paleoleap link I posted above addresses some of the potential psychological benefits of eating from a simplified menu.

I had two extremely successful whole30s in 2013 and 2014.  Lost a ton of weight, got my fibromyalgia under control, got my eating under control.  Then my world went crazy and I've been trying to get it under control since then.  I've got from reaching my pre-wedding weight, back up to the heaviest I've ever been.  But my world is calm now, so I should be able to focus on myself for a month and beyond.

I am intent on doing low carb monomeal.  Truthfully, before Paleo, I had already figured out that the best diet plan for me was a chicken and broccoli plan.  This time I will do ground beef and zucchini, because I am in England for the first week, then flying to California the second week, where I will be working bunch of graveyard shifts.  Simplicity of meals will give me the best chance of success. 

 

What I haven't figured out is what fats do you use to finish it out?  I'll be calculating 20 grams of carbs per day and 60 grams of protein per day.  (Obviously I'm now alluding to keto paleo, which I have never officially done, but this style of eating has worked well for me as a kickstart to getting back into a healthy lifestyle.)

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15 hours ago, jmcbn said:

So the same meal, x3 times a day, for 30 days? (Or as many meals fit in to your IF window...) Seriously?

@drtracyb - as a (v soon to qualify) nutritionist I'd discourage the minimalist approach purely from a micronutrient perspective. And as someone who eats this way as their norm (with a few exceptions ie. v v occasional dairy - particularly around the holidays, not super vigilant about added sugars when eating out etc) I've found in recent weeks that variety is actually really helpful in terms of FODMAP tolerance, digestion etc. Also, some say that a huge degree of mimimalism is unhealthy/likely linked to eating disorders and/or an unhealthy relationship with food rather than actually helping it.... Just my tuppence worth though!

I agree with you in the long-term.  However, as someone who has proven unable to cope with the variety in a standard Whole30, I think a one-time elimination of variety can be viewed as another facet of a whole30.  Reintro for me would be to introduce more choice.  I've already done reintro on the food allergy issue and know what my sensitivities are.  All that is left is my individual problem with self-control over what actually goes into my mouth.

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3 hours ago, drtracyb said:

What I haven't figured out is what fats do you use to finish it out?  I'll be calculating 20 grams of carbs per day and 60 grams of protein per day.  (Obviously I'm now alluding to keto paleo, which I have never officially done, but this style of eating has worked well for me as a kickstart to getting back into a healthy lifestyle.)

I'm using coconut oil, as well as buying the higher-fat ground beef and keeping the oil residue after cooking as opposed to draining it (like, literally squeegeeing it out of the pan :lol:)

re: your macro calculations, recall that it is an official recommendation to avoid doing that. That being said, it looks like you are approaching it the right way.  Outside of Whole30, the recommended way to dial-in keto is have an upper limit on carbs, a target for protein, and fill in fat as needed for satiety and performance.  

I think this will be one of the advantages of the monomeal style of eating.  If I have a "hungrier" day, I have lots of options, like eating more of my pre-prepared meal combo, using extra coconut oil when sauteeing the zucchini, play around with smaller lunch vs. bigger dinner & vice versa.
 

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Yeah, I know they don't like me eating this way.  And I do understand that this is all about changing my relationship with food.  But, personally, I've got to break my cycle of dropping out of whole30s.  I know you have a different reason for this experiment.

Funny to post meals -

Had hot water with lemon this morning.

m1 - ground beef sauteed in bacon fat; zucchini in ghee.

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Day 1 in the bag!

I was disappointed that the zucchini I had on deck for later in the week had already started to get a teensy bit soft in the fridge ... might try leaving the next batch on the counter to see if they hold up better.

I decided to go ahead and cook more meals, so now after dinner tonight I've got 3 full days prepped.  The bonus of doing a cook tonight was that my dinner was one of the hot meals instead of the pre-made one from yesterday. 

Also, the roasting of the zucchini isn't really making me happy.  I  am used to roasting broccoli and it turns out much better.  The zuke seems to stick to the pan overmuch, and just kinda wilts instead of toasts like the broccoli does.
I think I will try satueeing a large quantity and see how that goes.

2017-01-02_zpsx7oovm4b.jpg

 

 

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11 hours ago, drtracyb said:

Hehe ya it's a good reminder for people.

Also, the point that, if it causes one to lose weight, EVERY diet is a "high fat" diet, because your body is burning all your excess body fat.

Another metaphor I like is eating from one's "onboard pantry".

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Long day today. Lunch @ 1, dinner @ 8:45.

Was out in the truck all day, so ate my lunch without reheating it. So now I've had the meal all 3 ways: fresh off the stove, reheated in the microwave, and cold.  Good news is that it works all three ways!

I miss my coffee in the morning but it'll be there on Day 31.

Did a bit of a resupply this evening:
IMG_20170104_203205_zpsum4b0doq.jpg

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I actually wondered at your choice of zucchini as your monomeal vegetable, and I did wonder at your roasting it.  As someone who has eaten a lot of zucchini in her life (home garden), it does have its idiosyncracies.  That said, I chose it, too, for the moment.  Don't forget, it tastes good raw, too, and has a nice crunch.  I start missing crunch when I do my whole 30s. 

I tried roasting my hamburger meat in the oven, as I saw it in a recipe that way as a way to add flavor.  Didn't work and is actually pretty gross.  I'll put that portion into bolognese sauce for the kids.  My kids are paleo this week, as I need them to finish up the paleo meals I have in the fridge that don't fit my monomeal lifestyle this month.  My husband doesn't stick to it, so I can only feed the kids full paleo when he is traveling for business.  I do think it helps improve their adhd behaviors.

So far, I am loving my zucchini and mince fried in ghee.  Made me a bit ill the second day, but I'll blame it on carb flu.

I'm gearing up for my biggest challenge yet - I need to get on a plane on Saturday and fly from London to Los Angeles, then work a 36 hour shift in Valencia straight from the airport, then drive to Merced to work 7 overnights, and then drive back to LAX to fly back to London.  I'm really going to have to do careful planning on that one.  I'm thinking of buying a bag of frozen 100% beef hamburgers once I get to LA.  Packed meals for the plane.  And darn, have to pass up the free alcohol on the international flight :-(  I will need great discipline to get through this challange.  (I'm an emergency vet, moved from CA to England last year, but I still go back to work shifts from time to time, just to keep my skills up, as I don't work in my field in England.)

 

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So last batch of 2 days worth of meals, I sauteed the zuke rather than roasting it.  It felt more "right" as I did it, but when it came time to eat the containered (yes that's a word :)) meals later there didn't seem to be much of an appreciable difference.

I think the next plan will be to portion out diced zucchini in the containers, and then add the still hot ground beef from the pan; to let it soften up a bit that way. Depending on how work goes I should have at least a couple opportunities to reheat a meal in a microwave and see how the zuke presents itself.

Missing my coffee still.  I drink it black, from an AeroPress over ice, and it's just a lovely beverage for me.  I'm sleeping well and not missing the coffee for wakefulness or anything, but today was kind of a lazy Saturday so I was wishing for it to sip on. On the upside, I'm drinking a TON of water.  Normally I do stay well-watered, but these last couple months I fell off since I lost my favorite water bottle in the car accident in October when I broke my arm. So this no-coffee month is helping to get me back in the habit.

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Different prep tonight --- started the beef off in the pan, then added the diced zucchini (smaller pieces this time too) to have everything cook together.

IMG_20170108_164751_zpsmp8dm6me.jpg

 

Been noticing a bit of an issue with choosing zucchini in the dead of winter. At different times I've shopped so far this first week, 2 stores have been literally *out*, and another had just a few very small and sad and soft ones.  Some of this is probably because I'm in Wyoming as opposed to California.

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Didn't quite stick to monomeal the past few days though did stay compliant.  I brought four containers of zucchini/beef mix onto the plane with me from London to LAX.  Toward the end the zucchini was tasting a bit off so I gave up on the last container.  My best friend brought me a bunch of compliant meals that I ate during my 36 hour shift in Valencia.  Today I am in Merced starting 7 overnights in a row.  The hospital has a trailer for the emergency vet to sleep in and to stay in during the daytime, so I'll venture out at some point to find food.  My beef will probably have to switch to compliant hamburger patties cooked in the microwave - I saw some pre-grilled angus patties at costco that looked compliant.  And I guess steamed zucchini in the microwave.  

Funny how it finally clicks in.  I am not feeling the frenzied urge to snack that I had been feeling over the past year.  It's nice to be back on the wagon.

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On 1/8/2017 at 7:29 PM, kirkor said:

Different prep tonight --- started the beef off in the pan, then added the diced zucchini (smaller pieces this time too) to have everything cook together.

IMG_20170108_164751_zpsmp8dm6me.jpg

 

Been noticing a bit of an issue with choosing zucchini in the dead of winter. At different times I've shopped so far this first week, 2 stores have been literally *out*, and another had just a few very small and sad and soft ones.  Some of this is probably because I'm in Wyoming as opposed to California.

 

I thought about cooking it this way - I guess you just have to watch when you portion it out that you get your percentages right - or cook one day's meals worth at a time, which is probably what you are doing.

 

Your location still shows at San Diego!  Yeah, finding zucchini in Wisconsin in January must be fun.  Costco had big bags of it both in England and in Bakersfield.  

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This reminds me of "Soylent" - are you familiar with that company... or maybe it's a movement, I'm not sure. Anyway, they have a product that is a kind of "human chow", a liquid meal replacement that is meant to replace all food in the human diet. 

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On 1/8/2017 at 9:06 PM, NoMoreCrunchyCravings said:

I love following this thread and can't wait to see how your monomeals blossom throughout the month!

Here's a blossom for you!
Tonight I went with very thinly sliced zucchini to saute along with the mince:
IMG_20170110_174657_zps2pm7vqc8.jpg

I got to thinking yesterday about the different ways these 2 foods can be combined, and I just may play around with all the different variations: meatballs, meatloaf, patties, etc. ... maybe even try soup as well, although it might end up too watery?

 

13 hours ago, drtracyb said:

I thought about cooking it this way - I guess you just have to watch when you portion it out that you get your percentages right - or cook one day's meals worth at a time, which is probably what you are doing.  

Ya, that particular picture is actually 2 days worth, but you're right, it makes it easier.  But one thing about the monomeal concept is that portion sizes aren't too critical when batch cooking, because if you start with a given amount of ingredients based on serving size goals, it's not a big deal if the meals aren't exactly the same size.  Your body is still going to get the same net amount of nutrition.

 

13 hours ago, drtracyb said:

Your location still shows at San Diego! 

Wyoming is temporary!! :P:P 

 

41 minutes ago, Stegner said:

This reminds me of "Soylent" - are you familiar with that company... or maybe it's a movement, I'm not sure. Anyway, they have a product that is a kind of "human chow", a liquid meal replacement that is meant to replace all food in the human diet. 

Ya, definitely.  My roommate did a course of namebrand Soylent, and I played about with the DIY version of "Keto chow" https://diy.soylent.com/recipes?tags=Ketogenic ... it's pretty cool and I remain intrigued by the concept.  I want to try a version with less dairy. I need to play with the ratio of MCT oil to heavy cream.  

But I also am curious if it's possible to make something palatable that would "technically" be compliant with Whole30.  It definitely wouldn't be an ideal or recommended thing, because of the greater scope of what Whole30 is about beyond the particular macros that happen to be in your stomach.  Salivary enzymes get tripped up by liquid foods, digestion is probably thrown off, and the idea of building habits for a lifetime kinda goes out the window when you're talking consuming only liquid: it wouldn't be sustainable for decades.  But as my other themed W30s have demonstrated, I am interested in the 'edges'.

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