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Pre-start: Thursday May 2, 2024 I want it again, to feel the way I know Whole30 can make me feel. Today I am starting to clear my fridges, pantry and freezer of non-compliant food. Today's goal is to clean out the main fridge, prepare some carrots for easy snacking and cooking, and make some potato-egg salad for tomorrow. I will be easing into W30, knowing from past experience that KATT is much worse if I quit carbs cold turkey. Update, kitchen fridge has been cleaned. I need to eat through some non compliant food before beginning W30... cheese, yogurt and non compliant salsa. The carrots and potato egg salad will have to wait. Hack to Habit: clean up the kitchen after every meal, down to the bare counter! Hack to Habit: aim to drink 24 oz water four times daily - beginning overnight to before breakfast, between breakfast and lunch, between lunch and dinner, between dinner and bedtime. I need to break my soda, beer and sangria habit! Hack to Habit: begin to increase my vegetable intake now by eating at least one carrot every day.

Day 4 was a very stressful day for me, in a work related way. Wednesday, Day 5 (yesterday) included the phases of "Kill all the Things" and "Eat all the Things' and unfortunately it ended just that way. I killed my whole 30 and ate what I wanted to, breaking the rules of whole30. When I feel ready I'll be back. What would have been day 5, today, I feel very sick, but it's probably a virus. Of course I get a stomach virus the day after I break the rules. Ugh

I started Kill All The Things this evening. Poor husband. Snapped at him like I’m a whole different person. I need to keep my mouth shut the next few days during my KATT phase.

Before I started this Whole30, I signed up for a meal service. I get home after my husband a lot of the time and he wants to get dinner cooking by 5:30 so he usually makes it 3-4 times during the work week. So I thought- hey, ingredients plus a simple recipe card would be great for him. Our first delivery was supposed to come today but apparently it’s getting here tomorrow. I wonder if I can get some money back for that because there are perishables inside and the delivery got delayed when it was supposed to be an overnighted shipment. I *think* I can eat most of the food in the meal delivery service. I’ll have to double check the ingredients.…. okay I did. Here is what is being delivered. (So, yeah, there’s a lot that’s going to just be for my husband and the kids to eat, but I’ll definitely grab some of the veggies for myself to prepare in a whole30 fashion.) MEALS 1. Roast + Ready Pulled Chicken Fajitas 2. Chicken 'n Guac Rainbow Jasmine Rice Bowl 3. Marinara Meatballs + Veggie Super Fries 4. Gluten-Free Spinach Artichoke Chicken Grilled Cheese which includes this food GROCERIES: Canyon Bakehouse 7-Grain Gluten-Free Bread Hungryroot Bell Pepper Onion Saute Calavo Fresh Guacamole 4-Pack Hungryroot Fresh Lime Mighty Spark Ground Fajita Chicken Hungryroot Organic Grass-Fed Beef Meatballs True Story Organic Oven Roasted Chicken Breast Hungryroot Organic Seasoned Jasmine Rice Hungryroot Rainbow Veggie Mix Actual Veggies Russet Potato Super Fries Hungryroot Seasoned Pulled Chicken Andrew + Everett Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese Hungryroot Spinach Artichoke Spicewalla Taco Seasoning Blend Hungryroot Tomato Marinara Maria and Ricardo's White Corn Tortillas I could revise the meal delivery service to only bring whole30 complaint meals (or as close to that as possible), but that’s not what I’m going to do because I like these food options and variety for my kids / husband. Also, I doubt they’d be able to meet whole30 standards so I’ll just avoid for the most part and check ingredients for the things I take for my own dinners.

M3 ended up being a turkey patty, whole30 compliant ketchup, tomatoes, and roasted cubed potatoes in olive oil. I thought I would have made some broccoli, but it sounded unappetizing in the moment. Maybe in a few days… Went to the rheumatologist for my annual check in (I have SLE lupus but started taking meds when I got a rash when I was in my early 20s and I think that has prevented worsening symptoms. The only time I’ve had bad joint pains is when I had a natural remedy to get rid of a cold (elderberry syrup) and apparently lupus and elderberry don’t mix. All the joints in my body hurt, even my finger joints. It was so weird. Anyway, glad I don’t get joint pain other than rare exceptions. Also it happened when I had a heartburn med. Anyway, after my check in with my rheumatologist to say what’s new with me (basically nothing), I went and got labs. Lupus labs include blood and urine tests like blood cell counts, markers of inflammation in the body, and kidney testing. I like that I got these on Day 3 of my Whole30. It’s like a pre-whole30 look at the inflammation in my body. I think I’m going to schedule my yearly physical with my primary care doctor in a month. They also do labs, like cholesterol. They’ll probably run blood cell counts too, even though I just got them. If I tell them I already got them they probably wouldn’t, but depending on the cost, I might not say anything…I’d like to compare the before (or close to before) and after.

I’m on lunch break, so I’m going to update - M2 was leftover taco meat to make another taco salad. It was very satisfying. I didn’t want to add any oil to it, so I’m going to have some almonds in a few.

Day 3. This morning I had my normal eggs and ate my last banana. I made coffee and added some canned full fat coconut milk (unsweetened). I put the remaining contents of the can into an ice cube tray for the freezer so I can add the rest to smoothies or coffee for the rest of my whole 30. I didn't get to make my lunch before needing to leave to drop the kids off at school. So instead of going into work today, I told my boss I was working remotely from home, which does make a little sense to do since I have a doctor's appointment. But yeah, not being prepared to go to work with a healthy whole30 lunch was not cool and I need to step up my game and make my lunches the night before. Tomorrow I might try to use the "Day by Day" whole30 journaling pages to set up these posts each day. I can still write anything I want at the end of the entries, but it would be nice to at least try to be consistent and make a good habit with journaling.

My stomach feels…confused. Not starving but definitely not satisfied with just water. It would like some bedtime snacks, I think. A yogurt, some cookies, or a brownie. But I think I can handle these cravings. They are not super bad. I’m not in the kitchen pacing or opening cupboards. After dinner I had some frozen blueberries. Time to think about tomorrow and what’s on the menu. Tomorrows M1: Eggs and a banana Tomorrow’s M2: Salad: Romaine Lettuce, Cucumber, and Tomatoes and whole30 compliant dressing Chicken Salad:canned chicken, whole30 compliant mayo, maybe onions? M3: Turkey burger maybe with a bag of frozen broccoli prepared and drizzled coconut oil? At least it’s a plan! Day 3 here I come. Will be posting less since I have work and some medical and dentist appointments, and kids dental appointments to go to this week, but by the evening I hope to post each day. Also- I caved and bought a kindle version of the Day by Day whole30 book so I could read about what’s expected each day- I absolutely hate that I accidentally deleted my whole30 emails from 2014 but I don’t know anyone with them to ask me to forward me theirs. I think I email search for them every year like somehow I will find them even though I’m using the same search terms every year lol. I hate losing things.

Successful meal 3! Taco salad. Checked the spices and they were compliant, yay. Used lettuce, grass fed beef and salsa. The taco spices in the beef made it taste spicy and delicious. Wished I could have a glass of milk with it, like I gave the kids with their tacos, but I’m staying strong and just going to drink my water and maybe some black coffee in a little bit.

Update on Day 2 M1: 2 eggs fried in coconut oil banana M2: plain hamburger, big bowl of veggies (carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers) with whole30 compliant ranch M3 (planned): taco salad So I was trying to clean our house and put away laundry before my son’s friend was coming over after lunch, so my husband ended up making lunch. He ended up making me a grilled cheese along with him and the kids so I felt super bad when I said thanks but no thanks. I can’t really explain it that well, but I thought I would do better at getting through this Whole30 if no one in my house knew about it. Because during the many whole30s I started and didn’t finish, I didn’t like feeling like other people in my home were monitoring what I was eating. Well, keeping it secret was impossible. I just said “sorry I’m on a diet” instead of explaining exactly what I’m doing because I’ve told my husband I was doing a Whole30 like 50 times and I’ve failed at most of them and he’s seen me go right back to the standard American diet (aka being unhealthy) not long after telling him about it. I don’t have a lot of consistency in my life because I suspect I have ADHD. I have trouble even remembering to brush my teeth every day. Anyway, I’m sure my husband is tired of me going on and on about what I’m planning to eat and blah blah blah about the whole30 before giving up after a week, and I don’t feel like saying something and having his unintentional thoughts be like (oh, that again…she’ll be done in a few days) because of my history with it. So that’s my reasoning for not wanting to involve my family. Right now it’s 2:15 and I’m pretty hungry. I think it’s from all the exercising I was doing from cleaning the house. I’m going to get some water and see how I do waiting to eat until 5 or 6pm for supper. I could try to think of a mini meal with protein and veggies if the water doesn’t help. Maybe a small salad with chicken and whole30 dressing/fat. Feeling good to write this out and come up with some ideas.

Okay time to hype myself up for getting through the day whole30 compliant. Last night I kissed my husband and even though he’d brushed his teeth, I still sort of got a hint of the alcoholic drink he had. That’s not really something I can prevent, and let’s just say I didn’t mind it haha My plan for the day is to make myself eggs again. I’m not going to change that up until I start getting sick of them. Soon I’ll start having lots of leftovers, though, so maybe I’ll start eating those for breakfast after a few days or a week. For lunch I’d like to make a taco salad. This is my old whole30 go-to. A way to eat both salad and ground beef. Salsa for topping. I wonder if I’ll do beef soft tacos for the kids for lunch because I have more energy to make a big lunch than a big supper. I need to pick up some more eggs from the grocery store. My daughter also wants to make dirt cups with crushed Oreos and gummy worms for a sleepover snack so I’ll mostly be buying sweets during my grocery run. Oh well. More practice to say no to temptations. For dinner hmmmmm. I need to do some cookbook and recipe searching. I put my chicken in the freezer last night because I let my last chicken go bad in the fridge. Maybe I’ll just have a hamburger or a turkey burger with my same bowl of veggies in the side. At least it’s a plan!

I’m going to bed and I’m happy to say it was a successful day until the end! Yay! Hopefully I will stay signed in so I don’t accidentally login to another username again! lol

Oops this was my original login username I forgot the password for. How did I enter it by mistake? 😂

Meal 3 ended up being: -A beef / hamburger patty (plain because I didn’t have anything to put on it yet), and a big bowl of grape tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots with a bit of whole30 approved ranch. I’m currently making brownies for my kids/husband and was proud that I put the mixing bowl and the mixing spoons in the sink and filled with soap and water to soak before I could take a taste. Yay me. I picked up groceries and I have a lot of healthy meats and veggies now. I just have to be careful to eat them soon to not waste them before they go bad. The ultimate challenge. I didn’t totally finish the non-whole30 freezer meals or breakfast foods in the pantry that I got for myself a few weeks or months ago. I’ll just have to ignore those until reintroduction or see if my husband wants them. (Such as some lean cuisine freezer meals and a box of oatmeal packets). Today / Day 1 is going by VERY slowly. My thoughts of course are on being careful not to slip up because I did not prepare my house for this because my family will continue to eat what’s in the house and the regular meals they enjoy. I’m not going to change my routine in terms of exercise yet- my body will be going through enough, getting used to the change in foods I’m eating, or rather not eating.

I lost my old Melissa Urban motivation emails I signed up for back in 2014. I’m sad that I must have accidently deleted them. Even thought the community here has moved on and there’s new support groups for Whole30, I’d still like to put my journaling here. I’m terrible and consistently going to a website every day and posting, though, so if this is my only post, oh well. I’ll really try, though. I’m doing this whole30 because there are certain lifestyle changes I want to make and the only way that’s ever worked for me to change my habits has been doing a Whole 30. I eat too many calories, eat whatever I want basically, and I am overweight. I need to eat less sugar for my overall health and to prevent getting certain diseases like type 2 diabetes. I would consider myself addicted to sugar. If there were more local support groups for that sort of addiction, maybe I’d be able to keep my healthy lifestyle in check, but it’s just not meant to be. I have to be responsible for myself and find my own support. M1: 2 eggs fried in coconut oil, I banana M2: Tuna patty made with eggs, onion, almond flour, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper Bowl of frozen berries Black Coffee M3 (planned): Beef patty and side of veggies and a potato I have to go pick up groceries for the M3 veggies and potatoes. I’m not going low carb. The Whole30 has worked for me even when eating white potatoes and sweet potatoes. Later on, I may restrict white potatoes and only eat sweet potatoes, but I’m easing into it. Tomorrow I will have many more veggies with my meals. I’m excited to start meal planning!

Started today!

I’d love a buddy to do the Whole 30. 3pm is a hard for me, and I’d love some accountability!

Yes, Locust bean gum is fine.

I found a yogurt that is non-dairy, but has Lotus bean gum. Is that okay?

Have a read through this article https://whole30.com/plant-based/plant-based-whole30-meats/ It sounds like it would likely not really work because they often have additional ingredients that are still out for the PB Whole 30.

I meant beyond meat products

Are these products allowed on PB W30?

I dug through some archives and found this company - They're not cheap which is a bummer and it's a powder not a paste but could work for you. https://lonolife.com/collections/chicken-bone-broth/products/chicken-bone-broth-stick-pack There are also these two recipes that you can use to make your own - I haven't looked at them specifically so just make sure that if you make them, they don't have non compliant ingredients, they're from an archive post a few years ago so the recipe could have changed. https://paleogrubs.com/homemade-instant-bouillon-cubes https://southern-bytes.com/paleo-chicken-bouillon/

Oh man! Ya, that can happen! Just push through...Maybe try something with a texture you really love (me = mashed potatoes) or a particular flavor profile (me = spicy) or having 'breakfast' for dinner. Even if you haven't meal prepped those items or they're not what you were expecting to eat, give that a try - no whole30 is perfect, as long as you're eating Whole30 compliant foods, you're good to go! Sometimes the balm to the drastic change of Whole30 is finding a 'comfort food' that jump starts you and then when your appetite is back, go from there!