Callan

Heh, I have a similar story. I sat down to have my lunch at the coffee shop I work at, and a regular customer asks me, "Are you a vegetarian? Because you seem like a health nut to me!" And I said, "Well, I am a health nut but I sure am not a vegetarian!"
To be fair, she wasn't a vegetarian either, but it's interesting how the common perception of vegetarianism is that it's the pinnacle of health. I used to think so, even.

When they have a "nightmare" about accidentally deciding to have pasta for dinner and ruining everything...
Yeah, my life has taken a turn for the strange.

Ha, that's so strange. What does he think gluten is?
Another thing: Whenever I tell people I only get sick once or twice a year, they tell me know lucky I am. I don't know how much luck has to do with my immune system; I just take good care of myself!

Someone in my family who has seemed to be taking my dietary and lifestyle changes very personally, for whatever reason, said to me today: "So, I hate to say this and do so begrudgingly, because that's how I am, but I recently determined that pizza really affects me negatively." She thinks that "pizza wheat" is somehow worse than other wheat, but I'm sure it's just the combo of wheat, low-quality cheese, and industrial oils that is bothering her...
After she went grocery shopping, she said, "Speaking of having less wheat, I got potato rolls today!"
Me: "But... Don't those have wheat in them?"
Her: "Maybe, but not a lot! *checks label* oh... It's the first ingredient."
Me: *facepalm*

Hi everyone,
I guess I just needed a place to dump my thoughts and feelings where I know I won't be judged. I'm really concerned about my family--i.e. my father, stepmother, and 7-year-old brother--and unfortunately, I live with them right now. Here's the rundown:
Dad is a "vegetarian," home-brewer (beer snob), and "fake meat" addict. Breakfast is either eggs and morningstar sausages or a handful of nuts/trail mix or a Clif bar, lunch is cheese and wheat thins, and dinner is a quesadilla (cheese and beans) or a bowl of chili filled with textured vegetable protein and beans. He drinks beer every day. His father had a heart attack in his early 50s and died, and was very active. My dad is overweight and addicted to chronic cardio (runs miles every day but just keeps gaining more and more weight).
Stepmother eats some meat (mostly boneless skinless chicken breasts) and is very fat-phobic. She has fat-free yogurt and fruit with a little peanut butter for breakfast, and lunch and dinner consist of processed grains, pseudo-meats, and a small serving of vegetables.
Little brother has frosted mini wheats or lucky charms for breakfast. He either buys the school lunch or has cheese and crackers, cucumbers, carrots, and a blast of ketchup. For dinner, plain spaghetti, meatless "corn dog," fake chicken nuggets, and quesadillas. He negotiates how to eat as little of his meal as possible and still get dessert. And dessert often comes in the form of large bowls of ice cream with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, and sprinkles.
Watching this all is very saddening to me. When I discuss nutrition with my dad, he has said two things: "Well, I don't eat that much wheat" (as he reaches into the bag of Wheat Thins and takes a sip of beer!) and, "I think you're probably right but don't feel like changing anything."
And when I discuss it with my stepmom, she gets defensive and argues the opposite of whatever I'm saying. When I told her that a bit of bacon isn't going to give my (incredibly skinny) little brother a heart attack, she said: "I've seen what bacon grease does to our drain pipes and I know that's what it does to our arteries!" What. She already wants to get his cholesterol checked...
So, I go about my merry way, preparing my food and trying to set a good example without saying anything. Until my stepmom says that the smell of the coconut oil I use to cook with makes her feel incredibly nauseous. So, now I use the expeller-pressed kind that has minimal odor, but it still sort of bothers her. I feel so bad for making her feel sick (but then, the smell of my dad's hops and my little brother's "corn dogs" also make me sick, but I don't ask them to stop...) but I miss the healthy benefits (and awesome flavor) of virgin coconut oil. I know, obviously I need to move out as soon as possible, but that probably won't be until August or September.
For the time being, do you have any advice on how to a) cope with this sadness, convince them to make some changes, or c) look at this situation in another way? I feel as though I'm always being judged, and surely they always feel like I'm judging them. I want us to coexist happily but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

When they have a "nightmare" about accidentally deciding to have pasta for dinner and ruining everything...
Yeah, my life has taken a turn for the strange.

When they have a "nightmare" about accidentally deciding to have pasta for dinner and ruining everything...
Yeah, my life has taken a turn for the strange.

It's incredibly difficult to be around family members who you feel are hurting themselves. I grew up with a mother and sister who both had eating disorders. My mom is a chronic dieter and my slster was anorexic, then bulimic, and now eats the most restricted food plan I've ever seen (raw vegetables and then eats french fries off her daughter's plate).
The only way that I could achieve peace was by realizing that I wasn't responsible for their behavior. Of course, it's harder for you, because you live with them. My family is 800 miles away.
I'm not sure if you're familiar with the work of Byron Katie. She has a particularly interesting bit of "homework" you can do when you're struggling with feelings about someone else's behavior:
http://www.thework.c...r_Worksheet.pdf
It can seem a little "out there," but it has helped me in the past.

I have pretty strong (and immediate) reactions to sugar, and one reaction is to want more. It can be bad enough that I lose focus on the things I need to do that day because I'm arguing with myself about sugar.
For those of us who have spent years (decades, in my case) eating sugar, it's probably not reasonable to think that we can just eat a little bit of sugar (instead of everything in the house, or in the store) after a Whole30 or two.
I've been thinking about this because I know that many celebrations include foods that have a lot of sugar in them. And it seems like the celebrations come pretty often, if you are paying attention. Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving - and those are just the big ones that get a nod of some sort in my house. There are also birthdays, anniversaries, vacations, parties of all kinds, and probably the biggest one of all - "I had a hard day so I deserve a treat." I think we're all pretty conditioned to believe that happiness and sugar are tied together. So if we take it out for a short time (compared to however long we've been alive, that is!) and then try to reintroduce it on a small scale, I am not sure we have much of a sense of what constitutes moderation.
It's just lovely, ain't it?

Heh, I have a similar story. I sat down to have my lunch at the coffee shop I work at, and a regular customer asks me, "Are you a vegetarian? Because you seem like a health nut to me!" And I said, "Well, I am a health nut but I sure am not a vegetarian!"
To be fair, she wasn't a vegetarian either, but it's interesting how the common perception of vegetarianism is that it's the pinnacle of health. I used to think so, even.

This recipe is delicious!
http://www.edibleperspective.com/home/2010/3/27/simplicity.html
Enjoy!

Yeah.... It was called the Sauna... Lol.

Day 63.
Slept in. Finally my insomnia is getting me. Quick breakfast: poached eggs + coconut bacon kale + plantain tostadas. They do not look good, but they make it up with taste. Fantastic. Warm and chewy. Mmm. Coffee.

Packed lunch: beef patties (one as pre WO) + lemon broccoli + lettuce/cuce/mustard. Strawberries.

Gym after work if stomach allows. It's very cold outside but crazy sunny. I wore sunglasses on my way to work. Yayayay

I'm amused by your mention of "polite" vegetable portions because I can so relate! I can't stand to share meals with people because typically the amount of vegetables allotted for everyone is close to (or less than, in the case of my family) the amount I'd take for just myself!

I think to try to salvage what I have, I will try Johnny's fritter idea by adding egg yolks and maybe a little bit coconut flour to the mash with some horseradish to mask the teargas flavor of the turnips and fry that in ghee. I will attempt to eat this with a side of horseradish leek kraut in a further attempt to mask the depressing flavor of turnip.
You know how smells trigger your emotions and memories...I'm just having such a negative response to that flavor...maybe I fell off a turnip truck as a baby.

with sprouts, i shred them quite finely & then steam-saute them, then use them as a stir-fry type veg for breakfast. My kids & partner think i'm insane

Can't help you on the bok choi, but definitely cook your broccoli now. It reheats fine! Bell peppers...if you're worried about wanting them in different ways this week, you could cut the tops off and pull out the seeds, etc. Or you could halve them and freeze - if you're sauteeing them anyways, you won't be able to tell and/or you can stuff a half pepper! Green beans are fine cooked and reheated. Last week I made 2 lbs of green beans and mushrooms and ate them all week. Quite delicious!
My problem with day-long cooking is that, well, I don't like cooking all day. I do most of my cooking in a two or three day period, so they're mini cookathons instead of a full day of cooking.

Thanks so much everyone! Your words and support really helped. Kirsteen, you really struck a cord with the addiction reference. It's so true! And kind of scary! The day I wanted to give up became the day I realized just how much I need to do this. Pretty powerful stuff.
I pulled my boss aside today, we talked through the stressful situation, and I came out relieved. The result of confronting my feelings head on was better than a pint of Ben and Jerry's
Oh and by the way I'm about to finish day 13 and wouldn't you know, the last two daily Whole30 emails have been about stress! Apparently I'm not the only one going though this, which makes me feel a little better. Thank you all again!

Hi Kimmy, hang in there it will get better, I promise. W30 is designed, among other things to get our hormones back on track, sometimes it can be a bumpy ride getting there. Also, coping with emotions without stress eating can be really hard. I think we tend to underestimate how hard it can be. I used to work with recovering drug and alcohol addicts and they all said the same thing - once you get over the physical detox the hardest part is facing up to all your emotions without being able to dull them with your drug of choice but the more you do it, the easier it becomes.
Stress eating has a lot of similarities. As you so eloquently put it, we eat our feelings. I think we've all done it. I remember on one occasion, standing in my kitchen, so angry, I was literally cramming food in my mouth without even tasting it and I think I ate my weight in chocolate going through a divorce. Take those props away and it takes time to learn to deal with stressful feelings without them. It does, as others have said, become easier as it becomes a habit and the healthier we eat, the easier it becomes to deal with these feelings.
Now on top of all that, you also have practical difficulties in packing 3 meals a day. I really admire you for doing this, for taking control of your health under these circumstances. You must be an awesome planner to have got this far and that too will get easier. Be kind and gentle with yourself and all the every best in your continuing journey. You can do this because you're worth it.

THIS question is hilariously hilarious.
A friend asked me the same thing the other day. I said, "Wow, good question. Let's do an experiment. Let's each eat 4 cups of kale, 3 cups of spinach and 2 cups of broccoli every day for a week, and keep the rest of our eating habits the same. If neither of us poops more or poops better than usual by the end of the week, then I'll look into reintroducing grains to my diet."
She said she appreciates my dedication to science, but she didn't want to enroll as a subject in the poop study. Oh, well.

HA! I don't mean to laugh, I'm not really. I am reading your post realizing that before I went W30, that is how my life was ALL OF THE TIME. When I went to the doctor about my overreactions and the fact that I cry during commercials, he told me to take Prozac and a few other things. No thanks! I'd rather ditch the grains and sugar ThankYouVeryMuch.

Just sharing a little mood booster - what if wild animals ate fast food.

Someone in my family who has seemed to be taking my dietary and lifestyle changes very personally, for whatever reason, said to me today: "So, I hate to say this and do so begrudgingly, because that's how I am, but I recently determined that pizza really affects me negatively." She thinks that "pizza wheat" is somehow worse than other wheat, but I'm sure it's just the combo of wheat, low-quality cheese, and industrial oils that is bothering her...
After she went grocery shopping, she said, "Speaking of having less wheat, I got potato rolls today!"
Me: "But... Don't those have wheat in them?"
Her: "Maybe, but not a lot! *checks label* oh... It's the first ingredient."
Me: *facepalm*

Day 54. Like a big girl.
Opera was horrible. I am an opera fan and I couldn't justify the mess that was happening on stage. 5 hours of torture. Partially because I ate small Haagen Daz ice-cream during the first intermission and I felt itchy immediately. Music was amazing regardless.
Cooked breakfast for M and me - scrambled eggs + mushrooms/pepper/spinach/bacon. Banana. I got hungry in 3 hours, which was predictable as I didn't have enough veggies on my plate. I fried an egg and sautéed more veggies. This was my preWO meal as well.

I went to the demo Cross Fit class in the real box. The gym is super fancy for the rich snobs who live in my trendy area (by no means I am one of them). But they have a CF only section fee. I think I want to do it. I want to give my money to these people so they can make me feel like a piece of crap every week, because I suck at everything except legit CF squats (thanks to endless plies at ballet class). Honestly, I felt fantastic as I was laying there in sweat, breathing like a whale on the shore. Absolutely fantastic.
So this is what we did. We practiced double unders (more like trying to do at least one) and thrusters with the Olympic bar. I tried 40 lb, isn't it insane that this weight is not even close to the recommended for females? Then we did our WOD as follows: 50 wall balls, 40 kb swings + 30 thrusters (I miserably went down from 40 to 20 lb) + 20 box jumps + 10 chin-ups (I've done them with the band of shame))). This routine times 2. Every minute we had to do 3 burpees (they have machine that gives signal). We had 30 min to complete the WO.
Forgot my post WO meal. Duh. Went home and had lunch: beef sausage + fried plantain/bok choy/cucumbers.

Went to buy groceries and saw a beautiful rib eye steak on sale. I have a confession to make – I suck at cooking meat as much as I suck at CF. This is why sausages and meatballs are my only variety in this department. I have no clue about the cuts and ways to prepare them. I decided to try again, Google help me. Dinner: I made simple arugula/tomato/cucumber/pepper salad + oven braised cabbage + steak. I followed the timing, but it was still raw inside. I am a medium rare girl. I let it rest after it was cooked as commonly advised too. It looked better than it tasted. It wasn't tender enough. It was just ok. What a disappointment. What am I doing wrong? I have a round eye piece in my fridge. Back in days I tried to make a roast, but it wasn't good either. What do I do with this one? Beef disaster. I had a little bowl of mashed sweet potato/coconut cream/cinnamon after. I have one more steak...can I make something else from this cut? Help me people.

Monday tomorrow? No way.

Hi Everyone! Sorry I vanished! I had a great time with my grandparents, but they are obsessed with the so-called "Blood Type Diet" which is... not terribly sound.
So, I was fed spelt bread daily (spelt sourdough toasted with ghee and almond butter - divine!) and I learned something very important:
Wheat/gluten. It makes my joints very, very unhappy.
Wow, who knew? During my whole30, my joint issues improved gradually so I barely noticed any improvement until I started feeling like crap again! It was as though the toxins from the wheat (and probably sugar) built up in my joints (neck, shoulder, back) until I was in quite intense pain. Good incentive to stop!
When I first stopped eating grains, it was no big deal. Who needs bread, anyway? After reintroducing it, though, I could see why people are so addicted. It is honestly delicious! But... after a few days of doughnuts and ice cream with my mom (oh no!), I'm ready to get them out again.
Last week, I read Paul Jaminet's Perfect Health Diet, which is basically Paleo plus rice, along with high-quality dairy and potatoes. I'm interested in including white rice in my diet, mostly for budgetary concerns, which is stressing me out. Very fascinating read, and I shall experiment with myself!
I've been eating too much dairy, though, so I'm going to leave it at cultured/grass-fed butter and avoid all the other stuff out there. No more grains besides white rice for the time being, dairy in the form of butter, ghee, and maybe some of this whey powder I need to get rid of... haven't tried it yet.
Thanks for your support, guys - I'm always glad to be helpful! We are all still learning, and I imagine we always will be. Currently, I'm proud because I was able to eat about 1/5 of a 85% dark chocolate bar (which says 2.5 servings / container) and stop. Mindful eating FTW.