BookJockey

Day 27! Whew, life has been super busy so I am grateful for easy and satisfying crockpot meals. Like salsa chicken. Literally just a big jar of compliant salsa and some chicken in the crockpot while I was at work and I've been able to have it over squash and/or cauliflower rice and/or sweet potatoes or over a big salad, etc. It's been really great to mix and match with. Also really glad I stocked my freezer with lots of my mini shepherd's pies in mini loaf pans so I can just pull them out of the freezer in the morning before work, pop them into the oven when I get home and walk my dogs, and have a delicious, nutritious, hot meal ready for me when I get back (which is much appreciated when it's FREEZING out). Navigating eating out this weekend worked well actually! I called ahead to ask the restaurant what I should order and was told I can order plain grilled chicken to add to one of their field greens salads with an oil and vinegar dressing so that worked! I was really glad I barely even felt envious of those who'd ordered pizza and cheese sticks! I'm really hoping I can nail my reintro so that way I can still keep that frame of mind, and occasionally have a slice of pizza, or not, but still generally stick to the healthier options that leave me feeling a lot better (and not with what husband and I have coined as my "stinky cheese farts"). Breakfast today was some of my little mini-quiches that I made with spinach and bacon in muffin tins. So easy and good and now I can just pull them out of my freezer to pop in the microwave in the morning! Lunch today was more of the crockpot chicken salsa over roasted butternut squash and cauliflower. Dinner is going to be more paleo shepherd's pie. Hurrah! In the final stretch!

I think I'm going to try for a mix of slow roll and standard, maybe a day or two slower on some things. I'm fairly certain that soy, gluten, and dairy are all kind of not so good to me anymore, but it will be good for me to really be sure, and by how much. Soy seems a lot less bad to me than gluten, which seems less bad than dairy, but I want to be extra sure. I totally borked my last reintro because I went on vacation right after so, yeah. I am less worried though about finding out what really gives me problems, and more focused on trying to keep up the good habits. For me it also really makes sense to just try to keep eating mostly this way during the week, especially since husband and I have alternate schedules during the week and so I rarely can share any meals with him then anyway, so I won't have to worry about his distaste for some of my less great cooking "experiments". It just generally becomes harder and harder as the year wears on for me to maintain the good habits as after february starts all the family birthdays and then the traveling for work and then the holidays and etc, etc, etc. I started out last year really good with my Whole30 and by the end of the year, I had turned back into a sugar-fiend. Almost every meal started and/or ended with Christmas cookies. And not the paleo kind either. So I really need to learn to take my time and do this right. I really want a mostly paleo diet to be a lasting lifestyle change for me.

Day 23! Hooooo boy the hunger headaches are rearing their ugly heads from time to time now. So many of the foods I'm eating are really filling, I think I'm just still having a bit of a hard time gauging whether something will keep me full - especially because my body was so used to snacking before. I'm so glad I managed to roast up some sweet potatoes and hard boil some eggs for quick, portable, compliant stuff! I have been loving my field greens salads with roasted veggies all week. I'm going to try with bacon tomorrow, I think that'll be really good. Yesterday I had lemon shrimp with zucchini and cauliflower rice for dinner, so good! I'm all out of my leek fritters and spinach tots now (I was using them as little bases for my eggs this week) so I think I'll have to make more. I may try making with different veggies. I'm thinking I may try subbing zucchini or carrots or do a mix of veggies. Tonight I think will be another "spaghetti" and meatballs sort of night. Really glad I have a meatball recipe I nailed this go around, they're really great to have frozen so I can just pop them out of the freezer and warm them up for quick protein. I'm also really glad for Aldi marinara that I picked up. They have a roasted garlic one that is super yummy. 7 days to go - I got this!

Day 21! It's been a while I know - computer wasn't working properly over the weekend! I've been feeling pretty god, trying to keep my workout regimes going after my one false start over exerting myself before. The good news was that the soreness didn't last too long, and I have the energy to do more of the workouts, so yay! Over the weekend I made leek fritters which are AWESOME and great topped with eggs, or just plain. I also made spinach and kale "tots" which were really fun to dunk in a lovely compliant "green goddess" salad dressing I'd found at Trader Joe's. I have more of the leftovers and am excited to pair them with other things this week. I also roasted up some turnips, radishes, and parsnips to have with field greens and arugula and then variable proteins this week. Today it was a leftover plain burger, but tomorrow it might be some salmon I'm thinking of baking up. Very tasty with a compliant applesauce and stone ground mustard dressing I made. So that was breakfast and lunch today (leek fritters with eggs and bacon, field green and root veggie salad with a burger patty). A snack was a banana with some flax seed and coconut flakes. Ooooh! I forgot, I also tried broiling grapefruit - so good! Oh my! I love grapefruit in general to begin with, but broiling it with a bit of salt to counteract the bitter and some coconut flakes was a heavenly treat to have with my breakfast the other day. For dinner I'm thinking of some mushroom soup with meatballs and spinach tots or perhaps some salsa shrimp with sweet potato and cauliflower "spanish rice". I've also discovered some of the spritzer recipes in the Whole30 cookbook - lovely! They're really nice little sort of "mocktails" to brighten up a meal with. Definitely missing sweets and SAD type stuff, but doing really well with not agonizing over it, which is my favorite Whole30 place to be in. Knowing I "can" have something, but I don't NEED it "right now" because I have all this other great stuff that is doing good things for my body, is a really helpful approach to food for me, and I really hope I can also nail my reintro (which I'm already thinking about, yes, because overthinker extraordinaire here) so that way I can maintain that frame of mind.

Day 17! Today was kinda brutal because yesterday I worked myself really hard at the gym with all that extra energy I had and NOW I'm feeling it. Stuff I didn't even realize I was working hurts now. But I'm trying to be excited that I had the energy to do it all! And I'm curious to see what my recovery time looks like. Here's hoping whole foods gets me back to un-ouchified muscles faster. Today was another banana in flax with cinnamon and pecan, plus 4 eggs and coffee for breakfast. Lunch was the last of the leftover balsamic chicken and carrots and green beans. For dinner I'm thinking of trying some baked tuna with coconut aminos and stir fried veggies with a smear of avocado and maybe some seaweed strips added for garnish? I haven't quite figured it out, but I had a mad hankering for sushi so that was the best I could figure in a pinch. Help me pinned paleo recipes, you're my only hope! (not really, but it felt fun to say)

Day 16! Yesterday was a bit rough, I developed a bit of a headache later in the day, and husband brought home the temptress of all temptresses - chocolate covered pretzels from our favorite chocolatier. I broke down and had a few salted dates (which I'd never tried, but yum!) last night after dinner with my tea because the temptation to have one or two of the pretzels was that great. This may mean those are a food I'll need to watch out for post-30. This morning was a bit tough too as I hadn't slept well last night/this morning (stupid garbage truck being super noisy right outside our bedroom window stupid early this morning). Breakfast was a spinach and mushroom 3 egg omelette with coffee and coconut milk. I had to have a snack just now too I think because of the tired (whenever I don't get enough sleep I'm always hungrier) so I had a banana rolled in some flax seeds and coconut flakes plus some walnuts. It was a really nice mini-meal. Lunch will probably be a bit later than usual now because of the snack, but will be the same as yesterday crockpot balsamic chicken with carrots and green beans in a mushroom soup "sauce" and the verdict is actually out on dinner right now. I might sautee up some zoodles and cabbage to have with meatballs, or to have with shrimp - I'm not sure. I have cauliflower rice too still, so I might do something there. We'll see. I think I want to make some curried chicken this weekend so that'll liven some things up a bit.

Day 15! Halfway! Woooooooo! Yesterday was lots of great food, but a super busy day, and today has followed in a similar track. Breakfast both yesterday and today was mashed banana with flax seed and coconut flakes, three eggs, and coffee with collagen powder. Yesterday's lunch was more of my crockpot balsamic chicken with carrots and green beans in a mushroom soup (this mushroom soup https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/paleo-cream-mushroom-soup-whole30/) "sauce". Dinner was a "taco salad" for Taco Tuesday, with the last of my crockpot salsa chicken, lots of cilantro and lime, guacamole, peppers and cauliflower rice. Today's lunch is a mini paleo shepherd's pie. I had to bust into my reserve epic bar in the car because I was starting to feel carsick and often food helps (it sounds weird, but it's true) but I'm otherwise feeling and doing pretty good. I'm trying to ease myself back into a good exercise routine and have only had really minimal soreness, which I'm also taking as a good sign. The big test of course will probably be this weekend when I have to shovel some snow - we'll see how well I recover after that, but I have high hopes. Dinner tonight will probably be meatballs and zucchini noodles with sauteed spinach and carrot/tomato marinara sauce. Should be good

Day 13! Wooooooooo!!!! Feeling pretty alert and clear-headed, which I'm liking! My acne is also almost non-existent right now, which is a dang near forking miracle so that's exciting. I know the main goal of whole30 is not to look arbitrarily "better" or lose weight, so I do feel a bit ashamed to admit that I was lamenting to my husband the other day that I was bummed I didn't appear to have lost any weight yet on this go-around. Per the rules (and my own sanity) I haven't weighed or measured myself, but pants don't really seem any looser or anything. That said, I do feel my husband was accurate that I "look good". As stated above, my skin is a lot clearer and husband specifically mentioned my hair was looking great (it does, but I think that might be the collagen powder more than anything). This, of course is mere vanity, and the primary reason for Whole30 is to help my overall health and keep my auto-immune disease under wraps - which it does really seem to be doing. Way fewer skin issues, almost zero joint or muscle pain, hardly any digestive issues, a clearer head, better sleep, and higher energy levels, these are all really good things that I do definitely want to keep going, even if none of the dietary changes result in weight loss. I've had to read the Whole30 blog post about bodies not being perfect, even when they're in good health to remind myself that the main goal here is not weight loss and I do not need to look a certain way to attain better health - AND to remind myself that my health is in fact in a much better place this year than it was last year, and that is all, a very direct result of last year's Whole30 and my subsequent semi-paleo lifestyle. SO. With that, plowing right along! Whew! Yesterday was a nice day for experimentation. I had picked up at Trader Joe's recently their "everything but the bagel" seasoning, which has, all the stuff everything bagels have, some onion, sesame seeds, salt, pepper. It was really good on my eggs with kale and hash browns. We had that plus bacon and coffee that morning and it was really nice. Kinda like a deconstructed bagel sandwich. Lunch was a bit more snacky with experiments. I made an apple, berry and beet juice drink, and had it with some walnuts and prosciutto to avoid blood sugar spikes. I later also had a meatball and a cup of mushroom soup while I made those up for the week's lunches. Dinner was super satisfying, I had more of my meatballs (I am getting super good at making them if I do say so myself, the beef, turkey, pork sausage trifecta plus Penzy's Frozen Pizza sprinkle seems to be the ticket) over zucchini noodles and sauteed spinach with tomato and carrot marinara sauce. My husband had pizza while I ate this, and while I do love me some pizza, I didn't miss it much, or really feel deprived at all, which was a really nice space to be in. Breakfast today was some mashed pumpkin and applesauce with flaxseed, pumpkin spices, and coconut flakes. I also had two eggs and collagen blended into my coffee for protein staying power. Lunch is going to be the same salad I had pictured above on Saturday, fortified with a nice piece of balsamic and rosemary chicken breast and roasted carrots. Made that in the crockpot last night while we slept in order to have for the week to throw over salads or have with a baked potato for quick and easy dinners/lunches. Dinner is probably going to be leftovers from Friday - the pineapple salmon, with stir fried veggies in coconut aminos. While there is definite effort involved, and it can be expensive to eat this way, I'm also remembering how easy it can be if I do a bit of meal prep. And when I have recipes like this one https://www.stockpilingmoms.com/crockpot-honey-rosemary-chicken/ that I can easily modify for Whole30 (subbed the honey for apple cider) and just literally throw stuff into a crockpot and go to sleep, life is pretty good.

Day 11! Movin' right along! Today I woke up a half hour before my alarm and didn't feel the quiet desperation I usually feel upon waking up before my alarm - which is usually something like: "UGH GAH SO EFFING TIRED AND I NEVER GET ENOUGH SLEEP AND I COULD TOTALLY USE IT AND EFFFFFF... WHY stupid bladder, did you wake me up? WHYWHYWHY????!!!!" and various other expletives and so forth. But this morning after getting up and relieving myself, I came back to bed for the warmth, not because I was still super groggy headed and feeling like I hadn't got enough sleep, and I decided to just try mediating, since I knew trying to fall asleep would just be useless. I'm not a great at meditating, nor do I try doing it nearly as often as I'd like to, but I try from time to time to just focus on my breathing and it was really nice to be able to just enjoy a warm bed. I got out of bed fully when my alarm went off and felt well rested and ready for the day, which is a pretty big thing for me. I am not a good sleeper, and an even less good getter-upper, so if Whole30 is helping with my sleep this time, I am HERE FOR IT. Breakfast was the same as yesterday, mashed banana with coconut milk and ground flax seed plus two pieces of bacon. Lunch was the last piece of my crustless spinach quiche and a little salad roasted turnips and radishes over field greens with an apple and mustard vinaigrette. I need to eat that again for sure. Really awesome. I think I'll make my crockpot balsamic chicken at some point to pair with it next. Tonight will be the last of the shepherd's pie - I'm defrosting some for both husband and I - I hope he enjoys it as much as I have been, I'd really like to continue making it like this after whole30. Pictured below is a pic of my yummy salad today. OMNOMNOM!!!

Day 10! Going strong! Last night's dinner of meatballs with sauteed cabbage and a baked potato was really great. Had some mashed banana and coconut milk with ground flax seed and two pieces of bacon for breakfast this morning. Very yum. Lunch was more of my crustless spinach and bacon quiche plus leftover sauteed cabbage. Dinner was the below pictured salmon baked with pineapple, ginger and lime, over a curried cauliflower, zucchini, and sweet potatoe hash/mash. Sooooooo good! I think the leftovers will be good over salads too.

Day 9 and feeling pretty good! I have a good amount of energy and my meals have me feeling satisfied. I'm weirdly missing the actual missing of sugary foods, is that weird? Like, I don't really miss cookies or candy, but I miss wanting it. It's strange. I think my overthinker brain has woken up now to the fact that near obsessing over sugary foods and the subsequent guilt I had over it took up a lot of space in my brain and without it, what... do... I do...??? Like, duh, that's the POINT and there are so many other things I could and should and would totally rather be spending my brain space on, but I still sort of weirdly miss being the sugar queen. Brains are weird. Last night's shepherd's pie was just as delightful and satisfying as the other night. I included a pic below. It's not a great one, I'm no food blogger, but I tried to get it to where you can see the lovely carrots and green beans and mushrooms under the ground meet and cauliflower/potato mash. Breakfast today was more of my spinach and mushroom crustless quiche with bacon bits and coffee with coconut milk. Lunch was some more of the slow cooker chicken over seasoned cauliflower rice, sliced summer squash, and sweet potato, plus a drizzle of guacamole for good measure. Dinner tonight is probably going to be the last of my meatballs - I'll need to make more, but fortunately I'm off tomorrow, with sauteed cabbage "noodles" and a baked potato. Should really stick to the ribs, I think. I had a bit of a worry yesterday afternoon - I got a call from my doctor, I'd had labwork done on Monday and she had gotten my test results and said I showed very high increase of inflammation (I have an autoimmune disease that generally is pretty well under wraps, but I still have to get regular testing done to make sure I'm ok). It wasn't too surprising, as prior to my start of this Whole30, I was hitting the holiday goodies SUPER HARD, but I would have hoped that after 5 days on Whole30 things would've been better? At least not, "so high, I thought there must have been a mistake" (Dr's words) levels, right? Maybe not though. I decided I'd stick with my Whole30 and if my follow up blood tests in 3 weeks are still showing inflammation that high, I maybe actually need to be eating something I can't on Whole30, but my suspicion is they'll go back down to normal or better ranges. I've chosen to see it as a bit of a science experiment. Anyway, onward. For science!

*waives hand* Still here! I am feeling pretty good, but weirdly missing the sugar cravings. Is that bizarre? Last time I definitely had sugar cravings and they weren't fun. This time I'm not really - I mean, sweets sound nice, but meh, you know? But I weirdly miss the actual MISSING having a cookie or two to dip into my mid-morning coffee. That's weird, right? I guess it's because it just feels like such a strange change, and it's like, what do I do with my brain now that there isn't the cycle of near obsessive thinking of treats and the subsequent guilt, you know? That's been illuminating this time around for sure.

*raises hand* Gal who leaned heavily vegetarian during college and grad school because meat can be expensive and she didn't have a proper kitchen to cook it in anyway here! I can't eat meat off the bone. Never ever ever. I just. Can't. Do it. It wigs me out in the same way you're describing. I know there are a lot of health and flavor benefits to cooking with cuts of meat that include the bone, but I don't see myself trying to make them anytime soon because, yeah. I also tend to have a hard time cutting raw chicken (even if it's just the boneless, skinless breasts I use) because it reminds me of the horrors of my food services days (a bit of raw chicken went down my bra one day and I couldn't eat chicken for months and months after). So I utilize a lot of frozen chicken. I find that when chicken is still semi frozen, I can stomach cutting it way better because it cuts like a hearty veggie - like a firm sweet potato, rather than a fleshy, gelatinous, blerghy thing (that is the technical term, I swear). I also honestly do a lot where I just throw frozen breasts directly into the crockpot with a few things. Then it breaks down a lot and becomes super easy to shred and to me, resembles more of the stews and hashes I generally live on, as opposed to, ya know... Aside from that, I generally just utilize a lot of ground meat. Again, then that way I can just throw it into a chili or stew to become a meal, as opposed to an intimidating looking hunk of meat. But yeah, as others have said, there's nothing that insists you must. Eat. ALL THE ANIMAL PROTEIN EVAR. You do your Whole30 the way that makes sense for you.

For the coffee folks - I discovered this morning that I actually like my coffee stronger - who knew! I brewed mine with a little less water this morning and I enjoyed it a lot more. Wild!

Emphasis mine added. Thank you, @ladyshanny for this kind and insightful answer. This is why I love Whole30, it is ostensibly about being kind to your body and yourself. As someone who's also had a lot of trouble with very disordered eating in high school and college (but who is, admittedly, many years farther away from those days than @fmb16 is), I feel this post hard. I had a lot of trouble with this on my first Whole30 last year. I wasn't weighing myself, but constantly measuring myself and I was not always in the best of mental spaces, especially at first. I decided to stick with it after a lot of soul searching. Whole30 was making me feel a lot better in ways that had nothing to do with weight loss (my autoimmune disorder wasn't plaguing me with constant mystery illnesses, aches, and pains, my chronic indigestion was almost non-existent, I was feeling more alert, I was finally escaping the calorie counting nightmareland of my 20s, etc). It took a lot of effort to focus on that stuff more than the weight loss aspects, and to stop measuring myself. Trying to focus instead on all the other positives gave my overthinker brain something else to do. In the end, sticking with it was good for me, but that may not be the right decision for you, and that is, as stated above, 1000% ok. Whatever you decide to do, do it with love and kindness towards yourself and your body. You are worth it. P.S. I want to commend your bravery posting this here, and your insight in recognizing this in yourself, as they say, the first step is identifying when there's an issue.