Amura

Congratulations!! It's reassuring to see such good results. Keep up the good work.

One question, forgive if I'm too forward: Are you breastfeeding? If you are breastfeeding (maybe he drinks both formula/breastmilk? Cause you mention both) I would simply remove the formula. Breastmilk is by far nutritionally more interesting, and toddlers are much better than adults at knowing what they need - I'm sure he would ask you for more. Current WHO recomendations are to breastfeed at least until 2-years-old, and I think it give moms the peace of mind of knowing that if our toddler is getting a proper nutrition even if he does not eat everything on his plate. If you are no longer breastfeeding or you are planning on stopping any time soon, I don't think that any kind of substitute is actually required. If your toddler likes them he may eat dairy products, or cononut milk, or nuts milk. But he does not need any of them whatsoever. Keep offering him balanced meals, and you'll see that he'll be choosing/asking for more energetic food when he needs it. My son in those cases (he's 4 now) chooses highly-caloric fruit such as bananas, yours may be choosing sweet potatoes or carrots, but I'm sure he'll be asking for it.

I do love legumes, specially because I think it would be nice to eat less animal products. You know, the killing and all that. I'm not vegan or vegetarian, I do eat meat and fish and eggs on a regular basis, but I would like to increase the proportion of vegetables as much as possible without giving up on health nor taste. Also legumes are easy to cook, but take a bit of planning. For the soaking. I don't think I've eaten any peanuts recently, it's something that I did not even care to test because I hardly ever eat them. Gluten and sugar though, that's my battle too! Before my Whole30 I would have said my inmediate problem was sugar, but now I've come to realize that other things (such as bread) may be a bad influence because it leads me to grazing.

Also mayo recipes call for an acid (either lemon juice or vinegar), it's not for taste only. Acidic enviroments are safer. So do not skip it Low temperatures are certainly essential. But even so I would encourage you to eat your homemade mayo as soon as possible, preferably within 1-2 days. (I know my fellow whole30ers feel this is "extreme" but, in my opinion, it's because you've only been making mayo for a handful of years. In my country homemade mayo is traditional, a quite normal thing to do in every household - to the point where there are laws regulating mayo! And nobody would keep mayo for over 2 days. Just in case.)

Well, the funny thing is I have not gained any weight. Which supports the hypothesis that this was not a fad diet after all My weight on the scale relieved me, honestly. But, yeah, the this-is-far-from-perfect feeling persists and I'm gonna try a short reset. Because I think that at this point short resets might be more useful than making a whole round from scratch. Since you're starting Friday, I'm joining you and starting Friday too - it's perfect timing for me too After some consideration I've decided not to make fully compliant meals though. Legumes are an interesting source of protein, and because I add protein to all my meals it's interesting that some of it is not animal protein. Other than that I'm gonna follow the rules for a week, see how it goes.

I personally believe that the cooking and the cleaning are essential. Might be bothersome, but essential nonetheless. Because if you rely heavily on eating out and/or highly processed foods, it's way way harder to eat heathly (Whole30-ish or not). On the "whole30-ish forever" subject, I recall the book mentions it as an option but I believe it's a very personal choice. You may have noticed huge changes and are not ready to give up on the Whole30 as yet, so it's ok if you keep going, it's also ok if you decide to reintroduce just a few foods and otherwise stay whole30-ish... but it's also ok if you don't. I personally did not notice any reaction to any type of food, so I don't see the point in keeping the strict limitations. BUT I've learned some things about how I eat, why I overeat, what triggers some bad habits, and I'm using all those lessons in my everyday food choices. So, yeah, I eat diferently than I did before my Whole30, but I do not eat Whole30-ish at all. That's my food freedom, which may be completely different to everybody else. And if we notice that we go back to old habits, we can always go back to what we know works well, hopefully learning a new lesson and changing yet another food-related habit. That's the beauty of Whole30: it's fully customized.

Last week was not great. I was feeling quite under the weather. Just regular flu, nothing serious, but I was very tired. And also it was time for my period, which only worsened the situation. So I indulged on comfort foods. It was not really bad, but still felt like I was losing control. And I did not like the feeling. Also it lead to snacking, which was not so great. Oh, well, I'm probably overcomplaining for such a little misstep, but I'm afraid I've lost my inertia and that now it's gonna be a bit harder staying on track. Maybe I'll try a short reset, a week long or so, and see if that helps.

Congrats! I completely relate to the food-with-no-brakes comment. Beware, bad habits sort of want to creep back in - each day is a little victory in itself! Also. I notice a difference in the sideways picture. Your belly looks different, it's not the same curve. Slightly flatter, not as round. Not a huge difference indeed, but there it is - those 10lbs have to show somewhere!

Yeah, I keep thinking that Whole30 is not that hard if you are already used to cooking homemade meals. At least that's how it felt for me. Still it's quite strict and in many senses it feels unnecessary for me, but I wanted to keep what I've learned (or most precisely what I've proven to myself, because most of my guidelines are based either common sense or quite well-known nutritional facts). And taking the time to write it down forced me to think carefully about them, also I expect that it helps me with accountability. The two excellent bites rules sounds great, but I'm not really sure if I can do that. See? That's harder for me, having something but not having the whole thing. Removing something completely is much easier than limiting the amount of it I can eat. Actually I'm not having dessert with most of my meals. And when I do it's because I don't feel full. Today I had a banana after lunch a a homemade plain unsweetened yoghurt after dinner, but that's pretty much all. I'm not into nut butters, but thanks for the recommendation anyway. My indulgence goes more towards black chocolate, which I love. Bitter one is working better for me at the moment - 90%-cocoa chocolate was too low, 99% was fine, I might try 95% and see how I react. And, about parents. I guess you get used to think everybody is (and should be) the way you are, so it's hard to digest that people you love do "weird" things such as quitting alcohol or sugar. (There is a saying in my language: familiarity breeds contempt.) I'm just trying not to lecture anyone on what I think they should be eating for a healthy lifestyle, because it would be exactly as annoying!

On Friday I met some former colleagues for lunch, and I ate a lot. A lot. Fully compliant btw, but when you eat so late and for such a long time you end up overdoing it. Actually we finished lunch by 5 PM, so I probably should have skipped dinner but I was worried that being hungry at night led me to unhealthy snacking. On Saturday I decided to step on the scale just out of curiosity, and it showed that I had gained 1'5 kg (about 3 pounds). I did the same today (Sunday), and that extra weight had disappeared - I was at 84.1kg, which is what I weighted three weeks ago when I created this thread. This was a neat experiment because it shows a huge difference in weight in just one day. And simply because I overdid one single meal (and it was not an unhealthy one, just a too large amount of it). Weight is just so relative! It's something we all know, but this reminder is a good thing for me. And, well, it seems I'm not losing more weight but I'm (probably) not gaining it back either, so I'm content. This is all about learning, but I'm glad it does not become some sort of yo-yo thing. One thing I've learned: small amounts of sugar are enough to bring back bad habits. I had some 99% chocolate at home, and I ate little bits when I drank hot tea. Felt great. Then I bought some more, they had no 99% nor 95% that day, so I got some 90% chocolate. Still dark chocolate, but what a difference in my response! I gobbled it all in just a few days, and got me thinking I had crossed the line. (So no more sweet dark chocolate for me, just good ol' bitter chocolate.) And on a completely different topic, it's always terrible to notice there are some people on whose support I can't count. Ever. In my case it's my parents. They have always harassed me about my weight (even when I was a child and not overweight at all) and at the same time accussing me of unpoliteness when I rejected any sort of sweet treats. Last week they were quite forceful about the dessert I should be eating (because, apparently if you don't order dessert in a restaurant you are some sort of madman). And today they visited us for an afternoon coffee, and they brought a huge cake filled with cream. Seriously!

I think many of the active forum members have already finished a whole30 (or more than one!) and learned quite a few things about it. I finished mine quite recently, I keep working on finding the best approach for my food freedom I would suggest you to go to the logs forum, and read some threads there. Many users have reflected there their thoughts and shared their experiences, so it's full of insights you might find interesting. I know I did when I was just beginning! For example, I learned about what I am actually capable (I never thought I could limit my sugar intake for long periods of time, now it feels like the natural thing to do) and some things I should fix in my meals (mostly related to veggies). I did not feel many inconveniences during my Whole30 so it was a very positive experience for me.

Ah, ok, that makes perfect sense to me now. I've just read somewhere that there are those fancy air poppers, which use no oil (and they advertise it as something desirable). I guess they are useful for people who would use them a lot, but I'm the sort of person who tries to keep appliances to a minimum (they cost money, they take up a lot of space and you gotta take care of them) so a saucepan usually does the trick for pretty much anything

Popcorn, with an air popper? I guess it's so fancy, but is it really worth buying an appliance for this purpose? Honestly asking, I don't make popcorn that much, but for me it's something you make in a common saucepan... (I'm sure I'll make it more often when my son grows a little more.)

I'm feeling better now. These periods are weird because I feel awful during the no-bleeding days but then I feel ok during the bleeding days. I'm hoping this goes back to normal at any point, hopefully when my body adjusts to this new eating plan of mine. (Otherwise I'll start thinking I'm doing something wrong here.) And, yeah, it's crazy! During my Whole30 I was on autopilot - I can eat this but not that - but thinking about every single food choice is exhausting. Intentional eating feels good though. For example, today I was eating out with my family and my parents insisted I should order a dessert. I said no, but not because I'm following a plan or because some book set those rules - I said no because I decided not to eat dessert. And that felt great. I'm not completely sure about the brownie. When you are clean and properly testing you may be quite sure of what caused a reaction, but this was not the case so I may very well be making everything up. Actually yesterday I had empanada for dinner, which is a bread-like dough filled with ingredientes (in this case: onion, meat and pepper) and I did not feel bad afterwards, so it seems that wheat is ruled out. Could sugar be the cause? Maybe not the sole cause, but combined with flour and dairy... Could be. But also could be me looking for further proof that I must remove sugar from my diet, which is something I'm glad to say I'm achieving - and that was all thanks to the Whole30.

First week. And it was hard, harder than the Whole30 to be honest. I even can say I "failed" once. I was at my workplace, in the lounge area doing some work during our break. It's a very small place so there is only one table (8 seats) so when one of my colleagues brought a freshly baked brownie with nuts and put it on the table - right in front of me - it was too big a temptation, Leaving and locking myself in the toilet seemed a bit too harsh, so I stayed there smelling the fragant handmade brownie. I tried to be strong but in the end I could not help eating a piece. I tried not to bee too hard on myself, one may learn from every experience, but I must confess it made me think a lot. I think I should be more strict about what's to be considered an special ocassion. If everything is special then nothing is. Even more because I felt unwell the day after. It was not a proper testing because I ate other non-compliant foods that day but the sweet treat was a likely culprit. Which would be news for me because nothing else gave me any reaction. The brownie had, of course, flour and sugar. I've tried sugar in a cheesecake I made for my husband's birthday, but because I usually use less sugar than recipes call for it. Also I'm eating small amounts of bread, but really small ones. Things to keep an eye on anyway. But it could have been something else to be honest. My period for example. I started to feel tired the day after, just as I felt during my last period (back then I thought it was the I-need-a-nap phase, but it seems it was just my period). So once again my period is being weird. I'm just having this general discomfort but no proper bleeding (I did not even need a panty liner, but when I cleaned myself I always found traces of blood in there), same as happened then. Last month I had only three days of proper bleeding as if the hardly-noticeable one also counted towards the total days. I'm wondering if it will be the same this month. In any case I'm feeling like shit. I do. *sighs*