drtracyb

Really excited to be here. I've done three whole30s successfully and multiple fails. I am 50 lbs up. But I am in a better place and my life has calmed down, and I believe I am in a place where I will succeed.

I do think there is a way to do a Whole30 without appearing to be high maintenance. It is the tiny things - the type of oil the food is cooked in, and the additives to the food, that make it difficult and make us appear obnoxious and demanding. Hence my difficulties in California, trying to find a beef patty that doesn't have a smidge of something noncompliant. I do my best to not make special requests at restaurants, but find a way to get a piece of grilled meat and some veggies to fly under the radar if I can. But it also means that my whole30s get derailed quite often. I think the true celiacs find it, in a way, easier to stay compliant, because they get punished for eating foods that disagree with them. Dairy is my only absolute "no", as it triggers my fibromyalgia, and as I've said before, there is nothing like the threat of bone pain to make you stay compliant. If they ask, I just say I have a food allergy. You are lucky that you are in the whole30 since they permitted white potatoes ......

Looking good! You're on the countdown. I don't count because I had to change veggies, and I'm adding a few weeks onto the end because I don't trust the food I ate while I was living in a hotel in central California.

Hey - I'm back. I survived my trip to the US but don't trust that some of the food I ate did not contain added sugar, so I am going to continue my whole30 for an extra two weeks to make up for that. I am going back to the US for a week starting 17 Feb to do the same work, so I think that I would like to continue my whole30 until that date and then give myself a break. The food got pretty disgusting trying to stay compliant in a hotel for a week. Glad to hear everyone is doing well.

Too funny. The UK is having a courgette shortage, so I had to switch to broccoli. I do agree that hamburger meat is not the greatest to eat cold. Did really well during my first 15 days, including living in a hotel and flying on airplanes. It's nice to be back home and be able to cook for myself again, even if i did have to switch to broccoli.

Good for you. I have survived my week in California. I worked 9 overnight shifts as an emergency veterinarian, staying at a hotel during the daytime. Stuck to monomeal for the ease of things, as I had no cooking facilities. Frozen cooked hamburgers, a bag of spinach and a carton of tomatoes, with guac on the side. Not too bad. The hotel had boiled eggs and bacon at breakfast. I can't say that I want to eat like that ever again, but I was able to stay compliant. I'm so glad to be halfway through the whole30, though of course I am already thinking of extending into February. But let's finish one whole30, first, as I have not successfully completed 30 days in three years. I have no doubts I will be successful this time. I'll see my best friend tomorrow on my way to the airport, and she is making me compliant food for the plane. Goodie. Then back to the good ol' UK, which I hate, but back to my own kitchen and ability to cook.

Anyway, I'm back. Had to switch up the monomeal as I did not have cooking facilities here on my overnight shift/hotel for a week. Bought a bag of spinach, a carton of tomatoes and some pre-cooked bubba burgers, and some guac and have been eating that for a week here in the Central Valley. Leaving for the UK tomorrow so will be back home to be able to saute zucchini yet again. How about zoodles? Personally, I think the concept of monomeal would be also to just pick a format of your chosen vegetable and leave it alone, rather than trying to find 50 ways to cook zucchini. Makes food more of a sustenance thing rather than an emotional thing.

That looks disgusting.

I have survived my week away in California. I ended up buying a big bag of spinach, a carton of cherry tomatoes and some frozen pre-cooked hamburgers, and continued the monomeal mania from my hotel room. The hotel had boiled eggs and bacon at breakfast so I was able to remain compliant. (While closing my eyes a bit to the probable chance of the bacon having sugar in it, this being the US and all.) I'll be back in the UK and back to my home where I can start cooking again - whoopee.

Nice. Hopefully you are not missing out too much on the cultural experience of being newly arrived in Spain and not choosing to partake. But you'll be here long enough that you'll overcome that, soon enough. I am so envious that you get to visit countries and have a ready-made social experience, rather than the loneliness that can occur.

I survived a plane trip from London to Los Angeles, then a 36 hour shift at work, and now a 4 hour drive to Northern California. Next will be to survive being in a strange town for the next 7 days working overnight shifts at a veterinary emergency hospital. My best friend brought me a bunch of compliant meals over the weekend, but now I am on my own and out of food so will have to forage at soon as I get off shift. I'm here in Merced, gateway to Yosemite, and have nothing to do during the daytime for the next seven days so hopefully will get to do some exploring. The vet hospital has a trailer for the emergency vets to stay in while we are working for them, but there's no running water and I assume no way to cook. I'm thinking of buying some pregrilled angus burgers I saw at costco and microwaving them for meals, with microwave steamed zucchini for my veg. I'm only on Day 9 of the January Whole30, so no reintro for me yet. I don't reintro dairy, as I found in previous whole30s that dairy immediately triggers my fibromyalgia bone pain. When I am eating mindfully, my family is basically paleo most of the time, so we don't reintro grains or legumes, either.

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.

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.

Day 9 here we go - I'm in California now to on pacific time. Doing well here - time to do a cookup somehow. I'm working the next 7 nights at a veterinary emergency clinic in Merced, California central valley, middle of nowhere. Not much to do during the daytime, as I don't know anyone here. I'll probably go see if I can find a gym to give me a week-long membership.

I am happily at Day 9 - wow! Survived a plane trip from London to Los Angeles, survived a 36-hour emergency veterinarian shift. My best friend brought me whole30 meals to help me stay compliant. I'm looking forward to this next week to continue the success - this is historically the week that I fall off the wagon, yet I feel no urge to do so.