newwhole30er

So my allergies have been TERRIBLE lately and Zyrtec/Claritin haven't really been helping. I've heard about taking local honey as a remedy, but obviously that's not Whole30 and honestly even if you told me I could do it for medicinal purposes I don't really WANT to because I know it'll cause cravings. So....is there anything else?

So, over the past week I've baked 30 pans of cinnamon rolls for an event and I haven't eaten even one of them. But wait, that's not even the thing I'm most proud of! I used to enjoy baking a lot, but since I started Whole30ing almost 2 years ago, I haven't done much baking. I felt like it would be too hard to have baked goods around and not eat them. This time, I kept waiting for it to be hard. And it wasn't. I mean, they looked good, they smelled good, but there was no mental battle over should I or shouldn't I. I know how gluten makes me feel. It's not worth it. I've taught myself that lesson enough times that my brain really believes it now. And most of all, the cool thing was that I enjoyed the PROCESS of baking without needing to eat the food. I used to bake so I would have yummy things around to eat. This time, even though I knew I wasn't going to eat any of them, I really enjoyed baking those cinnamon rolls. It was fun. I can't even believe I'm saying this. Those of you who are new to the Whole30 - keep it up! You can get to amazing places that you would never have dreamed you could get to!

Yeah, that recipe is pretty much exactly how I've been doing it. I thought it might be my oven so I tried turning it up to 445 and they just started to burn without getting soft in the middle. It's not that they're not cooked through, just my preference is for a softer inside. Curious if anyone has tried steaming or par-cooking before roasting.

I love this thread! Tonight I had crockpot garlic chicken and buffalo cauliflower with homemade ranch. Last night I had hamburgers with mustard and an Asian-style coleslaw. Happy to post recipes if anyone wants!

I find that when I roast fresh raw cauliflower or broccoli, the insides stay pretty hard even when the outside gets crispy. I usually do it on 425. Do I need to lower the temp? Steam them before? Is there a way to do that easily in the microwave?

OK, so I made a salad with baby kale, avocado oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, honey mustard and salt and it was actually good!! I finished the whole thing and did NOT gag! I definitely like it better raw than cooked, and I think the honey mustard was a great way to add a little sweetness/flavor without being very sugary.

I did my first Whole30 close to 2 years ago, have done several Whole30s in the interim as well as for the most part completely staying off gluten/dairy/sugar in between, and now am planning to basically eat Whole30 (with small exceptions like for condiments that have 1g of sugar or less, etc.) until I reach my goal weight. I'm saying this so you know this isn't a case of someone who's just starting out and shouldn't take too much on at once, or of someone who just needs to let their taste buds adjust. I HATE leafy greens. I've tried so many different recipes for spinach and kale- sauteed with olive oil and garlic, in scrambled eggs, creamed with coconut milk, in a salad. I actually don't mind baby spinach in a salad with a sweet dressing, especially also with nuts/fruit, but I am trying to stay away from sugar/honey, fruit and nuts as those are all FWOBs for me. I'd also be okay with them in a green smoothie, but again, trying to stay away from fruit, as well as smoothies for that matter. I love and eat lots of: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage (both green & red), romaine lettuce, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes. So, how important are the spinach & kale? Are they so amazingly healthy that it would be worth adding some sugar/nuts (while not on Whole30) in order to eat them? Should I keep trying to choke them down? (I literally gag when I eat them cooked and I'm not a picky person in general, it's so rare for me to have that reaction to a food.) Am I missing out on something vital for optimal health, or am I getting enough goodness from the veggies I do love and eat?

I dunno, I guess the flavor. And the texture. I do make this baked spinach thing that I like- chopped spinach, mayo, coconut milk, eggs and seasonings. And I know I've eaten a spinach salad with honey mustard dressing that I liked- but not W30 compliant obviously. Maybe it's the sweetness...but I'm really trying to limit carbs this time. I'm excluding all fruit, nuts, and potatoes because I find they're too much FWOB for me.

So, I tried sauteeing spinach with olive oil and garlic and squeezing some lemon on top, and I actually gagged when I ate it. I really really don't like greens. But I want to. Anyone have an incredible recipe that will make me love them?

Normally I'm moving and standing a lot throughout the day, but currently I am doing very sedentary work where I pretty much just sit at the computer. I find that I'm really not hungry with such low activity. For example, I could eat breakfast in the morning and then go until dinner with just a handful of nuts in the middle of the day. Is there anything wrong with this, or if it's working for me should I just go with it for now?

Oh, that's a good idea...

Wow. I normally see conventional butter go for $4-5 a pound.

Not THAT!!! ;-) Haha, I know, this is just me being lazy, but I loved the convenience of just pouring some juice into water vs. getting out a cutting board and knife, cutting, squeezing, throwing the lemon away, washing the cutting board and knife...

What's the Whole30 position on food sensitivity testing? I remember one poster mentioned here that she narrowed down sensitivities she would never have figured out with Whole30 alone, and that removing those foods from her diet really helped her. Personally, I'd love to know for sure if things like dairy or gluten give me migraines- it's hard to know for me because there are often other triggers that could be blamed, like heat, lack of sleep, stress, etc. I've read online that these tests are not very accurate though. What do you all think?

Depends what kind of butter you're buying. You lose about half of the butter when you make ghee. At my Sprouts, organic butter costs $7 for a pound, and organic grass-fed ghee costs $7 for 8 oz. So it works out the same. If you buy cheap butter, that would work out less expensive to make your own, but that's also not such a healthy fat. You'd probably be better off with coconut oil, avocado oil, etc.....