slc_melissa

I wonder if something like a homemade gummy would help? (Ignore any references to honey, sugar, sweeteners in the recipes.) They're not the same as a hard cough drop, but it could give you something to suck on. At it's easiest, it's fruit juice and gelatin. Good luck! https://www.realfoodwholelife.com/blog/2-ingredient-fruit-juice-gummies https://www.ourpaleolife.com/blueberries-cream-gummies/ https://eatthegains.com/paleo-healthy-homemade-gummies/

Can you list out a few meals worth of foods? Although some energy loss at the early stages seems normal, it sounds like yours is more extreme. I'm wondering if you may not be eating enough. It's really easy to accidentally go low carb. It's also easy to not eat enough fat to cover the accidental calorie gap. Are you eating any sweet potatoes / potatoes / butternut squash kind of starch? If not, I'd add those to 1-3 meals per day. (Also, depending on female/male and where one is in the cycle, more starchy carbs can help.) I agree with prepping meals, I don't get food boredom, so I like to make big batches of things (say, crockpot full of chili) that feeds me for 5+ meals. And meals can be really basic and totally not instagram-worthy. 3 hard boiled eggs, a handful of olives, and a sweet potato I cooked in the microwave....takes minutes, covers all the bases. Frozen veggies heated up with coconut milk and a can of salmon or chicken and few spices - super easy and I didn't even have to bust out a knife.

Oh good, I was just coming back to suggest starchy carbs might also be good, but I'm glad you're figuring it out!

My first guess would be that your'e not getting enough water and/or electrolytes. How much water are you drinking? Are you salting your food? I get really bad headaches when I'm dehydrated.

Oh, some people also take digestive enzymes with some success, but since I don't have a specific brand recommendation or what exactly to look for, I was hesitant to suggest it at first.....but if you try multiple things and in a week or two are still having issues, that might be something else to look into. Oh yeah, and final recommendation: try to have fun with the process! I know it can be a lot, but you're doing great!

Everyone's different, but from my personal experience, and i would try out things in this order: I would try cutting back on the nuts/nut milk first. (Like, maybe 1 serving every third day or so.) Are most of your veggies cooked or raw? (Cooked can help with bloating, definitely cook cruciferous veggies, peeling veggies like zucchini) It's also possible that some foods in small-to-moderate amounts don't bother you, but you eventually reach a limit - I'm thinking of the eggs here specifically. Maybe try to rotate some proteins if there is anything else you like. If it's still a problem in a bit, you may want to look at avoiding high FODMAPS foods. For instance: https://www.ibsdiets.org/fodmap-diet/fodmap-food-list/ (Onions, Cauliflower, Mushrooms, and Cashews all make this list.) (Also, there is no one list for FODMAPS - it seems like all the lists are a little bit different.) Also, some bloating is not uncommon early on as your body adjusts, but I'm sorry that you're feeling so miserable! Good luck. (About the salt - a lot of people on Whole30 need to make an effort to add salt to their food - cutting processed tends to change salt consumption quite a bit. And salt is necessary to help stay hydrated, which helps with bloating.) I also think it'd be worth giving the parsley tea a try, if that sounds good to you. Peppermint or ginger tea can also help with nausea.

Can you list out a few days of what you have been eating - specific meats/ veggies / fats and approximate portions as they relate to the meal template? But- Are you drinking enough water? Are you salting your food? Are you eating way more of something than you were before? Culprits of bloating can include: nuts, cruciferous vegetables, coconut products.

Yes. I'm assuming the ingredient you had the question about was the natural flavor? For the purpose of the program, natural flavors are allowed.

Yes, if it's part of the aminos https://whole30.com/chips-and-aminos/ Coconut Aminos Coconut aminos (a soy sauce substitute made from coconut) came on the Whole30 scene around 2013. The first company to release the product was Coconut Secret, and the ingredients read, “Organic coconut ‘sap’ aged and blended with sun-dried, mineral-rich sea salt.” Based on this ingredient list*, it appeared totally Whole30 compliant. We began using aminos in our recipes and cookbooks, creating Asian-inspired dishes with exciting flavors. Today, we have a variety of aminos; Big Tree Farms is a major market player, and Thrive Market has their own brand of aminos. Trouble is, their ingredients read slightly different: “Organic fair trade coconut blossom nectar, sea salt.” And it’s that one word, “nectar,” that’s causing trouble, because in Whole30 lingo, “nectar” = “sugar.” I got on the phone with Elizabeth from Big Tree Farms, so she could explain the way aminos are made. The nectar itself is harvested from the coconut flower blossoms (not the tree itself, as the word “sap” might indicate). From there, you can do a few things with the nectar: brew it down with sea salt and water (natural fermentation may be part of this process) and turn it into aminos; dry it and allow it to granulate, turning it into coconut sugar; or sell it as coconut syrup, a liquid sweetener substitute. So technically, all aminos are derived from a sugar source—but not all labels are clear about that. Which means that according to the current rules, some brands of aminos are out, while some are allowed, based solely on the way the companies chose to write the ingredients on the label. Furthermore, unlike the other two forms of coconut nectar, aminos are not a sugar substitute. Would you add it to your coffee or tea, or pour it over berries? (EW.) To avoid further confusion, we’re just going to write a new exclusion into the rules: “coconut aminos” are compliant for the program, even if the words “coconut nectar” or “coconut syrup” are on the label. *When you read the rest of the Coconut Secret label, the word “sap” is in quotation marks, and the bottle description does say it comes from “sap that exudes from the coconut blossom.” Consumers (myself included) assumed the product came from the tree (or the coconut itself), but it is sourced from the coconut blossom, just like the other brands.

@heb2014 I'm very impressed with your meal planning. Do you happen to have a link to the Pozole recipe that you use/adapt? Thanks!

Jim- You are correct, there are a bunch of plants not listed. There are approximately 12,000 species of grasses. And that doesn't even cover the similar-structured pseudo grains. Instead of listing 12,000 plants, how about we go off the short list that covers ~99.8% of the grains/pseudo-grains commercially and commonly available for the demographic markets that are likely to be doing a Whole30? If you happen to come across the edible seed of a plant that you suspect might be a grass, figure that one thing out instead of 12,000 things. It's completely ridiculous to think there is going to be a "simple" list that covers every possible plant.

Is there something you think is a grain that is not on this list in the Whole30 Program Rules? You were already linked to the http://whole9life.com/2013/02/grain-manifesto/ in another thread, and you may have missed this part: And yes, since canola oil is technically compliant in an eating-out situation, then it follows yes, you could have canola oil all the time if all you do is eat out. You could also eat nothing but compliant bacon for 30 straight days and technically have done a Whole30. You could eat nothing but almonds for 30 straight days and technically have a done a Whole30. This website has a lot of free resources that you can adapt into your own life for your own goals as needed. If you need more specific guidance, consider a Whole30 coach: https://coach.whole30.com/coaches/

What recipes do you like/are comfortable making? Totally possible to do Whole30 without any "special" products, so don't feel like you need to buy a special, say, approved salad dressing if you don't want it/won't use it. (Nothing wrong with buying special products, nothing wrong with not buying them either.) Staples: Meat / Eggs / Fish that you like and will prepare/eat (Me: eggs, chicken, and ground meats.) Vegetables that you like and will prepare/eat (Me: asparagus, broccoli, bags of greens, jars of artichoke hearts, bags of frozen vegetables) Cooking / Eating Fats that you like and will prepare/eat (Me: Olive Oil, Olives, Avocados.) I know this post comes off as slightly unhelpful, but it's so variable. If you don't like/won't eat/ don't know how to prepare a certain type of food, although it might be a staple for someone else, it won't be useful in your personal journey.

I've never done a juice cleanse, but you could do things like make sure your veggies are cooked / eat soups and stews. But, 3-4 days is not all that long of a time, so I don't think most people's digestive tract would have changed all that much. But drink lots of water, possible with a pinch of salt.

I like to have go-to meals that I call pantry meals - meals that take minutes and are made up of stuff I'm likely to have in my freezer/pantry. It's important to remember that not every meal has to be a big production. In fact, none of them do. You don't have to follow recipes, or buy any specialty items if you don't want to. Your meals can be the most boring, least picture-worthy-on-instagram as you want. Examples of pantry meals: Super easy coconut soup: Bag of Frozen vegetables, can of coconut milk, can of salmon or chicken. Heat. Add salt and pepper. Add curry spice if you want. Or: Can of chicken or tuna, can of diced tomatoes, add some olives. To minimize dishes, I also like to make sheet pan meals. With two racks in the oven, for instance, I'll do meatballs on one rack, and roasted vegetables on the other. To maximize time, after doing the two trays above, I'll put another two trays in the oven while I'm eating dinner from the first two trays, and have leftovers available.