AmyS

I feel like I've done best on nutrition, personal growth, and stress management. I expect that healthy movement and the great outdoors will continue to be growing edges for me, as my plan is to become healthier (rather than less healthy) by the end of each teaching semester. My usual strategy has been to get as healthy as I can as the semester approaches, and then hang on as the stresses of the semester take their toll, and then recover as much as possible at the end of the semester. This is not a strategy that I plan to continue into the future. Sleep is always an issue and I don't expect that to let up any time soon, unfortunately. I was never a kid who could sleep through the night.

Getting started early on July's emphasis! Traveling to visit family and friends and to sing. So much fun! Also, lots of outdoor time, so I'm still in June.

How's this for outdoor activities: a private party gig where I sang overlooking beautiful cliffs and ocean! This was my Saturday night. Fantastic! Two friends and I played this solstice party. We reprised our concert from last weekend (last weekend we performed it indoors at a theater). Gorgeous setting, fantastic to sing in almost a music festival feeling setting outside. Loved it. Also, breathing for singing kind of counts as a core/abs workout. Believe.

Love your hiking adventure plans! I always wonder where hikers pee. Clearly I'm a creature of the great indoors - until very recently that is! The thing with the chocolate covered espresso beans is that I have a very low tolerance for caffeine. Two beans equals 48 hours of feeling jangled. So one bean is the maximum dose for Still Feeling Human. Your coach is probably right, but ick. I feel that way every day on my bike. I swear when I get off my bike and can hardly walk (that's how out of shape I am), it takes about two hours for coherent thought to return. And it's not like I'm working very hard yet! True fitness awaits - that's how I'm looking at it!

Nice! One of my favorite childhood memories was watching an outdoor movie by a pool: The Incredible Mr. Limpet. Cute movie, fun night. I've been getting outside almost every day, walking and (ack) bike riding. I'm so out of shape that I can go about 15 minutes on the bike before my legs give out. So my goal of becoming fit like a dancer is a way off. But I'm working on it! I haven't fallen off the bike yet! Just almost. I've finished my successive rounds of Whole30s, and I'm eating more or less how I want to - I happen to actually like Whole30 eating a good bit of the time, and I also do well with rice and corn, and I'm eating one chocolate covered espresso bean per day (I'd eat a bag per day but no one needs to be around me under the influence of that much caffeine ) and some chocolate. My BFF right now is collard greens. I'm not sure why, but I'm a huge fan these days, and also they seem to give me a burst of energy when I eat them. Since I do well with rice, I can eat collards, rice, and other stuff like chicken or beef, and be very happy. Though I'll also eat collards just by themselves, with potatoes, with eggs, with tomatoes, probably with a grated up chair leg if you tossed it on there. I'm sure the excitement will wear off soon, but for now, I'm likin' 'em.

That makes perfect sense. Phew!

Phew!

What?! I don't think "stroke" and "heartrate" and consider it positive. I assume I'm missing something.

Do not stop your ADHD medicine, or any other medication you must take for a medical condition. Keep taking it. If you didn't take it today, take it now. Really. Take your medicine.

Glad you posted - just know that though I'm half a world away from you and will probably never meet you in person, I've had you in my thoughts. Sending lots of good thoughts your way. And I'll be joining you on a Whole30! I've been doing successive Whole30s with a day or two break between, and I'm starting again tomorrow. Though I haven't gone through a breakup, I've had enough stress and unpleasantness to face in the past months that I, too, find the Whole30's structure helpful in dealing with all of the ick. One day at a time, eh?

Wow, the bolded part of your comment really hits home. That is a truly beautiful and empowering view of life. Thank you for sharing that.

Hi Jane and welcome to Whole30! As you plan your June 1 start, consider your breakfasts (often renamed in Whole30 Land as Meal One) as part of your hormonal reset. Smoothies are strongly discouraged on Whole30. We ask you to eat your food. This particular smoothie is specifically ruled out (as in, it violates the Whole30 rules and cannot be taken during a Whole30)because of the pea protein, caramel flavor (a sneaky sugar), aloe juice, and fructooligosaccarides. You state: "was given the information to take in 30 grams protein within 30 minutes of waking up." If this is doctors' orders, so be it. But it is not something you will have heard from the Whole30 program, nor is it the way Whole30 considers food. Whole30 is really simple. Here's what Whole30 asks you to do: 1. 1-2 palm-size portions of protein (meat, eggs, fish, chicken - where eggs are your sole source of protein, they are as many as you can hold in your hand; for many women, that's 3-4; eat the yolks!) 2. 1-2 or more thumb-size portions of fat 3. 2-3 cups veggies - fill your plate with vegetables Do that three times a day, the first time within one hour of waking. In this context, your smoothie provides you no protein (legumes are out for Whole30 as highly inflammatory); very little fat (pumpkin seeds are a fat for Whole30 purposes and are to be limited as they are a poorer source of fat nutrition than other fat sources); and no vegetables. Also, it is a smoothie rather than food. If you are under a doctor's care for treatment of adrenal fatigue, you might discuss your Whole30 plans with your doctor, and consider appropriate supplementation and changing of routines. My doctor helped me deal with a severe case of adrenal fatigue using supplements that did not involve smoothies with really long, mostly unpronounceable ingredients lists that included lots of sugar. You can tackle adrenal fatigue in a healthy way, and Whole30 can be a part of dealing with it. Whole30's recommendation to eat a FULL MEAL within one hour of waking goes a very long way to the hormonal reset necessary to dealing with adrenal fatigue. And for those of us for whom it's not enough, medical professionals who work with adrenal fatigue can advise as to proper treatment. Help is out there. The best way to find ideas for eating breakfast (or meal one) on Whole30 is to use google rather than the forum search feature. Google Whole30 + breakfast to find lots and lots (and lots and lots) of ideas. Then you can give a few things a try before you begin your official Whole30. You got this!

I'm so sorry, Gojo! Go easy on yourself. And don't look at the news. The various political dumpster fires will still be there when you're ready. Sending all good thoughts your way.

QFH, here are the elements that you report bringing to Whole30: Depression Hyperprolactemia ADD Sleep apnea IBS Do know that Whole30 is not a program that will heal the body of these issues. It will provide a base of the best bodily health possible, from which you can then deal with these important health issues as they continue to affect your life. The lifestyle elements you report include working a 9-5 job with a long commute and an after-work workout schedule, combined with a desire to cook yourself a meal every day after all of that. First of all, your plan to stop taking some of the medications you need for these medical issues needs to end, if it hasn't already. Doctors' orders trump Whole30. Take the medication. Second, you can certainly pack food to take with you as you work out the best way to eat your meals during your work day. If you eat at, say, 6:45 a.m., then at noon, and then won't be home to eat a meal again until, say, 8:00 p.m., then you may very well put in a mini meal at that point. Fruits, nuts, fake desserts, etc. don't fit that bill. Make it a mini meal (or even an additional full meal). Just pack a mini meal (or an additional full meal) in your lunch cooler and take it with you. Eat when hungry. It's not snacking to slide desperately through, it's eating because you need to eat. Third, batch cooking will be your friend, rather than a drag. You will prepare your veggies, proteins, and fats in advance, but then you will almost instantly create any variety of meals out of those foods on the spot after your workout. Fourth, plan to batch shop in order to prepare for batch cooking. Springing out to buy two ingredients at a time will bankrupt you and leave you hungry. Basically: focus (ahem) and simplify. I'm sure you've heard all of this before. It's true in Whole30 as in life. You got this.

I wanna jump in here to add to the other comments - because I think you're waaaaaaaaaaaay overcomplicating this thing. You've seen what I'm about to say already in this thread, so I'll be reviewing (sorry, I'm a teacher, it is what I do ). Here's what we want you to do: 1. 1-2 palm-size portions of protein (when eggs are your protein, a serving is as many as you can hold in your hand) 2. 1-2 thumb-size portions of fat (nuts/nut butters are fat for Whole30 purposes, and a poor choice for regular consumption) 3. 2-3 cups veggies (basically, fill your plate with veggies) Do that three times a day, the first time within one hour of waking. If you are hungry sooner than 4-5 hours from your last meal, eat a mini-meal composed of at least two of the three elements of a meal. Then eat a bigger breakfast the next day. Lather, rinse, repeat. Really. That's absolutely all there is to it. You can get fancy with recipes and stuff, or you can eat protein, fat, and veggies. I'm gonna dive into one of your days' worth of meals and offer suggested edits (again, I'm a teacher, so bear with me - and don't worry, you have a solid A for effort here and there's no exam, so you're good): OK, so, for Whole30 purposes that's not really breakfast. I mean, none of it is noncompliant, but it isn't in any way a meal. Try something like: 1 good dollop homemade mayo with 3 grated hardboiled eggs (salt and pepper to taste); fill the rest of your plate with whatever veggies really float your boat right now (my current Veggie BFF is collard greens but YMMV) Make sure you have enough quantity of food to really fill you up - mushrooms, chicken, kale, and whatever fat source you are eating with this - oil drizzled on the kale, for instance? On Whole30, women are often surprised at how much food we have to eat in order to stay full. Eat up! If you need to eat between lunch and dinner, OK. Your choice here is OK, protein and veggies. Plan on a much bigger breakfast tomorrow morning, and then a bigger lunch also if needed. Again, eat up! This would be the meal to add a starchy veg if you haven't yet eaten one during the day; you also need a protein; and make sure your veggies really really fill your plate. Don't try to get fancy with your food if you're tired. I keep canned salmon in the cupboard all the time for those times - you can pre-cook chicken thighs, ground beef, etc. to have. For many of us, cooking at the end of a long day is a ridiculous idea. Pre-cook, batch cook, keep it simple. Generally, I'm seeing you being awfully committed to making food that mimics stuff like oatmeal, pudding, dessert, etc. Ditch all of that. Just eat food. Protein, fat, veggies. Protein, fat, veggies. Protein, fat, veggies. Simplify, simplify, simplify. Don't waste all that time making chia this and fauxtmeal that. I mean, yuck, right? Also, it's fussy and takes you away from just eating actual protein, fat, and veggies. You can do this.