AmyS

Whole30 doesn't bring about higher blood pressure, but for those of us with strong family histories, it also probably won't keep it entirely at bay forever. More's the pity. I speak from sad experience. My first Whole30s actually lowered my bp to where I could get off of medications for a while. But the bp came roaring back, and it absolutely does not matter what I do, I need two medications to keep it in a range that doesn't cause my doctor to have to do deep breathing exercises in order to calmly keep talking to me about my bp. This is one of the things I do not like about being human. Urgh. Anyway, when it comes to the bp your husband is registering, medication is not generally the first course of action. Watching and waiting, taking bp fairly regularly for a while, and monitoring how it goes, while following some of the advice Chris Kresser and others like him give, is often very helpful. At the end of the day, though, eating healthy whole foods is not the thing that causes us to have high blood pressure. Some day someone will research what actually causes it, and then we can figure it out. The hardest thing for me to accept on my journey to accepting my own high bp is that for 95% of us who have high bp, there is no known cause -so we are always and only treating the symptom. It's kind of freaky. I can't understand why researchers wouldn't be interested in the causes (and I'm talking here about those causes that get passed down in family history) but I've noticed that high bp tends to be treated, by the medical establishment, like a lifestyle choice rather than a condition. I'm tiny, eat healthy, and live as stress-free as possible (haha) and I don't fit any profile for high blood pressure, and still, here I am. It's not a lifestyle choice that brought me here, and I promise it's not for your husband either. Here's hoping that when he gets his bp checked next time, it's back in the usual range. All good thoughts and happy Whole30ing to you both.

In your case, do not worry about eating a full template meal in one sitting. You may need to take the template amounts for three meals a day and divide that food up in six meals. It's fine. Just remember that a meal is protein, fat, and veggies. You might, for instance, fix up a full template meal, eat as much of it as is reasonable for you to eat, wrap it up and put it away, and pull it out again to finish (or just eat more of) later. At each sitting, eat items from the protein, fat, and veggies sections of your plate. Once that meal is done, make another, and do the same, and then one more, and do the same. You may discover that you are eating many mini-meals, but over the course of a day you are still eating the same amount of food as other folks would consume in three meals. Again, this is fine. If you can eat half an egg and a strawberry, then aim for half an egg and a small portion of sweet potato. Then finish the egg and eat more sweet potato later, and so on and so forth. Hope that helps, let us know if we can give you more information about Whole30 eating in general or with weight loss surgery.

We want you to eat the whole egg. That is to say, add whole eggs to your scrambled eggs.

I think this recipe for hoisin http://eatdrinkpaleo.com.au/paleo-hoisin-sauce-recipe/ could work with two modifications: sub out coconut aminos for the soy sauce, and leave out the honey. And this one for ponzu http://www.eatingforidiots.com/seared-tuna-with-crispy-shallots-and-ponzu-sauce/ (includes a recipe for tuna and fried shallots too) would work. Remember to use Red Boat fish sauce. Johnny, the recipe's creator, was a moderator here for a while. His recipes are pretty popular with Whole30ers who like to cook. Diclaimer: I haven't made either of these, but they look very do-able. ETA: yes, arrowroot for cornstarch - or you could leave it out and have a broth-ier consistency.

Whole30 is all about eating your meals, not skipping them. If you intend to eat on the go, you can pack a meal in a cooler, or take portable food that doesn't need refrigerating for a few hours: hard boiled eggs, cubed roasted sweet potatoes, cans of compliant tuna, salmon, or sardines (plus can opener and fork), etc. One of the key aspects of Whole30 is to get you to pay attention to what you eat and when you eat it. We really do want you to prioritize eating. There is no virtue, and no good health, in skipping meals and then eating a bar of some kind later. We really really do want you to eat actual food. For real. Three times a day. Every day. For thirty days. That's the deal. That's Whole30. Really. Eat up and feel the magic.

My children are old enough to entertain themselves for hours at a time (this is a distant fantasy for you, I know), so a monster cookup on the weekend is actually possible for me. I used to not have ten minutes at a time to call my own.

The bolded part is my fantasy too. Part of my hangup right now is schedule - I barely have time to breathe, much less go from store to store. I'd love to include in a future life plan, having time to shop for and prepare great food all throughout the week. Right now I do a monster cookup on the weekend and then spend the week slinging food from the fridge to the microwave to the table. It works, but it ain't elegant.

I love this thread SO MUCH. I would buy a cookbook if you made one.

Excellent! Eat up! And you're not at your worst when pmsing, even though we women have been taught by our society that we are supposed to be at our worst when pmsing. We're not. We're just really freakin' hungry. And we really really need to eat. Lots of meals. Lots of carbs. Lots of fat. Lots of protein. It's shocking how much I eat these days. And I'm teeeeeeeeeny. And, judging from comments I get the longer I eat huge amounts of nutritious food, getting teenier. Have you gotten rid of your scale and anything you used to use to weigh/measure you food? That's a great set of next steps. There is so much freedom in sticking it to the patriarchy by actually eating.

You might post a couple of days' worth of sample compliant meals to see if we can help you refine your meal composition. That might help to deal with the physical side of the cravings. There's also the possibility that you're hungry. I find that when I first start a Whole30, especially if I've been on vacation or deliberately have been eating lots of less healthy foods, I really really REALLY eat a whole whole lot the first week back on clean eating. It's kind of shocking. Then one day I'm finally full and I can eat three human-size meals. Sometimes women are taught that we are craving junk food when really we are physically hungry for nutritious food. I know that if a craving is not about hunger, that there are ways to deal with it; but I would suggest keeping in mind the possibility that a craving really is about hunger. Yes, even if you just ate a full meal an hour ago. The point is that if you're hungry, eat a mini meal of protein and fat, or a full meal of protein, fat, and veggies. If you are active, nursing, in a pre-menstrual part of your cycle, working shift work (or a SAHM, which is kind of like a 24/7 shift that never ends, especially with small children in the house), you may need lots of those meals. Deciding to eat Whole30 is not the same as deciding not to eat very much food. We want you to feel full/satisfied/satiated. There's no virtue in going hungry and white-knuckling your way through cravings that could be given some nutritious food. Hope some of this helps - let us know if you want tips on meal composition, and hang out here for support and encouragement.

This is amazing. I've been away for a couple of weeks and just came back to see this thread. I may or may not have shed a tear of happiness at the possibility of a Whole30-approved pancit. happysniffle

I like Bubbies dill pickles, but have never had a crisp one yet, and I buy them regularly. I like the flavor well enough to eat them anyway. But I didn't know people expected crisp from Bubbies pickles. They're REALLY soft.

greenwaypress, I don't know you but I feel the need to give you a big hug after that last comment. On behalf of humanity, I'm so sorry.

Label-reading time is shorter if you use your strongest reading glasses. Don't skip it. Plan it in, it's important to make time for it. Really.

I don't live or work with a group of folks who critique my eating habits, but I certainly enjoy this thread. I had childhood allergies to most (all, maybe) of the Whole30 prohibited foods, so when I tell people I've discovered a way of eating that helps me eat very well and avoid those allergens, folks in my life are generally not just supportive, but they really cheer me on. However, as I say, I love following this thread. :lol: