Cindy's First Whole30

[sahmomto2]

Decided to start the whole30 because:

-I've been having issues with migraines. Have had migraines since age 5, discovered in my 20s that caffeine was the trigger, did fine for about 15 years then started having them again and was able to trace them to MSG. Now in my early 50s and having them again. Hoping to use this as an elimination diet to figure out what I'm reacting to now.

-I'm low thyroid, low adrenal. My naturopath says all my blood work is where he wants it, but I still feel like crap when I wake up in the morning - way more fatigued than when I go to bed at night. I think this is caused by cortisol levels being screwed up, so I hope the whole30 will help me fix that.

-I've gained 15 pounds in the past 2 years. Again, my naturopath says it isn't because of low thyroid because my bloodwork is all good.

Today was my first day. My gut has been wrenching all day. I typically eat very little sugar, very little grain (one slice of pizza on the weekend is typical, or a handful of tortilla chips but no bread, crackers, etc otherwise), and I try religiously to avoid soy because of my thyroid. I ate more raw veggies today than normal, although I often eat hummus with a bunch of veggies. I hope the gut-wrenching feeling goes away soon. Any ideas?

I am 5'3", 136 pounds this morning.

Breakfast: onions and red chard sautéed in coconut oil, with two soft-cooked eggs.

Lunch: large salad consisting of mixed baby greens, two hard-boiled eggs, strawberries, mushrooms, asparagus, sunflower seeds, red wine vinegar and olive oil.

Snack: had a banana around 4:30, hoping the pain in my gut would go away, but no luck.

Dinner: taco salad consisting of mixed baby greens, ground beef sautéed with onion and taco seasoning, a whole avocado, and 1/4 cup of salsa.

During the day, I drank 56 oz water, with a drip of ACV in each glass.

I'm realizing all my carbs were very non-dense, low calorie, so although I know calories don't matter, I counted them up anyway and came to 1575. Almost all of which came from the eggs, coconut oil, olive oil, avocado and ground beef, of course. I don't think I want to eat many more calories than that, since I'm only 5'3" and don't get much exercise. If I add dense carb, should I cut back on fats? Or are the extra calories okay?

Will eat a sweet potato tomorrow and see whether it helps.

[sahmomto2]

Day 2:

Had a little less greens today and stomach is feeling much better, but didn't get the sweet potato in, either, so carbs are still non-dense. By the way, are white sweet potatoes compliant, or are they too close to white potatoes? Hubby loves them, so we usually have some in the house.

Meal 1: onions and red chard sautéed in coconut oil, with two soft-cooked eggs.

Meal 2: cilantro lime chicken, cilantro lime cauliflower "rice" with coconut milk, 6 strawberries

Meal 3: Asian beef and broccoli from ISWF with an orange, served over baby spinach, but forgot the sesame seeds and scallions. Will have to add those in when I eat the leftovers.

I added the coconut milk to the cauliflower rice because I don't feel like I'm getting enough fat. Is that normal? I cook everything in coconut oil, but it seems like most of the oil stays in the pan, so mostly I just get the fat that is in the meat or eggs. Loved the coconut milk with the rice, though. Yummy!

Took a half-hour walk today, felt pretty good.

[sahmomto2]

Day 3:

Meal 1: morning mix from ISWF.

Meal 2: cilantro lime chicken breast, cilantro lime cauliflower "rice" with coconut milk.

Meal 3: shakshuka (consisting of tomatoes and tomato paste, onions, peppers, and 3 eggs), greens, olive oil and red wine vinegar.

Walked for an hour today because I couldn't get the car out of the garage. Tired tonight.

[sahmomto2]

Day 4:

Meal 1: Leftover shakshuka (about 1/3 of what I ate for meal 3 yesterday), plus one hard-boiled egg, and a sweet potato with still-warm, just-made ghee drizzled over it. Yum!

Meal 2: Leftover Asian beef and broccoli (from day 2) over mixed greens, with a drizzle of olive oil, 4 strawberries.

Snack: 5 prunes (not for the sweet, but to help get things moving :-))

Meal 3: Tuna salad (tuna, hard-boiled egg, apple, grapes, shredded carrot, celery, dry since i don't have compliant mayo), over raw spinach with a drizzle of olive oil.

No exercise today, other than walking at the grocery.

[sahmomto2]

Day 5:

Meal 1: Morning mix from ISWF (ground pork, onion, and apple, sautéed in coconut oil).

Meal 2: Asian beef and broccoli from ISWF, on mixed greens with orange, drizzled with olive oil.

Meal 3: Red pepper (eaten while fixing pizza for family), banana, flaked coconut, cashews, coconut milk. Yummy, but not the healthiest dinner. I had to get to an appointment, though, and didn't have time to fix anything else after I got the pizza into the oven.

Hungry when I get up in the morning, but after meal 1, I force myself to eat the rest of the day.

[sahmomto2]

Oops! Forgot to add the sweet potato and ghee that I had also as part of meal 3.

[sahmomto2]

Day 6:

Meal 1: 3 hard-boiled eggs on my way out the door.

Meal 2: Taco-seasoned ground beef over salad greens, with salsa and avocado.

Meal 3: Banana with cashews, flaked coconut, and coconut milk.

Meal 4: Burger chopped up and served on greens with salsa, onion, and tomato. (Not enough fat?)

Feeling very tired today, which is supposed to be normal for day 6, but I totally skipped the hangover and kill all the things. Have been feeling pretty good until today. Having trouble eating as much food as I'm supposed to, but I'm working hard at making sure I'm eating enough fat.

[sahmomto2]

Day 7: One week down! Still tired today, but that's to be expected. Did better yesterday on four meals a day, thanks to Tom's suggestion, but only had three today because of the timing of being gone several hours. Breakfast was once again grabbing something on the way out the door. I hate days like that. Tomorrow will be more relaxed, so looking forward to sitting down to a real breakfast. Have not been so "backed up" today.

Meal 1: 3 hard-boiled eggs on my way out the door.

Meal 2: Banana, strawberries, cashews, coconut, coconut milk.

Meal 3: Spinach and garlic sautéed in ghee with a squeeze of lemon juice. Ate that as an appetizer while cooking up the rest, which was mushroom, onion, and zucchini sautéed in coconut oil with 1/3lb ground pork.

Will be eating at the in-laws tomorrow. They asked me to bring dessert, of all things. Wish me luck. They're grilling burgers, I think I'll have to take with me anything else I expect to eat. Will be my first time not being home for a meal.

[sahmomto2]

Day 8: Memorial Day. This has been the hardest day yet. Had two things going on today, one all morning and another the rest of the day. The morning event took longer than planned, so I had less time than I needed to really prep food to take to the in-laws. So here's what I ended up with:

Meal 1: 3 eggs over-easy in ghee, 2 cups spinach sautéed in ghee with garlic and lemon juice.

Meal 2: Snack while fixing food to take to in-laws, it was already noon by this point and I needed a real meal but didn't have time to fix one. Couple spoonfuls of leftover taco meat, a spoonful of baba ganoush on daikon radish.

Meal 3: They were grilling burgers and made me one with nothing on it, so I crumbled it over some greens and topped it with salsa and avocado. I had taken the baba ganoush, so I had a big helping of that, with lots of raw veggies.

Meal 4: This was later in the afternoon, while everyone else was having strawberry shortcake and ice cream. I had a sliced banana and some sliced strawberries with coconut flakes and cashews, topped with coconut milk. I know that was a crappy meal, but it was better than caving in to ice cream, my one real weakness. Everything else I had brought was already eaten, and there was nothing compliant left in the house.

I have a migraine this evening, my first headache since I started the whole30, but I know everything was compliant; except the burgers were already patties, so I didn't see the package. I was told it was just ground beef, and from the taste I know there were no seasonings on it. Maybe because of the overdose of fruit at supper time? This is also my third day of being very sleepy. Going to bed early, hoping to feel better tomorrow.

[sahmomto2]

Day 9:

Meal 1: Taco salad - mixed baby greens, taco meat, salsa, avocado.

Meal 2: A few small pieces of mango and a hard-boiled egg.

Meal 3: Salmon patties from ISWF and asparagus with ghee and lemon juice.

Difficult to eat today. Did not feel hungry after the first few bites :-(

[sahmomto2]

Day 10:

Meal 1: salmon patties, a few prunes sautéed in coconut oil (felt like I needed to get things "moving along"

Meal 2: salmon patty, 1/2 avocado

Meal 3: banana, strawberries, coconut flakes, cashews, coconut milk

Meal 4: pork chop, baba ganoush, raw veggies

Still wasn't very hungry today. Ate four times because I couldn't eat much at each sitting. I know I had too much fruit today, but I felt like I needed the prunes, and when it was time for meal 3, there wasn't anything else available and I tried to make it as fatty as possible. Will try to go back to three meals tomorrow.