Into the Great Ocean of Possibilities

[Suzy]

Welcome to my Post-Whole30 Log! Thank you to anyone who reads this; you'll be helping me focus on making my life a lot healthier. X

Death to chronic inflammation!

Let's get started.

I've been eating mostly paleo for a whole year now! What I've gained and learned this past year:

• I've managed to lose and keep off a significant amount of fat (I would say about 20 lbs., but I broke up with my scale, so I couldn't say for sure).
  
• I learned how to reduce inflammation in my body and that sugar is the actual Devil for me. I believe that it's consumption is the cause of a lot of emotional symptoms for me. This is the greatest part of my journey.
  
• The principles of Whole9 are there so I can strive for balance in all areas of life. Rest, exercise, and socialization are areas that need a lot of improvement. Now that I'm aware, I can do triage on the effects of stressors in my life.
  

Going forward, I will build on what I now know. The things I want to gain and learn for myself over the next year are:

• I'd like to get the best natural body I can for my lifestyle and lose and keep off the rest of my excess body fat. Since I've learned that excess weight around the middle is an endocrine manufacturing machine, I'm on a mission to negotiate it off my body. I would like to exercise daily as a habit for my emotional and physical health.
  
• I'd like to get my emotions under control. I'm an angry, sad, anxious person for a week, or even two, out of the month. I need some serious help with the symptoms of what is called PMDD. I'm more than a little suspicious of established psychiatry, but also suspicious of the effectiveness of supplemental herbs and vitamins. It's always seemed to me that the best I can do would be to eat right, get out in the sunshine, exercise, and express my emotions in a daily journal. Psychiatry is such a nebulous science that I'd rather stay away from it as much as I possibly can. If my symptoms become unbearable again, I may have to resort to hormone medication or other pharmaceuticals. I'm not morally against it, I just want what's best in the long term for my body. I suppose that drugs could confuse the delicate system of the human body, which so many factors could disrupt. I have a lot of fear that I'll do more damage than good and that I'll feel terrible for months until I can quit the meds and get back to nature.
  

Yesterday, I went to our delightful local health food store, Nature's Market, where I talked to the owner, Jeff. He's a caring, older man who happens to be very self-educated with vitamins, herbs, and health in general. He knows about the most readily absorbed forms of vitamins and which herbs have had the most studies done on them. He's a wealth of knowledge. He and his wife are such lovely people, that they can see through my temperamental and introvert tendencies. I talked to them for a long time and left with only a Vitex tincture and a Solgar multivitamin, Female Multi, which includes lots of magnesium, vitamin D3, B-complex, and herbs including Vitex. I was averse to taking a multi, since Dallas and Melissa say that only a few are needed to supplement a diet. However, I haven't been the best vegetable eater over the last year and probably have some deficiencies across the board. For someone who loves a paleo diet, I focus too much on protein. So, my plan over the next year is to up my veggies and fresh fruits and practically ditch my precious dried fruits by only using them in recipes. So, I'll be taking a separate D3 and magnesium, when I can afford the latter (so damn expensive!).

So, the Vitex tincture seemed to really work! It's supposed to balance out hormones. My period also came last night, so that could have been the reason for the feelings of relaxation I was getting. Also has a bit of alcohol, which could have taken the edge off.

Speaking of alcohol, now's the time to introduce some off plan things that don't trigger me now and again. I've never had an issue with consuming too much alcohol, and I really enjoy the flavors and relaxing qualities of wine and (very rarely) rum and tequila. I think I'll be consuming wine roughly once or twice a week this summer. I'm glad ISWF highlighted for me that wineries have paid for the studies that said alcohol was good for you. I see a lot of people come through my line at Trader Joe's with 6 cases of Charles Shaw Cabernet because they think it's good for them to have two glasses every night. Great job in business, wineries. I personally don't feel good about deluding people, so I always tell them about how the studies were paid for when it comes up. No one likes a know-it-all cashier, but there you go.

Other off plan, non-trigger foods (at least I don't think they trigger yet) will be grass-fed cheese, plain yogurt, and butter. Rice, potatoes, gluten-free bread, and oatmeal definitely make me want to eat more and more so they're out. A couple squares of very dark chocolate does not make me want more, but it has added refined sugar which is definitely out because of my serious inflammatory issues (IBS, stiffness, tendonitis, premenstrual swollen breasts, etc.). I'll have cocoa powder and cacao nibs in a recipe if I need chocolate. Or if I can find chocolate sweetened with fruit juice or something, I will try it.

[Suzy]

Feeling pretty fancy free right now!

I've been having wine the last couple of nights and enjoying it, hangover free. I have about a glass left from my bottle of fantastic Sancerre, which has a full body with some acidity, like a Sauvingon Blanc. I love buttery whites. They taste like they're from another planet.

Right now, on the stove, I have simmering a chicken vegetable soup made with chicken (duh), butter, sweet onion, zucchini, summer squash, tomato, carrot, celery, bay leaf, thyme, and homemade chicken stock. It's going to be good.

In order to reduce stress, I'm looking for another job. I'm going to apply to that aforementioned health food store since I have so much experience and the atmosphere is so much better than a huge grocery store chain. I'm a little worried about benefits, but if I'm so stressed out that I don't know who I am anymore, I can't enjoy them anyway. From an epigenetic standpoint, I need to reduce stress to treat my genes better.

[Suzy]

Feeling really good for it being PMS time.  I can't chalk that up to good diet since I've been "going off the rails on a crazy train" with sugar again this month.  The only thing I've done differently, that I can tell, is take a very high quality women's multivitamin with herbs.  It came very highly recommended to me, so I went for it.  PMS has been okay, aside from a little emotional sensitivity.  I'm getting out and socializing a lot more and exercising, too. 

 

Really kind of angry that I started learning about epigenetics.  Heh.  I think a lot of my problems have stemmed from me not eating traditional foods and living a more "wild" life.  I'm doing all I can to correct that now by eating as much healthy stuff as humanly possible.  Want to learn to make kraut since it's a million dollars a jar at Whole Foods.   

[Suzy]

Oh, and I just wanted to say that I'm taking sugar one day at a time now, like the only one of the twelve steps I like.  Really, though, I can't comprehend giving up sugar on a long term basis.  I'm just not going to have any today.   

[Suzy]

I started jujutsu training!  It's the traditional, Japanese style, not Brazilian.  I absolutely love it.  I immediately got the feeling of being reunited with a missing piece of myself.  I also have very good coordination, and it just makes my soul sing to be recognized for doing something naturally well.  I'm making new acquaintances in class and love my sensei, a Japanese man who has been teaching on that side of town since 1967!  That's almost 50 years.   

 

My eating habits feel totally under my control, which is a great feeling.  I just can't afford to be shoved off my stable blood sugar pedestal anymore.  I got "chunked" at a great brunch place the other day.  There was this delicious, mouth-watering Philly cheesesteak casserole there.  I asked if there was wheat in it, and the woman actually said no even though later I discovered huge, moist chunks of bread in it before digging into a second serving.  It was like a savory bread pudding; the bread was so incorporated that it seemed like a kind of soufflé.  Anyway, I got over it with very few side effects.  I can't believe some people just can't say, "I'm not sure of all the ingredients, let me ask for you."  What if I had had an allergy?  The best thing about it was that it inspired me to make a bread-free version using egg whites. 

[Suzy]

I'm having a very confused period of time at the moment. 

 

I have been having these bouts of waking up in the middle of the night with severe nausea and diarrhea.  It's happened about 5 times since last fall, with great amounts of time between each one.  Two of those times have been after I've had a burger patty as the protein for my evening meal.  What is up with this?  I'll have a heaviness right above my navel, and intense nausea.  Sometimes, like last time, I will have sweating and weakness.  Then, it stops as quickly as it started and I go right back to bed.  I thought it was food poisoning the first couple times, but now I'm going to see my doctor, suspecting gallbladder issues.  I do have IBS, which may be a factor. 

 

This has been demotivating, to say the least.  A group at work has started a Biggest Loser-type challenge for biggest percentage of weight lost.  I wanted to join and smoke them all. since I've gained back some weight after several ice cream and Twinkie indiscretions.  Even though I do not agree with weekly weigh-ins and telling everyone how much I weigh and basing a goal on a number, I ended up joining on a whim and doing great eating Whole30 rules, then quitting after my gastrointestinal difficulties.  After the stomach issues, I didn't eat much of anything for a day and a half.  I had no appetite and I had a lot of trepidation about eating beef again.  Still afraid.  So, I did the weirdest dietary choice I've made in over a year:  I went back to the SAD diet!  All I wanted were comforting carbs.  Ugh.  I know!  I telepathically hear the disapproval of whoever is reading this now.  Please send me some encouragement, if you feel the urge.  Not sure where to go from here, as the strictness of the Whole30 seems a bit harsh for me at the moment.  My plan now is to stay the course until I have my period, then reevaluating how I feel.  I know if I want to feel good, I'll have to eat paleo or "primal", but I. Am. So. Sick. of cooking in the midst of my beyond busy schedule while my home stays messy and I slave away cooking stock and sweet potatoes from scratch.  So tired of it.  It's nice to order a fish sandwich and fries from a place and just sit down and eat a whole meal.   

 

Hey, I just figured something out.  I think I just don't eat enough food.  I need to devote some time to serious meal planning and purchasing food.  I do it as more of a casual experience now, but if I schedule things and stick to a meal plan, things will be ok.  I will also go back to my paleo eating very soon.  Jujutsu is very demanding (not just normal workout soreness but actual mild, acute injuries caused by the techniques!) for me, so I need to eat enough and I need to eat foods that heal.  Wow.  I just motivated myself.  I love this forum. 

[Suzy]

Eating super processed food is never, ever worth it (unless there is literally no other option all day - which is so rare it has not happened yet).  That's a lesson that I've finally learned.  It doesn't matter how cheap it is, how convenient it is, how small a portion it is, or how many other people are eating it around me.  I've made myself quite ill over the past couple of months and I'm ready to return to the healthful way of eating.  In short, Velveeta is not cheese and I'm never eating it again. 

 

I'd really, really like to get another Whole30 going.  Why not?  I've only done one all the way through so far and didn't successfully complete the reintroduction phase.  I think a Whole30 should not be considered done until this crucial phase is complete.   

[Emma]

Oh I get it about the comforting carbs.  I traveled recently and did an okay job making healthy choices, but when I came back home and felt a bit stressed, I just picked up some cheese rolls and donuts each time I went to the market.  They're so dang tasty - except this time they weren't.  I ate them anyway and I felt my system get more and more uncomfortable and I felt my knee start to swell up.  I too have chronic inflammation stuff and it's no fun at all.

 

I have never done the reintroduction phase.  Well, I reintroduced things, but not systematically.  I think overall, for me, I'm best off eating Whole30 and if I want to off road, rice and quinoa work for me (and reuben sandwiches) and then getting my rear back home to healthy choices here.  I don't think I off roaded THAT much, but I could feel the negatives building up in my body and my mind so I started another Whole30 two days ago to reset and try again.  I sure didn't want to stop my off roading ways which were seductively leading me towards more and more nights out at restaurants, but I already feel better.  At the end of this month, I think I'll try again to incorporate other foods in moderation.

 

I agree on the super processed foods.  I know I knew they weren't wholesome before, but I never really appreciated how unhealthy they were in my system.  Good luck today!!

[Suzy]

I just want to share how inspired I am to eat better at the moment.  I've come to accept that eating is sometimes a complete struggle for me.  It's not easy to always eat vegetables.  I have to be my own best friend here and do little by little, inch by inch . . . make the right choice whenever and wherever possible.  It's a fight. 

 

But then I get into the flow of preparing healthy food, and I don't want desserts for a time.  I know I can get back there again if I try.  I only have this one precious life, and I need to live my dreams.  It requires constant vigilance, and no small measure of inspiration.  I have to remind myself of my goals, and also how I want to feel in my day to day life. 

[Emma]

It is a struggle - I think that's why so many people keep coming back to the forum!

 

For me, I really appreciate that we keep our home clean so when I'm home and wanting to eat, I really only have real foods to choose from.  Of course, I dip into the almond butter and eat handfuls of cashews and make all these not so great choices, but compared to what I used to eat - I'm like super healthy woman.  Now if I could only learn to make those choices all the time and not pick up the junk food to eat on the way out of the store!

 

I think too about this life of mine and how much I want it to be a good one.  It's hard to keep that at the forefront of my mind when some part of my system is yearning for some fries, but Whole30 really has taught me a lot and I am finding that I don't crave the deserts either once I'm eating healthy most of the time.

[MeadowLily]

Eating super processed food is never, ever worth it (unless there is literally no other option all day - which is so rare it has not happened yet).  That's a lesson that I've finally learned.  It doesn't matter how cheap it is, how convenient it is, how small a portion it is, or how many other people are eating it around me.  I've made myself quite ill over the past couple of months and I'm ready to return to the healthful way of eating.  In short, Velveeta is not cheese and I'm never eating it again. 

 

I'd really, really like to get another Whole30 going.  Why not?  I've only done one all the way through so far and didn't successfully complete the reintroduction phase.  I think a Whole30 should not be considered done until this crucial phase is complete.   

Processed food isn't worth it  and  processed cardboard meal delivery service isn't worth it either.   The preservatives and hidden sugars are a real eye opener.