Day 3, so far so good...more alert, less foggy

[Juice06870]

The main problem I have found myself having for the past number of months is a severe fog that I find myself in, both at the office and at home (less so at home, but pretty bad at work - and NEVER at the gym, that's the one time I am almost always 100% switched on). Was feeling under-motivated and putting off some duties and projects that I could have easily taken care of, for no real reason). In addition, I am easily annoyed and cranky and I hate that. I know it's not really becoming of me, but I find it's usually easier to be cranky (not a good thing) Prior to starting the Whole30 on Sunday, I spent the prior 2-3 weeks eating mostly paleo and practicing the shopping and some recipes to see if it was feasible. What took me by surprise was the big change in my alertness and mood! After a week or so, I was sharp again at work, motivated and really getting some serious stuff done. My mood improved a lot too. (it's slipped again this week, but i chalk it up to lack of sleep) I REALLY hope this continues to be the case as I progress through the coming weeks, it really feels good to not feel like I'm shot all the time.

So today, I got up at 5am to get a nice early work out in (trained my legs for an hour followed by 25 min cardio)

Pre workout:

1 Epic Bar (bison, bacon, cranberry) - all grass-fed and very minimal ingredients (epicbar.com)

half an avocado with a bit of sea salt

the sea salt on the avocado was a mistake, my mouth and throat had this really dry feeling throughout most of my workout, no matter how much water i drank

Post workout: (about 20 mins after workout finished)

5 oz grilled chicken (marinated in olive oil and Montreal Chicken Seasoning)

just over 1/2 a large yam

(this was the first time i ever ate real food like this right after work out (and not a protein shake) and it went down a lot easier than I thought it would. I was happy about that.

Breakfast: (cooked it at home after i showered and dressed for work, tossed in tupperware and at at work about 90 mins or so after the post workout meal)

4 organic free range eggs

1 organic grass fed beef sausage from US Wellness Meats

mixed some chopped peppers into the eggs along with leftover sauteed mushrooms and zucchini from previous dinner

half an avocado

truffle oil on the eggs and veggies

2 cups coffee

Lunch:

Whole roasted pepper, stuffed with organic pastured ground beef with onions and basil

3/4 large yam

roasted brussels sprouts and fennel (leftover from dinner)

Didn't have the urge to snack this afternoon, but had 2 cups of herbal tea around 3 and 4pm

Dinner:

sauteed medium sized shrimp (approx 2 servings - 18 shrimp)

zucchini noodles

paleo pesto (recipe from the book Well Fed)

Tossed it all together.

half avocado

Drank a ton of water all day.

Overall I felt good all day, my workout went very well, it was the best leg workout I think I've had in 3 weeks. I was pretty tired during the day though, but I have gotten little sleep the past 2 nights. Hope to catch up soon.

This is a long post, sorry about that. If you are still with me here, thanks for sticking with me!

[Tom Denham]

Good job. My guess is that eliminating grains is responsible for your coming out of the brain fog. One note: The Bison Epic Bar includes bacon cured with brown sugar, which makes it a problem during a Whole30. It is a small amount, but the Whole30 is a radical program where a food is either 100 percent okay or off-plan for the duration. Try eating one or two boiled eggs as your pre-workout meal. I boil 6 eggs at a time and keep them in my refrigerator all the time and enjoy eating them cold.

[Juice06870]

Wow thanks for pointing that out on the Epic bar Tom.

I also have the Beef/habanero/cherry bars as well, I rechecked the ingredients just now online for that and I don't see any sneaky things in there that would work against my whole30 plan. If that one is ok, I'll rotate between one of those and some hard boiled eggs pre-workout.

If it's the grains that were causing the fog, I'll never eat them again, at least not regularly. That is not a feeling I want to have ever again.

[Physibeth]

I had a very similar experience going Paleo and I'm also convinced it was the grains because I had some Pad Thai (not currently W30) on Sunday and I felt tired, foggy, and cranky for the first time in months. Keep rocking your W30!