day 5. tired and bloated.

[pink clefairy]

My brother turned me on to this. I'm always trying new thing. I was vegan for a year but my hair started falling out. My friends rejoiced when I started eating meat. This way of eating isn't too bad but it's very confusing and I've been reading for all 5 of these days. I feel sooo guilty to eat so much fat! I'm trying to follow the rules and ignore my husband's concern that I'm eating too much fat. I'll log in a day.

Breakfast. A couple of handfuls of spinach that a wilted into what looked like a couple of Tbsps. A chicken sausage, two eggs, half a tomato and half an avocado.

Breakfast is usually around 6:30 but I can't eat lunch until 2-2:30 so I do a snack around 10:30-11:00. Sometimes it's hard to wait for the snack but I read that you are suppose to wait between meals. It's pretty tough because I work at a bakery and hot scones, cookies and cakes are always coming out of the oven. I've worked there for 2 years so it's getting slightly easier to resist.

Snack. Apple and a handful of roasted, but not salted almonds from Whole Foods. I did find instructions to roast my own when this bag is gone.

Lunch. Leftover chicken breast slightly bigger than my palm, 1/2 of a sweet potato, and the broccoli I made last night with a little coconut oil, cranberries and walnuts.

Dinner. Hopefully my husband will make salmon and I'll have leftover broccoli and some leftover roasted Brussels sprouts.

Not sure what the take is on leftovers for Whole30. Vegans thought it lost its vitality or some such thing and fresh was better.

One more note. I'm usually constipated so my body is doing some funky things. My belly was sticking out sooo far yesterday that it was alarming. Things got moving a bit so this is a big change. Usually the only thing that makes me go is a glass of wine and I only do that on the weekend. Middle of the week? My stomach was killing me!

Another guilt. I didn't work out on two days this week. I just wanted to sleep. I have been so motivated and loving my workout program that this makes me feel really bad.

[Physibeth]

I have found that snacking on nuts makes me feel bloated so I have cut them out for the most part. I still use them in recipes and occasionally will have some almond butter but its rare.

You should try to make that snack a mini-meal. I can definitely see how it is necessary given your schedule though if you ate a larger breakfast you might find the need going away.

Also if you were vegan for a long time your body might need assistance with digesting all the meat it is getting now and I've seen digestive enzymes recommended for aiding with that. You might also want to add some fermented foods to your diet.

Another thing that can cause bloating is increasing your intake of raw veggies. Try making more of your veggies cooked until you adjust.

[LRM]

Hi! I have a bunch of W30's under my belt, and the first few times, I experienced a LOT of bloating in the first 5-10 days. In fact, I'm in day 6 of a new W30, after a month of serious off-roading. My system is going crazy and my belly makes me look about 7 months pregnant. Constipation has always been a problem for me, and I'm having a tough time with that too - before my fall off the wagon, my gut was really healing well.

I will recommend getting rid of nuts, along with any dried fruit you may be having. Those two things make everything worse. Drink lots of water and green tea, and some Kombucha if you can. I would also recommend adding some digestive enzymes to help you get over this hump as well as a magnesium supplement like Plain Natural Calm. HINT: Vitamin Shoppe online has the best deal for Natural Calm.

The good news is this too shall pass (no pun intended) but it may take a little time. W30 changes everything for the better, but it takes your system on a bit of a wild ride as it adjusts. Hang in there and good luck.

P.S. I too had hair fall-out issues too, due to trying vegan and vegetarianism. Soy is brutal on my endocrine system. I can honestly say that now I have so much new hair growth that my stylist is going crazy trying to figure out how to cut my hair in a way that accommodates all the different lengths. It's a good problem to have. :-)

[pjena]

I was almost vegan before starting W30 and I suffered constipation and bloating, too. I tried a lot of the tricks I read about on the forums - coconut milk coffee, sweet potatoes with skin on them, plenty of water, plenty of fat, no nuts, kombucha, enzymes, probiotics, magnesium. It wasn't until someone posted an article that suggested taking HCL enzymes to help my body digest the meat that I felt some relief. I have been pretty regular since.

[pink clefairy]

Company is on it's way, but I'm finally on my computer. Thank you all for the kind encouragement and advice!! I ran out the next morning and bough magnesium and dropped most of the nuts. I sear I had more energy after taking the magnesium. I've been waking up ready to nap. I've been so tired all day that I haven't worked out. I swore that I would start today. I had a great breakfast, took my multi, magnesium, probiotic and fish oil and then started my 45 minute Combat exercise. I felt really good. I feel pretty energized right now. My body is starting to respond a little better and I'm not so bloated. I'm dring a lot of green tea over ice. I rarely eat red meat and I ate WAY more that usual this week. I think that might have been tough. I'm going to read up on HCL.

I started the Vegan diet at the time because I wasn't working and had plenty of time to cook. It was really fun exploring a bunch of new food. I never had the excellent energy everyone is talking about. I've tried many different approaches looking for that magic "way of life" so I can wake up some day and feel some energy. I usually wake up, go to work and have to nap when I get back home because my brain is just shutting down. Even on the weekends I get like that.

[KJT]

I've never heard that about leftovers before, that they lose their benefits. I can't imagine all the nutrients could seep out just because they're in the refrigerator for a few days. I don't have time to cook during the week, so I do all the cooking on Sunday and live on leftovers for the rest of the week. So far it seems to be working for me.

The first week is awful, especially if you just came to this from a completely different sort of eating. But it will get much, much better!

[pink clefairy]

Day 8

Breakfast: My last Aidells chicken sausage, 2 eggs, spinach cooked with tomatos. My husband said he thought that the sausage is probably too processed and cheating. The ingredients seemed good, but I guess I can cut it out. I'm totally out of avacado and need to go shopping. Want to make an egg casserole to make breakfast quick and easy for early work days.

Lunch: clams. It had white wine in the broth, but it was boiled, so we were thinking that it didn't count??? Then I ate a Fuji apple with almond butter I made at Whole Foods.

Not feeling the exciting energy yet, but a lot of things are happening. I think my body is starting to process the food a little better. Much of the bloat is gone. Another thing thing that I really have to think about is being full. It's that strangest thing that I'm so confused on it. I put about a palm to a palm and 1/2 sized portion of meat on my plate. Then I just fill the rest up with vegetables. I try to add two kinds. Then I just eat it until it's gone. Is this enough? Probably, because when I'm done I can go many hours of feeling sort of "even." If I ate more could I go longer? I only ate one time this week when I felt stuffed. That's because I was at a BBQ and I brought paleo chicken skewers. I made my husband BBQ them while everyone was snacking because I though it would be better to snack on chicken, onions and pineapple than be tempted. Then the host made hamburgers and ribs. I put together a hamburger without a bun and afterwards I realized that the skewers were probably enough. So I absolutely know when I've had too much, but still trying to figure out what it feels like when I can say, "I'm satisfied and I'm going to stop eating."

Also, I started this diet not only for the energy, but for a constant mucus flow I have going down the back of my throat. My doctor said to try Allegra D first to see if that cleared it up. I loved that the Allegra D kept me awake, but it didn't do anything for my mucus. So far on day 8, no change.

[percypat]

Hello! You're doing really well!

I wanted to add that I'm seeing more hair growth as well since I started my first Whole 30 (I'm on day 27), and quite quickly too. I've had problems with excessive hair fallout for the past couple of years, which the doctor put down to prolonged courses of antibiotics for my eczema. Now I've got lots of little baby hairs sticking straight up from my scalp which looks a bit silly but I'm happy. This could also be a side effect from the current medication I'm on for my eczema, but I'm confident that all the nutrition I'm taking in is helping things along.

Also, if you're anything like me, the internal food limiter will kick in at some point. At the start of my whole 30 I would often miss those cues and find myself feeling really really full. Then one day around the halfway mark I was eating my breakfast, reached for the half avocado and suddenly realised I was full. Not over-full, just full. Since then, I'm getting better at finding the sweet spot. Either we become a bit more in tune with our bodies, or our bodies get better at letting us know.

And if everything in that sausage was compliant, I would totally eat it. I haven't found any compliant sausages yet and I would love one!

[pink clefairy]

Day 15 Alcohol Challenges

 

I had to take my daughter shopping for her promotion dress (and all that goes with it) yesterday. I started the day with an admittedly, late breakfast. But it was my usual. Two eggs & spinach, wilted with tomato and some onion, some leftover paleo pulled pork and sauerkraut. I think we left the house at 11pm and it wasn't until 5pm that we had finished up at the mall and had to grocery shop for the meal. I mean, yes, I was hungry, but it certainly wasn't the usually. I even watched my daughter eat some bread from the bakery and I was just wistful. I asked her to give up dairy this week and see if her acne was better. She surprised me by reading labels! It didn't occur to me that milk was in popcorn. At the grocery I bought some grass fed beef and we barbecued some hamburgers and squash. I sautéed some mushrooms and ate my burger without a bun. I saw a recipe where you freeze very ripe bananas, throw them in the food processor and it's like banana ice cream. One ingredient. The reason I didn't think it was cheating is because ice cream is not one of my problem foods and also, it was my only fruit on a very hot day.

 

Here is my problem. My husband is turning 50 next Saturday. We're celebrating on Friday with the kids and I'll get a fancy, small cake from my bakery where I work to celebrate. I'm not worried about that because I can pass up cake, too. It's still not my problem food. But then we're heading out to Reno for a quick trip for some fun and sun. I hear breakfast is pretty easy and I think I can manage most meals now that I have found I don't have to constantly snack. It's the alcohol. I bought my husband a spendy bottle of Peju Cab Franc for Christmas and he has been saving it for his birthday. It is very, very important to him that I drink during this trip. It's not a problem to stick to red wine, but it still is the biggest CHEAT.

 

I guess I don't REALLY need advice. I know that I have to say I failed and I have to start all over, but it's a bummer that this happened at day 21. I guess I just need to feel greatful for feeling my snacking and binging getting under control and feeling more even during the day. Not having to eat a meal then needing something sweet, then something salty, then something sweet... Also, I suppose another 30 days is only going to be good and helpful to me.

[Keianna]

Why do you have to drink with him? I have watched my husband consume alcohol and pass on it. Not easy, but 21 days is a lot to throw away.

[pink clefairy]

He said he's be pretty mad if I didn't. He's turning 50 so it's a VERY big deal to him. I pass it up if he's having a glass of wine on the weekend at home. At a bar he can drink with his friends and I can grab a club soda with a couple of limes. But this is a Peju that he has been saving for this exact occasion and a Chateauneuf du Pape that he wants to share specifically with me on his birthday. Both of these wines are gone from the market.

 

I'm hoping that it won't exactly be throwing it away. I mean, I won't go through what I went through on week 1, right? What I really should have done was wait to start Whole30 until after his birthday. I thought about it and he asked me to wait, but really, I didn't want to wait another day. You know how the book says something like, START, right now, this minute. I really needed this to start immediately knowing I had this roadblock. I guess I didn't know how big a deal it was until I got started.

[pink clefairy]

Day 31 perfect food, but alcohol...

So I decided to finish the 30 days since I was going to continue the Whole 30 anyway. I haven't gotten the results I was hoping for. I didn't lose any weight and I didn't whittle my waist at all. I think my mucus problem is a little lighter, but not gone. I do feel a little more energetic than usual. I started enzymes. In Robb Wolf's book, he said to work your way up to 5 pills until you feel warmth. I took 3 today and still didn't feel it. Tomorrow I'll try 4. I'll try to drop nuts and maybe 1 fruit a day to see if that does the trick. I'm working out about 5 times a week with Les Mills Pump and Combat hybrid.

I really like that I'm cooking more. On Sunday my husband cooked up a bunch of chicken thighs and I threw a grass fed tri tip in the crock pot. My kids ate that quickly so I made turkey meatballs, spaghetti squash and my own sauce. I made egg muffins with chicken sausage for breakfast. I steamed bok choy and kale and broccoli. I made my own mayo (easy) for tuna salad and whipped up a cool dressing for avocado salads. I'm bringing sausage or chicken to work with jicama and snap peas or an apple for a snack. Now why do the kids want to order pizza???!