My June Whole 30 Log (with songs)

[Selene]

I just saw a great flyer for a class series offered on eating healthy on a budget, co-taught by my doctor's office and an awesome local blogger and food writer who I know has done a lot of elimination diet stuff (she's a coincidentally a friend; I live in a small town). I have an awesome doctor.

 

Here's the challenge I did http://www.hungerfreevt.org/component/content/article/9-do/93-3squaresvt-challenge

 

There are lots more like it out there. There was a lot of discussion about it in our community at the time and I talked about it a lot on social media. I think it's a good tool, but the most important thing is making sure there is more support for food security and that existing programs don't get cut.

[Selene]

Day 7

 

WHAT I ATE:

 

Breakfast:

Chicken sausage

Kale salad with pumpkin seends

Sweet potatoes with coconut oil

Avocado

Cherries

 

Lunch:

Shrimp tossed with homemade mayo

Boiled sunchokes with lemon and salt

Carrots & cucumber slices, snap peas

Dandelion root tea

 

Dinner (on the go, at local health food store):

Chicken breast

Steamed Kale

Cauliflower, olives, raisins in olive oil

Larabar

Lavender kombucha

 

OBSERVATIONS:

 

It is hard to have your period on Whole 30. Today was my first full day and I was home with a cranky, sick kid, trying to deal with a lot of stressful work stuff remotely. Not easy with or without the Whole 30.

 

New stress fighter: Lego kits. Am seriously considering buying some over the weekend. My younger daughter and I put a car together from a kit we had lying around the house. Very fun and relaxing.

 

Taking a bath and reading a mystery = good.

 

SONG OF THE DAY:

 

Oh My God [the worst music video in the world] by Erlend and Steinjo

Cracks me up

[Selene]

Oh, I also have been reading about the dreams where people are surrounding by junk and eat it and wake up feeling so relieved that they didn't actually cheat...and secretly thinking I would never do that.

 

Woke up from a dream where I was driving to a performance in a friend's car, which was completely filled with Rolos and Reeses, and mindlessly snacking on candy. Felt so dumb for accidentally eating sugar without even meaning to. And then I woke up. Super relieved. Weird!

[Selene]

Day 8

 

WHAT I ATE:

 

Lots of things on the run and out and about today, which definitely put things to the test...

 

Breakfast

Leftover shrimp

Avocado

Watercress & cucumber salad

 

Lunch at farmer's market

Grass fed burger (hold the cheese, hold the bun!) w/kimchee

Lacto-fermented pickle

Carrots

Strawberries

Lemon balm iced tea

All local and all awesome

 

Dinner in a restaurant

Grass fed burger with an egg on top

Charred onions and roasted mushrooms

Braised kale w/garlic

Also ordered pickled jalapenos but realized they had sugar so, nope to those (did figure it out after a taste and no I am not starting over)

 

OBSERVATIONS:

 

Kind of headache-y from having my period (TMI?). Not really any better than the best of these experiences, but a lot better than the worst, if that makes sense. In general my energy has been kind of low over the last few days, I think for this reason. Hormonal mood imbalance stuff is my #1 reason for coming to this diet, so will be interesting to see how I feel coming out of it. Had a couple of rough days that coincided with major work stress, but it's been pretty manageable this time around.

 

The brain foggy feeling I carry around so much of the time is really fading away. Love that. I notice it when it's really bad, but feeling more clear-headed and naturally focused is really helping me to see how it's often there at a low level.

 

The Whole 30 program reposted one of my Instagram photos today (I post meal photos here sometimes, but much more steadily on Instagram) , which led to some great suggestions. Scotch eggs, I am coming for you! Someone remarked "That is A LOT of food." For sure it is. I am so not here to be hungry!

 

I love my farmer's market. So amazing to buy so much of what you eat from people you know.

 

So excited for an early bed. Reading, hot water bottle, etc.

 

SONG OF THE DAY:

Bloodbuzz Ohio -- The National

 

Dedicated to all my too hip for this world friends who like to complain about the National. Bite me!

[Selene]

Uh-oh. Woke up feeling shaky, emotional, super sad, kind of crazy. So not into it. I'm not tempted to eat anything to deal with that (though may end up drinking a cup of decaf coffee), but it is so not fun.

[Selene]

Yesterday started out super rough: emotional exhausted angry heartbroken. Kind of out of nowhere. But I rocked my amino acid supplements during the day, ate a huge breakfast, packed an insane amount of compliant foods to bring along for the ride, and went to a waterpark with my family. Hard to really complain about a day that takes place mostly in a hot tub.

 

One thing I learned: pack more food than you think you will need. I needed way less than what I brought (in general, appetite was super mellow yesterday), but felt SO secure knowing I had options. Ended up eating out and having a steak with vegetables sauteed in olive oil. Could only eat half of it, so that will be lunch today or tomorrow!

 

Rough time falling asleep last night, but once I got there: solid. Here's to a better day! Clear-headedness continues, so that's a plus.

[Selene]

It's been such a busy week I haven't been logging, but I have been compliant and I'm still in it!

 

So, some misc. observations (I'm on Day 13):

• Appetite has changed a lot; I find myself getting fuller sooner often
• I had a really busy weekend and didn't have time to do as much food prep and this week has been harder as a result. Eating Whole 30 on the go is not so easy! Have been bringing a lot of stuff from home and supplementing with salad bars at work and beyond. Works, but I think I'm starting to skimp on starch and fat a little too much as a result. I'm definitely prioritizing food prep on Saturday so I can move into the second half of this thing without too much stress.
• My energy and focus is staring to improve; sleep has been good.
• It's interesting to note what I most crave and when. The food piece hasn't been so hard, but I still want coffee every morning and a beer every few nights. I'm really trying to train myself to find other ways to wake up and wind down, but I think this is going to take more than 30 days.

Food today was:

Breakfast: eggs with peppers and onions, strawberries and cherries, hibiscus tea (at hospital after MRI)

Lunch: HUGE potluck feast with a friend who is also eating healthy -- so good and fun. Sweet potato, huge salad with tuna, mesclun, microgreens, carrots, cucumber, snap peas, olives, and frozen berries and bananas covered in coconut cream and fresh mint (OMFG I had no idea -- too desert-like for daily consumption, but SO amazing for a special occasion lunch), kombucha

Dinner: Shrimp & bay scallops sauteed in olive oil/ghee, asparagus, sauteed spinach

 

[From last night, apparently unposted]

[Selene]

Day 14

 

WHAT I ATE:

 

Pre-workout snack:

Pistachios, banana

 

Breakfast:

Hard boiled eggs

Olives

Carrots

Snap peas

Sauerkraut

Tulsi Red Chai with Coconut Milk

 

Lunch & Dinner:

Pulled pork and guacamole over greens/vegetables (at two different locations, at two different times)

Pickle & cherries (lunch)

Lemon balm tea (lunch)

 

EXERCISE:

Tabata Bootcamp class (brutal)

 

OBSERVATIONS:

Still recovering from exercise -- brutal. But, like, good brutal.

 

Have blocked off major time for cooking tomorrow and will be planning meals better, to ensure more consistent starch/fat consumption and less eating on the go. Very excited about this. Lots of eating on the fly this week. Made it work, but it is really not the ideal way to do this.

 

Excited for sleep! As always...

[Selene]

DAY 15 (halfway!)

 

WHAT I ATE:

 

Breakfast (on the go while shopping):

Cooked shrimp

Larabar

Pickles

Kombucha

 

Lunch:

Huge salad with mackerel & guacamole

Roasted turnips

 

Pre-Dinner Snack:

Pistachios

Local strawberries

 

Late Dinner:

Chorizo

Sweet potato

Something green to be determined

 

OBSERVATIONS;

 

Did huge shopping run today. Happy to be well-stocked, but have mixed feelings about the amount of money and energy spent on procuring food, especially because my family is still eating something different. My oldest daughter has a lot of digestive challenges and a definite dairy intolerance, so we actually had an interesting conversation today about experimenting with a more household approach to eating gluten/dairy/sugar free. So this may be a more long term/holistic approach.

 

My husband and I trade vacation time during the summer to minimize the amount of time kids spend in daycare, so they will take off for part of next week. Looking forward to having a little time alone to rejuvenate and cook.

 

One thing I've really learned over the past week of being on the go all the time is that it's really not that much harder to eat decent food. Being busy (and I'm one of those people who is always busy; that email on stress addiction...a little too close to home) is one of my go to excuses for abandoning my normally healthy eating in favor of grilled cheese sandwiches, etc. Turns out, it is really no more difficult to eat relatively well (I'm blessed to live in a place with lots of local, healthy foods).

 

A sleepy day starting this afternoon. It felt like I might have reacted to something at lunch. Ate while shopping at a health food store salad bar and I wonder if there was an unexpected trace of dairy in the guacamole? I AM NOT STARTING OVER. I didn't detect any and it's not part of their usual ingredients, but after eating my stomach felt not so great and I got really tired and spacey. I'm excited to really take my time with the re-introduction phase, so I can stop hypothesizing so much.

 

Ooops! I keep forgetting to post...

[Selene]

So hard to keep up with these logs (I am doing better on Instagram).

DAY 18 (yesterday)

Breakfast:

Hard boiled egg & avocado with homemade mayo

Sauerkraut

Grapes

Lunch:

Huge salad w/sardines

Sour pickle

Banana & berries with coconut milk/cream, chia, mint (se decadent and good!)

Dinner:

Grilled chicken with Well Fed sunshine sauce (great stuff)

Grilled asparagus & broccoli raab

Sweet potato with coconut oil

Exercise:

30 minutes of run/walk intervals (2:1), felt amazing!

Have been having trouble falling asleep the last two nights & I think it's related to the energizing amino acids I take in the first half of the day. So I am cutting back -- actually one of my goals in coming to this diet: to get more amino acids from food and rely less on supplements. Pretty cool, right?

[Lizzard77]

Selene, it looks like you are doing really great!  Your menus sound delicious and well thought out, even on days when you say you are on the run!  I know what you mean about the log sometimes being hard to keep up with, I have begun to treat it sort of like instagram, right before I eat I snap a pic and upload it via tapatalk with a caption of what it is.  I do try every few days to say something meaningful

Keep up the awesome work, we've only got 21 days left!

[Selene]

Thanks so much! What is this tapatalk of which you speak? Sounds intriguing...

[Selene]

DAY 19

 

WHAT I ATE:

 

Breakfast:

Sausage

Sauerkraut

Broccoli raab

Grapes

 

Lunch (work picnic):

Burger (probably bad meat)

Undressed salad

Arugula

Cauliflower salad

Carrot/cumin salad

Cherries

Apricot

 

Dinner:

Quick salad of shrimp, avocado & cucumber tossed in homemade mayo

 

STUFF:

Ready for bed after staying up to watch basketball last night, but heading to a workish meeting. Excited to sleep after that. husband and kids are away, so I can just tuck into bed and read, which I am thrilled about.

 

Proud of myself for navigating the work picnic, but wish it hadn't involved factory farmed meats. I guess: pack protein sources you feel good about for those occasions? The desert table didn't even tempt me.

 

Can't believe we are almost two thirds down!

 

SONG:

 

Haven't done songs in awhile, but here's a good one I heard today:

 

Joy to You, Baby -- Josh Ritter

 

Sad and lovely.

[Lizzard77]

It's an app you can get that manages the forums you are a member of.  It makes it really easy to upload photos.  Love it!

[Selene]

Yesterday DAY 20...

 

What I Ate:

 

Breakfast:

Egg bake

Sausage

Little bit of leftover sweet potato

Cherries

Rooibos tea with coconut milk

 

Lunch:

Salad with grilled salmon

Sauteed zucchini

Pistachios

Seltzer

 

Dinner/drinks out with friends:

Burger on lettuce, tomato, onion

Kale

Lots of seltzer and lime

 

OBSERVATIONS:

 

Yesterday around lunch was the first time I felt kind of shaky and underfed. Threw some pistachios into the mix and felt much better. I'm also having some seasonal allergies (though SO much better than usual at this time) so I think that might have been a factor as well.

 

Have been starting to sleep 8-9 hours, which is a really good development for me. I've been working on getting more sleep for a long time, but had kind of maxed out at 7 maybe 8 hours, so I'm really happy about this. Though my desire to sleep in has eclipsed my exercise some. I think that's okay. I'm an overdoer and an undersleeper, so the rest piece feels more important than anything. Hurray for rest!

 

I have been waking up tired in the morning (possibly also due to allergies), but once I get going my energy is very steady and focused. Just need to figure out how to get over that morning hump! Suggestions welcome. I do take some amino acids that help with energy and I've actually had to scale my dosage way down, because they were giving me a little TOO much energy later in the day and making it hard to fall asleep. That's awesome, overall, but I'm still looking for that "wake up and conquer the world" feeling. I had the beginnings of it for a few days last week and it was AWESOME!

 

Song of the yesterday:

 

Recover by CHVRCHES

 

[Selene]

Went away for a few days, away from the internet, to the country. I've been eating really well, but I'm excited to get in some cooking time to make this last week a little easier. I'm about to use up as many vegetables as I possibly can and make some meatballs and salmon cakes for quick meals.

 

I feel so lucky to be able to eat about 75% local on this diet. So many farmer's markets, so little time (and money!). I feel like maybe I've been underdoing it a little on starch and fat, so I'm excited to eat lots and lots tonight. I'm also going to go for my once a week fruit salad with coconut cream. So amazing and decadent.

 

Also, wow, I slept for about 10-11 hours last night. Have never quite managed to wake up as a result, but I am loving all this sleep. It is really a rare thing for me. I am tying to just listen to my body and go with it -- I think I'm in a borderline adrenal fatigue category, so this is something I've been working on for awhile now.

[Emma]

I've been sleeping a lot more as well and it's nice.  It's kind of crazy that I didn't ever insist on letting myself get as much sleep as I could.  Instead I'd feel guilty.  This does seem like a far healthier way to live.  Hope you enjoy a nice hearty dinner.

[Selene]

Day 24 food log (yesterday):

Breakfast:

Sausage & zucchini scramble

Sauerkraut

Raspberries w/coconut cream & chia seeds

Lunch:

Tuna salad w/homemade mayo, fennel, capers on greens

Pickles

Carrots & snap peas

Strawberries

Ice water w/frozen blackberries & mint

Dinner:

Lettuce wrap with grilled chicken, shredded carrots, homemade guacamole

Cauliflower rice

Cranberry kombucha

I just had to throw out a piece of meat that seems to have gone bad, which I had planned to cook in crockpot all day. Of course it was local, organic, and wicked expensive!

%€?#!

Still sleepy, possibly from seasonal allergies, possibly from a lifetime of doing too much and sleeping too little. I've been prioritizing sleep over exercise and wondering how long to go with that vs. when to start pushing myself more. Suggestions welcome!

[Emma]

Ten to eleven hours is a LOT - seems like you must need it on some level.  I was thinking today, after a solid nine hours of sleep, that it is such a big shift from my old life.   From as early as I can remember, one was just supposed to Get Up and get moving - early bird catches the worm and all that.  But boy, I sure can feel the difference between a night of good sleep and a night that is okay sleep.   For myself, I think I'm going to keep making sleep the priority because then I use my day more effectively and will hopefully learn a way to adjust my awake hours to fit things in, instead of adjusting my sleep hours.  The more I've been reading about my knee and foot pain, the more I think I aggravated things by never giving my body a solid chance to rest and renew itself.  Of course, I'm not doing a dang thing right now and as soon as I want to get back to swimming, I'm going to have to make some serious adjustments because that's super early in the morning, but for now I sure appreciate giving my body what it needs.

[Selene]

Day 25

 

WHAT I ATE:

 

Breakfast:

Salmon cakes (salmon, cilantro, lime, coconut flour, eggs)

Carrot & parsnip mash with ghee

Sauteed pea tendrils

Pear slices

Rooibos tea with coconut milk

 

Lunch:

Salad with chicken and guacamole & lemon/olive oil dressing

Sauerkraut

Frozen berries + coconut cream + fresh mint + chia seeds

 

Dinner:

Zucchini noodles sauteed with garlic and hot pepper flakes

Meatballs

Tomato sauce

 

OBSERVATIONS:

 

Had weird chest pain tonight and had to call my doctor. Unclear if muscle spasm or some kind of indigestion issue. Treating for both as per her suggestions and hoping it subsides.

 

Had major food cravings today for the first time, outside of a few of times wanting a beer. I wanted to eat all forbidden things, especially sweet things and wanted a drink immediately after getting home. Did not indulge, but was interesting to see the triggers: stress at work and possible hormonal fluctuations.

 

Continuing with the resting! About to read a good book and watch the trailer for The Bling Ring.

 

SONG:

 

Damien Rice - Rat Within the Grain

[Selene]

Long day of work. Also, face breaking out, bloated, with indigestion. So that's been interesting. Possibly hormones. Or nuts. Or decaf coffee (broke down and drank a cup twice this week, wit coconut milk).

 

But still...

 

DAY 26!

 

Breakfast:

Eggs

Cauliflower rice

Sweet potato

Kiwi & raspberries

 

Lunch:

Salad bar at work with beef and hard boiled eggs

Strawberries & cherries

 

Dinner (ate on the go while managing work crisis):

Leftover tuna salad (lots)

Cherry larabar

 

Feeling good and watching Mitchell and Webb.

[Emma]

Weird chest pains, the Bling Ring, bloated and day 26 - that's a lot of stuff going on!  I finally got my book in the mail that you suggested (Making the mind your ally) and I love it.  I was reading it and nodding along and at the same time the back of my mind was saying, "but!" which is exactly WHY this entire thing is so new and novel and probably very healthy.  Thank you for the book suggestion.

 

I rarely get to watch movies, but I have to admit that the Bling Ring sounds like a great one to just sit back and enjoy.  No intense political dramas for me.  I just want good well made easy watching these days!

 

Hopefully your chest pains and bloat and all that works it's way through.  I got my period a week early both times I did Whole30.  This last time I remember looking in the mirror in the morning and thinking I looked terrible.  My face had lines all over it that didn't go away.  I just looked old.  A few hours later, my period happened and then my face went back to it's normal youthful oldness.  

 

Peace to you!

[Selene]

I'm so glad you like the book. It's really practical, I think, but doesn't shy away from the real Buddhist framework of meditation, which I loved. I'm actually reading his Running with the Mind of Meditation right now, in preparation for my July Exercise30 (exercising at least a small amount every day).

 

The chest pains totally went away when I stopped taking Claritin. My husband googled it and apparently it's a side effect for a small number of people, occurring most frequently in exactly my demographic.

 

Bloating mostly gone too. Who knows?

[Selene]

Haven't been posting in a few days, but here's a summary of sorts:

 

I had a pretty stressful work week, and somewhere towards the end I found myself thinking about all the things I wanted for the first time really: a piece of cake, a drink (okay, I've craved that a handful of times already), a nice cheese board, etc. Then we went out to eat last night and I was able to have an incredibly delicious, totally compliant meal with only minimal adjustments to the menu (salmon belly with roe and turnips, floating in a delicious green herb sauce; grilled chicken livers on frisee with pickled strawberries). It wasn't cheap; I've found I have to order about twice as much food and/or pay extra for substitutions and additions when I go out. Good encouragement to eat out a lot less and splurge and enjoy it a little more on the rare occasions when I do. And then this morning I had to grab some food while running a bunch of errands with family, because I hadn't eaten breakfast yet. I put together a totally healthy portable meal at the health food store (again: not cheap). And all those cranky "I'm almost done so why don't I just eat all the things already" cravings went away and I realized I just felt really...confident. It's not so hard to do this after all. It just takes a lot of practice, really.

 

WHAT I ATE TODAY (Day 29):

 

Breakfast (on the go at health food store):

cooked shrimp, a hard boiled egg, a couple of carrots, snap peas, strawberries, kombucha

 

Lunch:

Veggie omelette and side of steamed carrots at a diner

Larabar

 

Dinner:

Baked chicken

Steamed sweet potatoes with coconut oil

Broccoli

 

On to day 30!

[Selene]

Day 30!

 

Weirdly, I was EXHAUSTED today. There was some crazy stressful stuff that happened at work this week and then my youngest daughter has been sick with a very high fever for much of the weekend. Cortisol overdose! I think that must be it. I went back to bed at 11AM and got up at 1:30 -- completely out of character for me.

 

WHAT I ATE:

 

Breakfast:

Eggs, sweet potatoes, broccoli in coconut oil

 

Lunch:

Sardines in huge salad harvested partly from my garden

Cherries

 

Late PM snack:

Larabar

 

Dinner:

Applegate beef hot dogs

Asparagus with olive oil

Lacto-fermented pickles

 

OBSERVATIONS/WRAP-UP:

 

What went well:

 

I rarely felt hungry between meals or craved forbidden foods.

 

My sleep improved dramatically.

 

My mood improved dramatically.

 

Bloating disappeared almost immediately.

 

My attention and focus stayed more consistent during the day and the brain fog I often feel was mostly gone and replaced by a clam, steady concentration.

 

I was able to lower dosages of amino acid supplements.

 

I learned ways to deal with stress that didn't include sugary treats or alcohol (more to do here!).

 

I got really good at eating healthy foods on the go. This was my main trigger before, because I tend to get really busy and use that as an excuse to eat whatever because it's "easy." I now have lots of go-to meals when I need something quick, easy, portable, etc.

 

I got better at eating in restaurants, another instance where I tend to throw everything out the window. I'll be happy to loosen restrictions around sugar, oil and whatever turns out not to be such a big deal via reintroduction, but I'm also confident I can make great choices and enjoy myself thoroughly.

 

Oh, also, I lost four pounds, which feels like a really healthy amount. Weight loss wasn't a huge goal for me, as I'm within a healthy BMI for my height, but I had definitely gained as much as 10 pounds over the last year, much of it accumulating around my middle, so a few pounds shed is fine by me!

 

What could have gone better:

 

I never got that Tiger Blood feeling, except for a few days here and there. My energy WAS more consistent, but I also felt tired a lot of the time, especially once my sleep improved. It felt a little like the floodgates opened there -- not such a bad thing altogether.

 

At some point I just gave up on exercising altogether so I could sleep more.

 

I think I relied a little too much on various screens - TV, iPhone, laptop to help me "wind down" at night. One of my daughters REALLY likes to fall asleep in my bed and my husband REALLY likes to watch TV at night downstairs, so I've had a hard time finding a place where I can chill out and read a book and drink a mug of tea, which is my preferred wind down these days.

 

Maybe could have been more strategic about ensuring more carbs and fat?

 

Digestion got a little, er, sluggish when I slacked off on magnesium and probiotic supplements.

 

What I'll do in the future:

 

An Exercise30 for July, where I focus on getting in some form of exercise each day (even if some days that's just 10 minutes of restful yoga at bed or 8 minutes of tabata intervals in the backyard). Curious what this will teach me, and what kind of habits I'll develop.

 

Ill continue to work on approaching stress differently (Buddhist meditation and teachings are key to this for me).

 

I'll keep making more time for rest and sleep.

 

Make physical and mental space for a new bedtime routine that includes yoga, meditation, and/or reading for screen-free winding down.

 

Careful reintroduction to have a clear sense of food sensitivities.

 

Totally awesome experience, and so grateful to have followed along with so many of you! Looking forward to staying connected in the Reintroduction thread next month (starting tomorrow).