Afraid of imperfection

[letitbeatles9]

Hey guys,

First, let me apologize in advance for how nutty this post is going to be. Here we go.

 

I'm going to preface my questions by saying that Melissa's "Sometimes It Is Hard" post definitely applies to me. I have a long history of disordered eating (at one point to the degree of a full blown eating disorder), food addiction, negative body image and self-talk – you name it, I'm sure I've done it. I'm not even sure I'm capable of ever having a healthy relationship with food, but I'm still going to try and that's why I'm here. 

 

I attempted a Whole30 a few weeks ago, but quit because I got bored eating the same stuff every day that I didn't really like and was trying to follow the strict AI protocol, which was really overwhelming to take on right away.

 

After a couple weeks of regrouping, I'm trying again. I've planned and prepared some delicious meals and will continue to mix it up and try new things moving forward.

 

Over the past few days I've eaten much healthier than I was on my break from Whole30, but I'm still worried. I'm having thoughts like "OMG, I'm on Day 3 and this isn't excruciating yet. I'm doing something wrong." I made a super delicious hash with sausage, spinach, sweet potato, onion, and apple. But I'm like what if the meat to vegetable ratio is off and I'm eating too much meat?

 

I've done the following in an attempt not to go overboard and cut myself a little slack. I've been mixing fruit juice (labels carefully checked, no non-compliant ingredients) and seltzer water. I probably haven't gone over 8 oz of juice any day, but I'm worried I'm getting too much sugar for the program to work at all. I've also allowed myself a couple of red potatoes roasted in coconut oil. Also, I was going a little nutty cause I didn't think to do something about ketchup. I was super busy, tired, and cranky and was worrying about having time to find all the ingredients, make sure I have a blender, etc. I looked at my bottle of organic ketchup and was like okay, I'm freaking out over 4 grams of sugar (regular, not high fructose corn syrup or anything). I decided one tablespoon of the ketchup with 4 grams of sugar was okay.

 

Now I'm afraid I'm cutting too much slack to see any benefit from the program. So I guess my question is, those three things (juice, potatoes, ketchup), how much of an affect could they really have? Enough to derail the whole program? Just not optimal but kind of okay?

 

 

[Irish Rose]

You would be better without all three and really you know the answer is that its best leave them out. I too can be a bit disordered with my eating but even though I also made a few non compliant mistakes along the way, I decided to be kind to myself and carry on knowing that my 99 % effort is still 200 % better than not trying at all. I would try and cut them out and carry on, just because you deserve to give yourself a chance of optimum results. I wouldn't worry about meat to veg ratios as long as the foods are compliant : )

[Roz Griffiths]

Fruit juice isn't recommended during a whole30, but sugar (however small an amount) & red or white potatoes are definitely out, sorry. If you're desperate for ketchup, you can make your own - whisk together 1 6oz can of tomato paste, 2tbsp vinegar or lemon juice, 1/4tsp dry mustard, 1/3cup water, 1/4tsp cinnamon, 1/4tsp salt, pinch of ground cloves, pinch of ground allspice & 1/8tsp cayenne pepper (optional) & leave to develop overnight in the fridge

[Tom Denham]

The potatoes are good food, but you can't eat them during a Whole30 because the guidelines specifically cull them out. The Whole30 is a time to learn to eat other foods. I've found that both turnips and rutabagas taste good in place of ordinary potatoes. 

 

I personally add juice to my water glass almost half the time. A splash of lemon juice is my favorite, but occasionally I buy something like black cherry juice or pomegranate juice. I've never measured to see how much I was drinking in a day, but flavoring your water with juice is okay. 

 

You are not harming your health by eating ketchup with a little plain sugar in it, but you can't eat ketchup with any added sweetener during a Whole30. The rules is the rules.  

 

If you are not ready to do everything by the book, you are not ready. You can still improve your health doing a 99 percent program.