Reintros and Support

[Bojibelle]

I added in gluten today and while I didn't notice much, I did notice the hard stomach.  So this will be an occasional treat for me when I am at a party or traveling and there isn't much else to have.  I am really okay with that.  Next up is the non-gluten grains.  Hoping for rice to be okay.  

[Casswoman]

I had a rough day today. Got up at five with the baby, and by 8 I had a migraine. My husband took over with the kids, and I laid in bed most of the day. I'm feeling somewhat human again tonight now that the migraine has let up, but I still feel dragged out and hung over. Didn't eat much today since it made me nauseous when I did eat some turkey sausage. Had a smoothie for dinner just to get some calories and liquid in me.

Fortunately, this migraine does NOT seem to be food-related. I rarely, rarely get migraines unless I've been under lots of stress for a long time, and that has certainly been the case this summer! Stress plus lack of sleep made for a bang-up migraine. I also need to get more minerals in me- had leg cramps last night and today. Ate a couple of bananas today for potassium, will take my calcium, and I have 85% dark chocolate in case of emergencies only for magnesium.

Almost forgot to mention! I measured myself yesterday! I've lost four inches in my hips, and two in my bust. I can't remember what I measured in my waist, so I don't know what I've lost there. But at least SIX inches gone! Woo hoo! Not bad considering I've 'only' lost three pounds!

[Bojibelle]

I added in gluten today and while I didn't notice much, I did notice the hard stomach.  So this will be an occasional treat for me when I am at a party or traveling and there isn't much else to have.  I am really okay with that.  Next up is the non-gluten grains.  Hoping for rice to be okay.  

So this is the second day after gluten reintro and I had my first migraine in almost 2 months.  My joints are achey and when I went to yoga, things that haven't hurt in months, hurt this morning.  Plus, I have been monitoring my blood sugar with a glucometer for an appointment with my doctor this week and my blood sugar went whacky.  Bye bye gluten.  Good riddance for ever.

[sheba-kitty]

I will be starting my reintros in a couple days...

Got some organic goat cheese for my dairy reintro day. I do NOT want to add back any cow stuff unless I can find some very truthfully natural, local, organic, grassfed no hormones types... But that is hard to come by and spendy. I just know that the hormones have messed up my thyroid too much for too long.

I got some gluten free quinioa pasta for my grains reintro...again not even going to bother with any wheat anything for as long as it is possible.

Didn't buy the wine yet...because I was afraid I would be too tempted if it was in the house. Plan to pick some up this week.

Planning to make a paleo chocolate "ice cream cake" for my chocolate reintro. (It is mostly fruit and nuts)

[Casswoman]

In spite of a birthday party and more head aching today, I stayed the course. Reintroduced eggs this morning, with great success and no reaction. Yay! So I'm continuing to eat Whole30-approved. I need to heal my gut! Bought magnesium supplements today and took one and my calcium tonight. Didn't eat a banana, though, so I hope the leg cramps I've been having are not potassium-related.

Got a great compliment at the party tonight- the host asked how the baby is, and I said, "He's six months old now, and plump!" He said, "How's mom doing? You're NOT plump! And he's only six months? Wow!" So yay!

[Jomyke]

I finally had some amazing energy yesterday! I went outside and did some yard work for a couple hours and danced around the house like a crazy woman. Haha! BUT, the thing is the day before I ate off plan. We went out to eat and I had a mushroom and Swiss burger...with the bun and cheese. Then I also had some frozen custard. So lots of dairy and sugar. It was delicious and I have no guilt or no digestive issues. This actually amazes me because when I was vegan and tried to eat a little dairy I would get stomach pains so I assumed dairy was out for me. Now obviously I don't want to eat that everyday. But it's good to know that I can have a treat once in a while. Today I'll stick to healthy foods for sure! I may try just doing reintros on the weekends like someone else suggested, and stick to whole30 during the week. Weekends are always hard to stick to eating clean because my husband is home and we usually want to go out to eat. So I'll see how this week goes and maybe I'll try some more dairy on the weekend.

[Miriam]

Braving a Cold/Sore Throat!

 

I came down with a cold and sore throat Friday and have been paleo-ing on!  Some incidental sugar in some of the things, like zinc lozenges, but nothing like I used to have when ill (I used to be a ginger ale gal!)

 

I've been following several different paleo posts on colds and immunity and am feeling amazingly well for a cold-ey person.  I'm resting, pushing fluids (peppermint tea is a big winner).  Chicken soup with a little cayenne, and lots of kale.  totally craving kale and sweet potatoes.

 

Oh and as someone who has asthma - I haven't needed my emergency inhaler for a little over a month now... even with this cold.

 

I'm a believer!

[KatieGirl]

When I had cold symptoms I went out and got some BRAGG apple cider and mixed it in with hot water.  Drank that before bed and I think it helped!!

[Miriam]

I have Bragg's vinegar in the fridge, I haven't got to that yet... I've been having "Kick-Ass Immune Support"  herbal stuff (seriously that is its name) and it seems to be helping.   And seriously, I think I had kale three times today.  Had to go to the store for more.  Funny how things change.  Luckily I have a friend who took me to the store because of course I wasn't really well enough to go.  LOL.  I'm staying home from work again tomorrow, and resting again.  Then hopefully out and about again!

[lexes42]

Miriam - Well done looking after yourself!

 

I reintro'd dairy / sugar yesterday.  Half n half in coffee, Plain greek yogurt with raspberries around 4pm , 2 T of Nutella directly after dinner.  I think I looked a bit puffier this morning.  Like usual, I had 'chocolate gas' last night.... sounds nicer then it is.  But I've always known not to eat chocolate mousse on a fancy date if romance might follow!

 

So if nothing else comes of the dairy re-intro I'll be happy and look on it as a 'once in a while' thing.  I'm fine with coconut milk in my coffee now.  I didn't add any sugar to the greek yogurt and raspberries - I used to add honey.  It was tart to be sure, but it kept me from eating too much.  The nutella was separate and could have turned into a 'no brakes' whirlwind... but it didn't.  So hoorah.  I don't have a big desire for cheese - but I do like feta / goat cheese and would like try make paleo pizza at some point.

 

I'm not going to officially reintro gluten.  I imagine it will happen accidentally or on a special occasion.  I feel pretty certain it will bother either my head or my stomach or both.

 

In a few days I will try gluten free oats and / or rice.  I think legumes will also go the way of the gluten.  Almond butter is a favorite now and expensive enough for me not to go crazy.   I used to eat a lot of beans and rice for 'cheap dinner' days.  But bizarrely that would almost have a binge effect.. so I'll have to look out for that and make sure I have fat/animal protein if I do add rice.

 

I am planning another whole30 in January - BUT - now I'm considering moving that up to October.  Only one day of 'off roading' and I'm already pushing vegetables off my plate out of laziness (mostly).  I think to make 'template eating' more of a must do habit, i need to whole 30 again before January.

 

I realize that the thing that props up my sugar / wheat / carb addiction is how EASY and AVAILABLE all those foods are.  So giving myself permission to eat them is just going to make my eating habits crap again - whether I have instant reactions to the foods or not.

 

I am so proud of how much cooking I have done over the past 5 weeks that I don't want to slide back into not bothering....with school starting, getting into a routine has been tough and I've lost some of my pre-prep mojo... so it's looking like an October whole 30 might be in my future...

[sheba-kitty]

Woot!

Made it to day 30 (40 total for no alcohol or sugar) and today I reintroed a bit of chocolate and some wine.

So far, got a serious BUZZ off both (chocolate at lunch, wine with dinner) but nothing else and no other temptations to binge or smash off road. So that is good (and temptations were everywhere at work today!)

Plan is to eat clean tomorrow.. And maybe intro some cheese on thursday. Still deciding. Might wait till friday and just have some more wine or chocolate... They were the things I missed most. Just don't want to wake up the damn sugar dragon!

BTW 10 pounds lost and a few inches here and there during the whole30/40! Now looking forward to moving more, keeping it clean, safe off roading and limited reintroductions to keep the inches and pounds moving in the right direction!

[Eponina]

We had a party last Saturday, and I gave my old way of eating a try... I also had a bit alcohol. Wasn't too much, but more than a glass of wine. I felt awfully hungover on Sunday (and I never get a hangover). And my body was in pain for the last three days. Today I finished that with a headache, and now I feel like its going uphill again... Lesson learned. Alcohol is so not worth it...

I started working again on Monday. Monday and Tuesday I was we'll prepared. Today we were supposed to have breakfast out together, and I planned to have scrambled eggs. BUT it was cancelled, so I ended up having bread and a croissant in our cantina. Maybe that caused my headache... For tomorrow I already prepared a salad, a piece of meat and some grapes as dessert. I really have to pull myself together and prepare my meals, or I will go down...

Hope everyone is fine! I'm really surprised that the August 1st thread just "died". Thought everyone would tell how it went...

[mariegray]

So here's the thing.

I have OCD tendencies.

The thought of starting another Whole 30 on any day other than the 1st, really wigs me out.

I'm serious.

I keep thinking about the tough love, and the ISWF book saying "start now" and people saying 'Oh I'll start next week or next month"

So I decided to start at 5pm tonight.

 

I made this for supper:

 

shredded sweet potato

leftover carnitas

onion

cucumbers with vinegar and salt.

 

I only ate a little bit because I am stuffed and bloated from this afternoons shenannigans.

i also started this morning at breakfast, but .......see above.

 

The thing is, there is a drop dead sexy long legged muscular brunette living somewhere in here, battling with the fat girl to get OUT and strut her stuff and knock the snot out of life because she is so full of energy, happy, and carefree.  I speak with her daily, she's a trooper....she'll be here soon...I'm sure of it.

[sheba-kitty]

 The thing is, there is a drop dead sexy long legged muscular brunette living somewhere in here, battling with the fat girl to get OUT and strut her stuff and knock the snot out of life because she is so full of energy, happy, and carefree.  I speak with her daily, she's a trooper....she'll be here soon...I'm sure of it.

Love this!

[lexes42]

So three days with dairy and I'm kind of surprised at the results.  My face is definitely puffy.  I don't wear rings, but I feel it in my fingers too.  Nothing else has changed in my (8hrs/night) sleep or diet - yet I decidely look older with bags under my eyes.  My mood, perhaps because of this, is off too.  I simply feel 'ugly'.  I can't blame that on hormones or anything from work / personal life either.  This is truly not the kind of reaction i expected!  There were a few 'tiger' days during the whole 30 when I felt gorgeous... and honestly was a little disappointed when I past a bad mirror and had to realize that I wasn't Sophia Vergara after all...

 

I think after my next w30 I will introduce only occasional cottage cheese and unsweetened greek yogurt and see if that is still the case.

 

I had a bit of a fight with myself at breakfast.  I felt in a no mans land.  I didn't want a w30 / template meal, but nor did I want my 'old foods'.  Mostly it came down to laziness and not being prepared.  If I had had cabbage or sweet potato already chopped up (silly I know) it may not have been such an issue.  In the end I had 2 eggs, 2 applegate sausages (they are small and have trace amounts of sugar in them) and a scoop of saurekraut.  But it was a fight to get there and still pretty light on the vegies.  But it was interesting that toast with my eggs didn't seem 'worth it' either.  I really wanted some fruit preserves I had, but felt like I didn't have anything I wanted to have them 'with'.  I finally told myself it was just 'fuel' and get on with it.  I also bargained that I would skip packing a lunch and get something out as well since I didn't have to be so obsessive about it.

 

Honestly this is why I've had trouble sticking to any food plan - not being prepared and not 'wanting' what I've scheduled for that day.  Preparedness I can work on... I'm hoping that as my tastes change I will be more interested in whatever variety of paleo possible meals I have available.

[mariegray]

lexes: I can relate!!!!!!!!!!!

[lexes42]

So here's the thing.

I have OCD tendencies.

The thought of starting another Whole 30 on any day other than the 1st, really wigs me out.

I'm serious.

 

 I TOTALLY get this.  I am all wigged out about 'when' to start another one.  Sept 15? Oct 1?  A month that doesn't end in R?

 

And I know in the next go I will want to / need to pull back on the nuts / nut butter / fruits and snacks.  I lost 6 or 7 pounds in the first go and my tummy definately de-bloated some.  But I'm sure if I want to keep the weight loss trajectory heading in the right direction I will need to relax the iron grip on the fruit / nuts thing.

 

Oddly the thought of that is as frightening as the original thought of giving up all the grains, sugar and dairy!  If you had told me in June that I would be worried about giving up nuts and NOT worried about giving up the rest, I'd have thought YOU were the nut.

[mariegray]

I don't know if you listen to country music but I'm thinking of the Miranda Lambert song (Not My Mama's Broken Heart) that says "run and hide your crazy and start acting like a lady"   Wonder why?

 

I had to laugh at your comment about a month not ending in R. 

 

I also forgot to say that my face has been super puffy around the eyes this week, and because I didn't do the reintro CORRECTLY....it might very well be from the creamer in my coffee, or the cheese I've been eating (not much, but maybe enough?)

 

I have to take this one day at a time.  I had a feeling that August 1 was a good time for me to do the WHole 30, and it was, it worked, but now I'm just in a panic about what to do next..LOL.....so one day at a time.

 

This morning I had leftover carnitas/sweetpotato/onion with 2 fried eggs on top.

coffee with cream , but switching to water right now.

 

lunch: venison, scotch egg, kale, cherry tomatoes in red and yellow

 

dinner: uhm.....yeah. not planned....but I have a sh*t ton of broccoli to cook, so it'll involve broccoli for sure.

Marie

[mariegray]

Such a scatterbrain this morning.

 

I finally received my copy of Well Fed, what a beautiful book!  I had made their Carnitas before, and I had such a huge chunk of pork that I made a double batch.  Because my cooking options and lemon/lime juice were limited, I did one batch in the crock pot with water and one on the stove top with the lemon/lime juice.  I think I like the water version better!?  Both ahd the spice rub.

 

I froze the leftovers, and took some out last night, sautéed up with some sweet potato and onion, and the meat is unbelievably tender.  I'm wondering, what if you used some orange and lime juice instead of lemon and lime?

 

Looking fwd to some mayo this weekend, if I have any time for cooking, we are scrambling to get our 3 acres ready for a garage foundation by October 1st. Argh! Damned ACT 250 permit.

[Casswoman]

I'm having lots of reactions to things that I never noticed affected me before, and while it is good to have the information now, it is both a pain in the patootie and the path to my healing. Things like vanilla extract, vanilla, vanillin, citric acid, natural flavorings, etc.

I learned this when I had a small amount of chocolate that had vanilla extract in it and I had a reaction. Tested some chocolate without vanilla extract, no reaction. Tested the first chocolate again a few days later and had a reaction. Had a reaction to a magnesium supplement that I've taken for years, and realized it was from the citric acid. Ugh.

I'm tired. I resent my body for doing this, and I also look forward to healing my gut, so i want to eat this way, but it just feels so challenging right now and that I might have to eat like this forever seems very daunting. Sigh....

I'm not having the best day.

[sheba-kitty]

OMG

3rd time now have a bad bathroom day... And I think I have narrowed it down to macadamia nuts! Phooey!

[lexes42]

I feel like I'm in a really weird 'place' in my post whole 30 world.  

 

Bizarrely the main food that had a noticeable difference is dairy.  Dairy awakened my sugar dragon / binge feelings.  I never went completely off the rails, but I certainly felt the hot dragon breath.  Amazingly I have NOT felt crazy around bread / wheat products.  I would have expected the reverse to be true.

 

Dairy makes me ugly.  No two ways about it, dairy made my face puffy and chubby and accentuated bags under my eyes.  It's true my sleep has not been as good since I was w30, but the dark eyes happened within a day.

 

I did not officially reintroduce legumes, although I did have peanuts in a larabar once accidentally.  Corn tortilla chips had 'no brakes' when I had them with guacomole, but that wasn't a shock!  Unlike other folks' experience, I am not getting 'instant feedback' in terms of digestive distress, but only 10 days after finishing and I'm already feeling significantly 'less good'.

 

So the tough spot I'm in now is that I'm not all that interested in my old foods (hoorah), but I have a bit of w30 fatigue and can't bring myself to make template perfect meals every day either. The obvious solution is 'mostly' eat Whole 30.  But I've found that I actually need the 'rules'.  Basically I'm getting paralyzed by the choices involved in eating 'mostly whole30'.  Without the 'rules' I end up eating dairy or wheat once every couple days either because I can or because I'm lazy... it's not really driven by a craving... but nor does it qualify as 'special'.

 

I expect I will be official whole30 again October 1 if not before. At the moment I have non compliant meals in my freezer that I'm going to finish eating this week.. mostly they have sauces or marinades with non compliant oils/sugar/soy.  I'm not comfortable throwing them out since my whole40 was a bit of a shock to my budget.  I know that will improve, but missing a week at the meat market is a necessary thing for me right now.

 

My guess is that a second w30/45/60 in October will help solidify habits, tastes, and positive physical changes!  Or that's my hope

[Marsi]

Hi all! I've been following, but just finished my Whole 46 on the 15th. I have noticed much more energy, but never really had the "tiger blood" experience, and still had days, even into September, where I was just fatigued. Even though I eat a TON of food, I have still lost weight. This is not a good thing for me; I'm looking rather gaunt. I know part of it is that I'm still nursing my toddler.

I reintroduced dairy yesterday: milk, Greek yogurt, and cheese (meatzas are awesome, btw!). Having the same today. I've felt a little more full than usual... mild bloating, I guess. I also have a dull headache, but I think this may be due to a sleep deficit I've had since last week. My child is teething, and everyone's sleep has been wacky. It may be slowing my bowels, too. I'm thinking I'll cut milk out completely, and try just cheese and cultured dairy again later.

My little one has had just a small amount of cheese and yogurt--unlike my relative binge. We've never introduced cow's milk to him, so whatever he gets of it is through my milk. He seems un-phased. I have noticed that he's been gassy this afternoon, and he's had 3 big poos in the last 2 days, where he usually has one every other day.

My husband didn't sleep well after his cheesy meatza last night, and after a small glass of milk with breakfast, he's been running to the bathroom all day. He also reports fatigue.

Overall, looking like dairy will be an occasional "worth it?" food for us. I should run out of the small amounts of tester food today or tomorrow, and I'll be back on plan until next Monday, when I'll reintro something else. I love the energy and general well-being I've felt with this way of eating, and plan to continue it, but I have to find a way to maintain or increase my weight. I can't keep losing; I look like a scarecrow. Any suggestions are appreciated!

Oh! And my husband is off of his BP meds for now, and hopefully forever! He also lost 13 lbs over the month of August.

[Casswoman]

Lexes42,

I hear you. This is not easy!

I had planned to continue my whole30 until the 23rd of this month, but that didn't happen. I stuck with it for 31 days, with one inadvertent exception. I'm still pretty much eating according to the whole30 rules, though, and reintroducing things every few days. THAT has been an experience. So. Not. Fun. I had a reaction to baking powder the other nit that kept me awake from 12:30 am to 6 am. Ugh!

It's pretty clear so far, too, that my body needs to eat according to the whole30 rules for now, and that is a rather large additional expense! I have an entire frozen turkey that was supposed to be for Thanksgiving, and I'm going to give it away because it has natural flavorings in it that I can't eat. Now I need to save my pennies to buy some shares of lamb and bison!

It sounds like you're doing pretty well, even with the non-compliant items. You are aware of them, and how they affect you, and at least for now, you've decided they are worth it. And when you jump back into full compliance, you'll do so knowing exactly what happens when you aren't compliant! Sounds like a learning process to me!

[Mj Slazak Courchesne]

I added in gluten today and while I didn't notice much, I did notice the hard stomach.  So this will be an occasional treat for me when I am at a party or traveling and there isn't much else to have.  I am really okay with that.  Next up is the non-gluten grains.  Hoping for rice to be okay.  

You know, I didn't get what the "hard stomach" was until I had a croissant over the weekend for a sandwich. Ick. So yeah, gluten is def not my friend.

 

Going for sushi tonight, so rice is the challenge now. Will write myself a note to try to remember the coconut aminos!