Starting today, Sept. 7th!

[Adriane]

Hi, my name is Adriane. I'm reattempting the Whole30 starting today. I tried back in January because I recognized it was good for me but not much reason other than that. But I was traveling weekly and that combined with lack of motivation to make it work was my ultimately my failure. Now I am not traveling as frequently which should make this a lot easier (I hope!).

 

Now my motivation is different, I'm going on week 7 of a migraine from hell and have exhausted all medication options so I'm hoping that maybe changing my diet will make it go away? There are some food allergies in my family that I think I might be prone to and might be causing the chronic migraines. (My mom is allergic to wheat)

 

I actually started the Whole30 yesterday but then decided to sign up for the Whole30 Daily so it is making my start date today- which is ok- 31 days couldn't hurt! 

 

I went yesterday to the store and bought a bunch of yummy food and took out everything from my pantry that was not compliant. During my shopping trip I was amazed at the amount of food that has added sugar! It took me forever to find chicken stock/broth without sugar added and I was looking for smoked ham for a recipe and could not find any in the entire store?!? (I was even at Whole Foods!) I settled for smoked turkey for a substitute for ham. This made me realize that my first Whole30 wasn't compliant and I didn't even realize it!

 

Armed with better knowledge this go round about sneaky sugars and additives- I'm anxiously hopeful that this will be a success! 

[Charlotte.]

Hi Adriane,

 

I'm starting today too. Best of luck with it! I'm in London, UK, where it's nearly 6pm - so far so good. This is also my second attempt - I made it to day 9 on my last attempt, before several social occasions got in the way. I'm way more determined this time around!

 

Let's keep each other updated!

 

Charlotte

[Adriane]

Absolutely, Charlotte. I think I made it to 10 last time. Traveling makes it so hard! I'm going to try to avoid restaurants as much as I can this go round- they are too tempting! I want to give myself credit and count this as day 2. But the first few days are easy anyway. It is when sugar cravings hit that I start to have issues. Last time I had ice cream my first day "off plan" and literally got sick from the amount of sugar. I was surprised that I was craving sugar and bread so badly and yet I was vomiting when I tried to have any. At least I know better for this time. I've also been eating healthier since January- certainly not on plan but way better- so maybe that will help as well? Time will tell I guess!

[Marieke]

Adriane,

 

I started yesterday but would love to go through this ride with some other folks.

 

Actually, I sort of lucked out and got through yesterday even though I had planned to start today. I got 'hungry' this afternoon...surely just craving...and had a banana with almond butter snack.  I haven't finished the book yet, just on the meal planning chapters now, but I gather bananas are not a great choice - can anyone explain why? I noticed lots of suggested substitutions for pre-WO snacks, etc. I do love a good banana!

 

I am completely new to Paleo, but a fairly clean eater.  I do have an eating disorder, however, and am in a place where a major shift in all food habits seems like the safest route for me.  My nutrionist recommended "It Starts with Food" regarding my likely insulin-resistance.  I couldn't be more relieved to learn about all the factors against me in trying to control my eating.  This is the first time I think I have a plan...not a diet.

 

Good luck to everyone!

[Adriane]

I will totally go through this with you! I started kind of yesterday at lunch (I skipped breakfast as per my normal). I didn't know bananas weren't recommended? It is on the shopping list. I think they aren't as nutrient rich as other fruits- that is why they are in black and not green as a "best choice." But I'm not too worried about it being "best". I realized last time around that I was starving between meals which I think added to the cravings so this time I'm not stressing if I need to snack throughout the day. I'm trying to keep it to one snack between each meal and not eating constantly though. I had an amazing dinner and am not hungry and last night I was starving and snacking it seemed like a lot (that might have to do with skipping breakfast as well). My opinion is eating the right food even if it isn't the best and even if it means snacking is better than eating the wrong food. I'm sure by the end of the 30 days I will be more adept at not snacking as much!

[amberino21]

I will totally go through this with you! I started kind of yesterday at lunch (I skipped breakfast as per my normal). I didn't know bananas weren't recommended? It is on the shopping list. I think they aren't as nutrient rich as other fruits- that is why they are in black and not green as a "best choice." But I'm not too worried about it being "best". I realized last time around that I was starving between meals which I think added to the cravings so this time I'm not stressing if I need to snack throughout the day. I'm trying to keep it to one snack between each meal and not eating constantly though. I had an amazing dinner and am not hungry and last night I was starving and snacking it seemed like a lot (that might have to do with skipping breakfast as well). My opinion is eating the right food even if it isn't the best and even if it means snacking is better than eating the wrong food. I'm sure by the end of the 30 days I will be more adept at not snacking as much!

Adriane, if you're eating enough at meals you shouldn't need to snack at all. Snacking is discouraged, but if you are starving between meals because you haven't eaten enough at your meal, have a mini meal of protein, fat and vegies instead of fruit/nuts.

Having a decent breakfast usually sets you up for a successful day of eating (no cravings, less hunger etc), so don't skip that!

Fruit isn't discouraged, but it shouldn't take the place of vegetables - have it as part of a meal (apple with pork for example, or berries/raisins in a salad) or straight after, not as a between meal snack.

[Adriane]

I feel like I'm getting plenty at meals though. Like I feel full at the end of the meal. But within 3 hours I'm hungry again? Like tonight I had Mahi Mahi that was a portion probably bigger than my hand, half an avocado, maybe a cup of cauliflower, and half a bunch of asparagus. It was enough but right now I'm starting to feel hungry again. I don't know if that is just cravings or emotional things or what??

 

The same thing happened the first time I tried this and by day 10 I was miserable. This morning I didn't skip breakfast and had a decent lunch as well- it was leftovers from dinner the night before. I'm following the meal map but already am feeling the frustration that this is going to be like last time. 

[amberino21]

Perhaps try increasing the portion sizes - if you simply can't eat the entire portion, the leftovers will make a perfect mini meal for later if you find yourself starving.

Whether its hunger or not - many people ask themselves whether they'd eat plain steamed fish and broccoli. If you wouldn't eat that, or something equally as boring, you probably aren't that hungry

[amberino21]

I noticed lots of suggested substitutions for pre-WO snacks, etc. I do love a good banana!

If you're exercising, the suggested preWo is fat and protein - HB eggs, tinned fish in oil, meat and nuts or avo for example. PostWO go for lean protein and starchy vegie carbs - sweet potato, pumpkin, beetroot, carrots etc.

Fruit isn't recommended postWO - save it for a meal (either with or straight after), and eat your banana if you want it!

[Adriane]

The weird thing tonight is that I keep feeling hunger in waves which makes me think it isn't really hunger. My body has felt really off after having some really potent migraine medication on Thursday. I've been nauseated and having bad abdominal and leg cramps. All of that is "normal" for the medicine but I wonder how much that has to do with this. (I.e. I feel nauseated while eating so I don't eat that much then I am hungry later). Good news is the pharmacist said the side effects should stop after today (48 hours).

 

I think I need to be conscious of adding more fats- the avocado tonight was an afterthought. That might help carry over the meals. I've also been not eating much overall with feeling so sick from the migraine so it might take my body time to readjust to eating "normal" size meals?

[Marieke]

Adriane, How is your headache/medication withdrawal going? I feel for you.  I have struggled with migraines myself over the years and feel fairly conviced it is a combination of cortisol and food that does it...just have never been disciplined enough to eliminate culprits.  I do hope you feel better today.  It is no fun to struggle physically.

 

Last night was family movie night in my household - I have a very lean endurance runner husband who is most certainly fat adapted! and a 9 and 11 year old.  My husband always makes fresh popcorn - no butter, just a little chili poweder and s&p.  Shock! No popcorn for me! I am so excited to feel better and change my relationship with food that I was okay with it.  I did sit alone in a chair rather than crammed in on the couch around the popcorn though, sort of sad and pathetic but they are really supporting me, so it was sweet in that way.

 

We've got this.  Hang in there and know we're all out here going through this together!

[Adriane]

I was thinking popcorn was allowed for some reason- I'm glad I haven't made any! I read the book last fall so trying this again after so long is a little hard to remember. Great job resisting! It is so hard with the social aspects of this. I'm lucky I live alone right now so I don't have to deal with that in the house. I need to stash my popcorn though- I had left it in the pantry!

 

My migraine comes and goes. It is at about a 2/10 of pain constantly and when I get stressed, upset, hungry or randomly it will go to a 6-9/10 of pain. Today it is a little lower and I'm feeling pretty good but I can feel it lurking. This one came on from a lot of stress. One of my biggest fears since childhood has been elevators and getting stuck in one. As an adult I can handle being in them but still anxious- and avoid them when possible! And sure enough, 8 weeks ago I got stuck in one. That adrenaline and stress I'm guessing kicked it off as it started a couple hours after.

 

I went to a fundraising walk with JDRF and walked almost 4 miles. I skipped the after-party because I was starving and none of the food there was compliant and having that temptation was miserable. I wish I would have brought myself lunch because I missed the social aspect of it. Oh well- I will learn eventually! I wanted to cave with the beer and snacks everyone was walking around with but I know if I cave on day 2 and make excuses that I will never get through this. Exercises in self control!

 

It did scare me because after the walk I felt shaky from low blood sugar (and I don't have diabetes!) so I need to be sure to keep some sort of snacks with me if I'm exercising even a little. Though carrying a child part way through the 4 mile walk in this heat might qualify that more than "a little exercise."

[Marieke]

I think since corn is out (technically a grain) that popcorn would be out, too. 

 

Have you looked around the forum for some of the suggestions for carb options for exercise/activity fueling?  There are links to ultra-endurance athletes doing it all on baby-food vegetables, dates and nut butter, etc.  There are lots of specifics...no fruit/starchy carbs prior to exercise, instead go for protein and fat, etc., but lots of great suggestions. 

 

I'll bet you are also in the throws of your body wanting glucose and not knowing how to go to fat for...it sounds like there are going to be some low energy days here in the next week.  I did see some advise to go easy on ourselves, and the exercise.

[GFChris]

I was thinking popcorn was allowed for some reason- I'm glad I haven't made any! I read the book last fall so trying this again after so long is a little hard to remember. Great job resisting! It is so hard with the social aspects of this. I'm lucky I live alone right now so I don't have to deal with that in the house. I need to stash my popcorn though- I had left it in the pantry!

 

My migraine comes and goes. It is at about a 2/10 of pain constantly and when I get stressed, upset, hungry or randomly it will go to a 6-9/10 of pain. Today it is a little lower and I'm feeling pretty good but I can feel it lurking. This one came on from a lot of stress. One of my biggest fears since childhood has been elevators and getting stuck in one. As an adult I can handle being in them but still anxious- and avoid them when possible! And sure enough, 8 weeks ago I got stuck in one. That adrenaline and stress I'm guessing kicked it off as it started a couple hours after.

 

I went to a fundraising walk with JDRF and walked almost 4 miles. I skipped the after-party because I was starving and none of the food there was compliant and having that temptation was miserable. I wish I would have brought myself lunch because I missed the social aspect of it. Oh well- I will learn eventually! I wanted to cave with the beer and snacks everyone was walking around with but I know if I cave on day 2 and make excuses that I will never get through this. Exercises in self control!

 

It did scare me because after the walk I felt shaky from low blood sugar (and I don't have diabetes!) so I need to be sure to keep some sort of snacks with me if I'm exercising even a little. Though carrying a child part way through the 4 mile walk in this heat might qualify that more than "a little exercise."

 

Yes, since corn is out on a Whole30, popcorn is out too.

[Adriane]

Marieke-

No, I haven't seen the things about exercise fueling. I don't typically count walking a exercise but I guess I need to during this time. I'm fairly thin and don't have a lot of fat stores so maybe that is it too. This is all purely guessing. I know for me after day 3 was the hardest last time when the cravings kicked into high gear. I'm hoping this time will be better!

 

Chris-

Thanks for the info. That makes sense- I don't know what I was thinking. I knew not to put butter on it but had popcorn from a Farm CSA that is literally kernels in a ziplock bag and was thinking that would be fine. Thankfully (so far) popcorn has never been really tempting for me- especially as evidenced by the fact I've had that bag since June and haven't used any!

 

Charlotte- 

How are you doing so far?

[Marieke]

Ugh. I feel awful.  Where do I find more information about carb flu? My tummy and gut hate me.  I had gorgeous meals all weekend. It has been dumping rain and I made lots of soups and ate plenty of fat, which I must say does taste delicious after years of fat-phobia.  A friend gave us some sheep meat and it was absolutely delicious.  I had a burger with avocado and steamed broccoli and roasted sweet potato.  Now I want to curl up and moan!  I'm up in the middle of the night from such discomfort. 

[amberino21]

Ugh. I feel awful. Where do I find more information about carb flu? My tummy and gut hate me. I had gorgeous meals all weekend. It has been dumping rain and I made lots of soups and ate plenty of fat, which I must say does taste delicious after years of fat-phobia. A friend gave us some sheep meat and it was absolutely delicious. I had a burger with avocado and steamed broccoli and roasted sweet potato. Now I want to curl up and moan! I'm up in the middle of the night from such discomfort.

In what way do your tummy and guts hate you? Carb flu is generally related to headaches, fatigue, general "meh"...could you be reacting to certain vegies that don't agree with you?

[Adriane]

I'm so sorry Marieke! Could it be food poisoning? When I had "carb flu" feelings it was the fatigue and malaise, nothing else. It is just a yucky feeling not sick per se. I hope you start feeling better soon!

[Adriane]

I finished!! This is a week late since it was my first chance to get on the forum but I still wanted to acknowledge the success!

 

On Saturday I could tell a huge difference after the 30 days beyond my 8 week migraine being gone (which in itself is an ecstatic hooray!). I thought about continuing for a while longer then decided to go ahead and begin reintroductions.

 

That is when all hell broke loose... I NEVER had issues with food (outside of the possible trigger for migraines). I reintroduced dairy and every system in my body rejected it. Within minutes I was nauseous, vomiting, had a headache, sneezing, watery eyes. I decided to try again-- hoping it was maybe yogurt I couldn't have and that normal dairy would be ok. Ha! I started running a fever, had a rash down both arms, my throat was swollen, I had trouble breathing, and a full blown migraine and stomach cramps. It was awful.

 

Yesterday I tried gluten grains and quickly realized that dairy is in bread. And I had the same reaction... I tried couscous later and still had a migraine. I'm not sure if it was the dairy from earlier or the gluten. I'm totally bummed about no baked goods, no ice cream and no chocolate for the rest of my life.

 

I was sufficiently freaked out with the allergic reaction with dairy and am going to have allergy testing done to try to find out more specifics.

 

I accidentally had peanuts during the 30 days (so I know I technically failed- I didn't read the label for cashews well enough and apparently they were roasted in peanut oil). And I got a migraine from that. So I think I'm going to hold off for peanuts until after the allergy testing.

 

But that is my journey thus far. I am going to try non-gluten grains Saturday. Then Tuesday will do legumes (but I'm waiting for soy and peanuts and doing those separately). 

[Adriane]

Oh and I should say after having a migraine all week, I'm quite tempted to never go off plan for the rest of my life and give up on reintroductions. This has been quite miserable. My body did experience change in the 30 days!

[Physibeth]

Have you fully recovered from the symptoms brought on by your initial dairy reaction? I know the guidelines say 2 days of clean eating between each introduction but with a reaction as severe as yours I would wait until you feel calm again to try each new introduction and to ensure that each introduction is clean of dairy. 

[Adriane]

I should have waited another day for wheat and not tried something with dairy in it. I knew better but was really hoping it would be ok. I think I've clearly learned my lesson at this point. I'm going to wait an extra day before non-gluten grains and do it tomorrow because up until bedtime last night I still had a migraine. I feel ok this morning but want to be extra sure!