alrj's first whole30

[alrj]

I am starting to get really excited about this! 

So far today I have only had and apple and a cup of pecans because I need to go to the store. Dinner will be sauteed greens with garlic and anchovies and spatchcocked chicken with lemon and paprika, though, and I am going to enjoy looking forward to that all day.  I am going to have to learn to make mayo asap, which is kind of daunting, but I do not need to lose weight, and that's one of my favorite fats.  

 

This morning I weighed in at 122, and not weighing myself is going to be hard because I worry about that since weight loss is a symptom of my autoimmune disease, primary sclerosing cholangitis, but as long as the ribs right under my collarbone don't start to show through, I am going to try to focus on the positive (giving my body lots of the nutrients it needs to get well) instead of obsessing about my fear of getting sicker.  I have been long-term paleo in the past and know it works for me so this month is more a recommitment ritual than a plunge into the unknown.  I'm going to miss honey and maple though!  I'm making the biggest bowl of coconut milk, maple, and cocoa 'ice cream' on March 3rd!

 

Getting back into the habit of pre-cooking and avoiding temptation will be tough but worth it.

Here goes!

[Tom Denham]

Mayo is surprisingly easy when you get the hang of it. I find that the only time my mayo fails is when I guess on the amount of olive oil to use (and use too much). 

[GFChris]

If you want to maintain weight on your Whole30, Google maintain weight Whole30, which will give you a recent article of good tips.

[alrj]

Ok, so today:

M1: Apple and pecans

Snack: dates (I know, fail.)

M2: kale, blueberries, banana, and hemp protein, blended with water. I am really scared to give up my green/hemp smoothies because they seem to not upset my system whereas solid raw greens really give me problems and I need as much ADE&K as I can get because I don't absorb fats and fat soluble vitamins well due to liver disease (PSC) but maybe I can try to shift that as my gut settles down.

M3: 3 big bowls of collards, shredded into ribbons and cooked all dente with olive oil, anchovies, and garlic, then drizzled with lemon juice, and three helpings of chicken roasted with olive oil, paprika, and lemons.  Several clementines.

M4: Rio Grande grapefruit, two more clementines, and the last of the chicken breast.

 

I obviously need to prep some easy, quick mini-meals so I have things I can grab when breastfeeding makes me ravenous off schedule.it's going to take tweaking but I'll get there!

[alrj]

Ok, so day one reminded me how much prepping and pre-cooking I used to do when I was paleo before (before another baby and ridiculous attempts at compromise with the rest of my family sent me straight into cheatsville) so today is prepsanity and beyond!  I am trying to prep several meals every time I make a meal. I have a dozen egg/zucchini/tomato/mushroom/green onion muffins (good with salsa and guacamole!) In the oven right now. In a few hours I will throw a dozen chicken breasts in some olive oil and various seasonings on the stove and have at least half of those ready for weekday lunches. At dinner time I plan to bake chips out of enough zucchini and sweet potatoes to set me up for a few extra meals during the week although I may have to guard those with my life.  I am already exhausted and haven't even started but it will be so worth it!

[alrj]

Day 2 meals:

M1: blueberries, kale, banana, and hemp protein blended up.  Two egg and veg muffins

M2: chicken breasts cooked in olive oil with shallots and an obscene amount of mushrooms

M3: super bowl food!  Homemade sweet potato and zucchini chips with chicken chunks cooked with garlic, cumin, and cayenne, fresh salsa, and heaps of homemade guacamole.  I watched the family drink soda but did not cave! I did have to leave the room before they broke out the ice cream, though.  I also prevented a major temptation by making the manwich' s non-compliant work lunch (soft tacos with leftover chicken and guacamole) right after eating, when nothing in the world could have tempted me to nibble even a little bit, which is good because usually I make his lunch at bedtime and end up eating a little bit of whatever I make him. 

Snacks and drinks: one pot of green tea mixed with yogi tea' s organic ginger, pineapple chunks and blackberries, more ginger tea, grapefruit

 

Today was pretty productive. I have leftover sweet potato and zucchini chips to scramble with eggs on a more laidback morning this week, four garlic and olive oil chicken breasts for my lunches, a bunch of egg veg muffins, and leftover chicken chunks with cumin, garlic and cayenne, plus guacamole and salsa for making everything more interesting.  On the other hand, tomorrow will be so hectic I'm tired thinking about it (3 after school activities, two kid orthopedic appointments, one of those an hour away, and phone calls and errands needing to be done.  I also need to get groceries. I think I'm going to try to swing by the natural store for car snacks first thing and then make bigger trips later in the day as I can. I'm not sure what to do for dinner vegetables with salmon since we usually have quinoa with that, but I am thinking a tomato, cucumber, olive salad with lemon, olive oil, and oregano would be nice.  I'm tempted to throw sweet potato oven fries at it and call it a day but something else might be better since we had sweet potatoes today.

[alrj]

Oh snap!  We have green beans!  Dinner is planned!  I rock!

[alrj]

Today was one of those can't win for losing days, which was illuminating in a lot of ways although it was not fun.  I overslept and ran behind all day. I think I would have been hard pressed to keep up even if I'd woken up early, though.  One of the big things I am going to have to work on this month and probably afterward too is giving my body enough rest and planning and managing time better so that I can find balance between meeting my own needs and getting other stuff done.  Before my youngest was born I was improving on this and now that she's less baby and more child every day, I think it's time to get back on a more regular rhythm. 

That said,  I smacked instead of eating meals for breakfast and lunch and it knocked the wind out of me.  I was so exhausted that when I got back from my morning errands, I couldn't decide whether to nap or eat a real mean, chose wrong, and then ran lat  the rest of the day.  I ate good things but eating them the wrong way undercut that.

M1: raw carrots, sea snacks, uncured salami, banana, half tangelo (in car with husband and baby), kombucha, coconut water, coconut flakes

M2: full of fail. The fancy pants grocery near the hospital we'd driven to for a follow-up on the baby's arm ended up not having any compliant lunch meat or salumi!  Everything nitrite free had sugar or natural flavors!  I picked up a lot of produce for dinners but came away with just a banana, olives, and kombucha for m2!!!  Ugh.  Energy crash and emotional rollercoaster followed.  When we finally got home (hour drive, double ugh), I was too tired to eat and tried to sleep but couldn't, then ran late and forgot the paperwork for my oldest daughter's orthopedic appointment (ballet injury).  I made it through that but was so brain foggy at the store on the way home that I had to keep going back for forgotten stuff.  It seemed like an urgent red meat situation, so:

M3: broiled steak, asparagus roasted with lemon and olive oil, and frozen mixed fruit drizzled with full fat coconut milk.  I felt better after sitting down to that than I'd felt all day.