KAE8886 Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 I am going to another city for a reunion of my college sports team. Multiple eating out events are already scheduled. As its a bad idea to start this with an event like that coming up, my official start date is Feb10. However, I can't help but feel anxious to start as soon as possible. I feel like an event in the future isn't a good reason to eat badly for a week just because I can't keep it up for 30 days. I spent all weekend reading about how grains and other stuff are going to kill me and eat my brain and I've already cleaned out my kitchen and gone grocery shopping. Maybe its dumb because I'll have to go through the hardest week twice, but maybe its good that this week is a practice run. I already mistook some smoked salmon as whole 9 only to find it has brown sugar hidden in it. Hopefully these missteps will help me to do it even better after my official start date. Any thoughts on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmary Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 A week of "practice" is a fine idea. I would just caution you not to go too far off the rails during your event...you may find that certain foods and especially alcohol have a much stronger effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marta Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Hi, KAE8886! I don't think the idea of a "practice run" is a bad one either, but how about a different approach? You can still maintain your W30 eating while dining out if you are prepared (although I admit this depends upon what region of the U.S. you will be going to). Can you find out what restaurants you'll be going to and find out what the menu offers? See if you can call ahead and order a "special diet" meal - many restaurants will comply with this because there are a lot of food alergies these days. If you've ordered ahead, you can't be tempted to order something different once you arrive. For me, the toughest part is the alcohol - I love, love, love wine and do NOT want to go without it. Part of that is the social aspect, and I know that will be part of your reunion. Here's what I tried, and it did work to a point: I asked the waitress/bar tender to give me a Peligrino/Perrier water and "dress it up" like a cocktail. You'll need to be specific - tell him/her what kind of glass to put it in, what fruit or vegetable is okay to put on the swizzle stick, and why you're doing this. I tried this Saturday night and found the waitress and bar tender were not only helpful, they had a lot of fun trying to come up with something appealing. It made it fun for me and I felt a little less left out. I will confess I still missed my wine, but the social aspect of having a drink with friends was covered! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAE8886 Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 Wow, I didn't expect so much immediate support! you guys are great, thank you! @Marta- Thanks for the advice. I do know some of the places we will be going. There is stuff on the menu I could work with, but most of the weekend is unplanned. I am going to try to stay with it since it would be cool to just keep up the momentum from this week, but if I don't, I'm not going to beat myself up. This week was really just me and my impatience wanting to start treating my body better given the new information I've been learning. Either way I want to make sure that I am staying positive and motivated to give this a true 30 day try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAE8886 Posted February 5, 2014 Author Share Posted February 5, 2014 Today is day three and I'm thinking this might be harder than I thought. Not because I feel bad. I feel great right now. Day one and two were hard, obviously but I expected to feel bad for a while. No, keeping the spirit of this experiment will be hard. I already see crutches and food with no breaks at every turn. So sugar is the main issue. I want it. Duh. Yesterday the sugar dragon reared up around 4:00pm. Far enough away from lunch that I was actually starting to get hungry but not close enough to dinner to justify eating. I went down to the delli and got a whole bunch of berries and topped it off with pumpkin seeds and cashews. After about half of it I felt fine but I ate the whole thing anyway. Ooops. Fighting off the sugar craving and the snack craving is hard. Snacking, yes, I have been accustomed to eating 5 small meals a day for a while. I never feel like eating big in the morning, but I always have a little something. Then by mid morning I am awake and hungry enough for something more. I work out over lunch and have a little something after arround one aimed at recovery. This would leave me hungry arround 4 or so where I'd have a little more to take me through my after-work workout and whatever else I had to do. I don't usually get home till 7:30 or 8:00 so I don't like to eat a big dinner. I've also done the small meal thing for about as long as I can remember. My body EXPECTS food at these intervals and its been pretty pissed about missing the mid morning and the mid afternoon meals despite larger breakfast and lunch (which feels nasty to eat so much at once). I know this will take getting used too, but each time I wonder "what would be so bad about saving half of my lunch for later?" Anyway. Food without breaks. This eating plan allows waaay too many things that I love waaaay too much. The hardest has to be almond butter. Holly cow, I could just drink that for my days meal. Ew. I know not too, but I love it that much. If its not almond butter its something else. You know that thing your brain goes to that says: "eating this will make you happy." The whole point of limiting some of this stuff is to remove the psychological habit, but I can't help but just fill it with the next item. Any advice on killing the mental issues? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Physibeth Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 I'll address your sugar response first. Our recommendation for dealing with sugar cravings is to avoid fullfilling them with fruit. Yes it is better than sugar but it is still giving in to what your brain is conditioned to ask for rather than telling it to shut up and reprogram itself. On the adjusting to 3 larger meals from 5-6 smaller meals. This takes time for some people. What I often suggest is planning each of your meals to fit at least the lower end of the template. Eat until you are satisfied and just can't eat more making sure you hit all the groupings (don't eat your steak and get full before you touch the veggies). If you have food left save it and eat it as a mini meal later if you get hungry before the 4-6 hours is up. You have to retrain your body on its expectations and that takes some time. Along the same lines if you must eat (hungry enough to eat something bland like boiled fish and broccoli) between meals try to make it a mini meal that contains protein and fat. Remember nuts are a fat source in the context of a Whole30. If you feel the need to eat but are not really hungry then you just need to redirect yourself. Figure out the trigger (stress, boredom, etc) and find a healthier way to deal with it (take a walk, scrunch a therapy ball, phone a friend, etc). It gets better...just hang in there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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