Every day is Post-Whole30

[PamH]

4:30 am is fun!

 

Decaf with coconut milk, walk dogs, hit the shower and out the door!  These mornings are made for hard boiled eggs.  Too bad I didn't think of that sooner.

 

Meal 1 (6am):  apple and 1/4 of an almond energy bar I had left in my purse.  

 

Meal 2 (11:30am):  chicken breast with skin, 2c mixed vegetables, mini gluten free corn muffin, apple

 

Meal 3 (5:30pm):  ~4c mixed vegetables, tons of polenta (no cheese, but butter) and small piece of beef shank braised in broth/thyme.  Big spoonful of the fatty cooking liquid/marrow on top of it all

 

I challenged corn today.  Big challenge!  I think I've eaten more corn today than I've earn total in a year.  Polenta and beef shank is just my favorite thing together.  I try not to eat corn much but this was organic so hopefully non-gmo.

 

Off to the gym in an hour if I have the energy.  First, I need to brush the foster dog.  I think the husky in him is blowing his coat.  Ugh

[GFChris]

Hi Pam.

 

I wonder if it would help you to hard boil a dozen eggs at once, so you always have a stash available in the fridge? Just as your coffee is always available, you can count on having cooked eggs too. 

[DoctorMom]

What do histamines have to do with reheating food?  I've never heard this before.

[PamH]

Hi Pam.

 

I wonder if it would help you to hard boil a dozen eggs at once, so you always have a stash available in the fridge? Just as your coffee is always available, you can count on having cooked eggs too. 

I do need to do that… which is what I thought when I woke up this morning!

[PamH]

What do histamines have to do with reheating food?  I've never heard this before.

After meat is cooked, apparently the histamine content increases.  I have kind of cheated with this and eaten my leftover meats cold.  I don't mind for many cuts of meat and I usually toss the onto a hot cooked sweet potato or squash or salad greens.  Probably a more accurate description would be do not eat leftovers.  I am supposed to eat meat, if I choose to eat it at all, when it is as fresh as possible. It is HARD.  I guess I work at a food co-op and can buy meat several times a week after work to keep it as fresh as possible.

 

I just read that you can immediately freeze cooked meats to significantly slow down the histamine build up.  You would have to reheat it again to eat it but I suppose that would equal less in the long run than if I left it to sit in the fridge for awhile.

 

Granted, I am likely to eat my meats and focus on lowering or eliminating other exposures.

[PamH]

Slept in until 6:30am.  Glorious.  

 

Enjoyed some coffee with coconut milk and feeling grateful.

 

Meal 1 (9:15am):  leftover beef shank and butternut squash.  Reheated only enough to melt the fatty stuff.  Not the best cut of meat to eat outside of a beef-mushroom soup.  Grassfed, but still not my favorite.  Maybe I let them sit in the fridge for too long.

 

Actually crossing fingers for some rain today so I don't feel so bad about spending much of the day inside with house organizing and gathering unused items for donation.  My daughter's closet is on the agenda… so wish me luck.

 

Meal 2 (2PM):  big bowl of roasted peppers and zucchini with an egg.  

 

Going out to dinner tonight.  Not sure what I will eat.  I don't enjoy most restaurants these days.  There are a few down town that provide good, clean food but not feeling like making the trek and waiting in line.  

 

Challenged milk chocolate today.  Uh, too much milk chocolate.  

 

Gym for an hour.  Sweating lots.  Energy and stamina is finally close to what it was before I got sick about a month ago after Disney.

 

Meal 3 (7PM):  arugula salad with apple, almonds and chicken breast.  Asked for this awesome vinaigrette on the side but only had about a tsp of it total.  Did have maybe 1/4 pc of the best pecan pie and vanilla ice cream I've had in years.  

 

Just a good day.  I feel pretty good.  One moment of intense GI distress after eating the milk chocolate but I hit the bathroom and it was over (sorry TMI).  I think I will avoid milk chocolate, but honestly that isn't too difficult for me to do.  I'm a 70% dark kind of girl.

[PamH]

No hot flashes last night.  Maybe pecan pie is my answer!    Wouldn't it be awesome if it were all that easy?

 

Enjoying decaf coffee and coconut milk.  Today is a day of organizing in the house because I pissed away most of yesterday relaxing and having fun.  Still dark and dreary today so all is good for staying inside.

 

Meal 1 (10am):  hard boiled egg and sweet potato with sea salt.  Also finished perhaps the last 3oz beef shank. 

 

Ate breakfast way to late today.  I got sucked in to the vortex that is my 16 year old daughter's room

 

Meal 2 (2PM):  1 pc celery with maybe 1T carrot curry spread (Wow is that good!  Carrot, red curry paste, vinegar, olive oil, ginger garlic cumin sea salt), 2 oz assorted cheeses/cream cheeses and a pear.  Still pretty full from Meal 1.

 

Seems I am having something non-compliant daily now.  I guess that isn't horrendous, but I'm surprised at just how fast it all creeps back in.  I *am* probably 80-90% Whole30 still but it is not 6 days a week compliant and 1 not… but instead the old foods here and there on nearly a daily basis.  I am assuming that is how one falls back into bad habits. 

 

So, sitting back to evaluate just how much eating 2oz of cheese in a day or chocolate the day before really affects my goal of more mindful eating when the majority of my intake is whole, healthy foods. 

 

Thoughts?

 

Meal 3 (6PM):  tons of roasted brussel sprouts/red cabbage with ghee/sea salt/coconut oil, lamb tagine and 1 spoonful of brown rice.  Decided I didn't want the grains today.  

 

I just seem to eat a lot.  I know to many of you this doesn't seem like a lot of food but to me it is.  I am still trying to get over the desire to lose those last 5 lbs.  

 

Went to the gym for an hour.  Cardio, mostly, since I had to cut it short to get back home to finish dinner.

[PamH]

Didn't eat pecan pie yesterday and had a hot flash today.  I guess I need more pecan pie!  I enjoyed my hot flash free day yesterday but now back to business.

 

Morning coffee with coconut milk.  I have to be out the door for work by 5:55am so I need to run.  I think I will be eating in the car, but at least it will be sweet potato and hard boiled eggs.  

[PamH]

I think I might just stay Whole30 for the rest of my life.  I just don't know why I can't avoid sugar?  It creeps back in so quickly.  Pisses me off.

 

Working around food all day (co op) and then coming home to cook for everyone who is not Whole30 just means I'm tempted nearly 24/7.  I guess that is no different than most of you so why whine about it?

 

Decaf coffee with coconut milk to help me motivate.  

[Gramma Susie]

I'm reminded as I read your posts, Pam, of my intense and stressful times around that life-changing era called menopause. Remember when we were 10 and it was so important to educate all us girls on the big change that was about to happen for us. Having the right information and equipment was of utmost importance back then. Fast forward to when I was your age (just over ten years ago) when changes were happening again, there didn't seem to be any fervor to educate and inform me about the changes to come. I was so full of anxiety back then, not knowing it could have any physiological base, I began thinking I was literally going crazy. I had chest palpitations it seemed for no apparent reason. One doc tried to put me on an anti-anxiety medication, which I couldn't stand taking and eventually just weaned myself off.

Thankfully, I found a wholistic MD who really held my hand through it all, discovered my issue with adrenal fatigue, coached me through some short-term hormone replacement therapy, on to the other side of those dark times.

Why am I saying all this? I'm thinking it is two-fold, first because I want to try and encourage you not to be discouraged. It sucks, but its part of the deal. Hot flashes and all the other stuff women get to experience should come with a how to book and support group that our doctors hand us just like they handed us those tampons back when. I wish I'd have known that my anxious feelings were part of that and my sleepless nights were part of that, and more than likely, all of that together, helped to create the adrenal issues and the waning confidence issues We shouldn't be put in such a blind-side position about something every single woman goes through. Your cravings could easily be part of that.

Secondly, I want to encourage you that there is real life after that change. Yes, I'm older now, too, which may be considered a downside, but I think I'm wiser and less anxious and I know I am happier and more content. Like one of our forum comrades has said, what doesn't kill you will make you stronger. I wish I could have thought about tackling menopause and starving it rather than letting it get the best of me. In any case, know you're being thought of and as they say in Whole30Land, make sure you're getting enough healthy fats.

[PamH]

Part of this transformation is very positive!  I am enjoying the new found push to explore my own life desires and not focusing so much on everybody else's needs.  I started having kids later (30s) so I still have all 3 at home (17, 16, 13).  I think this would be a much easier transition, at age 48, if my kids were out of the house.  It is very difficult at times to be that mom and be "me" for some reason now.

 

My adrenals are stressed for sure.  I've been trying to work on that one for a few years now.

 

What I am finding to be true is that these restrictive elimination diets trigger my old eating disorder way of thinking.  I was anorexic as a teen and then bulimic for nearly 2 decades after that… which means it isn't too far in my past.  Not the most impressive detail to reveal about myself, but I need to acknowledge it to continue to move forward.  Through marital therapy I have found a pretty good counselor for much needed individual work.

 

I am probably going to step away from both Whole30 and Mark's Daily Apple forums and keep my own food journal at home.  It will be a modified version of both plans with a focus on eating more meals (less snacking/grazing) and limiting sugar to what is added to a meal recipe and not a 'treat' or baked good.  I love to cook and want to be in that place where using some honey or maple syrup in a recipe isn't the end of it all or a failure to stay compliant.  Negatives.  I need positives.  

 

I wish all of you the best of health and success!   I'm sure I'll pop in from time to time because I'm just that way…

[Gramma Susie]

Go, Pam!! Confident Pam!! Those kids are lucky to have you!!

[PamH]

Go, Pam!! Confident Pam!! Those kids are lucky to have you!!

See?  I popped back in under 24 hours.  

[SaraRuns]

I've been silently following, just want to wish you the best!  I hope you find the right path for you.