Day 2 - finally found the forum

[Mrs Kitchen]

March 26 was day one.

Jumped in feet first - did day zero okay (except forgot to document measurements & pictures until the end of day 1).  On day zero, did the kitchen purge, did the preparatory shopping (amazed the grocery bill was so low).

 

Fixed my meals - and ended up with 5 meals as I failed to catch some of the details about snacking and excessive fruits - but I still consider it a successful day one of clean eating.

 

Ended up back at the store getting more foods and pantry items.  (now that grocery bill doesn't seem so low, but I think I have enough food for the rest of the week, until I realize I'm missing a key ingredient).

 

Day two went better - in that I was able to get myself down to 4 meals and successfully tried a new recipe that was satisfying, easy and tasty.  And even my non-paleo husband enjoyed.  

 

Ready for day three with meal two packed for mid-day.  Haven't decided was meal one will be, but my goal is to eat it first thing and THEN have my cup of coffee.

 

Hardest thing thus far is giving up gum.  I have found that I have created a habit that is almost strictly related to work and specifically when I'm at my desk.  I tried to substitute sips of water.  It helped.  

 

Have done well on my other goals.  Need to spend more time with the details of the program in front of me.  

[Brittany Long]

Maybe chewing on a piece of ginger would help? I know it's weird but it might work! Congratulations on jumping in feet first! I started getting rid of gluten filled things a few weeks ago and then went gluten free and now I'm on day three of The Whole 30. My kids are eating a lot better, more veggies, fruits, and nuts. They even had some salmon! Anyways keep up the good work!

 

[Tina R]

Congratulations. Check out "another whole30 timeline" for my take on my whole30 experience. http://forum.whole9life.com/topic/15995-another-whole30-timeline/?hl=%2Banother+%2Bwhole30+%2Btimeline. Good Luck!

[Mrs Kitchen]

Day 5 is here.  So far, so far to go.

 

Made it through my lazy Saturday - and yes, Tina R, I did spend an inordinate amount of time in the kitchen prepping food.  Lots of potential meal ingredients now ready to throw together.

 

I think I'll just unlearn my go-to gum response and skip the ginger.  I think some of the reasons to give up gum, besides the dreadful ingredients are to turn off that signal to my brain about chewing.  And I have a job that can include getting up and walking around.  I will try to include a "get up and walk around" response when I'm looking at my pencil drawer for gum...  More walking around, even if it's around my worksite still equals more walking around.

 

Today i managed to start my day with meal one, rather than coffee first.  Of course, that meant I opted for a fast and easy breakfast so as not to tax my brain.  I will work on this and see if it doesn't get easier as I train my brain.

 

My day 3 and day 4 were filled with fatigue.  Day 3 I woke up feeling as if I was hung over.  Dog tired.  Slept in and had to drag my tail out of bed.  Day 4 was Saturday and I could sleep until I was ready to rise.  Even so, I was tired in the afternoon after spending 2 hours cooking and opted for a nap.  And woke up 25 minutes later refreshed.  Wish I had the luxury of doing that everyday.

 

Also have an all over my body ache which feels like my seasonal allergies, but may be intensified by my detox with sugar.  

 

All in all - despite the speed bumps of adjusting, I am feeling strong and as I am finally able to digest some of the concepts of what I've been doing to my body via food, I feel more committed to completing this first Whole30.  I have been as non-paleo as anyone I know - so this is a big, big change.  

 

Week ahead includes a trip out of town staying for 6 days.  That will be an interesting challenge.  Initially, when I was planning my Whole30, I was going to wait until after this trip but decided whenever I did the program I would have obstacles.  This will be an "interesting" added challenge.  I will have access to a kitchen, but will have the challenge of family dynamics and old history...

 

I can do this. 

[Mrs Kitchen]

It is 9:05pm in my time zone.

I just finished dinner.  Oh, excuse me, I mean, "meal 3".

 

On the menu were 2 "It Starts with Food" recipes - or 3, depending on how you count.  I made the "no fuss" salmon cakes with tartar sauce. Before I could make tartar sauce, I needed to make mayo.  The good news was that the food was delicious and I am really pleased.  And, to top that off, my husband, who isn't joining me on the Whole30 journey, not only helped as my sous chef, but also thoroughly enjoyed the food.

 

On the upside, I did a good job gathering all the items (that aren't in my standard pantry) for the ingredients - but I could've started dinner 2 hours earlier.  One of the ingredients for the salmon cakes was "canned sweet potatoes".  I couldn't find any at my local grocery store that would fit the program.  So I improvised and make a couple of baked sweet potatoes ahead of time.  The homemade version were fine - but next time I think I will puree the sweet potatoes with the hand blender before adding to the bowl of other ingredients.

 

I just emptied the dishwasher this morning - and virtually everything I ate prior to dinner was just re-heat - so I generated relatively few dishes.  And now the dishwasher is full.  There are just 2 of us in the house - that is a lot of dishes in very short order.

 

Also good about the process is that I have half the recipe leftover (uncooked) and I will make up the rest for a change of scenery for meal one in the morning.  I knew I needed to make a change when I started gagging trying to stomach another breakfast (oops - I mean, meal 1) of scrambled eggs.  

 

I have an intermittently busy schedule.  I don't have any kids undertow, but I'm still a mom to a young adult who needs my attention, (although she is currently on the other side of the world).  Being on the other side of the world just means that you need to communicate during the brief windows of them when we're both awake.  I work full time - and granted, the last 2 days have been fairly hectic - but I must say that with Whole30, if I'm going to eat a variety of foods that are palatable, it does require that I spend more time in the kitchen.  And at the grocery store.

 

At the end of day 5, I can say that I'm feeling pretty hopeful of getting through to day 30.  If I get to eat my dinner before 9pm, that would be sweet too.