Bluegrass Whole30

[abbyn]

I freaking love that illustration and will be referring to it frequently! Is that from Spiritual Midwifery? I only read her guide to Childbirth, maybe I should read that one this time. I wish I had the courage to have a home birth! If my current midwife could be there I'd do it in a heartbeat. Wish the medical and insurance companies would change their ideas about childbirth...they'll cover my expenses for a c-section but not a doula... so backwards. I have TRIED to convince my friends to do hypnobirthing and finally think I've talked a new friend into trying it... it's not just a pleasant birthing experience, it relieves so much pregnancy anxiety! It does require a lot of dedication and practice in advance which I think most people aren't really used to. 

 

I'm so relieved to hear someone else has had mayo problems! I think of myself as a fairly experienced cook so it's really damaging to my ego that it never works out for me (and after wasting one batch, I rarely have the heart to keep trying, I'm so cheap!). I definitely had fresh eggs though cause during my last rounds I had my own chickens. Need to get more now that we've moved into town but probably won't till after the baby's here, or maybe next summer. 

 

Thanks for your encouragement, Beets! I am largely very happy with how this round is going and trying to focus on how much better I'm eating than I normally would...(and yes, how much less annie's mac and cheese I've eaten in the last 3 weeks, haha). 

 

I'm getting a little nervous about my whole30 coming to an end. We are joining a CSA this spring which I think will help keep us on track... but it does seem daunting to put so much thought into what we're eating when I have a new baby. 

[abbyn]

Day 21: Feeling so much better today and finally able to be semi productive.

Starting to think about life after whole30...

M1: Spinach, sausage, and potato frittata, coffee with coconut milk

M2: another piece of frittata and a clementine

while making dinner- 2 dried figs and a handful of cashews.

M3: REALLY GOOD salmon cakes, baked white and sweet potato fries and romaine with balsamic vinaigrette. 

[abbyn]

Day 22:  

M1: leftover frittata, coffee with coconut milk, a bit of banana

M2: baked sweet potato, fried egg, leftover salmon cake, 2 clementines

M3: zucchini noodles with tomato sauce and spicy chicken sausage, eggplant coated in egg and tapioca starch and sauteed in olive oil.

So happy to have made some good meals lately. Canned salmon is so inexpensive and we all really loved that meal, I have to make that more often. 

On the home stretch. 

[abbyn]

Day 23: 

M1: leftover frittata, coffee with coconut milk

M2: leftover eggplant, spicy chicken sausage, broccoli salad with cranberries and pecan

snack: banana and cashews

M3: zucchini stew 

[Beets]

That is from Spiritual Midwifery. If you get it, get an old edition with the photos of the hippies. THey are so happy and wondeful. I always give that to pregnant friends.

I agree wholeheartedly about the medical view of birth. Crazy that insurance won't blink at covering a $20k or $40k elective c-section but not $1k for a doula. Insanity.

You are doing great. You will be on a roll from the whole. The CSA might be harder to keep up with with a baby but at least you'll have some good ideas of what to do with all those veggies.

And yeah, I also consider myself a good cook and the mayo thing drives me nuts.

[abbyn]

Day 24: 

Got to go to yoga tonight. As my hands came together in front of my chest at the end of the practice, just before we said "Namaste," I smelled garlic on my fingers from the lamb meatballs I made earlier in the day- meatballs I formed with sticky hands while my daughter sat on the counter, trying to zest a lemon. Smelling that garlic during yoga made me so overwhelmingly grateful for all that I have in my life. Who gets to spend time cooking whatever she wants, while her baby plays beside her? Who gets to make such particular choices- pastured eggs, please. Lamb. Local greens. Unsweetened dried figs. 
Who gets to hang upside down feeling a long stretch in her neck, while a new baby twists and turns in her belly? I do! 

It could be just cause I got a full night's sleep, or made it through the day without a toddler tantrum, but I'm feeling so fortunate this evening for my family and the ability to stay home with my daughter, my health and ability to have children, and the luxury of being able to eat this way. And I do believe it's a luxury- because while it may be affordable for some, it'd be inconceivable for most people in the world. 

This has been a funny round of whole30. It hasn't been perfect, but I had to set the intention that it would be, or I never would have made it this far. My concessions (mostly snack related...) did not bring on overwhelming guilt, which is a big step in the right direction. 

I will not have a flat belly at the end, it will be even bigger than when I started. The results may just be that my baby and I ate really well for 30 days. 

But I'm still so grateful to have had the opportunity to have done this round and I'm so proud that I'm almost finished. I feel really grateful for the time and resources I have to make good choices for my family's health. 

 

M1: scrambled eggs, a bit of banana (daughter's leftovers), coffee with coconut milk

M2: zucchini stew and lamb meatballs with balsamic fig compote.

Snack- apple with a tiny bit of almond butter, small handful of cashews

M3: fried eggs, sausage, sweet potato hash browns. 

[abbyn]

Day 25:

M1: spinach, potato, bacon frittata

M2: lamb meatballs with fig compote, garlic mashed potatoes, plum, strawberries, few bites of broccoli salad

snack: plantain chips with salsa

M3: Welp... massive failure. I went to a Mexican restaurant with my parents and basically just went off plan... I don't really feel like sharing what I ate cause it doesn't seem helpful to people reading food logs for encouragement or ideas. Pretty bummed and yes, this would definitely require a restart, but I'm just going to continue with my last 5 days as planned and try to go slow with reintroductions. The absolute worst part is, it wasn't amazing, it was mediocre. I'm pretty sure it was emotional-based eating too, as well as being to tired to really care (seriously felt like I was drugged yesterday, DO NOT remember being this tired last time I was in my 3rd trimester!).

I think since my goals for this round were so different than the first time I did a whole30, I'm not as upset as I would have been during the last 2 rounds. I basically just wanted to slow my pregnancy weight gain and start developing the habit of saying "no" or just not saying "yes" to every junky food offered to me. It is crazy how one bad decision can lead to another and I almost weighed myself this morning, HA! Still waiting for day 30.

Ready to get back on track this morning and finish this round, whether it "counts" or not. 

[abbyn]

So, I officially completed my whole24 on Monday. My dinner plans fell through on day 26 and it was so late, I ended up taking my nephew and toddler to a (different!) Mexican place (we don't have a lot of places to eat here in town). My husband is away on business this week and I've been snowed in (again!) for 2 days, and I just decided to start reintro's and do the best I can. Did weigh myself this morning and I lost 5.5 pounds, which will really help slow my pregnancy weight gain, hurray.

Going to track my food (privately) and possibly do a whole7 or 2 before this pregnancy's over. My goals going forward are to keep eating eggs for breakfast (especially frittata's with lots of veggies), more veggies at every meal, and plenty of whole30 compliant meals thrown into my regular menu. 

This pregnant lady is pretty excited to be able to eat some cheese when I'm hungry again, that was the biggest thing I missed this time. 

I also learned that I think it's way harder to do a whole30 in the winter! I did 2 this summer and between grilling and all the amazing produce, it felt like I had so much more variety. Also I really dropped the ball when my husband left for his trip... it felt crazy to cook 3 meals for me and my toddler...probably should have planned some simpler meals (I can always eat fried eggs and a baked sweet potato!). 

Thanks to anyone who was following along, sorry this wasn't the most inspiring round and I didn't end up finishing... I'm still very happy with what I was able to do. 

Hopefully I can do a real whole30 this summer or fall once I'm settled with my new baby. Take care for now!