GlennR Posted March 14, 2016 Author Share Posted March 14, 2016 Feb. 28-March 12 - Been on a bit of a sugar/starch binge the past couple weeks that escalated. Mostly donuts, occasionally soda, chips, and crackers. Capper was dinner out last night with family at an Italian place: pizza, pasta, lemonade, tiramisu. And I know exactly what triggered it: watching the movie Chef a few weeks ago. Mini-review: 3 1/2 stars; earnest and feel-good, marred by the annoying trope of cultural appropriation. But anyway, it had a scene where they showed New Orleans Cafe Du Monde beignets, which had me salivating and craving them. Not being in Louisiana, I settled for donuts from the nearby grocery store. Then went back for them again, and again, and down I went the slippery slope. (Not that I went completely hog-wild. Until last night, all my meals have still been compliant. But that afternoon donut habit just had such a vise grip on me...) So, back to basics. Gonna do a Whole14, starting today, to break the hammerlock. 14 because day 15 is Easter, and we usually celebrate that with some family thing. But by then, hopefully, I will have shaken the cravings and re-asserted control. P.S. As if I needed reconfirmation, my sleep has been disrupted by all the sugar and carbs. I've been waking up in the middle of the night and then unable to fully go back to sleep. Leaving me tired the whole day, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted March 27, 2016 Author Share Posted March 27, 2016 March 26 - Whole14 done. Taking a break tomorrow with an Easter family dinner at an Italian place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted March 28, 2016 Author Share Posted March 28, 2016 March 27 - Easter dinner was bread, Ceasar's salad, lobster ravioli, soda, gelato, chocolate cake -- so, almost all noncompliant groups represented (except legumes, I guess). After effects included lassitude and a tightening of the back of my neck, but dinner was worth it. So back to eating majority compliant meals (when I eat at home or bring lunch to work), with occasional offroading when I eat out (usually with family). And stay away from donuts and soda! (Again, except when I eat out -- but no snacking.) As I have, I'll continue logging my "transgressions" here, to keep myself honest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted April 4, 2016 Author Share Posted April 4, 2016 April 2 - Spent most of the day with my mom and niece: we watched Batman v Superman (surprisingly good, considering the bad reviews), had lunch afterwards, then hung around my mom's for a while. Lunch was Caesar's salad, pizza, and soda. Also snacked on M&Ms and more soda afterwards, and plantain chips (bagged) in the evening. All the starch and sugar made me sleepy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted April 26, 2016 Author Share Posted April 26, 2016 April 5-25 - Urk. I tripped on April 5 and just kept on sliding. The usual culprits: soda, crackers, candy. My meals were still compliant but, man I couldn't stop snacking. I guess the preceding Whole14 wasn't enough to shake off the sugar cravings. I guess there is a reason why it takes a minimum of 30 days to break the hold. So no nonsense now. Starting tomorrow, I'm on the straight and narrow -- a minimum of 30 days of compliant eating. In fact, I'll aim to stay compliant till the end of May, which is more than 30 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted May 2, 2016 Author Share Posted May 2, 2016 May 2 - DAY 7: Hitting the timeline exactly ("I just want a nap ..."). Slept a good 11 hours last night. Not solid, since I fell asleep on the couch, woke up at 2:00 am, staggered into bed, checked a couple of things online, and went back to sleep. But that's a lot of hours compared to normal. It was one of those times when no matter how you intended to stay awake (I didn't mean to fall asleep on the couch), your eyelids just become so heavy that they drag you into the depths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted May 9, 2016 Author Share Posted May 9, 2016 May 8 - DAY 13: Still on track. Made kare kare (oxtail stew) for Mother's Day lunch with the family. Sisters made salad, crispy pork, and other sundries. Overdosed on caffeine, though. I've been limiting myself to one coffee in the morning to keep my caffeine habit in check, but I loosened the reins today and had several extra cups during the long afternoon of hanging with family. Will go back to just one cup per day starting tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted May 26, 2016 Author Share Posted May 26, 2016 May 25 - DAY 30. Pressing on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted June 1, 2016 Author Share Posted June 1, 2016 May 31 - DAY 36. Coffee habit has taken hold again with a morning cup, then one or two more cups in the afternoon. Just as soon as I plug a hole in the dyke another springs a leak. Pressing on with compliant eating, though. Will try (again) to lasso the caffeine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted June 18, 2016 Author Share Posted June 18, 2016 June 16 - DAY 52. Still been eating well, but still overcaffeinating in the afternoon. And tomorrow, I'm spending time with my niece, we'll probably eat out and I'll be striking out from the path. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted June 18, 2016 Author Share Posted June 18, 2016 Correction: Yesterday was June 17 and DAY 53. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted June 21, 2016 Author Share Posted June 21, 2016 June 18 and 19 - A weekend spent offroading. On Saturday, I had pizza and soda with my niece before we watched X-Men: Apocalypse (not bad for a summer movie). Then afterwards, we hung around and I got takeout from Armadillo Willy's for dinner. Ribs for her, pulled bbq sandwich for me, with fries, mac and cheese, and cornbread as sides. And soda. Sunday, I ran out of food and so got soft tortilla tacos (plus chips and guac) from the corner taqueria for lunch. And soda. And since I was wandering far afield anyway, I munched on cheese crackers and M&Ms in the evening. And gulped soda. June 20 - Re-set. Back to compliant eating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoMoreCrunchyCravings Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 I just stumbled upon your log and love reading it-- you have a wonderful sense of self as far as reading your body's signs/reactions to what you eat and drink. My favorite entry was reading about trying to capture the love and tradition of your grandma's bacalao recipe and the amazing emotions and family/cultural effects being able to make the dish as a Christmas gift for your family brings about-- just beautiful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted July 3, 2016 Author Share Posted July 3, 2016 I just stumbled upon your log and love reading it-- you have a wonderful sense of self as far as reading your body's signs/reactions to what you eat and drink. My favorite entry was reading about trying to capture the love and tradition of your grandma's bacalao recipe and the amazing emotions and family/cultural effects being able to make the dish as a Christmas gift for your family brings about-- just beautiful! Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted July 7, 2016 Author Share Posted July 7, 2016 July 4 and 5 - I had Fourth of July burgers, fries, soda, and organic sea salted caramel ice cream (yum!). I had a lot of leftovers, so I had the same things again the next day. Verboten stuff: Hamburger buns (store-bought, so flour, sugar, traces of soy, and a laundry list of other additives) Ketchup (had sugar, other ingredients were compliant) Ice cream (dairy, sugar, other ingredients were organic) Soda (well, a lot of sugar and crap) The burgers were good, though: I mixed in lots of minced onion and mushrooms, plus coco aminos, to give them a big umami kick. Fries were slathered with ghee and oven roasted. Consequences were slight. Sleep: disrupted. Tummy: rumbling. Though I was craving for more soda and ice cream afterwards. July 6 - Back in the saddle again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted July 13, 2016 Author Share Posted July 13, 2016 In my culture, it's traditional for people returning from a trip to bring home gifts to family and friends (pasalubongs). It's also traditional to throw them a welcome home celebration (usually so you can, you know, get the gifts). So last Saturday, I made dinner (Whole30 compliant) for my sister and her family after their trip to Japan and South Korea, and of course they brought goodies (non-compliant but delicious) from their travels: July 10 - After dinner, we sampled green tea and butter sponge cake (from Japan), a variety of crispy rice treats (from South Korea), and these oddly flavored Kit Kat bars they have in Japan, like wasabi Kit Kats and green tea Kit Kats. July 11 and 12 - Ate my way through my gift stash of melon and green tea Kit Kat bars. I figured rather than space them out, just binge on them and polish them off all at once. I'm a fan of getting the most out of your misdeeds. As Martin Luther said, "Sin boldly." Besides, a couple of family members have birthdays coming up, which means non-compliant restaurant meals are looming. Gotta make room for these upcoming offroad transgressions. (Can you tell I grew up Catholic?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted July 22, 2016 Author Share Posted July 22, 2016 Correction to previous post: Dates were July 9, and then July 10 and 11 respectively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted July 22, 2016 Author Share Posted July 22, 2016 Catching up after a week of occasional offroading: July 13 - Mom's birthday dinner at Straits (Burlingame, CA). Cuisine was Singaporean/Fusion with small plates, so the meal included rice, soy sauce, dairy (butter), flour, among other things. Plus soda, and then cake after. July 15 - Niece's birthday dinner at Chou Chou Bistro (San Francisco). French this time, so the noncompliant stuff included bread, butter, cream (in ravioli), sugar (fruit tart). I think my entree of pork chop and greens was probably compliant. The cake after was not. I overate this night. As in, my stomach was distended and actually a little painful. But the food was so good. July 16 - Probably partly because I had overeaten the night before (and partly because I got caught in a web surfing binge), I felt really lethargic and ended up vegging out and skipping a couple of meals (lunch and dinner). It was one of those times when most of the day I wasn't really hungry, and when I did get hungry in the evening, I was too lazy to pull away from the screen and get up out of bed to put together a meal. July 17 - I was running low on food and had to eat something while preparing my meals for the week, so I got takeout from Mediterranean Kebab (Burlingame). Lunch was salad, various meats, bread, and soda. Dinner was rice, leftover meats, bread, and soda. July 18 - Even though I now had food prepared, I decided (since I'd been wandering far afield anyway) to have tacos for lunch. So, tacos, tortilla chips, and soda. Plus more soda in the evening. July 19 - Re-set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted July 22, 2016 Author Share Posted July 22, 2016 Meal planning tactic: Almost every weekend, I prepare a big batch of something, usually a stew or some other one pot meal, that I take to work and have as my lunch throughout the week. This week, I tried a simple green curry chicken recipe (adapted), and added a whole roasted cauliflower, which I've been doling out and plating for my lunches. Not bad! Good thing I don't mind leftovers (and that I'm not a bad cook -- if I may say so myself). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted July 25, 2016 Author Share Posted July 25, 2016 From now on, I'm going to also record the amount of time I've eaten compliant. 4 Days Compliant July 23 - Had lunch at a Japanese place with family (after watching Star Trek: Beyond). So, rice, soy sauce, deep-fried battered tempura, salad dressing which probably had store-bough mayo, soda. Then afterwards we had salted caramel ice cream. Stomach rumbled, most likely from the dairy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted August 17, 2016 Author Share Posted August 17, 2016 19 Days Compliant Aug. 12 - Had peanuts and soda in the evening. Aug. 13 - Game day at my mother's. Pizza and soda for lunch and dinner, plus ice cream, peanuts, and chocolate biscuits as snacks as we played Boggle and bridge. Aug. 14 - Leftover pizza and soda for lunch. Crackers, potato chips, almond chocolates, and soda in the afternoon. Was so stuffed that I ended up skipping dinner. Aug. 15 - Leftover ice cream and soda in the afternoon. I had planned on going offroading for the game day, but it got a little out of hand. The way my brain rationalized it the night before was, "Since I'm going to offroad tomorrow anyway, there's not much harm in starting tonight." Then after the game day, "I've already transgressed, might as well enjoy it for another day -- let me get some chips and crackers and chocolate, then." Then, "Well it would be shame to let this leftover stuff go to waste. Besides, my niece just got her driver's license, we should celebrate with ice cream." Ah, well. I knew and chose. I felt sleepy most of the weekend from all the sugar and carbs. The dairy upset my stomach. All the crap hidden ingredients make me ever-so-slightly, but continuously ill for a couple of days. Consequences. Onwards. Reset to Zero. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted August 28, 2016 Author Share Posted August 28, 2016 11 Days Compliant Aug. 27 - Family dinner. I made roast leg of lamb and potatoes (which were compliant). My sister brought a greens salad (which had cheese) and a Greek pasta salad (which had pastrami and corkscrew pasta). After dinner, had a lot of grapes (technically compliant, but an overdose of sugar) and also lots of macadamia nut chocolates (which my sister and family brought home after their trip to Hawaii). So offroad foods included dairy, added sugar, gluten grains, plus maybe some hidden additives. My belly grumbled afterwards, again probably from the dairy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted August 31, 2016 Author Share Posted August 31, 2016 1 Day Compliant (heh) Aug. 29 - Had a handful of chocolate macadamia nuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlennR Posted September 28, 2016 Author Share Posted September 28, 2016 26 Days Compliant Well, my meals have been template. However, I've been straying from some of the good practices that Whole30 prescribes. I've been occasionally snacking -- mostly on mac nuts, sometimes on raisins or fruits. Not much, but a handful between meals, or late at night. I missed a meal several times (I lose appetite when stressed, and can forego eating when, say, surfing the net or binge-ing on Netflix). Most of all, I've been overcaffeinating: aside from a daily mug during breakfast, an additional one or two tumblers the rest of the day. Which has been disrupting sleep (and maybe also has something to do with the snacking, since caffeine is an appetite suppressant -- i.e., I don't get hungry during meals, don't eat enough, and then need to snack later). I'm probably doing a full Whole30 in October/November and will fold in the additional goal of taming these less-than-optimal habits while I'm at it. Sept. 25 - Sister's birthday dinner at a Korean restaurant. Typical Asian fare, so definitely rice and soy sauce and added sugar, maybe some hidden additives. Also tofu and bean sprouts, so legumes. Plus soda (more sugar, more additives). Then afterwards, cake for dessert (so flour, sugar, dairy, etc.). Then, as is my wont, I figured I'm off the reservation anyway, so have some crackers, chocolate, and more soda. As always, the slightly ill feelings afterwards were the expected (and accepted) consequences. And then I slept for, like, 10-11 hours straight. Carb and sugar overload does that to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoMoreCrunchyCravings Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 I love reading these recent posts. It gives me hope that I have others I can use as an example of how to kind of achieve a balance of w30 and the standard American diet (read: going overboard). Thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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