From Carboholic to Whole30: immersion therapy

[Cassie C]

So my boyfriend and I (we live together) are beginning our Whole 30 on Friday.

 

We eat like garbage.  Meals out of boxes, take-out, frozen dinners... I have whole days sometimes where I'm hard placed to find a meal that contained much more than grain/baked goods.  It's awful.

 

I struggle with anxiety.  I also experience occasional migraines and some pretty intense allergies.  My boyfriend would like to lose some weight and eliminate some stomach troubles. We're both frequently fatigued.  My doctor planted the seed that diet could be influencing MOST of these things and suddenly a light bulb went off.  I'm not a stupid person!  I have a master's degree and yet I somehow always convinced myself that I could get by on my trashy diet.  When I heard of the Whole 30 through a Facebook post I decided that enough was enough!  A rule-centered type-A like me can do this - and I NEED to do this.  It's time to feel better.

 

SO...  I've been reading the website and "It Starts With Food" and....

 

Today I spent half my life savings on vitamins at Whole Foods and also picked up some staples like coconut milk, coconut oil, coconut aminos (I'm sensing a trend here...), ghee, hot sauce, mustard, canned meat, and broth.  I didn't know what ghee was a week ago.  I was laughing in Whole Foods at myself buying ghee.  Whole Foods shoppers eyed me suspiciously in the asian/ethnic foods aisle.

 

Then I cleared just about everything out of my kitchen.  No, neighbors, I have not been stock piling my trash for three weeks, just clearing out my cupboards!  Aside from what I bought at WF today, only hot sauce, mustard, macadamia nuts, almonds, and tea remain.  It's pretty funny.  

 

I've planned a week's worth of meals (GOD BLESS PINTEREST) and made my grocery list for tomorrow so I'm set to go on Friday morning.... most of my close friends and coworkers know we're doing this so no turning back now...

 

 

I'm most nervous that the "hangover" phase is going to hit me like a mack truck given my current diet... but I SO SO hope that I can just push through it and get to the good stuff.  There's basically no food left in my kitchen and I think we're going to drop another zillion dollars on spices and seasonings tomorrow so I don't have much of a choice!

 

Here goes nothing!
 

[Brewer5]

We eat like garbage.  Meals out of boxes, take-out, frozen dinners... I have whole days sometimes where I'm hard placed to find a meal that contained much more than grain/baked goods.  It's awful.

Cassie, I am really interested in following your Whole 30.     So you must continue to check in daily, okay?  

 

This is a BIG change for most folks, but I see a lot of people who say that they were already eating "pretty healthy", or people who were already eating "Paleo", or who were already avoiding things due to allergies or intolerances, etc.  So seeing you and your boyfriend go from a place of total "garbage" to a Whole 30 will be pretty cool.

 

No, you are not a stupid person.  Sadly, we just learn what we are taught... until something turns a lightbulb on about something, and then we learn what we choose to learn.  The fact that anyone can have a Masters degree in anything without being taught about proper nutrition and how to take good care of ourselves is a sad state of affairs, isn't it?  But HEY -- what's important is that you are here now!  Congratulations and best wishes on your new journey!

[Cassie C]

Cassie, I am really interested in following your Whole 30.     So you must continue to check in daily, okay?  

I absolutely will, I am likely going to need a certain amount of tips and tweaks since it's a drastic change for us.... Very glad to have this forum for the support!

[Physibeth]

Welcome to the Whole30! I'm going to be honest and say you guys will probably have a rough first week. Sorry. But I want to encourage you to stick with it and hang in there because it will be worth it.

 

Questions: Is your hot sauce compliant (no sugar?) because I know how hard that is to find having done the search myself. What vitamins did you get? We generally don't advice a lot of supplements on Whole30 because if you are eating correctly you will be getting plenty of nutrition from your foods.

 

Keys to success: plan ahead, prep ahead, and make sure you eat enough.

 

I highly recommend printing out the meal planning template and the program rules and hang them in your kitchen where they are visible when preparing food. I'm on my 2nd Whole30 after eating mostly Whole30 for a year and I still did this. It is just helpful to have it staring at you when you are in the hard moments.

[Brewer5]

What vitamins did you get? We generally don't advice a lot of supplements on Whole30 because if you are eating correctly you will be getting plenty of nutrition from your foods.

 

I wondered about this, as well.      I hope you were joking about your life savings, because supplements really aren't necessary.  There are a select few that may be beneficial, but honestly those are tweaks that can be made further down the road.

[Cassie C]

Questions: Is your hot sauce compliant (no sugar?) because I know how hard that is to find having done the search myself. What vitamins did you get? We generally don't advice a lot of supplements on Whole30 because if you are eating correctly you will be getting plenty of nutrition from your foods.

The hot sauce is compliant! I'm becoming a good little label-reader already.

I take D3, B complex, and fish oil along with a multi RELIGIOUSLY every day per dr's orders to help with biological factors contributing to the anxiety that I have... I know I'll be getting more vitamins and minerals with a better diet, but it's not worth it to me to leave something out and risk the effects of being too low in any of those areas!

Thanks for the support, I know we're really going to need it!

[Physibeth]

The hot sauce is compliant! I'm becoming a good little label-reader already.

I take D3, B complex, and fish oil along with a multi RELIGIOUSLY every day per dr's orders to help with biological factors contributing to the anxiety that I have... I know I'll be getting more vitamins and minerals with a better diet, but it's not worth it to me to leave something out and risk the effects of being too low in any of those areas!

Thanks for the support, I know we're really going to need it!

 

Just so long as you've checked the ingredient list for all those supplements and there are no off plan ingredients then go for it. 

[Cassie C]

Whole30 Eve:  Holy Groceries, Batman

 

With my longer-than-ever-in-my-life grocery list in hand, I hit Trader Joe's after work today and then Whole Foods briefly after that to pick up a few things that TJ's didn't have.  HOLY.  MOLY.  Having less than stellar eating habits, I'm not as formally acquainted with a lot of the sections of the stores that I was shopping in today, so I seriously probably spent 2 hours between the two stores to gather everything for my first week's worth of meals.  Had a small anxiety attack trying to navigate the meat section at TJ's and find the best options that I could for everything.  I did the best I could with organic/natural/grass-fed, etc., but honestly, a bunch of the produce today was not... I spent $300 total (new record) in order to stock up on a lot of spices, vinegar, etc. that we didn't have.  Hopefully in weeks to come when I don't have as much to get and can manage it a little better it will be higher in quality, but my main goal today was to stick to all of the rules and find everything I needed!

 

When I got home and unpacked my groceries I literally took a picture of my kitchen island, instagrammed it, and texted it to my mother and sister... anyone who knows me is probably in as much shock as I am at the amount of raw ingredients and produce that were in MY kitchen... I have things like beets and asparagus in my fridge, you guys.  Not hamburger helper.  BEETS. AND. ASPARAGUS.

 

Anywho, my boyfriend and I spent some time tonight (music on, chatting - I told him we need to make cooking and prep a fun bonding time or else we're going to go nuts) making a turkey "couscous" salad for lunch tomorrow and prepping some veggies to add to scrambled eggs in the morning.  

 

Just had my last piece of chocolate... ugh.  "I'm going to really miss you, but we have to go our separate ways" I said, as my boyfriend rolled his eyes on the couch.  I've gotten into a habit of talking to my food over the last couple of days.  My Dunkin iced coffee with cream and sugar and I had a long talk today, too.  My coworkers have at least found it to be amusing... I told them to store up those "Cassie is so funny and charming" feelings for next week when I"ll likely be spewing aggression instead.

 

So tomorrow is officially day 1!  I feel like I did before I took my praxis (I'm a speech-language pathologist) which was a big case of nerves and "is this really happening?"  Wish me luck!

[Brewer5]

 

"couscous"

 I enjoyed your entire post, and I am here to wish you luck!  Just wanted to make sure this is not actually "couscous", which is a WHEAT product.  

[Cassie C]

It's ground turkey cooked in coconut oil and then pulsed in the food processor (look ma, I used a food processor!) to give it a couscous-like consistency. No grains!

[Cassie C]

Day 1: Peppercorn Party

 

Day 1 is in the books!  Overall, feeling pretty good, although I wouldn't expect any unpleasant symptoms so soon.  The biggest thing that I noticed today was that it was hard for me to eat a full plate's worth of food (with the appropriate amounts of meat and veg and fat of course) at breakfast and lunch.  I wasn't hungry at breakfast but I made myself eat it because I know it's the only way to get myself on track in the end.  Same with lunch, although I WAS hungry for that (not too bad, though).  It did take me a long time to eat my lunch, though, because again - not used the portion size.  I was hungry but not starved again by dinner, so that was fine.  I was pretty tired this afternoon and took a catnap on my porch, but that is a pretty common Friday afternoon occurrence for me!  I feel like tonight will be a fairly early night, though.

 

My biggest "revelation" today was that YES, I DO have some unhealthy relationships with food.  I knew I ate like crap, but I didn't really think I necessarily used food in unhealthy ways - I just ate it because it tasted so darn good (I thought.)  This morning, however, when one of my students (I work with mostly special needs kids ranging from preschool to high school for speech therapy) sneezed across the table into my face my first thought was "I SO DESERVE DUNKIN DONUTS AFTER I LEAVE THIS SCHOOL!"    

 

huh.

so that's interesting.

 

I travel throughout the day to different locations and I found myself really craving an iced coffee, a donut, chips, or some sort of "treat" with each change of scenery.  I feel like I may use food as intermittent rewards throughout the day for completing each phase.

 

Also had a hard time this afternoon, when I normally would have been munching something on the couch - eating for boredom.  Oh man.  So I made mayo and creamy italian dressing from some of the mayo and they both came out amazing. Why did I ever buy mayo!?

 

 

Now to the fun stuff, the fooooooood:

My boyfriend and I ate the same meals/portions today.

 

Breakfast:  Eggs and green/red pepper scrambled together in ghee, some leftover steak that was grilled "dry" and a handful of grapes.  This is where the title of this post comes in... check out the eggs.  See those spots?  Yeah... the lid of the peppercorn grinder came off and we had a little situation.  Scooped most of it out but my boyfriend still said he felt "like he was eating watermelon" and having to spit out the seeds.  Goooooood morning.

 

 

Midmorning:  Cup of pomegranate white tea

 

Lunch:  Salad made of kale, spinach, arugula, cilantro, mint, red onion, and ground turkey cooked in coconut oil and then run through the food processor so it resembles couscous in texture.  Olive oil and lemon juice on top.  I also had a small apple.  I liked it but my boyfriend said he missed his creamy dressing.

 

 

Dinner:  OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS.  Steak cut up and pan fried in coconut oil and oven-baked sweet potato fries tossed in herbs and spices with olive oil.  Those fries were amazing.  My boyfriend said he could eat them every night.  I think he may feel a bit differently in a few weeks, but a success nonetheless!

 

 

Here comes the hangover...?

 

 

[mangio_bene]

I like the photos!   It's really helpful that you're doing it together.  Great start. By the way, if you want iced coffee just have an iced americano (black).  When I have cravings, I drink water or sparkling water with limes.  But you can have cucumbers or other citrus or fruit in it if you prefer a different flavor.  Or consider taking a walk around your neighborhood to get out of the house.

[Cassie C]

Day 2: College Benders Did Way Worse to me Than This

 

    Woke up today with a bit of a headache.  I was prepared.  My boyfriend and I got up and had breakfast and I also had a cup of coffee with coconut milk in it.  Wow.  How have I lived 26 years on this Earth and I'm just discovering coconut milk?  At this point my headache was gone.  I waited all day for it to return, or to feel flu-like or exhausted...... nothing.  I tore through loads of laundry, dusted, vacuumed, mopped.... things I certainly wouldn't be doing hungover.  I actually feel pretty good... I had a hard time to eat all of my lunch again but I wasn't quite as tired afterwards today.  I was satisfied until dinner time and WOW did I enjoy that meal.  My energy level is actually pretty good right now still, too.  My boyfriend ran today and felt like his performance took a bit of a hit.  He's a bit more tired than I am right now, also.  But we're definitely both doing fine.  I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop... I mean... it IS going to drop, right!??  No real cravings today, either, apart from one weak moment where I fantasized about wheat things for a second and then snapped out of it.

 

Breakfast:  3 eggs scrambled in ghee with 1 1/2 cups spinach, raspberries.  coffee with coconut milk.

Super easy, simple, and satisfying

 

Lunch:  Chicken avocado salad (from Paleomg) with extra celery and creamy italian dressing for dipping (from Well Fed)

One of these days lunch will be a hit with my boy... today was still not that day.  I liked it, though!  He's having a hard time wrapping his head around new paleo-esque ways of eating... "You don't eat chicken salad with a  fork.... it goes on a sandwich." lol

 

Dinner:  Pork chops with grilled beets and apples in a balsamic reduction (also from Paleomg)

YUM.  I literally had to google and make sure balsamic reduction was compliant after I made this...it was that good.  Sweet and glazy and delicious.  Awesome meal.

 

Curious to see what tomorrow brings!  

 

 

[Physibeth]

Looking good! If the boyfriend misses holding food I've read on the forum that collard greens make an excellent sandwich wrap. Much sturdier than lettuce. I've not tried them myself but I've read lots of rave reviews. 

 

On the coconut milk - it is from a can right? I've never been able to find a compliant one that wasn't canned? Just checking to be sure.

 

Is your boyfriend eating the same portions as you? Is he having a post workout meal? 

[Cassie C]

On the coconut milk - it is from a can right? I've never been able to find a compliant one that wasn't canned? Just checking to be sure.

 

Is your boyfriend eating the same portions as you? Is he having a post workout meal? 

 

Yes, canned... 365 brand from Whole Foods.

 

We are eating generality the same portions, but I'm wondering if we should pump up his protein a bit more than mine... maybe like 4 eggs for him, 3 for me, 2 palms of meat for him, 1 for me?  He did have an egg before his workout and then half a chicken breast after.

[Brewer5]

Cassie, if he is feeling more tired & performance affected more, yes he probably needs more food than you do.  I mean, after all, he is a man and you look to be a relatively tiny female.    

[Cassie C]

Day 3: Jekyll and Hyde 

 

I feel amazing today.  No carb flu whatsoever, not even the slightest headache.  I have no idea how I've been blessed enough to go from pounding pringles and frappucinos to this; but I'll take it!  I had tons of energy all day - I didn't stop.  My house hasn't been this clean in weeks.  My mood is great and anxiety is low, too.  So nice.  I realize I still may be yet to hit my "carb flu", or maybe will experience some bouts of fatigue or tummy troubles yet to come, but for now I'll take it!!

 

My boyfriend, however... poor guy.  I think he's entering a little bit of carb withdrawal and a little bit of "kill all the things."  He's irritable... just ask him.. lol.  He isn't necessarily hungry between meals but he said he "feels like he's not eating enough."  I had him clarify that he isn't actually HUNGRY and he said no.  So honestly I'm not sure what that means.  He's missing the junk foods more than I am.. has a hard time going into the grocery store and passing drive-thrus.  He told me today that all he could think about driving by a gas station today was GUMMY BEARS.  This afternoon/evening he was pretty tired (he played 18 holes of golf today, too, though!) and a little achy/grouchy.  I'm almost wondering if he should be doing Pre and Post WO meals before and after golfing... it's a lot of walking/activity but neither of us thought of it as exercise, really, and we didn't add the extras in.

 

We ate dinner at my boyfriend's parents' house tonight and it went really well.  His mom is really supportive of what we're doing and made us our own pot roast in a separate crock pot with water and garlic and salt and pepper instead of french onion soup mix.

 

Breakfast - spinach and egg scramble (again, I'm liking and it's easy, so that's what it is!)  with peaches and strawberries.  coffee with coconut milk.

 

Lunch - chicken sausage (TJ's spicy italian is compliant! yay!), broccoli slaw and avocado with homemade balsamic vinaigrette 

 

​Dinner - Pot roast with onions and potatoes, a bit of avocado, and a small bowl of mixed berries with whipped coconut cream for desert

[Physibeth]

Yes, canned... 365 brand from Whole Foods.

 

We are eating generality the same portions, but I'm wondering if we should pump up his protein a bit more than mine... maybe like 4 eggs for him, 3 for me, 2 palms of meat for him, 1 for me?  He did have an egg before his workout and then half a chicken breast after.

 

I would recommend more food for him. I imagine his palms are larger than yours so even at 1 palm servings he should have more. For eggs it as many whole ones as he can hold in his hand without dropping. I can hold 4 and I have small hands. I would have him add a starchy vegetable with the chicken after his workout. Remember that his fat servings will also be larger than yours assuming his thumbs and hands are larger than yours. This is what is so genius about the template. It is automatically tailored to the individual based on their size. Crazy!  

[Physibeth]

 

Breakfast - spinach and egg scramble (again, I'm liking and it's easy, so that's what it is!)  with peaches and strawberries.  coffee with coconut milk.

photo 1.JPG

 

Lunch - chicken sausage (TJ's spicy italian is compliant! yay!), broccoli slaw and avocado with homemade balsamic vinaigrette 

photo 2.JPG

 

​Dinner - Pot roast with onions and potatoes, a bit of avocado, and a small bowl of mixed berries with whipped coconut cream for desert

photo 3.JPG

 

 

A couple of notes. Your fruit serving at breakfast looks pretty large. Don't let fruit push vegetables off your plate. A serving of fruit is the size of your closed fist and should ideally be added after you fill the entire rest of your plate with vegetables.

 

White potatoes are not allowed for your Whole30. Anything that you mentally classify as a dessert is also not for Whole30. What you had tonight is kind of borderline. It was technically compliant but we want you to break up with the idea that you need a dessert. Neither of these things are grounds for a restart just letting you know so you can avoid them in the remainder of your journey.

[Cassie C]

You're right, I think I have subconsciously gone a little fruit crazy at breakfast . Just ate today's but I will tone it back down tomorrow!

I brought "desert" as my way of contributing to family dinner with something we could eat, but I agree, that needs to shift, too.

Boyfriend is amping up his portions of fat and protein today. He felt a bit better this morning so fingers crossed.

Thank you guys for your continued checking in and support, we couldn't be doing this without this community!!

[Cassie C]

Also just realized that I said potatoes for dinner last night..l definitely didn't eat potatoes, they were carrots.... Maybe I have a little brain fog after all

[Cassie C]

Day 4: Kill Most of the Things

 

"The Hangover" didn't happen but oh yes, day 4 fell right on target.  I was great through my workday, but once I got home I wanted to kill most of the things.  Maybe not all of them.  But most of them.  And I ate a lara bar.  A compliant one, but still.  Forgive me Whole30 for I have sinned.  Right now everything is annoying me.  Tom Bergeron on Dancing With the Stars is annoying me.  Commercials are annoying me.  My boyfriend's good mood is annoying me.  Bleh.

 

I have a collage photo of today's meals.  You can't see the fish in my dinner but it's there.  I'm tired.  

 

Breakfast - Spinach and egg scramble cooked in ghee (shocker) and berries, black coffee

 

Lunch - Italian chicken soup (made yesterday in slow cooker - coconut milk, chicken broth (yes, compliant, no, no added sugars) half can diced tomatoes, chicken, spinach, mushrooms, garlic, italian seasoning and basil)

 

Workout - The dreaded lara bar before (I know it's not protein.  I know.)  and half can tuna afterwards.

 

Dinner - pan cooked salmon in olive oil, avocado, sweet potato fries and small apple with almond butter.  I am aware there were lots of nuts today.  It was nuts or thing-killing.  I chose nuts.

 

 

Sleep is going to be amazing tonight.

 

 

[Brewer5]

Cassie, we will forgive you if you don't have your beautiful, detailed pictures for a few days.    You guys are doing GREAT.  For real.  I see no "garbage"!  Be proud, be forgiving of yourself, and soldier on.  You've got this!

[Cassie C]

Day 5:  Too Tired to Kill Anything

 

Don't get me wrong - I'm not discouraged.  I knew this would likely happen and it's not that bad.  But I am POOPED.  Like, please-don't-make-me-walk-across-the-room-for-any-reason licked.  I will also reiterate that I'm a speech-language pathologist working with special needs students who don't particularly care if you're sick or tired or anything; behaviors and meltdowns will still happen.  My mood is okay and I'm upbeat, I'm not hungry, and I'm not headachy or nauseous - just tired.  Bedtime is going to be pretty soon. probably as soon as it isn't still light outside.

 

Breakfast - fried eggs (mixed it up! haha), spinach salad with berries sprinkled on top and my homemade balsamic vinaigrette 

 

Lunch - I ate my lunch before I took a picture and then got sad when I remembered.  #whole30problems  It was a small piece of leftover salmon from last night, a chicken sausage, and a salad made up of spinach, mushrooms, broccoli slaw, and celery.

 

Dinner - One of our favorites so far and it was simple and tasty - steaks (and a piece of chicken for my bf - we're getting this protein thing down better for him now!) and asparagus on the grill.  I squeezed a little lime on my asparagus besides the EVOO and salt and pepper we cooked it in and it was delicious.  I also had a couple of spears of pineapple and a small handful of macadamia nuts as my fat that aren't pictured.

 

Just waiting for the fog to lift but I'm optimistic today!  

 

 

[Cassie C]

But I Don't Even Remember the Last Time I HAD a Cheese Ball....

 

Cravings.  OH THE CRAVINGS.  They came out of nowhere today.  I wasn't as absolutely exhausted as yesterday.  Not feeling any magic tiger blood, but not ready to nap in my car at lunch, either.  I was in good spirits for most of my work day and all was well.  Then the afternoon hit... my afternoon sessions were not that great today, the children were all whiny and tired and there was about 2% listening and productive therapy and 98% cassie-bad-cop-behavior-management.  

 

So I left work and was cranky.  And then it started.  I wanted a whoopie pie.  I wanted cream cheese.  I wanted nachos loaded with sour cream.  I wanted the lemon lara bar in the cupboard at home.

 

​Then I had an internal dialogue with myself.... "You WILL NOT eat that.  You aren't even hungry, you're just cranky."  "BUT I CANT HAVE ANYTHING RIGHT NOW AND ITS FREAKING DATES FOR GODS SAKE AND IF THATS ALL I CAN EAT I'M GOING TO DO IT."

 

​I walked into my house, put my work bag down, went to the cupboard and ate the lara bar.  And then another one.

 

​UGH.  What the heck, people.  I was so mad at myself after.  I don't even know where my little act of rebellion came from, but I can tell you that I felt pretty awful (not physically, for the record) after pounding two lara bars.

 

The remaining one in the cupboard went in the trash, just FYI.

 

So now I know that any semi-processed kind of sweet thing is a food without breaks and can't be here right now.  I've done so well with the M&M's and goldfish crackers for the kids at work and all of the tempting things lurking in the break room and avoiding them... and then I did that.  Blech.

 

​Then I obsessed about cheese balls for about two hours... you know the bright orange puffy ones that come in the GIANT plastic container?  I don't even know where this came from or how long it's been since I've had one but for some reason that's all I wanted to talk about until my boyfriend shouted "ENOUGH!" and dragged my cranky butt to the gym.  I may have mentioned that I wished the medicine ball he was throwing at me during our ab work was a cheese ball but other than that it made me feel better, actually, and "killed" the junk cravings for now.

 

At any rate, here are today's meals.... I didn't eat enough at dinner, probably because I overindulged on lara bars. 

 

Breakfast - ground turkey, peppers, and onions, cantaloupe and watermelon, cashews, and black coffee

 

Lunch - meatloaf made in the slow cooker last night, carrots, hot sauce for dipping everything, handful of almonds

 

*the incident*

 

and theeeen Dinner - chicken breast from the grill and grilled sweet peppers, cherries

 

 

 

Tomorrow really needs to be better... especially since my office is having an open house.  from 4-7... all of the refreshments consist of wine, crackers, and cheeses.  Heaven help me.  You're going to surround me with cheese and hold me hostage until 7 pm.  Everyone think good thoughts...