Starting with food

[Ytu]

Hello!

 

My name is Iitu (pronounced like 'y tu' in Spanish hence the username) and this is my day 1 log.

 

I'm not new to paleo world and have followed Primal and Perfect Health Diet recommendations off and on for around three years. But this will by far be the strictest paleo I have ever attempted. My intention is for it not to feel strict or restrictive though, just take it easy and enjoy it. Individual foods don't seem to cause me acute health problems but I have struggled with emotional binge eating since I was a teenager. I would also say I'm a sugar addict. I've lived without sugar, without grains and without dairy at times but never all at once. I've never tried to give up alcohol before. Usually not a heavy drinker anyway but it can feel like I need the crutch of half a bottle of wine to relax on a Friday evening. I'm sure you know what I mean.

 

So I'm hoping that by introducing my body to healthy foods on a healthy schedule, I'll gradually overcome the binge eating. Also hoping to have more energy. I sleep well but would like to have more energy for exercise. And while I'm not actually overweight (62kg/164cm) I would be more than happy to lose a couple of kgs of body fat during the 30 days.

 

Anyway, that's it for a short intro and I'm sure I'll find the opportunity to write more about my various issues and concerns as we go ahead. For now, it's all Day One Superstar Glory (yes, I've read the timeline!).

 

Breakfast: Two soft-boiled eggs, a banana, a black coffee. One gooseberry (the sole crop from my gooseberry bush).

Lunch: Minced lamb cooked with courgettes, herbs, spring onions. Cherry tomatoes.

Dinner: Pan-fried fillet of mackerel with wilted iceberg lettuce, cooked carrots with cumin and almonds. Raspberries.

Comment on meals: Will try to keep meal structure to recommendation whenever I can. Will also try not to snack. Snacked a little bit on carrots and almonds while preparing dinner.

 

And here I am at the evening of day one, thinking "that was easy!" and keeping my fingers crossed that the hangover over the next couple of days won't be too awful. Really it shouldn't be, as my diet has been fairly clean recently.

[Hutlifr]

Welcome to the Whole30 world. I can appreciate small crops such as yours... A few days ago I could enjoy my first and only "grape" of cassis...

Question. Were you not hungry after your breakfast? It looked very skinny on the veggie side. Of, and I love the fact that you use "courgettes".. I so often find myself googling French translations go what people mean with "aminos" and other stuff so coming across a French word was very refreshing.

We are all here to support your efforts.

On day 29 of my first whole 30, and extending it.

[GoJo09]

Courgette is a French word?? Colour me surprised! That is what we call them in NZ, and when I moved to Australia (basically the same country!) no-one knew what I was talking about, and I had to learn to call them zucchini

[Ytu]

Hello and thanks for your comments!

 

I live in London and we say courgettes over here too. If courgette is the French word then zucchini must be the Italian word? Although these were weird bulbous, striped ones, almost like small marrows. Does anyone else say marrows? (My least favourite veg.)

 

The gooseberry bush is two years old and produced one single berry last year too. It has grown a lot, though, so maybe next year there’ll be more of a crop... I do love gooseberries.

 

I’m used to my 2 eggs for breakfast and have to confess hadn’t read the meal guidelines at that point yet (preparation fail!). Even the banana was more than I’d usually have. Getting used to big breakfasts might be one of the challenging things. Did better today, look:

 

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 1 red pepper and half a red onion cooked in coconut oil. Half an avocado. A black coffee.

 

Very full now – almost uncomfortably full.

Also thinking my morning cup of coffee could probably be smaller. It’s huge.

 

A slight headache earlier this morning, not sure whether to attribute it to a whole30 hangover or just the hot, stuffy weather. Slept surprisingly well, considering how warm the room was.

 

For lunch having a big salad of chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, olives.

[Ytu]

Another thing. I've been successfully incorporating Intermittent Fasting into my eating pattern by skipping breakfast and lunch on two days of the week (usually Monday and Thursday) and have been happy with this. Now not sure whether to continue the same during whole30 or not but probably not. Found a forum post of someone asking this question and the moderator response was that fasting could be fine if everything else was in balance but to be careful if there were still problems to deal with. To be honest while I think the fasting has been OK I can't fully tell whether it has contributed to binging or not. The first six months or so after I began the IF I didn't binge at all and thought I had found the magic bullet, but since then began to have trouble with post-dinner snacking and cravings again, whether fasting or not.

[GoJo09]

I googled: courgette is French, zucchini is Italian. I still don't see how Australia got zucchini and NZ got courgette though when we're both Commonwealth states...

 

Anyway, I think you should ditch the IF for the duration of your Whole 30, so that you're following the program 100%, and see how you feel.  I personally don't have breakfast anymore on days when I don't work out (I do have a large coffee loaded with butter and coconut oil, though ) but I'm not currently doing a Whole 30.

 

Whenever I find some new program or what-have-you, the novelty of sticking to i helps me avoid binge-eating for a while. It doesn't last though. Whole 30 was the first time when I found something that helped long term (not "cured", helped) - as long as I'm conscientious about eating enough fat and avoiding trigger foods (sugar. In any form, sugar leads me to stuff myself with more sugar, and then more of anything I can get my hands on. Not every time, but whenever I'm psychologically vulnerable - which is more often when I'm eating sugar. Vicious cycle).

[Ytu]

Thanks GoJo, yes I think you're right, best leave the IF for now and do the programme as intended. Glad to hear it has helped control your binging. As you say, it does tend to be sugar that brings it back and I expect that will always be hard work.

 

On another note, glad to see the can-I-have guidelines have changed/are changing to allow regular potatoes. That was the one part  of the guidance which didn't make sense to me. I was willing to give them up in order to do this properly, but potatoes arrive in my veg box delivery every week and I was wondering what I could possibly do with them without wasting them!

 

Forgot to say in my earlier posts that I had a dream of accidentally breaking the whole30 by drinking scotch!

[Ytu]

Recap of Day 2 meals to avoid scattering them over several posts.

 

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 1 red bell pepper, half a red onion sauteed in coconut oil. Half an avocado. A black coffee.

Lunch: A salad of chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, half an avocado, olives.

Dinner: Chicken, tomatoes, cooked carrots, wilted iceberg lettuce in coconut oil, some cashew nuts. Wasn't sure this added up to enough fat so had an extra tbsp of coconut oil from the jar to finish the meal.

 

Drinks throughout the day: Water, green tea, licorice and mint infusion.

 

Feeling fine. Slight headache at times during the day but nothing too bad. The dinner was kind of thrown together from what needed eating rather than what went well together but tasted good anyway. After dinner I was picking up laundry from the garden and as I walked back into the kitchen caught myself thinking "what's for dessert?" Not even a craving as such, just a habit...

 

This may be TMI but have been going to the toilet a lot today. Must be all that fat getting things moving ... and all the water of course.

[Ytu]

Day 3

 

Logging now as may not remember to do it later.

 

Feeling fine today, no headache or anything, a bit tired as didn't sleep very well (room too hot to get to sleep at first, then was woken up by a LOUD thunderstorm at 3am which went on for two hours).

 

Did get up at 6.45 and go for a short, gentle run. Good to be out in the park early in the morning. Didn't eat before run (had to go straight away or I wouldn't have time) but did have breakfast straight after.

 

Breakfast: 3 boiled eggs (working my way up!) with cooked spinach, a sweet potato, both with coconut oil. A black coffee. Made a smaller cup of coffee this morning but it could be even smaller. I only seem to enjoy the first half of it and the second half feels like a chore, especially if I have to gulp it down before leaving the house.

 

Lunch: Chicken, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, olives, olive oil. This was a fairly big lunch box and with the guideline amount of chicken but I wonder if the lettuce counts for so little it could have done with more veg in there, possibly also more fat. Feeling full for the moment though.

 

Dinner: Hope to have spiced pan-fried lamb's liver if I can get some on the way home. Not sure what veg to have with it yet. EDIT: They didn't have liver so had to have steak instead: Flat iron steak, mushrooms with parsley, garlic and lemon, a gazpacho salad (tomatoes, cucumber, red and green bell pepper, red salad onions, all chopped up with a dressing of olive oil, sherry vinegar, garlic, parsley), a couple of small steamed potatoes, ghee.

 

Veg box contents this week: A big green cabbage, cherry tomatoes, romaine lettuce, broad beans, new potatoes. The beans are off-plan so I think I'll blanch them and freeze them for reintroduction phase.

 

Have felt OK with it so far, not too challenging, but now facing the weekend which may be harder ... wish me luck!

[Ytu]

Day 4: feeling fine except it's too hot and humid today and I'm meant to be studying; hard to concentrate!

 

Worked out before breakfast then had breakfast but still within an hour of getting up. Hope that's OK.

 

Breakfast: 3 eggs with spinach, mushrooms, potatoes with ghee. A black coffee. Have switched to a smaller coffee cup and think that's the amount of coffee I actually want.
 

Lunch: Chicken in coconut curry sauce with sauteed courgettes, raw radishes. 1 date.
 

Dinner: gazpacho salad with a piece of grilled salmon and a couple of potatoes, a bit of guacamole (home made). A small cup of berries (raspberries and blackcurrants).

 

Didn't miss not having my usual Friday night glass of wine yesterday. Not drinking has been easy so far actually. Have had a couple of iced waters with a bit of lime juice for flavour today. Very nice on a hot day!

[Ytu]

Day 5

 

Better sleep, weather a bit cooler.

 

Tried the pre/post workout food thing, hope I got it right (felt OK):

 

Woke up at 7.45; did meditation for about 20 mins.

 

8:10 Had a small cup of coffee with one egg blended into it, a tbsp of ghee.

 

8:20 Exercise: 6 x hill sprints, some incline push-ups and dips, 1 x plank for as long as I could hold it. Out in the park in the fresh, if somewhat warm and humid, air.

 

8:50 Got back, had a cold shower.

 

9:00 Post-exercise meal of 4 egg whites + 1 yolk omelette, two small potatoes.

 

11:00 Proper breakfast/brunch of shakshuka (red bell peppers and tomatoes cooked into a sauce flavoured with garlic and chillies) with two eggs and two egg yolks poached in it, drizzled olive oil on top.

 

15:30 Lunch of tinned sardines mashed up with sun-dried tomatoes, red salad onions, lemon juice, with romaine lettuce leaves, a small potato, a few hazelnuts.

 

Dinner: ethiopian spiced ground beef with cabbage, carrots and potatoes cooked in a generous amount of niter kibbeh (ethiopian ghee - delicious!)

 

The morning's eating schedule worked just about because it was a Sunday but on a weekday morning I don't think I'd have time for a post-workout snack separately from breakfast and wonder what the best way round this is; make the breakfast more like a post-workout meal (ie less fat, more carbs) or just a normal breakfast? How important is it not to replace one of the meals with the post-workout meal? Most of my workouts are quite short and not that intensive (except sprints like today).

[Ytu]

Day 6

 

Have to say I feel lucky I haven't faced any of the negative effects predicted by the timeline yet. Didn't want to kill anyone over the weekend (maybe helped it was the weekend) and energy seems normal so far today. My boyfriend wasn't too annoyed by the "diet" over the weekend either; he did grumble a little bit about how I "can't eat most things" how he'd eaten too much healthy food and had to go get some gummy sweets to balance it out! But he enjoyed all the meals though. This is really tasty food.

 

Have read up a bit on the pre/post workout meal advice on the forum and think I'll try to have a bit of fat pre-workout if I can stomach it, and make sure to have a bit of lean protein after weights/sprints workouts. My gentle morning jogs around the park probably aren't strenuous enough to need it, just a breakfast afterwards.

 

Made a batch of beef patties yesterday which should be good for easy meals this week, just adding portions of veg. They are tasty but a bit dense and I think the addition of potato or sweet potato would help lighten the texture.

 

Breakfast: A ground beef patty (made with beef, onion, garlic, mint, dill, spices, egg), leftover shakshuka sauce (tomato, red bell pepper), mushrooms sauteed in coconut oil, two little plums. English plums are in season now and are delicious.

Lunch: leftover ethiopian spiced beef from yesterday, with a salad of lettuce, yellow bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, a small handful of almonds.

Dinner: pink salmon in chilli/garlic/tomato sauce, a small sweet potato microwaved, ghee on top, sliced cucumber. After dinner thought a little bit about whether I should have some fruit to top up the meal but decided what I actually wanted was lime juice in ice water so that's what I'm having. (New favourite drink, just hope the acidicity isn't too bad for my tooth enamel.)

[Ytu]

Oh I am experiencing one side effect (though early): more vivid dreams where I accidentally eat/drink something I shouldn't. The night before it was adding milk to a chowder then having to throw the whole soup away, last night a shot of vodka which I'd been given for free! Clearly anxious at some sub-conscious level even though I don't miss either of those things!

 

And had a mid-afternoon energy slump today, not unusual but maybe that's Day 6 manifesting there. Hope not to have one tomorrow as I'm sitting an exam 2-4pm!

[Ytu]

More weird dreams. Last night I dreamt I went to have my hair cut and the hairdresser wanted to make me eat some cheese (it was somehow a test on the condition of my hair) and then I'd realised I'd eaten strawberries with milk and was very frustrated I'd ruined my whole30 and had to start again. Until I realised it was a dream.

 

Please just go away, dreams.

 

Day 7

 

Pre-exercise: A spoonful of coconut oil.

 

Exercise: An easy 30-min run/jog around the park.

 

Breakfast: 3-egg omelette cooked in ghee and coconut oil, a small bowl of beetroot curry, half a sweet potato, two small plums, a black coffee. A weird thing happened this morning: I was halfway through my breakfast before I remembered to make myself a coffee! Definitely losing its appeal. It used to be the reason I got out of bed! I could have gone without it this morning but as I have an exam didn't want to risk a headache later so had a small cup and enjoyed it.

 

Lunch: a ground beef patty with lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, some almonds and a banana.

 

Dinner: salmon and sauce from yesterday plus cabbage, red onion and courgettes lightly cooked in a kind of a vinaigrette with dill and fennel. Small bowl of frozen berries with coconut cream.

 

Comment on meals: Eggs, meat and fish feels like a nice rounded day! Had fruit with all meals today which is unusual but wanted to fuel my brain for an exam this afternoon and further studying this evening (now). Feeling a bit of an energy slump now but otherwise haven't been tired today despite no caffeine since morning coffee. Need to pep myself up to study for a couple of hours, then early to bed and hope to sleep well.

[Kmlynne]

try fueling with starchy veg instead of the fruit - it might stop that afternoon energy slump.

[Ytu]

Thanks for reading Karen and thanks for the comment. I did eat sweet potato and beetroot at breakfast and more sweet potato at lunch (just noticed I didn't log that) but will hold back on the fruit on future exam days.

[Ytu]

Day 8 (Wednesday)

 

One week done, and after today will be quarter of the way through! No struggle so far. It helps that I've been at home studying in my leisure time and not going out to eat/drink, but I've been amazed how much I've enjoyed the food. Especially the veg.

 

Having said that, the way I cooked the beetroot (lightly sauteed with onion, garlic and spices) didn't really agree with my stomach. I've had this problem before with raw or nearly raw beets and think they suit me best well cooked. I think I'll put the rest back in the pan, cook in a bit of water and coconut milk until they are property soft and puree into a soup.

 

Was in bed by 10 but woke up at 5 and couldn't get back to sleep ... so I got up and did some more revision. Quite nice actually, early morning is a very peaceful time to study.

 

Breakfast: 3-egg omelette cooked in ghee, large portion of spinach, half an avocado, two little plums, a black coffee.

 

Lunch: a ground beef patty with cabbage, courgettes, onion dish from last night, some almonds.

 

Dinner: a beef short rib with a nice crisped bit of fat on top, wedge potatoes cooked with coconut oil and paprika, some more of the cabbage courgette thing though getting a bit sick of it now and I think I had too much of it at lunchtime and it made my stomach gassy. I can have small quantities of raw/lightly cooked cabbage but too much can make me bloaty.

[Ytu]

Day 9 (Thursday)

 

Breakfast: 3-egg omelette, cooked spinach, half an avocado, potato wedges, two little plums, black coffee.

 

Lunch: another beef patty, some more potato wedges, some more of the courgette cabbage dish which TBH I don't have much appetite for any more but don't want to throw away.

 

Dinner: beetroot and coconut soup (cold) with a tin of mackerel fillets, potato wedges, two plums. Threw away the final portion of the cabbage and courgette dish. Note to self not to try to make a larger portion of that in the future. One or two portions is fine.

 

Exam day #2 so trying potatoes rather than a banana for brain fuel.

 

Have been waking up at 5am every day this week. Not waking up like feeling refreshed and can't wait to get started with the day, more like sleepy and wishing I could sleep until 6! Had about 7 hrs sleep though so that's not too bad.

 

Had breakfast and lunch about half an hour earlier than usual so after exam was hungry and had dinner as soon as I got home so it's now 5:40 and I've finished my meals for the day. Will see if I get through til bedtime without hunger but if I do get hungry I'll have an egg or some other protein and fat mini-meal.

 

Drinking an iced tea made with lady grey tea and juice of half a lime, very nice!

[Ytu]

BF is going to see his parents this weekend so I'm going to go wild and cook up a load of tasty food ready for next week! Weather's cooling down a bit on Sunday so it won't be so bad having the oven on. Hmm now to look for recipes...

[Ytu]

Day 10 (Friday)

 

Breakfast: 3-egg omelette, bowl of beetroot and coconut soup (cold), a black coffee.

Lunch: Sardine forshmak (tin of sardines, red salad onions, sun dried tomato paste) with carrot sticks, lettuce, olives.

Dinner: pan-fried lambs liver with merguez spices, red onion, mashed swede with ghee, spinach.

 

SUPER tasty dinner! Very happy with my day 10.

 

Veg box this week had: a cauliflower (will roast), a patty pan squash (roast), carrots (might make a stew, maybe bo kho), aubergine (will blacken on the hob and would like to make babaganoush but tahini is such a binge/snack trigger for me I don't think I want to buy a jar of it right now; will think of something else, maybe a burned aubergine and tomato sauce), and potatoes (if I've got the oven on, might make some more wedge potatoes to add to meals cold).

[Ytu]

I've been going to bed at 10 and waking up at 5 all week, this morning at 4.45. Have stayed in bed for longer than that trying to get back to sleep as it feels too early to be up, but maybe my body's saying 7ish hours is enough at the moment. Unprecedented so I can only put this down to w30. Normally I plan to wake up at 6.30 but don't actually wake up until 7.

 

Pre-workout: Coffee with two egg yolks.
Weights workout (30 mins).
Post-workout: 2 cooked egg whites.
Showered, meditated 25 mins.
Breakfast: 4 rashers of bacon, 1 egg, 2 tomatoes, heart of romaine lettuce wilted in bacon fat, 1 banana. Cup of black tea.
Lunch: Babaganoush, carrot sticks, chicken, a couple of cherry tomatoes from my own tomato plants. Delicious! Made a very small amount of tahini for the babaganoush in order to avoid buying a whole no-brakes jar of it. There was a bit left over but only maybe 2 tbsp so I'll use that in another recipe.
Dinner: Doro wat from nom nom paleo with potatoes and pattypan squash cooked in ghee. Seriously one of the best meals I've ever eaten. I seem to say that about everything now; either I'm cooking really nice meals or it's the w30 effect on my taste buds. Or both.

 

Day 11 was a breeze! No wobbles, no struggles, no doubt. Just wish I could sleep a bit later in the morning but can't really complain about that.

[Kmlynne]

I had the same problem with sleep during my first w30. Seemed like no matter what I did I was waking up early. The good thing was that I was well rested and not dying in the middle of the afternoon. After a few weeks, it sorted itself out. Couldn't believe the first time I fell back to sleep and got 10 hours!

[Ytu]

Ah Karen, glad to hear it's not just me! I hope I find a balance with the sleeping pattern. At the moment waking up so early does make me feel sleepy and groggy through the morning. This afternoon I had a 45-minute nap which helped but can't do that on workdays. Weather is also pretty warm here at the moment which doesn't help with good sleep.

 

Day 12 (Sunday)

 

Meals today:

Breakfast: Fried breakfast of 4 rashers bacon, 2 eggs, a tomato, half an avocado, a small sweet potato. Delicious! A black coffee.
Lunch: Salad of tin of sardines, cucumber, lettuce, potato, olives.
Dinner: Doro wat, pattypan squash and potato leftover from yesterday.

Exercise: a slow 40-minute jog after dinner. A beautiful evening for it!

 

Realised I'd used beef stock instead of chicken stock in the doro wat ... no wonder it tasted so rich and meaty! Need to start sticking labels on the things in the freezer. There's a couple of mystery tupperwares still in there.

 

Big supermarket shop and you do get a lot for your money when not spending it on wine and cheese. I've probably now got enough meat and tinned fish to see through the other 18 days! A Sri Lankan beef curry is in the slow cooker, will have some for dinner in the next couple of days and freeze some (labelled!) for later. Also made mushroom and coconut pate which I think will be nice with boiled eggs and cruddites for breakfast or lunch.

 

Today was the closest I've come to wanting to snack - when I woke up from my nap this afternoon I felt a craving for a real cup of tea (ie with milk) and something to eat (not specifically sweet). Had a black tea and then forgot about it. I've been on my own most of the weekend as BF is away. Without the whole30, being left to my own devices and trying to study all day would have meant a lot of snacking, so just one moment of craving is pretty good going.

[Ytu]

Day 13 (Monday)

 

Sleep: A bit better, in bed at 11, woke up at 4.30 but managed to get back to sleep until 7 this time. Had some more dreams about accidentally eating cake! Was very disappointed to have to start over and then very relieved when I realised it was just a dream.

Breakfast: Was going to have a tin of kippers but luckily looked at the ingredients first which, weirdly, included both milk and wheat. Had a tin of sardines instead (weird for breakfast) with mashed swede and cooked spinach. A black coffee.
Lunch: Mushroom-coconut pate with carrot sticks, cucumber, 3 boiled eggs.
Dinner: Sri Lankan beef curry with roasted cauliflower and potato.

 

I've been drinking licorice and mint tea every day for weeks but was reading about licorice today and apparently it's not recommended to have every day. In which case I need a new staple non-caffeinated tea. Used to drink nettle and fennel but even that might have had licorice in it for sweetness. Will have a look in the shop and see what appeals.

 

Happy with day 13 and no weird cravings as yet.

 

The colleague who sits next to me at work has the sniffles so I'm hoping my immune system is now in good enough shape to stop me catching what he's got.

[Ytu]

Day 14 (Tuesday)

Nearly halfway...

 

Breakfast: 5 rashers bacon, a tomato, a bit of lettuce wilted in bacon fat, some mashed swede also heated up in bacon fat, half an avocado. A black coffee.
Lunch: 3 boiled eggs, mushroom-coconut pate, carrot and cucumber cruddites.
Dinner: Sri Lankan beef curry with cauliflower and potatoes. A small bowl of blackcurrants and raspberries with a good spoonful of creamed coconut.

 

Sleep was more normal last night, 10.30 until 6.45 although woke briefly around 5 but then got back to sleep. Still drowsy in the morning but actually I'm usually drowsy in the morning! Would love that to change once Tiger Blood kicks in but we'll see.