How much is too much?

[DurhamDoesPaleo]

Day 5 of my first Whole30.

 

I've noticed that I've been eating more fruit than ever before, and I'm reining in my veggie consumption. But I'm concerned that I might be overdoing the dried fruit aspect; I've had five prunes each day since I started along with a (large) handful of almonds. Is that too much? What's considered an okay limit?

 

Also, I've had deli turkey the last two days in a row. My company was offering boxed sandwich lunches and I took the turkey, lettuce, and tomato off a sandwich and ate that alone with yellow mustard. (Don't worry, I had a great veggie and whole-meat dinner.)

 

What are the expectations surrounding the not-great-but-not-off-limits stuff? 

 

Thanks!

[AmyS]

You can always tweak your Whole30 to make it more effective.  If you notice that fruits and nuts are crowding veggies off your plate, you can just switch the ratio.  Alternatively, some folks decide to eliminate dried fruits and nuts because they find them to be a food with no brakes (food they can't stop eating once they start).  If you're concerned about your dried fruit and nut consumption, just go back to the template and use it as a guide and see where that takes you: a palm or two of protein, a thumb-size or more of fat, and fill your large plate with veggies (about 2-3 cups).  Do that three times a day.  Note that nuts are a fat source on Whole30.

 

More problematic from a Whole30 perspective is the deli turkey.  It's nearly impossible to find Whole30 compliant deli turkey - most of it contains off plan ingredients like soy, msg, and carageenan (even Applegate Farms turkey sold in packages has carageenan) - and all of these things are serious enough gut disruptors that they call for a re-start.

 

So along with revisiting the meal template, you might check the ingredients of the deli turkey you had, and proceed with caution with deli meats going forward.

 

Basically, eat up and have fun!  And if at all possible, find out what was in that turkey you ate.  Good luck!

[DurhamDoesPaleo]

Thank you SO SO much for the help on the dried fruits and nuts. I feel confident in only eating one portion of each per day. I guess the question is "How do I know if I'm eating too much?" 

 

As for the turkey, I completely hear you. I suppose I thought "Better eating the turkey alone than the bread and cheese with it!" I will try to find out what was in it, but it might be tough because they were from local caterers. At least I'm early enough in the Whole30 (Day 6 today) that I won't mind starting over if I need to. I feel great! (Definitely sleeping better.) We'll see what happens next!