Take 2 - 3 Sept 2014

[wendelina]

I did my first Whole30 in February this year, and learned a lot!  I didn't log, because I usually eschew social aspects to food/diet/health, but a rough summary of the key points looks like this:

 

  1. It IS 100% possible to control my seasonal allergies by changing what I eat.  I went from "no meds work" to "no meds needed" by doing that Whole 30

  2. It is incredibly freeing to lose weight and be healthy and not become numbers-neurotic over calories and portion sizes.  As I said to my trainer, "this was the easiest 7 lbs I've lost in my entire life!"

  3. I uncovered some sensitivities, which come as no big surprise: dairy (I've known this for a while, but it became crystal clear), wheat/gluten (which manifested in ways that totally surprised me).  I didn't do formal reintroductions for the rest because I don't eat them that often anyways (I don't like beans, and I'm taking the non-gluten grains on a one-off basis as I bother to try eating them, which isn't often).

 

These lessons helped me a LOT.  I feel my body and I are finally getting to know each other now, and how to live with each other.

 

I'm doing another W30 because I feel like riding my own bike didn't entirely go as I want, and I feel I still have healing and learning to do.  I suspect these will always be true, but it feels important now.  I still have emotional cravings several times a week.  Sometimes I indulge, and generally think it wasn't worth it afterwards (it never tastes as good now as it does in my head, thank you Whole30 for changing my taste buds for the better).  So, I'd like to continue working on the mental aspects of the program to try to eliminate this stupid cycle.  In some regards, it's better than it used to be - I only indulge once every couple of weeks, and it's a much smaller indulgence - but in others, it's much, MUCH worse - I've been left wanting do nothing but sit on the couch in pain for 24-48 hours after some experiences (mostly but not always gluten + dairy combinations at restaurants).  This is where I think my body clearly needs to do more healing (and I need to cause it less pain).  Things I know will cause me pain still look appealing to me on menus, and social/family situations are very rough for me to navigate. I want to learn to navigate eating out better so that the hubby doesn't feel so restricted by my (hopefully soon to be less) finicky stomach.

 

I also want to see what I can do to tweak things better for me, my experiment of one. I never got to high energy during my first Whole 30 - energy was consistent, but consistently low.  Not unmanageably low, but I never felt like I could conquer the world.  My sleep, always fragile (one ray of light?  I'm awake for the day.  One bird outside the window?  So much for sleeping in), was a little better, but it's cyclical anyways, so I want to try again to see if there's concrete improvements I can make.  

 

This time around, I'm also working with my trainer (also a certified nutritional therapist) to do some dietary tweaks as well.  She feels I'm not absorbing some nutrients well, so this log is also for me to give to her and see how the supplements, food type tweaking, etc. are working.

 

And this log IS for me. My motivations, while strong, are not as urgent as Whole30 #1, so this is to keep me accountable.  I don't want to fall into a carb-flu-induced mental trap of thinking "oh you did this once, you don't have to do it again" when I think that, really, I do.  I need to be accountable for what I'm doing, and the choices I make, and look back at what I have learned, so I can keep moving forward, finding what healthy (mentally and physically) means for me.  These forums have given so much information, to me in general, so hopefully someone can chime in on any specifics!

 

So, starting in the morning.  I've got food prepped, lunch already packed from dinner leftovers tonight, and a plan for breakfast and dinner.  And then we'll see in 30 days what happens next.  I'm going to _try_ to take pictures of most of my plates, not because I'm some amazing food photographer, but because it's easier than trying to remember relative amounts.  :/  And I think my portion sizes could use some tweaking.

 

See you tomorrow!

[wendelina]

Oops. That intro was a bit of a novel.

Day 1: my cat decided I needed to be up way too early, so I've spent most of the day feeling a bit tired.

Breakfast 8:30am: 3 eggs fried in ghee, random leftover vegetables, a mug of bone broth. Pictured below on our large "dinner plate"

~25 oz water during the morning

Lunch (1pm): on my tiny lunch plate, a 1/4lb burger, one pork rib, homemade BBQ sauce, more leftover veggies, cucumber salad (cukes, onion, homemade mayo, s&p, and apple cider vinegar)

~16oz unsweetened black iced tea over the afternoon

Snack (6pm): hard boiled egg (not pictured, haha)

Dinner (8:30pm): 2 chicken wings (with skin), cauliflower "fauxtatoes" (cauliflower, garlic, coconut milk, s&p), pan-roasted broccoli. This on our "salad plates" cuz I grabbed the wrong one. Had seconds of both vegetables. More bone broth.

Clearly I need more water, I'm wondering if I need more fat.

[wendelina]

I already messed up on the pictures, as I totally forgot to photograph everything so far today.

 

Last night after dinner, I had about 20oz water.

 

I woke up with a massive headache.  I woke up in the dark, almost certainly due to said water.  Sigh.

 

PreWO (6:30am): hard-boiled egg

 

Workout (7-8am): ~40oz water, strength training day!  Headache's gone!

 

PostWO (8am): hard-boiled egg white

 

Breakfast (9:45am, after shower / train ride): 16oz unsweetened black iced tea, soft-boiled egg with tomatoes and s&p.  (I know, not _nearly_ enough food.  But I didn't feel like trying to negotiate the omelette bar about oils / non-stick sprays today. That's next week's project)

 

25oz water bottle emptied once over the course of the morning.

 

Lunch (12:15pm): small hamburger, one spice-rubbed chicken wing, cucumber salad, some leftover cauliflower "fauxtatoes" from last night

 

... I feel like this water is going right through me, fastest route possible.

[wendelina]

Finishing up yesterday's log:

 

Had another 25oz water bottle in the afternoon before heading home from work.

 

Snack (5pm): 6oz can of tuna fish with homemade mayo.

 

We had to run errands last night, so a snack was necessary as dinner wasn't going to be until nearly 9pm.  I polished off another water bottle while we were out.

 

Dinner (8:45pm or so): ~1.5c of zoodles with homemade tomato sauce and homemade leftover meatballs.  Hubby took out too few meatballs, so I added in some extra protein/fat by adding a hard boiled egg with homemade mayo slabbed on.  That might be my new favorite snack.

 

I had more water with dinner, but I forget how much.

 

I crashed out around 10:30pm, and I feel like I have been run over by a truck today. But I feel like my stomach is already starting to flatten out!

[wendelina]

Gyah.  This weekend was so NOT what I expected, but I managed to not break the Whole30 (even though I sorely, sorely wanted to).

 

 

Day 3, Friday Sept 5

Pre-WO: hard boiled egg

 

At the gym: ~35 oz water

 

Breakfast (8:30): 3 eggs fried in ghee, a botched attempt at roasted tomatoes and patty pan squash (they all stuck to the tin foil, but I got a few shriveled pieces), a couple of slices of heirloom tomato.

 

At work: ~50 oz water (I was pretty thirsty, but this was still work to get it all in)

 

Snack (noon-ish): hard boiled egg.  I meant to get my act together, get to the farmer's market and get back for a reasonably-timed lunch, but ... work, stupid.

 

Lunch (3:30pm): 4oz can of tuna and homemade mayo, sautéed green beans and onions

 

Another 25 oz of water during the afternoon

 

Dinner (6:30pm, before our music festival): spiced ground beef over spaghetti squash.

 

~25 oz of water at the festival, maybe more.

 

Day 4, Saturday Sept 6

Brunch (11:30am): 3 eggs fried in ghee, cucumber salad (cukes, onions, homemade mayo, s&p), peppers and onions, a few strawberries

 

Dinner (6:30): I packed a bunch of food for the festival ... which turned out better than I'd hoped!  Cold roasted chicken breast, cucumber salad, a few strawberries, a few cashews, and some tiny "tasty peppers" (seriously, that's what the farm calls them - sweet mini bell peppers).  2 hard boiled eggs as my husband ate most of the chicken.

 

Day 5, Sunday, Day 7

Today was pretty rough.  We found out on Friday that a friend of ours died in a car crash, and we spent the day with the grieving family (including the mom, who was driving the car ).  We managed to eat brunch/lunch at home, but I spent the entire afternoon staring at a plate of cookies, Tostitos, hummus and dip. I didn't eat any, but man, by the end, it was like they were CALLING MY NAME. Thankfully to my rumbling tummy, we managed to get home in time for dinner.

 

Brunch(12:00pm-ish): 3 eggs fried in ghee, green beans and onions, cucumber salad, 1/2 avocado, ~20oz glass of water

 

Snack (all afternoon, while we were out): a few strawberries, and a 17oz glass of water

 

Dinner: a few oz of leftover chicken breast, cucumber salad, peppers and onions sautéed in ghee, more water

 

... Probably short on water for Sunday.  Oops.  Honestly, just happy to have gotten through the weekend.  Too many emergencies (car accident, Dad in ER briefly, but okay now, etc.) throwing my emotions for a loop.

[wendelina]

Day 6, Monday Sept 8

 

Energy has been super-odd.  Husband commented that I was "unnaturally productive" this morning before going to the gym (I cleared out the kitchen cleaning backlog, folded some laundry, packed lunch, did a few other things).  But after lunch, HUGE crash.  Now I'm feeling pretty good again, but really, I should be going to bed!

 

PreWO (7am): hard-boiled egg

 

Workout: Weights, lifting heavy.  Drank ~25oz water.  Didn't have a  postWO. Bad me.

 

Breakfast (9:30am): 2 egg omelet cooked in olive oil (it was that or non-stick cooking spray which I'm assuming was non-compliant), with mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, spinach and onions. 

 

Had 25 oz water in the morning

 

Lunch (12:45pm): ~1.5 palms of leftover skin-on chicken breast , cucumber salad, leftover peppers and onions, half an avocado.

 

Had 25oz water mid-day-ish, and another 25oz before I left work for the day

 

Dinner: Pork chop (oh how I love the fat on the edges, all crisped and awesome!), more peppers and onions (fridge cleaning!), and mashed cauliflower with coconut cream and garlic.  Glass of water (guessing 16oz)

 

Gonna try to sack out soon, and see if I can actually GET 8 hours of sleep...

[wendelina]

Day 7, Tuesday Sept 9

 

Both the husband and I were sick yesterday.  He wasn't feeling great on Monday (no wonder, he's been under totally crushing stress for weeks now). I noticed Monday night that my stomach was pretty burbly as we went to bed, but was otherwise feeling okay.  Yesterday, though, I struggled to make breakfast (just moving way slower than I do most mornings), and ... then I couldn't eat it.  I slugged my way through half of it before I just ... couldn't anymore.  The rest of the day was much the same: a nap, feeling no better, I had some nuts, a couple of hard boiled eggs, all timed because moving was making me shaky from not eating, not because of anything like feeling interested in food.  The only thing that sounded better than "too hard" or "belch" was white rice, so that's what I had for dinner, with salt and ghee.  I think I had around 60oz water (not enough, but more than i expected to get down).  I went to the acupuncturist, who said she was definitely seeing an immune response in my body (thick coating on my tongue, weak pulse), so I don't think this is _just_ carb flu.

 

Day 1, Wednesday, Sept 10

 

So here we restart.  Both the husband and I still feel pretty crap today. Still not interested in food, nor cooking.  Forced myself to eat some Comfort Noodles (http://theclothesmakethegirl.com/2011/08/18/comfort-noodles/), which are sitting okay in my stomach (not nauseous!), but have made me feel heavy and more out of sorts.  Stomach is still burbly. 

 

M1 (11am): Comfort Noodles (http://theclothesmakethegirl.com/2011/08/18/comfort-noodles/), water

 

More later!

[wendelina]

Bleargh.

 

With being sick last week, I basically gave up on this Whole30.  NOTHING in my house looked appealing (I should know ... I opened every cabinet repeatedly trying to get something to spark some interest), and for a few days the thought of cooking was just too much.

 

I actually felt hungry when we went to a friend's house for dinner.  I had some (homemade, still warm from the oven) bread and cheese, along with some tuna and a pile of veg, but honestly?  First time in 6 days I'd felt any interest in food, so I ran with it.

 

I'm still having weird food aversions and very sporadic hunger, and now we are booked with crazy social commitments (birthday, rugby game and drinking social after, etc.) so I'm going to try to do what I can over the next month (no gluten/dairy, definitely, and likely no soy), but I don't know if this will be a "real" whole30 in the strictest sense. I was hoping to gain more control of how I ride my own bike by doing this whole30, but I think my body's sorting itself out.  Most crap is not appealing (that homemade bread was honestly the only gluten-containing thing that's looked seriously appealing to me in about 6 months), and I think I can set "rules" that let me deal with social situations better.

 

I think my work with the nutritional therapist is paying off, already.  My stomach, while clearly unhappy about the bread and cheese, didn't give me the 24 hours of pain that's become the norm.

 

We'll see.  I'll come back to this later.