Day Nine - It's That Time, and I'm Bored AND In Need of Chocolate!

[AKM]

(Hi all. I wrote this over on my introduction thread, which I guess I'm using as a journal of sorts? I thought I'd put this here, too.)

Today is Day Nine. It's Day Three of That Time (yay) and yesterday I think I could have killed someone for a piece of chocolate. I am not even a chocolate person, nor have I had any cravings during that last week until then! Really what I want is a huge bag of potato chips AND some dark chocolate. I'm pretty down, too; I have bipolar disorder and GAD, and neither go well with my messed-up premenopausal hormones.

I'm also BOREDBOREDBORED! I don't want any more chicken, I don't want any more beef, I don't want another damn egg, I DEFINITELY don't want any more salmon...I know that yes, there ARE other proteins out there, but they're still all so similar and I'm tired of all of this. I was just rarin' to go even through the weekend, and now I'm all, "If I eat one more bowl of Chocolate Chili, I will throw it against the wall." (And I LOVE the Chocolate Chili, and I'm craving chocolate anyway!) I'm tired of cooking or even reheating and I just want some grab-'n'-go stuff, and that's just impossible to find on Whole30, let alone paleo in general. When I was "just paleo," I ate a LOT of fast-food salads, even though they have some chemicals on the chicken/lettuce/whatever. It was just nice and easy to just let someone else put the food together for me to snarf it down.

I still have some food left from my cookup last week since I live alone, but again...chicken, tuna, salmon, eggs, chili, ground beef...MEH. I'd almost rather go to bed hungry tonight than eat one more of those items that I've been trying to rotate through three meals a day for nine days.

Any ideas? Even my go-to veggies have me bored, and I bought LOTS of variety of THOSE, too.

HELP.

[GFChris]

It seems it would help to mix things up a bit. Maybe get some compliant roast beef, compliant sausage, hot dogs, tuna, and/or compliant prosciutto for starters. Different spices can help. Look through the recipe sharing section. Maybe interject one or two new dishes?

Are you getting carb-dense vegtables daily and plenty of fat with each meal?

My hunch is this feeling will pass: hang in there!

[Tanya K]

You've just gotta keep on keeping on! If you really want to change then these lifestyle changes will be so worth it. I was paleo before whole 30 too and to be quite honest it is not that much more difficult. Turn things around in your head. If you are looking at things from a negative perspective you are on a slippery slope to eating those 'forbidden fruits'. I would agree too to use spices and herbs with your protein. This brings plain old protein dancing onto your plate!! Plus it makes the whole cooking and preparation of the foods so much more enjoyable. You begin to feel like a culinary artist lol not just a cook!! Through some fruit into your meal dishes too. Apple with pork, pineapple with bacon and chicken is yummy along with some spinach, orange pieces with the Ras El Hanout spiced chicken from Well Fed 1. Then the colours of your food that you have prepared in front of you will further increase your appetite.

If you really want to this you will try anything to make life and your meals more enjoyable. Otherwise the brain is going to continue tricking you into finding all this wonderful food boring. Become more aware of what the brain is doing and fight back with colourful, spicy enjoyable foods. Well Fed 1 and 2 have been my life savers.

[AKM]

Oh, trust me, I'm already using 83 different herbs and spices. (Melissa Joulwan is my cooking spirit animal.) You name a cuisine -- Middle Eastern, Greek, Indian, Mexican, Moroccan, etc. -- I've replicated it. I'm STILL bored. It's not the flavours, but the icky chewy protein. Disclosure: I was a vegan/vegetarian off-and-on for years, and while my body clearly wants to eat paleo-style, my mind and heart just don't like eating animals, period. I do it anyway, and I might even feel like they taste pretty good for a while. But then I eat meat at every meal for ten days -- AHEM -- and I get sick of it.

I'm also eating TONS of veggies and fats. Don't worry. I'm doing this absolutely 100% correctly (except that my meat isn't grass-fed/organic/whatever. I simply can't afford it.)

Yesterday my only protein was chicken at brunch/linner. The rest of the day I just ate fruit, veggies, cashews, and coconut. I simply couldn't eat another egg, another bowl of chil, or another Hot Plate of ground meat. Blech. Just couldn't.

Now, today I brought my standard breakfast of The Best Chicken You Will Ever Eat, along with sweet potatoes, all doused in Moroccan Dipping Sauce. (See, I'm telling you...I'm spicing it up!) That I probably COULD eat every day, and so I just might. But then I'm faced with lunch and dinner and I'm all...BLURG. I have salmon and spinach for lunch, and I'm not looking forward to it.

 

[Tanya K]

It's seems then that your biggest issue is with the meat? Have you looked at whole 30 for vegetarians? Maybe this would be more suited? Before the whole 30 what did you eat being paleo? For me doing the whole 30 is a little more restrictive in the fact that I don't have paleo treats, such as coconut cream and strawberries etc, nor do I snack as I would have while paleo. Other than that though the whole 30 is very much the same, meat, fruit, veg, nuts. What is causing you to be bored? Is it the fact that you are eating protein 3 times a day? Are you having cravings for other food stuffs? What would make the food less boring? Put yourself out of the whole 30 for a sec and just be paleo and what would you eat to be content? There is something there in the fact that you use the word bored. To me it sounds like you really do have problems eating the actual protein due to the fact you had been once vegetarian. This is causing a huge stumbling block for you mentally.

You are cooking for yourself yes? This can in itself bring boredom perhaps? Maybe invite a couple of pals around to eat with you for a couple of evenings? Put on some music or radio in the background.

I know for sure I couldn't eat ground beef or pork for breakfast, my body just won't take to it that early in the morning. Ground beef or pork for me is enough perhaps maybe for 3/4 out of the 21 meals a week. I love meat and could never be vegetarian so for me it is easy to eat these meals. You need to find someone else who also struggled eating meat at first to see if they have any tips for you.

[AKM]

Hmm. You've given me a lot to analyse so I'm not sure where to start! I grew up eating meat, and I've been eating meat again for maybe four years now. The times that I didn't or don't eat meat are kind of intermittent, too. For example, this summer I went through a period where meat just felt too "heavy" for me to eat, and I was pretty much vegetarian, with some seafood maybe once a week. Lots of prepackaged beans and rice from a mail-order diet company...AHEM. Blech! Anyway, I write down everything I eat, but I couldn't even really give you a "typical" day; I try to listen to my body and some days I eat three squares, some days I graze, some days I eat a huge breakfast and little else, some days I'm not hungry until dinnertime...I just never really know! I also have moods where I ask myself, "If you could eat ANYTHING -- wheat, sugar, whatever -- what would you get?" and I still don't always know. Very often for me, NOTHING sounds good. I don't know if other people have this issue; it could be part of my bipolar makeup. I don't know.

If I had to pick something today that wasn't W30 or even paleo, I think I'd go with a Chicago-style pizza. (And I'm not even really a pizza person!) I COULD get some sausage, mushrooms, green peppers, onions, etc., and throw on tomato sauce and call it a W30 day, I suppose. If I wanted to be "kind of paleo," a big salad with chicken and BLUE CHEESE! -- I miss cheese the most -- would be good. Any kind of shellfish -- shrimp, crab, lobster -- sounds pretty good and would be W30 compliant, but I can't afford it. A big part of my problem today is that not only am I bored, but I'm running out of food, and payday is Monday. I'm thinking of picking up a roast or maybe just some ground beef to mix into a dish called "Joe" with spinach and eggs. I just don't want to eat only that for the next five days or so! Guess that's what's on the menu, though, to keep it cheap.

I'd also like a vodka soda. (And I'm not even a drinker, really.)

[AKM]

(But at least my chocolate craving is gone? Ha!)

[Karen]

You mention cravings as of late. Any chance you're in the last week or so of your cycle? Typically when I see people comment on here about cravings like this, it's often PMS driving those. Pms is a deep rooted instinct with some really good biological reasons, and a serious need for increased energy, thus increased carbs. If that's the case, feed yourself some compliant carbs pronto, and applaud yourself for listening to your body's needs in a compliant way.

If that doesn't apply, disregard :-)

[Tanya K]

This is only from my own experience, but what I have found that eating according to the plan has eventually made my body like a clock! It won't have an appetite at 11.30 for anything but come 12.30 the tummy is nudging me. With this comes appetite and a desire for a certain taste. Are you rigid to the plan eating the proper amounts of carbs, fat and protein? It does take a while for the body to readjust. It does kick up a fuss and as I said before the brain will try to trick you in anyway possible to get you back to the old routine. But once it kicks in this clock thingy well it is mighty strong! It enables appetite and thus increases your enjoyment of food. The reason why I say this because you say you eat a huge breakfast and then are not hungry til dinner time. I understand this, and yes this happened to me too, but what does happen then if you stick to the plan and have three meals a day that you will develop this internal clock system too!! You will find that you want to eat even though you probably are thinking how could I be hungry after eating such a big breakfast etc? But that's the way things seems to go! Before this as paleo I too would skip meals believing that it was ok, cos I wasn't hungry. But then the body is not been given a chance to develop a routine. Try eating the three meals a day and see how that goes for you?