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Sarah's Whole30 Log


Littlelotte

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Day one has come and gone! I seriously had my fingers crossed for compliant potatoes from my college's cafeteria this morning, but no dice. I settled for two hard-boiled eggs with a side of bacon and 3/4 of a banana. 

 

For lunch I had my leftover paleo curry chicken sans rice from Skinnytaste--just used coconut oil instead of olive oil, full-fat coconut milk, and chicken breast because it's the only kind I really know how to cook with!

 

Dinner more than made up for my veggie-lacking breakfast and small-ish lunch; I got two generous slices of delicious ham and the cafeteria actually SPICED their steamed spinach with onion and garlic today! I'm so proud of them. A full plate of that man, too good to pass up. I also had an apple with a dab of sunbutter and some coffee with coconut milk (I know I know, but I have to use that milk before it goes bad, yo! Ain't got no time to cook during the week!). 

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I liked your report and enthusiasm for garlic and onion spiced steamed spinach so much, I hate to mention it, but let's talk about bacon and ham.

 

During a Whole30 we ask you to avoid foods that include added sugar. It is difficult to find bacon that is not cured with sugar. It exists, but you are not likely to encounter it in a cafeteria. And ham in the United States is pretty much all cured with sugar. If you look at the ingredient labels of ham in the grocery store, they will all mention sugar in some form as an ingredient. Eating sugar-cured bacon and ham is not grounds for restarting a Whole30 but it is important to escape even those little bits of sugar in your diet going forward. 

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Aww, why thank you. Mostly their veggies are just steamed sadness so it's nice when they mix it up. 

 

Thank you for the information. I know about the sugar (though maybe not in regards to bacon; I know most store-bought bacon has nasty stuff in it anyway), so I'll definitely work on it for next week. Mostly I got the two meats because I'm sick and tired of plain old hard-boiled eggs (which is the safest protein they have daily), but I plan on cooking some stuff to help me spice them up for next week and beyond!

 

Is sausage along that same vein, do you think?

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Day two down! For breakfast they had no bananas (I'm trying to as little fruit as possible but when all they have is hard boiled eggs and of course no veggies, I don't feel full enough gosh darn it!), but today was Compliant Potato Day so I got some of those. For my protein, I did two hard-boiled eggs and a small turkey sausage patty, no allergens.*

 

Lunch was a piece of allergen-free herb roasted chicken with 1/4 a plate of roasted potatoes and 1/2 a plate of green beans. Oh, and coffee with some coconut milk. And cocoa. ...I'm almost out of coconut milk so this will stop within the week; the milk's the only reason I'm doing the coffee, honestly. XD

 

I had a workout today, so I had a garam masala-spiced scrambled egg with a dash of coconut milk and 1/3 teaspoon of sunbutter.

 

Post-workout I was stupid and didn't see the part about not using the extra meal to replace dinner, so I just combined the two. It wasn't a very long workout anyway (about 10 mins). For dinner I had 3/4 a plate of green beans and another 1/4 plate of roasted potatoes and a piece of roasted chicken. I also threw in a hard-boiled egg and to make it palatable, I added some mustard and crushed the yolk into it to make my own cafeteria deviled eggs! No mayo, but still infinitely better in my opinion. I may bring an Indian spice or two to breakfast tomorrow and see if that helps as well. 

 

Overall assessment: Well, I screwed up the workout lunch, but I don't know if I worked out enough for it to matter anyway. And potatoes. God, too many POTATOES. I grab them when I can because their non-allergen potatoes are a rarity indeed. But I will definitely cut back starting tomorrow! I don't work out enough to justify the starch. Also more veggies. I think I'll roast some tonight so I can nom on them at breakfast tomorrow. 

*That means no soy, dairy, or gluten, mainly.

 

Edit: So apparently the mustard I used for my egg this evening might possibly have had soy in it. *facepalm* It's so hard to read the stupid nutrition website, I can't tell if "mustard sauce" is the same thing as what I grabbed. I should have followed my cafeteria rule of "If there's no nutrition label, don't eat it!" but I thought I'd be safe with mustard since even the cheap kind is just...mustard. Sooo tomorrow is officially day one again. So glad I wasn't too far in before this happened. I'm not too bothered right now, though; these past few days have been sub-optimal anyway, and I've already had to restart once for a similar mistake! I originally started on Sunday, but screwed up on Monday, haha!

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Another day down, and honestly, I am loathe to call this my new "Day 1" because the meal were all compliant but just horribly unbalanced! For breakfast, I slept in late so i just finished off 3 scrambled eggs that I made the other night along with 2/3 of an apple and some green tea.

 

Then for lunch I had three palm-sized pieces of balsamic-soaked chicken. Why so much protein? Because the only compliant veggie they had was beets and I tried, I really did, but once the gag reflex kicks in, I really can't go any farther...I also tried a salad and...yeah, not much better.

 

Then for dinner I had two more pieces of the same type of chicken and PRAISE THE GODS, for they had compliant mushrooms with onions. It was pretty good and I ate a whole plate. Yeah, still short for the day, it's sad...

 

Tomorrow will be better, I know it. Come on cafeteria, I'm cheering you on! More veggies please! Woooo! Now I think I'll go eat a banana and yes it's 10:38 at night, but I did NOT eat enough today.

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Day two gone, and I can say I'm definitely feeling the hangover. Lots of headaches and shambling around like a zombie. For breakfast, I had 3 hard-boiled eggs with some garam masala and two teaspoons of sunbutter.

 

For lunch, I had 3 MORE hard boiled eggs. Their allergen meat had mustard in it and after the soy fiasco that was two days ago, I wasn't taking any changes. Had a few bites of roast butternut squash and downed about half a bowl of steamed cauliflower before my stomach threatened to puke it all back up and I had to stop. Yeah, I'm finding I'm very much a textures person; it's a process, and I'm not giving up by any means...Regardless, that was their only compliant vegetable.

 

For dinner I had...yeah, 3 more hard boiled eggs, and I literally had to force them down. I'm so tired of plain hard boiled eggs, if I have to eat them tomorrow morning, I WILL punch someone in the face. Needless to say, I can't wait to go shopping and get some much-needed emergency protein. Oh, all the fish I shall devour...I also had a delicious baked potato with salt, pepper, and green onions. They had broccoli, but it was undercooked so I was like NOPE and went back to my dorm's kitchen to make roasted snap peas instead. But I only had like...half a cup. But I might go eat some more now, actually, I'm hungry again.

 

So yeah, another horrid vegetable day and I have at LEAST one more hard boiled egg-filled breakfast to get through...sigh. On the bright side, I have ready vegetables to nom when theirs are awful?

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Day three down, and the hangover's getting better, but I can already feel the KILL ALL THE THINGS setting in. Confession time: I didn't eat breakfast today...I got up maybe ten minutes before the dining hall closed, and I could NOT be motivated to get ready for choking down plain old hard boiled eggs...I DID go to the store and farmer's market, however. Had some apple cider from the market and picked up a Larabar from Hyvee. Sugar bombs abound, I know, but I figured something was better than nothing and I was gonna start gnawing on my hand next if I didn't get SOMETHING into me. I have compliant mustard for future hard boiled eggs, and that actually makes me excited again! I also have compliant guac to smear on them and soon I will also have leftover salsa. BRING IT ON, EGGS.

 

For lunch, they had a DELICIOUS meat sauce (yes, at least a palm-sized serving was in there!) with no allergens that I ate sans pasta. Got weird looks, but it was worth it. They also had watery "green beans" that I ate of bowl of...begrudgingly. It's worse now that I have my own veggies I can cook, haha.

 

For dinner, they had grilled chicken with no allergens ACCORDING TO THE SIGN, and I can't find it on the online nutrition calculator, so I'm just gonna hope they didn't sneak some soy in somehow...They also had green beans, but I could tell they were canned. Well, that was right fine with me! I know canned veggies are sub-optimal compared to fresh, frozen, and steamed, but I was unfortunately a canned veggies kid growing up. So I'm USED TO IT. I ate 2 and a quarter bowls, so like...2.5 cups about?

 

Overall: I WILL eat breakfast tomorrow...veggie intake was considerably better from yesterday, though quality may have been sub-optimal...and mercifully I didn't have to survive on eggs for the rest of the day!

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Day 4 gone, and it was much better than the past three days have been!

 

For breakfast (yes, I DID eat breakfast!), I had three hard boiled eggs with mustard, black coffee, and 3/4 a banana. The mustard helped, but I'm glad I'm cooking egg muffin-tin things tonight.

 

For  lunch, I had two turkey sausage links, sans allergens, and about 1 and 1/2 cup of veggies, comprising of spinach and carrots. Very doable, especially with delicious sausage on my side.

 

Aaand dinner was THE BEST--I made this recipe (http://zenbellycatering.com/2013/02/20/plantain-tostados-with-cilantro-lime-chicken-ranchero-sauce-guacamole/) for plantain tostadas topped with a yummy salsa, citrus-marinated chicken breasts, and guacamole. ~DELICIOUSNESS~ of the highest degree. Though I don't know if it qualifies as SWYPO? I felt the plantain "tostadas" were filling and would be totally okay with just making the chicken and topping it with salsa and guac so I can have more room for veggie deliciousness. Oh, and I had half a cup of my leftover veggies. So in total...that makes two cups of veggies today?

 

Also, I did a workout today but stupidly forgot to eat for it. *sigh* I always miss something...

 

Welp, I have a crapton of salsa to smother everything under the sun in for the next week, not to mention some leftovers, plans for egg quiches, and still a cup of veggies for emergencies! Oh, and also, I made my own ghee with Kerrygold, so I now have the option of coconut oil (which is a bit strong to me) or ghee. This week is shaping up to be a better week than last.

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Day 5 down, and I've had very subtle signs of Kill ALL the Things! One of my partners in class is super nice and cheery and it took all my willpower to be decent today. Not bad, other than that...YET. The salsa has been a LIFE-SAVER in helping to get in my veggies and just spicing up mealtime in general. Guac's been great too, especially when I need more fat!

 

For breakfast, I had three hard-boiled eggs sliced to bits by my fork and mixed with leftover salsa from Sunday. VERY doable, even better than the mustard. I also had half a banana. Oh, and I had coffee and coconut milk as well.

 

For lunch, they had chile-and-onion-spiced pork that went FANTASTIC with salsa. I also ate a bowl (about 1.5 cups) of broccoli, which is a first. I actually did something new today and tried that broccoli stalk instead of just biting off the florets and leaving it at that. I actually liked them better! Ate the whole thing, with some aid from the salsa. Broccoli is my new string cheese, haha. So much fun to peel pieces off! Oh, I also had about 2 tbsp of Guac too.

 

For dinner, I had more of the same pork along with a bowl of steamed carrots (1 cup) and another bowl of green beans (1 cup). This time I mixed some salsa and guac TOGETHER and it was the best thing ever. I also dipped my carrots in the leftover guac/salsa and it was equally delicious. Green beans were plain, though. It makes me feel like a cheat to have to put sauce on vegetables to eat them. honestly...

 

Another note: I'll admit that I like to check myself out in the mirror, especially when I've been taking care of myself and feel GREAT about how I am. This morning I got up and did some shameless peeking and noticed that it looked like I was 5 months pregnant! Unless I'm just really unobservant, I don't THINK all of that is my fat, so after the 9-eggs-in-one-day thing that happened last week, I'm going to go a week without eggs now and see if that help the bloating any. We'll see.

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Gotta make this quick!

 

Day 6 down. I keep looking at that number and being like REALLY? it doesn't feel like it's been that long. My stomach is protesting as I write this, so that is already a testament to me not eating enough today.

 

For breakfast I finished off my leftover plantain tostadas, topped with chicken, slasa, and guac.

 

For lunch, I had a can of tuna spiced with various spices I have lying around and also mixed with guac and salsa. I also had about a cup of roasted snap peas.

 

For dinner, I had two pieces of non-allergen chicken (WHY do they only serve the breast?) that were good, with a bit of salsa and about a cup of broccoli. I also had coffee with about 1/4 cup of full-fat coconut milk.

 

After dinner I went to a reading where I had a small plate of fruit--some pineapple, honeydew, and grapes.

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Day 7 down yesterday, and honestly I felt so disgusted at stupid day 7 that I didn't want to log it and still really don't. Regardless, I promised myself that I would keep up this log and be absolutely honest about how much food I eat and what...for accuracy and record's sake, but also for myself. So I don't lie or delude myself. So I will post about it and then move on to day 8.

 

Breakfast started out okay; I had two turkey sausage links, compliant potatoes, and coffee with 1/4 cup coconut milk. Still no nice veggies, not ideal, I know.

 

But then after breakfast all the stress from weeks of trying to conquer my mounting homework pile triggered my stupid depression. I dragged myself to class and spent the rest of the time absorbed in books, trying to forget about life in general. As such, I was NOT in the mood to leave my dorm, especially since there was nothing protein-wise other than eggs available and I was still trying to stay away from those. Well unfortunately I only had one can of tuna left in my room that I could eat an an emergency-protein, so I ended up trudging down to our kitchen and cooking 3 scrambled eggs anyway. I added a bunch of mexican spices. They were okay. If bloating doesn't go away within the week (as I see it on the timeline now and mine is invariably screwed up because things), then I'll try to cut eggs out but after I have actual food to eat BESIDES them, darn it.

 

I had an apple for a snack, and then for dinner, I was going to walk to a convenience store-on campus because I was too busy [drowning in misery, not being productive] to drive to Walmart/Hyvee but the thought of walking into unfamiliar building and having people stare at me was too scary so I didn't. So I walked to the dining hall, saw the line, said NOPE and turned around to head back. I had that last can of tuna mixed with salsa, guac, and spices and called it a night. Yep, that's right. NO vegetables because my sorry-ass self couldn't be bothered to wait in a line for food.

 

This is my worst day so far, I KNOW I didn't eat enough in general (I almost didn't eat lunch or dinner at all) and it was not in the spirit of the Whole30 at all. Did I fall of the wagon? No. Is this a day I'm proud of or plan to emulate again? No. I know my depression isn't an excuse for much of anything really, but I'm not going to beat myself up repeatedly over this craptastic day. I'm certainly not going to ignore it, but it's past and I wholeheartedly acknowledge just how horrible it was nutrition-wise. If I brood on it, I can't move forward to make better days. In a nutsell: learning from mistakes = yes, self-abuse over mistakes = NO.

 

Well, that's out of the way, on to day 8...

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Day 8 was considerably better than yesterday. I'm still struggling with my vegetable intake of course, but I moved my shopping day up to tomorrow night so I can buy a crapton of veggies to keep handy for breakfast from now on....I keep telling myself that if those people can do a Whole30 on the road, then I can do one just as successfully at college, darn it!

 

Breakfast consisted of two sausage patties (they probably had sugar, but I'm working on getting more leftovers and emergency protein for such situations) and 1/2 a small banana.

 

For lunch, I had a slice of cajun-spiced, allergen-free turkey with some guac. I also had about a cup of broccoli and 3/4 a cup of fried cabbage (DELIIICIOUSSSS). I'm starting to like broccoli more now. At least, I did less nibbling and and more nomming.  Yay for progress!

 

For dinner, I had two slices of the same turkey with guac and about a cup of broccoli. Also nibbled on a few green beans and carrots, but after the cabbage, they couldn't really compare...

 

So ~2.75 cups of vegetables. Not good, not horrendous. I'm still looking to bring that number WAAY up, to 4 minimum. I'll see how that goes. Silly cafeteria, disregarding vegetables as a breakfast option. *sigh* Also, two other notes: I finally got It Starts With Food from my library and have started reading (controlled so I don't go overboard, again). I wanted to explore more the science behind the program so I'm super excited. Also, being thrust into the chaos that is the cafeteria is incredibly difficult at times--I fantasized about mauling some poor unsuspecting student for their mac and cheese two days ago--but it also heightens my sense of control over what I eat when I don't give in to the temptation that is literally bombarding me from all sides. It's like the epitome of self-restraint training, and it's actually pretty great. Thanks, school, and you sad lack of compliant food! <3

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Yesterday was day nine, and it went okay!

 

For breakfast, I had a spoonful of kielbasa and a green apple (I know, the EPITOME OF HEALTH!).

 

For lunch, I tore at my roasted half-chicken like a true carnivore. Mmm, chicken skin~ Oh, and some roasted sweet potato slices and a dab of ghee. I also had spinach. Now for some background, I absolutely hate steamed spinach. Abhor. Detest. Steamed spinach. So naturally I wasn't very excited about the big lump that I had gotten for myself. But then I remembered that they had had creamed spinach the other day, and I looked at my guac packet...and then at my spinach, and thought, WHY NOT? For anyone stuck in a cafeteria situation like me: spinach + guac = instant creamed spinach deliciousness. And I didn't even have that horrible post-spinach coat on my teeth (You know, the one reminiscent of nails on a chalkboard every time your teeth make contact). I also had a cup of black coffee.

 

Then, at dinner TIME I had a fish filet. There was nothing else compliant, but that was okay because I went shopping afterwards and was up making chili until 12 AM. So in addition to the fish (I know, late at night eating = BOO!), I had 3 spoonfuls of chili over 3 cups of apple-vinegar-cooked kale and it was DELICIOUS.

 

So I did get my 4 cups of vegetables in, yay! I KNEW they could taste good if only cooked right...And now I have a bunch of chili as emergency protein. I couldn't be happier, and I bet it tastes really good with guac too...

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Day 10 is basically gone!

 

For breakfast, I woke up late and missed it at my school's cafeteria, so i had a heaping bowl of chili in my dorm room.

 

For lunch, I also had a heaping bowl of chili in my dorm room.

 

For dinner, guess what I had? A HEAPING bowl of chili in my dorm room. Oh, but here's the good stuff: after that I went to the cafeteria and got about 2.75 cups of cilantro-lime slaw and 1 cup of carrots. Oh, and half a white potato (no skin and with just salt and pepper!).

 

My eating schedule was messed up again because of my cooking last night, and I didn't reach my 4 cups quite of vegetables. But my GOD was that slaw DELICIOUS. And I don't know if I could ever get tired of that chili. And I admit that a big reason for eating so much chili today was because I didn't have enough tupperware of my own for the batch I made last night, so I had to use a dorm glass bowl and I wanted to get rid of the excess as soon as possible!

 

Another funny note: Yesterday, as I was getting up for my apple, I passed a girl eating something liquid out of a bowl and thought, "What is that, soup? But they don't serve soup in the mornings..." Then I got a proper look on the way back to my table and realized it was CEREAL! I completely forgot that cereal existed for a full minute, haha! The things Whole30 does to your brain...

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RANDOM POST: Food dreams & health improvements so far

 

So I've decided to start using my log to catalog other things in relation to my Whole30, but not directly tying in to my daily word vomit about what I ate. I'll start off with food dreams.

 

I love to talk about my dreams. My friends know that if I ask "So, how did you sleep?" they should run far away before I trap them and force them to listen to my recent frolickings in the dreamscape. My obsession with dreams comes in part because mine are both highly organized and very random. They are of the variety that has had many a person question my sobriety prior to going to bed. I'm not kidding.

 

My food dreams have been no different, really, and some of them are completely normal. Some. So here we go: my food dreams so far on this Whole30!

 

1. Around day 3 I dreamed that I cheated by eating some cream-thing that I am 80% sure doesn't exist and 100% sure I've never had. It was a cream with a citrus-y taste (think sherbert) in the shape of a star. Not like a wedding mint, like a little kid took a can of reddi-whip and sprayed it into a star shape.

 

2. Day 6 or so, I had a dream where I was on the road with my family and they were trying to find a place to eat. I was the "trouble child" because I couldn't have hardly anything, so they just stopped somewhere and I was given a "Sriraca sandwich" (two slices of whole wheat bread lathered in sriracha). They were saying stuff like "It's just bread" and "Eat it so we can go". So I took a bite, but realized that was in control of what I ate, not them. So I immediately spit it out and rinsed out my mouth. Hooray for happy endings!

 

3. The night of day 7, I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in my dream, guilt-free, only to remember later that I was on the Whole30 and subsequently cursed myself because I would have to start all over.

 

That's been it so far. Now onto the health benefits I'm noticing!

 

1. Instead of nodding off in my biology class every single day, it only happens once or twice a week, IF THAT.

 

2. My pants are getting baggy, but I can't tell if I'm actually changing body shape or just never bothered to pay attention before.

 

3. I can sleep through the night more consistently.

 

4. I don't get as winded going up and down the stairs.

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RANDOM POST: My "first" Whole30

 

When I talk to people online about my current Whole30, I avoid phrasing it as "My [#] Whole30" or "Whole30 round [#]". And that's because I have a secret shame: my "first" Whole30, despite all my initial excitement, did not go as planned. It lasted about 11 days and I gave up (right on schedule). Notice the quotes around "first"; even now I loathe to acknowledge it as my first attempt. Because on some subconscious level, I really want to say that my first attempt was a success. That I could commit to taking care of myself for 30 days. I couldn't, and I think it's important to discuss why. 

 

My first mistake was telling people who didn't need to know. Honestly, I told one of my best friends in my excitement (partially hoping she would see this site and join me on my journey) and she gave me the standard "Okaaay...(but I'm not sure it's a good idea/but you know this is just a fad diet, right?)." So I didn't have much support there. I also told my roommate and a few other students, but after my experience with the aforementioned friend, I described it as an "elimination diet for health reasons." This meant two things for my Whole30:

 

1. That I was the subject of many offhanded/passive-aggressive comments insinuating that "my diet" was unhealthy or an annoyance to them. You know what I'm talking about. The typical "Three eggs? I like eggs a lot, but I always eat one egg because of their high cholesterol, you know?" and "Of course everything has soy in it, so I guess you can't eat that..."

 

2. That the people around me were constantly saying "Oh, I hope you can eat [soy/milk/cheese/gluten] again so you can have [insert horribly processed/"healthy" food]!" as if I was missing out on all the highly-processed junk I was avoiding (and already missing terribly).

 

Not only was I forced to constantly defend my food choices or wait in silence to change the topic, but I was also made to feel sorry. Sorry for MYSELF that I could not have my trigger-foods because if others felt sorry for me, that meant that should feel sorry for me too, right?

 

And then there was the matter of college: I had mentally set myself up for leniency in the cafeteria because "It's college, and they don't list all the ingredients in everything anyway so I probably won't be 100% compliant all the time anyway!" 

 

These two things combined meant that I was feeling deprived, had no in-person support for overcoming my cravings, and thus when I got into the cafeteria and they didn't happen to have the nutrition information on a food I really wanted (like potatoes), then I would assume the best and get it anyway. After all, I deserved hashbrowns after all the willpower, I was showing, right?

 

Wrong. I had multiple slip-ups (with soy, particularly, which is an assured restart) but I tried to ignore them because the idea of restarting and "depriving" myself for MORE than 30 days was unbearable. I knew I should restart, but I felt like I had already come so far, and THESE conflicted feelings led to the sense that this "wasn't really a Whole30 anymore." And it wasn't.

 

I remember the moment when it all fell apart: I was on my way to the student organization fair when a Christian group was handing it out free ice-pops. I took one and said "it's just water." Then I got inside and was bombarded with candy. I casually picked up pieces as I went around, saying that "they're for after my Whole30!" I eventually reached the table of a local ministry and struck up conversation with someone I knew. I told him about all the studying I had to do and he told me to take extra candy to help me get through the week. I did. As I left, I thought about my two tests coming up and I cracked. I had a piece. Then another. And another, until I had finished it all and was surrounded by tiny chocolate-covered foil wrappers of failure. It was over.

 

A month later, I had returned to my bad eating habits almost completely, and I started to feel the effects of them; I NEEDED coffee in the morning, I NEEDED to take a nap before biology or else I would faceplant into my desk during lecture. My depression was returning and the fact that my pants were getting tighter again did not help.

 

It was time to try again.

 

I started quietly this time around; I told no one if I could help it (I think only two people know right now, and I don't see either often enough for it to matter). My close friend doesn't know. My roommate doesn't know. I started eating meals alone (which I honestly prefer anyway) and I adopted a strict cafeteria policy of "if there's no nutrition info, it's a no-go". And that's how it needs to be. I stopped thinking about being deprived and got all my old excitement back from the get-go. I even had to re-start twice from my original start date (I had a delicious cookie that my biology teacher made us all and I didn't want to turn one down) and I had mustard in my hardboiled eggs which had a good chance of containing soy. This time, unlike when I had slip-ups during my "first" Whole30, I didn't mind the re-starts and I managed to stay compliant for the rest of both days. A big improvement over last time already! 

 

Now it's day 10 and I'm surprised that I still have quite a bit of the "rock-star" mood that I had on day 1! I'm starting to love vegetables. I like what I cook and what I eat. I feel empowered by my daily decision to eat what makes me more healthy rather than what makes me less healthy. I know I'm going to do it this time. No one's going to guilt me into eating anything I don't want. If I have an accidental slip-up, I will re-start and continue until my 30 days are done. I just realized yesterday, that Wednesday will be day 14. Two weeks. And I've not had any thoughts of seriously quitting. Gazed at mac and cheese longingly? Yes. Thought about giving up my ambitions and diving headfirst into a bowl of it? No.

 

All this to say, my "first" Whole30 was a bust but I'm determined to finish my "second" one!  B)

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Day 11 gone yesterday and it was the BEST I've had veggie-wise.

 

For breakfast, I had two turkey sausage links from the cafeteria. Then I came back and had ~3 cups of ACV-cooked kale. 

 

For lunch, I had greek lime chicken from the cafeteria, half a plate of oregano green beans (~0.5 cup), and a whole bowl of wax beans (like green beans but yellow; ~1 cup).

 

For dinner, I had a bowl of leftover chocolate chili, a bowl of home-made tomato soup, and ~2 cups ACV-cooked kale.

 

DELICIOUS. Also last night I had another food dream: I dreamt I was eating fat ravioli (as in filled with..fat...not cheese. o.O) and remembered halfway through eating it that I was on a Whole30 and that pasta was out and that the marinara sauce probably had added sugar! Weird...

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Day 12 gone, and it was not really that great. It's not the worst day I've had, but definitely not the best. I woke up yesterday morning, generally happy and proud that I had survived days 10 & 11, which was when I gave up my last Whole30. As usual when a few days go by, I checked the timeline so I would know what to expect. Boundless energy...check. Weird food dreams...check. Cravings? I had to smile here. I had no cravings then and I couldn't see them popping up over the course of the day. I was wrong.

 

I didn't get up early enough for breakfast, so when I got out of my first class at 10:20, I was starving. I pass the Student Union on my way back to my dorm, and I remembered my roommate saying they had a convenience store I had been meaning to scope out. I decided to stop by. They only had two compliant foods: salted pistachios and larabars. I got a pack of each--pistachios for my "breakfast fat", the larabar for "emergencies. Well, I said I would only eat half the snack pack of pistachios, and...I ended up eating the whole bag anyway. I'm glad it was only a snack pack, because I think I've just found another of my food-with-no-brakes, though granted not as bad as tradtional FWNB. Needless to say, I won't be buying any more during my Whole30.

 

Nah, the BIGGER problem came with the larabar. I bought it "for an emergency", but I couldn't keep my mind off of it since I bought it. I wasn't hungry, I knew I just wanted that larabar. I even carried it around with me to a few classes just in case I "got hungry" because I didn't have "enough protein". I caved eventually and ate it. Very regrettable. I've had about 3 now since my Whole30 started, and I just realized that I haven't logged more than the first--a true emergency where I hadn't eaten breakfast and felt like passing out while shopping at Hyvee. My brain doesn't even register them as part of my day because they're "treats"--and that's dangerous, considering how much this journal holds me accountable. It wasn't an emergency when I ate those last two bars. SOOO now larabars are officially OUT of my Whole30 for ever and ever and ever. Maybe after I'm done occasionally, but for all intents and purposes now, they. Are. CANDY.

 

So anyway, onto the rest of the terrible day!

 

For (late) breakfast at about 11:00, I had a bowl of chili, a bowl of tomato soup (~.5 cup veggies?) and 2 cups of ACV kale. Earlier, at about 10:20, I had a whole snack bag of salted pistachios.

 

For lunch (about 1:30), I had a vegetable "ratatouille" (about 1 cup) and 3/4 of a sweet potato. I was going to have more chili when I came back to my dorm, but I didn't have time before my next class. So at about 4:20, I had my Larabar...

 

For dinner (about 6), I had more vegetable ratatouille (1 cup) and some steamed broccoli (~1/2 cup). Then I came back and had some chili again before heading to a club meeting.

 

As a testament to my weird eaing schedule, my lack of protein at lunchtime, and possibly the aftereffects of the larabar, I was hungry again by 10:30. Like, legit hungry. I thought about the fish and broccoli and started fantasizing about it, so I took my food downstairs and had a mini-meal--a small bowl of chili with some guac and a small bowl of tomato soup.

 

Now I call this a bad day not only because of the fourth unnecessary meal and the larabar incident. My seasonal allergies are making a reappearance for the first time in several weeks, my acid reflex is coming back, and I've had weird pains in my chest and stomach that I'm sure are related to said acid reflex. Bottom line: I've eaten something my body doesn't agree with. The culprit could be: nuts. Larabars. Chili. Soup. ACV kale. I'm inclined to say it's probably not the kale and that it's most likely the chili, but I'm going to exclude all of them for the next few days or so anyway and then re-introduce them one at a time to see what happens. That means my eating may be sub-optimal for a few days as I'll only be eating at the cafeteria, but oh well. Gotta sort this out.

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RANDOM POST: A short commitment

 

So my largest offense (yes, even larger than the larabar incidents) during this Whole30 has been my tendency to be distracted when I eat. I've been an eat-and-read-er basically since I was 5 and my dad gave me a placemat with WORDS on it. So to sit down and enjoy food without a book taking up half the table makes me cry a little on the inside. It's been especially hard since coming to college; I love to read, but don't really have much time for it, so I've taken to reading at meal-times as a way to "sneak in some fun" for the day. I was even reading It Starts With Food at meals, knowing full-well that I was not supposed to be doing it! I finally reached the section in the book about not being distracted while you eat and I quietly, guiltily, closed the book and finished my tomato soup.

 

I've known it's needed to stop for a while, so today I'm finally making a commitment that I will not read or otherwise be distracted when I'm eating. 

 

Really, I get done faster when I pay attention to what I'm eating, which means more time for reading outside of meals! Funny how that works, eh?

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Day 13 was yesterday, which makes today day 14. WOW. Two weeks. I can't believe it! Anyway, here's a re-cap of my meals yesterday:

 

For breakfast, I had two sausage patties and a generous slice of honeydew. I know fruit at breakfast isn't ideal, but I know melons have less sugar content/carbohydrate content than apples and bananas, so I tried to choose wisely. I also wasn't feeling too great about that (probably factory-farmed) sausage, but I never had any heartburn while eating it so I just went for it anyway. I also had a cup of coffee with coconut milk to help supplement the fat in my sausage (okay, so I realized I probably didn't need any more, but I need to get rid of my coconut milk before it goes bad.) After reading about how some coconut fats don't need to be processed by the gallbladder (which I'm 80% sure was the cause of the mysterious side pain I had along with my acid reflex), I decided trying to get more fats in via coconut milk and taking a break from the heavy meat and avocado fats for a while would be good.

 

For lunch, I had my one pack of emergency tuna (I really need to learn to buy at least 3 cans per week; yes, I will use it all!) mixed with guac, chili powder, cumin, and ground chipotle. DELICIOUS. I also said "screw it" and had the kale again I wasn't supposed to be eating. I was concerned the ACV was contributing to my heartburn because vinegar = acid and heartburn = acidic stomach? (There goes scientific me, over-simplifying food again). But I read some dubious claims online about it actually helping heartburn and that was enough for me to forge ahead. It was good, and I think it actually did help with my acid reflex! I had lingering heartburn from day 12, and the vinegared kale made it go away for a good few hours. This was about 2 cups of kale, by the way.

 

Then for dinner, I went to the cafeteria an was SO upset that they didn't have the complaint herb chicken thigh the online menu said they would have. They didn't even have whole hard-boiled eggs (and I don't trust the pre-cut kind they have at the salad bar; what if they did something weird to them?!), so I skipped protein and instead had two cups of whole green beans (I ate them as finger food, haha) and one bowl (~1 cup) of "italian green beans". I also had my second grapefruit in all my life. The first one I had I remember being sour and I had it with sugar. My friend tried one of their grapefruits a few months ago (they don't have just sugar to put on it) and she said it was too bitter, but I was craving a grapefruit...I had finished my veggies, mind, and I KNEW I never have trouble finishing my proteins (I was going to make my own eggs when I got back to the dorms) so I snagged one. I took a bite and...

 

...delicious. I barely tasted any "bitter" at all--it was very sweet to me already; I couldn't imagine putting any sugar on it! I'm still amused daily at how much my tastebuds are changing, haha. I actually just saw that they have even less sugar than melon! Hmm...Yeah, sugar in fruits is not as big of a deal, but when I'm trying to optimize the unoptimal system of me not having veggies for breakfast for the rest of the week, I'm trying NOT to give my body that easy-access energy during that early-morning fat-burning phase...

 

Oh, I also had another cup of coffee (not because I need it but again, because I was trying to get in my fats in a non-stomach-irritating way) before I remembered that if you have 3 eggs or so you don't necessarily NEED extra fat. Oops...And I just read the part in ISWF about not doing coffee after noon...double oops! No more evening coffee for me. I still slept pretty well, though.

 

The last part of my dinner was coming back and making scrambled eggs in a dab of ghee and bombarded with spices. THE END!

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Quick update: So today, I'm trundling along, cheerful and energetic as usual (well, as usual nowadays anyhow) I eat breakfast, have a large veggie and fat lunch, come back to the dorms and eat 3 eggs when BAM--2:00 hits. I'm sitting in bio class when I notice a random headache coming on. Not long after, I'm struggling to keep my eyes open, and within ten-minutes, I'm in the full-blown nod-off cycle until about 5 minutes before class ends when I FINALLY can keep my eyes open for any length of time. 

 

I'm so upset! I thought I had finally beaten the slump! All I want to do right now is take a nap, but I have homework to do and places to be... :(

 

I think it either happened because I tried to drag myself out of bed at 6:30 this morning (but I slept in until 7:45 anyway) or because of the EGGS. I don't know if I've villified them simply because they were the only new thing I've done in a while or WHAT. I don't think I noticed anyone wrong after I had my three yesterday, which makes me feel paranoid and unsure...but I think I should go a little longer without them. At least a week. Because my stomach bulge has returned as well these past few days and I can't tell if it's just because I've eaten or if something's irritated! Grrr!

 

So no more eggs. I'm going to have chili tonight instead for my protein--my heartburn is gone, so it might as well be the first thing I re-test in that respect.

 

Edit: Also every time I get up, I get the light-headed blood-rush squiggles and head pounding. I HONESTLY DON'T KNOW WHAT'S UP TODAY.

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Day 14 was yesterday, and I have to make this quick because I am completely swamped and ready to tear my hair out in clumps...or jump out the window...or do both...at the same time...

 

So for breakfast, I had two sausage links, a sizable slice of cantaloupe, and a cup of coffee with coconut milk.

 

For lunch, I had 3 HB eggs, steamed spinach with a but of ghee and a packet of guacamole, roasted tomatoes (I think?), and plain steamed carrots.

 

For dinner, I had my chili, two bowls of roasted tomatoes, half a grapefruit, and this weird bowl of cabbage that I don't THINK had anything off-plan, but how sweet it was made me nervous. I did end up eating it. 

 

I was hungry again, though, late at night (and I mean stomach-growling, steamed broccoli and fish hungry, not cravings) so I had a bit of leftover tomato soup before bed. 

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Today was day 15, and NOW I'm a little less stressed and I have a little more time, so I'll try to go through today quickly as well. 

 

Well, the day really didn't start out so great; I had two sausage patties and a nice slice of honeydew with my usual coffee and coconut milk for breakfast. The problem arose after my first class, when I was sitting in the library doing homework. Around 11:30, I had a mild nagging headache that was also making me sick to my stomach. Thinking I was just hungry, I went back to my dorm and heated  up some chili. I was still feeling ill even after I had eaten, so I was suspicious at this point. I went online to one of my school's nutrition calculators. What do I see listed under sausage?

 

Contains milk. 

 

Oh boy.

 

So here's the thing: I have one source (that I honestly trust more than the flaky nutritional calculator) that tells me there are no allergens in it, and another that lists milk. Horrible, Whole30-restarting milk. What the hell, sausage? Here's the thing: I've never had an issue with their sausage before. But I'm not going to ignore what happened today out of stubbornness or because of uncertainty. I've treated at least one other event like this as a restart--back to day one. But I'm halfway through. So here's the compromise:

 

I can't be sure of what I ate. But since I was already contemplating extending my Whole30 by 15 days, this is now a Whole45. I'm going to call it that for the sake of my sanity and motivation. For all intents and purposes, this is a restart. But for journaling purposes, I'm keeping the count as it is--tomorrow will be day 16, and I'll keep going until I reach day 45 (or higher; heaven forbid something like this happens again). I'm not in denial. But is is such a morale boost to come on here and see how many days of clean eating I've done. I had this one possible slip-up, and it's enough to reset my system, and I'm going to take another 30 days as I should. But this incident does not erase the hard work I've put in these past 15 days, which is why I'm not re-setting the count. My system may be compromised again, but I've been working hard on the psychological stuff, too, and Whole30 eating or not, I'm proud of how much healthier I've been since starting this journey.

 

So that rant's out of the wway. Quick comments on lunch and dinner now:

 

For lunch, I wasn't feeling so hot and they had literally nothing compliant at the cafeteria, so I just had a bowl of chili and finished off my tomato soup in my room (about 1.5 bowls). 

 

For dinner, I had my last bowl of (non-frozen) chili and a whole bag of snow peas sauteed in coconut aminos, a bit of ghee, ground ginger, and salt and pepper. No recipe; they were okay. I also had about .5 cup of roasted butternut squash at the cafeteria.

 

I also drank a boatload of water and tea (chamomile and sleepytime).

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Yesterday was 16, and it went okay.

 

For breakfast, I had two scoops of kielbasa slices and a generous slice of honeydew melon. And coffee. The usual, really. And yes, I checked all 3 of my sources to make sure the kielbasa had no allergens this time...

 

For lunch, I had about .5 cup of steamed carrots, and 1 cup of canned green beans. I didn't get a chance to eat protein, because I didn't realize they had non-allergen fish...OOPS. So my 2:00 slump hit again, but that's because I didn't have protein at lunch.

 

Then for dinner, I had TWO fillets of tilapia to make up for lack of protein at lunch. I also had maybe another.5 cup of carrots.

 

And then I went ~SHOPPING~. I skipped over the Larabars (huzzah!), stocked up on another bag of kale, some emergency green beans, and some asparagus. I'll cook some vegs up on Sunday so I can FINALLY eat them with breakfast. I also bought a bottle of GT'S Hibiscus Kombucha--my first bottle of kombucha ever! I'll admit that I was a little nervous about trying it when I got that first whiff, but I liked it right away! I didn't drink a lot--only about 1/4 of the bottle.

 

Also, I finally got "Fed Up" from my library--amazing documentary, and very sad.

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Yesterday was day 17!

 

For breakfast, I had 2 turkey sausage links, two small slices of cantaloupe, and a cup of black coffee.

 

For lunch, I had 1.5 pieces of jerk chicken, a packet of guacamole, and about 1 cup of vegetables.

 

For dinner, I had 1 piece of grilled chicken, a packet of guac, and about .5 cup of veggies.

 

Veggie intake = HORRIBle. Today will be better, for sure. I bought compliant grassfed beef sausage yesterday at the farmer's market, so I'm going to make breakfast in the dorms with veggies instead of fruit. Hoorah!

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