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Whole30 for Lent: starting February 18th.


angledge

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I'm in for Lent! I've been spending the last few weeks trying out recipes/hot plates from the Well Fed cookbook and practicing weekly cook ups.  This weekend I got A LOT of veggies prepped and organized, my husband grilled quite a few pounds of meat, and I made homemade mayo and chimichurri and stocked the pantry with essentials. This will be my first Whole 30, and I am really excited! I am embarking on this journey to: 1)overcome my sugar addiction; 2)optimize mental clarity and focus; and 3)show my husband and baby how committed I am to establishing a healthy lifestyle in our home.   

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Hi. I would like to join you all. I had a very successful whole30 over 2 years ago, but I gave in to lots of sugar over the holidays after it and my sugar problems returned with a vengeance. Believe me when I say if I had completed that successfully absolutely anyone can. I have celiac disease so already gluten free. I felt pretty spacey the first few days closely followed by a surge in energy like I had never before experienced. I lost 12 lbs in the 30 days, then lost an additional 6. I had an overall of 40 to lose just to put that in perspective for others.

Lent is the perfect fresh start for me so I will be ready on Wednesday.

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Hello. I'm new to Whole30, and I'm thinking on starting it for lent. I'm usually pretty good and disciplined when it comes to giving up stuff for lent. Four years ago I gave up beef, never again have I had it. 

I think my biggest struggle is sugar, so hopefully with a support group I can overcome the sugar flu.. 

 

Any suggestions are appreciated. 

 

:rolleyes:

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Hi All,

I am going to start on the 18th with you! I am an athlete, have played rugby for almost 10 years - but am teach 2nd and 3rd grade now so have not been as active and healthy as needed for the past two years - so this is a little scary! What was the most helpful for all of you in prepping?

- Did you sign up for the daily emails?

- Did you buy a Whole 30 cookbook or are recipes online and Instagram enough to help you prep?

- Any advice and sugestions! Can we post recipes to this thread or is there a better place?

 

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Im reading some of you mentioning not eating every two hours - where does Whole 30 reccomend how often to eat your meals? Also, some of the recipe site ive found online that say simple - can be a bit overhwelming in the beginning. What are the most important things  you guys did or are doing to prepare?

 

Yes please post any recipes on here that youd like to share!

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danielle17dk, the Whole30 program recommends eating 3 meals a day & not snacking between meals. 

 

The most important thing I've done to prepare is to make stuff ahead for breakfast. I don't want to cook in the morning, but I don't like eating dinner leftovers for breakfast. So I make either prosciutto muffins (http://nomnompaleo.com/post/7486819479/prosciutto-wrapped-mini-frittata-muffins) or sweet potato quiche (http://grokgrub.com/2013/06/10/recipe-sweet-potato-quiche/). That way, I have break fast ready to go - I dice up an avocado & throw a muffin or a slice of quiche in the microwave. 

 

It's also good to have a plan - when the sugar cravings hit the first week, they are easier to withstand if you have meals planned & ingredients on hand. 

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Im reading some of you mentioning not eating every two hours - where does Whole 30 reccomend how often to eat your meals?

The Whole30 recommendation would be to eat 3 meals a day and try to get your meals to keep you going for 4-5 hours.

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I want to be in. This will be my first Whole30 and I have to say I'm terrified. Lent will be so challenging. I also have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and will be avoiding nightshades and eggs and nuts. I'm trying to figure out what to eat on fasting days. Any ideas? I'm not a fish person but to get enough calories I may need to dive in. Help.

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Count me in! I am going to start my second wole30 for lent after a failed attempt in January. I completed my first whole 30 in November thanks to the fantastic group support ... January I thought of going solo and I lasted 10 days ... Here I am ready to go.

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What a great group!

What am I doing to prepare…. I am traveling for work this week- back home on Saturday- so at this point I am getting ready mentally and also I have been cleaning up my diet/ very little grains, sweetener in coffee but that will go as well, trying not to snack.  Reading everyone’s posts helps!  We haven’t started yet but I can already feel the support and You guys are keeping me motivated.

 I did weigh myself before the trip- now the scale has been put away!

 

Tomorrow  comes and I start- I will make it work on hotel/ restaurant food-  Breakfast will be easy- eggs, I will make sure that my lunch will be a salad/ meat and for dinners meat/ veggies.

The only day that I am nervous about is Mon, Feb 23.  It’s my b-day and no I am not a big cake person, but my 5 year old twin girls love cakes and this year they want to bake my cake (with the help of their Grandmama)….  How will I avoid having a piece with their cute little eyes looking at me J? I don’t know. 

 

Glad to hear that we have other moms trying to get rid of those stubborn pregnancy pounds ;)

Good luck everyone!

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Well, I completed my first W30 in January, then started a second in Feb-but only made it half-way, to yesterday, sort of KO'd by my son's birthday (Ok, lack of will power. No one forced the cake on me).

 

I'm not ready to fly on my own yet, so I'm going to start fresh. I'll be eating compliant today, but starting officially tomorrow. I have a rare and precious opportunity today to have some quiet study/computer time to myself (I work and have a houseful of kids, so life is chaotic), and I'm going to do some reading/thinking planning regarding goals, how to get beyond some of my trouble areas (lack of balanced meals, fruit and nut munchies...)

 

Also a pretty serious cyclist and I need to kick myself in the tail to get a more systematic way of fueling rides with compliant stuff-rather than handfuls of nuts and raisins and a lot of optimism :)

 

AND-I'm really hoping to convince my husband to hop on board. Lent is probably the ONLY time I could convince him to give up cheese and beer :) But this program would be really good for him. We'll see-I'm not holding my breath.

 

One other thought: someone above asked about signing up for emails-my recommendation is YES YES YES-you're going to be spending a significant amount of $ on quality food, spend the $14 and sign up for the emails. They are full of excellent info. Sometimes it can be overwhelming because there is SO MUCH W30 info out there. I found the emails kind of pointed me in the direction of what I needed, when I needed it.

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Angledge--Thanks for the recipe links. Breakfast is probably my biggest challenge. I eat very early on workday mornings and do everything I can to prep the night before because I can't think so early in the morning! I'm going to try the quiche and the frittata muffins. There is a recipe in It Starts With Food for a dreamy avocado dressing that I highly recommend. A dollop of that on just about anything is amazing.

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This is my second attempt at a Whole30.  I tried last spring.  Although I didn't do 30 days, I had strings of 3-12 days of success.  I just kept re-starting over the 30 days.  Like someone else on this thread, I still learned a ton about myself, food, and my social ties to food and drinks!  It's been invaluable and changed the way eat and treat food over the last year.  As someone else also said, I expect this next try to change me again but in a different way - even if I'm not fully successful.  However, I agree with the Whole30 philosophy - there is no excuse to give just 30 days of your life to do this! So, I am shooting for a full 30 plus 10 days for Lent.  There's just extra incentive to make this a Lenten commitment!  I am excited to be a part of a thread this year.  I am also considering the weekly email - I didn't do that last year, but it looks like there is good background info....just more ways to encourage success and perseverance!!

 

To the mom with a birthday coming:

- Last year, I just told my kids every so often that I was challenging myself to eat very healthy and focusing on the important parts of the meal.  When there was a special treat, I assured them I would have it "later", which meant I never did or it was put in the freezer for another time.  so, I think if you start building up the expectation that you will not have cake, but they can still make it with Grandma, eat it themselves, and you will make something else special (fruit & nuts? with chocolate? There must be a birthday treat recipe on the Whole30 website) - you will eat that and hope they will try it too (or they can eat it "later", too).  :)

 

To the person who doesn't like Friday fish:

-Seafood, too?  This is a great opportunity to explore fish and seafood options. There is a lot. I discovered a ton of new vegetables, meats (including seafood prep methods), and nuts last year - it was one of the gifts to myself that I got out of it.  There's options.  I didn't go vegetarian last year, but I think I am going to explore this for some Fridays.  My family likes to eat vegetarian, so it would be good for me to know good vegetarian protein sources and preparation methods.  This article has links to vegetarian resources: http://whole30.com/2012/03/paleo-nutrition-for-vegetarians/

 

My prep:

-Last year I also discovered how much meat and vegetabes come frozen and canned. I know preparing your own food is ideal, but with working a high stress job, doing most of the child rearing, and trying to take care of myself - I needed some easy options.  so, I have purchased a variety of big bags of chopped frozen veggies, canned meat in water, coconut milk, ghee, coconut oil, variety of nuts, huge jar of olives, compliant mustard, compliant salsa, and eggs....just to have a base stock in the pantry.  I learned last year that is was dangerous for me to have dried fruit, compliant Larabars, dark chocolate, and coconut manna on hand....they didn't last long and I overate them.  So, I have not purchased anything like that. I will get small quantities of dark chocolate as a treat here and there.

 

I admit that I will have my last glass of wine tonight to celebrate my kick-off tomorrow and be alcohol free for 40 days!  That in and of itself will be my greatest challenge!!!

 

Cheers!

Thoughts & prayers to success and positive self-discovery to you all through these 40 days :)

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I have known about the whole30 for sometime.  I have started a few times but never finished the full 30 days.  Recently I began and noticed my 30th day would be Feb. 18.   Because this weekend was Valentines Day and i really wanted to continue on after finishing 30 anyway, I decided to "cheat" this weekend and thus ended my whole 30 on the 26th day.  

 

I was unsure how to go forward with moderation after finishing. I also noticed that toward the end i was having cravings way more than at the beginning.  So, i decided to look and see if anyone else was considering a whole 30 (40 or 45) for lent.  I am very glad i looked.  Now I would love to be signed up along with everyone else for support.  Thanks for this idea and this group!

 

 

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I want to be in. This will be my first Whole30 and I have to say I'm terrified. Lent will be so challenging. I also have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and will be avoiding nightshades and eggs and nuts. I'm trying to figure out what to eat on fasting days. Any ideas? I'm not a fish person but to get enough calories I may need to dive in. Help.

 

Try this soup recipe: http://theclothesmakethegirl.com/2012/11/05/silky-gingered-zucchini-soup/from Clothes Make the Girl.

 

As for fish..... how about a tuna salad? http://theclothesmakethegirl.com/2012/04/25/firecracker-tuna-salad/

 

Or fish cakes (super-nice to have on hand when hunger strikes!): http://nomnompaleo.com/post/91332244628/spicy-tuna-cakes

 

My personal favorite fish recipe is this salmon dish, which I make in the oven instead of on the grill: http://www.thecookierookie.com/salmon-with-avocado/

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Try this soup recipe: http://theclothesmakethegirl.com/2012/11/05/silky-gingered-zucchini-soup/from Clothes Make the Girl.

 

As for fish..... how about a tuna salad? http://theclothesmakethegirl.com/2012/04/25/firecracker-tuna-salad/

 

Or fish cakes (super-nice to have on hand when hunger strikes!): http://nomnompaleo.com/post/91332244628/spicy-tuna-cakes

 

My personal favorite fish recipe is this salmon dish, which I make in the oven instead of on the grill: http://www.thecookierookie.com/salmon-with-avocado/

Thank you Angledge. Unfortunately, most of those recipes have either eggs in them or nightshades. The first on looks promising though and I will give it a try and see if I like it.

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I'm a terrible snacker in the afternoon. I do fine during the morning because I have a big breakfast... but afternoons are a snack battle. I find myself eating every hour.. something. Just something. 

I usually ok after dinner. ... This will be quite a challenge for me. So, any suggestions that you may have would help. I'm all in, and so is my husband (i think the snacking for him will be a challenge as well....)  :mellow:

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I'm a terrible snacker in the afternoon. I do fine during the morning because I have a big breakfast... but afternoons are a snack battle. I find myself eating every hour.. something. Just something.

I usually ok after dinner. ... This will be quite a challenge for me. So, any suggestions that you may have would help. I'm all in, and so is my husband (i think the snacking for him will be a challenge as well....) :mellow:

I need some snack ideas. Some days we eat dinner later than others, and I want to have a good snack on hand so I am not tempted by a bad one.
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What a great group!

What am I doing to prepare…. I am traveling for work this week- back home on Saturday- so at this point I am getting ready mentally and also I have been cleaning up my diet/ very little grains, sweetener in coffee but that will go as well, trying not to snack.  Reading everyone’s posts helps!  We haven’t started yet but I can already feel the support and You guys are keeping me motivated.

 I did weigh myself before the trip- now the scale has been put away!

 

Tomorrow  comes and I start- I will make it work on hotel/ restaurant food-  Breakfast will be easy- eggs, I will make sure that my lunch will be a salad/ meat and for dinners meat/ veggies.

The only day that I am nervous about is Mon, Feb 23.  It’s my b-day and no I am not a big cake person, but my 5 year old twin girls love cakes and this year they want to bake my cake (with the help of their Grandmama)….  How will I avoid having a piece with their cute little eyes looking at me J? I don’t know. 

 

Glad to hear that we have other moms trying to get rid of those stubborn pregnancy pounds ;)

Good luck everyone!

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cckern928- No alcohol for 40 days will be a huge hurdle for me, too!  I started after Valentine's Day specifically because I knew that I would want to have some drinks.  Of course those drinks and the subsequent poor food choices led me to feel awful (and continue my carb/sugar/junk eating).  I'm happy I'm starting tomorrow just so I have some structure and can start feeling better again!  Usually it's just a couple glasses of wine here or there, but I really enjoy them when I have them!

 

GabiPatricia- I think eating enough fat at lunch might help stave off the snack cravings until dinner.  I'm surprised at how much easier eating only 3x per day was when I was eating on the meal template.

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