KathrynLSuch Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Morning, So yesterday I signed up to the Whole30 Forum and read my way through the advice, inspirational stories and fellow Whole30 Loggers. I have my husband has ordered It Starts with Food for my birthday and I now have set a start date for my Whole30 journey: Monday 19th January 2015. I am from England and Whole30 is not a concept we Brits are familiar with - don't worry, we are usually that slow on the uptake!! Another thing that is an alien concept on this side of the pond are binders. I know better and I have purchased a lovely new binder to create a bespoke Whole30 Recipe Binder that is going to house the amazing recipes available on Instagram and several foodie blogs I have discovered! I am also hopeful that compiling it is going to be a useful distraction tool for the times when all I need is IV Creme Egg!!!!!! Which brings me to the topic of this thread. The doubts and negative questions that have emerged overnight. So I am going to lay them out here and get them out of my system before I start. I know, I know NO EXCUSES. JUST. GET. ON. AND. DO. IT. Morning Coffee. I always have coffee as soon as I wake up. I always have coffee to wake me up. By the time my husband and the boys get up I have usually had 2 (sometimes 3) coffees to wake me up! Get the gist? I am not looking forward to the withdrawals of that one!!! Work. 10hr shifts to be precise. I work in a hospital and the shifts are 10hrs long. We get a quick 10min breakfast break and 20mins for lunch. Unless I inhale my food, it has to be really simple. Whatever's quickest. The smokers usually do the shift on a cigarette, bottle of coke and a bland sandwich. I am no better and usually end up grabbing a bag of crisps and a Mars Bar from the vending machine. I need the energy to sustain me throughout the day and feeling satisfied so that I don't 'slip and fall into a hot bag of pudding, chips and gravy from the chippy on the way home'. Mid-morning pick-me-up. When I have dropped the 2 eldest boys off at school, I get home and make toast for my youngest son. The smell is too much to resist and we both have toast and jam, I have another coffee and finish it off with a biscuit or two or three... Treats. Much like a child is bribed rewarded for good behaviour with sweets, so it is with me and something hot, caffienated and dunkable. If the boys go upstairs to play or the youngest has a nap, my brain switches to 'well done mummy, you deserve a well earned break' and on auto-pilate, brew up and find a suitable biscuit or chocolate treat to reward myself...then I realise I have been sat on the couch for an hour watching garbage on TV and the house looks like we have been burgled. You should know that this cycle also happens in the afternoon too. Sugar. I just can't seem to say no. And it's in everything!!!! Can I really stop sugar cravings and highs and lows? Family. My husband's warming to the idea of getting on board. I have been making up a largely Paleo diet until now and he has loved it. But what about the children? Am I going to have to make an extra meal for them too? And our middle son is a really fussy eater. That's potentially 3 seperate meals three times a day. Aaaagh! Special Occasions. In the next 30 days, we have 3 birthdays in our house alone, including mine! Enough said... Giving up. 'At least you tried' is a phrase I dread and yet am all too familiar with. I went from being an A student at school to engaged, married and having our first child in just 5 yrs. My husband and children are my life's blessing but in the past 15yrs I have lost some of the spark that I had and the spring in my step is somewhat faded. I do have an all-or-nothing tendancy and I really don't want this to affect my Whole30 journey. My health depends on it. My life depends on it. Weight loss. At 5'4" I am 10st 7lbs and it shows. I really want to loose weight. I hope I will see results in 30 days. HEADACHES. Perhaps my biggest fear of all and the single most important reason why I need Whole30, is having had chronic headaches since being a teenager. Caffeine withdrawals are going to be inevitable. I hope I can ride them out and trust that they will pass. There, I said it. OUT. OF. MY. SYSTEM. Literally I hope... I promise I am not going to whine away the next 30 days. This is going to be my accountability Log and am going to commit to post on it everyday. I am going to end each day with a little note of how I am going to be 'Proactive & Positive' about the challenges of the day to make the next day better. Proactive & Positive Start building up a Whole30 Recipe Binder with recipes sourced from Instagram, Pinterest and notable blogs. Increase my water intake before I start my Whole30 journey. Print off the Whole30 Rules and food guidelines. Compile a menu plan for the week ahead. Put a spiralizer on my birthday wish list x Get my husband on board. Have a lovely, if wintry, day x Kathryn x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina R Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Welcome. 1. You can have coffee on you whole30, you are not supposed to have it before you eat or after noon. 2. I would make sure I had a really big meal before my shift and you will definitely have to plan ahead so you have some grab and go lunches. Check out Nom Nom Paleo, she has some great bento box ideas. Instead of thinking sandwich or soup think more appetizer. 3. Eating a big breakfast with enough fat and protein will help with snacking. 4. Find some good compliant teas and read a book instead. Sometimes changing our habbits slightly can help. I find it hard to eat with a book or iPad in my hands 5. Yes you can stop sugar craving but you have to stop fruit. Fruit has fructose which will keep your sugar dragon awake. Limit yourself to 1 serving of low sugar fruit like raspberries or blackberries or green apple. Make sure you never eat your fruit as a snack. It will be hard but worth it. 6. There are lots of things that you can make paleo that your children will like. Do they eat hotdogs and hamburgers? You can make compliant versions of both and your kids can have the bun. How about spaghetti with meatballs? You can make the sauce compliant and your kids can have regular noodles while you have spaghetti squash. You can even make chicken wings or a sort of breaded chicken with almond flour. Bake in the oven with potatoe "frys". 7. Make sure you eat before the party. It's hard to resist temptation when you are hungry. Instead of having special food for your birthday do something special. Maybe a nature walk with the family or maybe take your husband dancing. Whatever you want to do, it's your birthday. 8. Giving up. Don't be too hard on yourself. This is not really a diet, you don't do it for thirty days and never again, you are changing your life for the better. So if it takes 40 days who cares. Actually this is the first day of the rest of your life. 9. The number on the scale means nothing. You might want to write down some other goals. What if at the end of your whole30 your skin was beautiful, you felt alive and joyful, you were pain free. What if you didn't lose a pound? Would you be a failure? Here is an awesome post that should help. http://everydaypaleo.com/attention-scale-addicts-part-2/. 10. If you want to do you whole30 without coffee start now. This is what worked for me. Get some decaf coffee and when you make coffee use 1/2 decaf and 1/2 regular for about a week. Also try to limit yourself to two cups. The next week do 1/4 regular coffee and 3/4 decaf. After that just do decaf. You can also do this during the whole30 if you want to reduce your caffeine. You can also try some green tea, make sure it doesn't have stevia or soy in the ingredients. Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathrynLSuch Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 Tina, I am so grateful for your kind words and thoughtful advice. I had hoped that the book would have arrived in the post this morning but it hasn't as yet. Maybe tomorrow. I'm starting a little on the back foot I know. I'm committed to Monday regardless but I can see that there's lots of advice I will need. No coffee before food and after noon is very helpful. I checked out Nom Nom Paleo, thank you - I am going to need lots of toner and paper!!! I can see that some basic kit is going to prove useful in the kitchen too. I like the idea too of doing something for me to relax. Actually, the trouble, is turning off the TV!!!! No wonder I act like a couch potato. You're right also about the weight. You are totally right. Actually if you saw me, you would probably think I have some body dysmorphia obsessing about weight, but we're tuned to associate health with the scales and BMI. Actually I feel like CR** and reading people's stories I am confident Whole30 will change my life. I checked out the link. Amazing! What is it about being obsessed with the scales? Right. That's the end of that, gone!! Thank you again for such a supportive and encouraging response xx Kathryn x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocoholic382 Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 A note on the special occasions, which tend to be my downfall: you will absolutely be able to find phenomenal meals to prepare for these occasions that are Whole30 compliant. There are fantastic options out there. You (we!) just have to work on your (our!) idea of dessert as reward. I don't eat much fruit on Whole30, but I could see me letting myself have a pretty decent amount of pineapple or mango after dinner on a special night like a birthday. But at this point I could also see me rewarding myself with a pedicure instead. And don't give up! We're here! We want to hear how it's going for you! Complain if you have to, but stick with it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmlynne Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Katheryn Welcome to w30! I had many of your same concerns when I did my first w30 and you know, it all worked out! It did take some work and committment but somehow I made it through! Tina gave you so much good advice but I want to add just one thing. I am a nurse and work 12 hour shifts - rotating days and nights. We do not have a cafeteria - only a Starbucks cafe - so I take all my own meals. I learned how to eat "cold" leftovers and take lots of different types of snack foods. (boiled eggs, vegie sticks, guacamole,etc). I would love to help you if you need it in this area! Anyway - I also wanted to reach out and ask if you mind me asking where in England you are from? My mother is from the Southhampton area. It has been many years since I made it back to visit friends and family (and get some really good fish and chips ). I have to admit that when I read posts from people in England I drool just a little over their meals! Enjoy your journey! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathrynLSuch Posted January 17, 2015 Author Share Posted January 17, 2015 Thank you for making me feel so welcome and your words of encouragement x Chocoholic382 thank you for the advice x I have read a lot about not having fruit as a snack. That's a really practical thing I can do so thanks. It's actually my birthday up first, the boys will be at school so it will be a pretty quiet day here. Post Whole30 I do want to engage the family in a Paleo lifestyle so I'm going to start this change gradually alongside my journey. Sweets as treats is such an emotive thing. Where did that all start? When I had my first child, my husband's Aunt remarked "don't tell me you're going to be one of those Mothers who don't let their children have chocolate!". Great start, thanks. I realised that there's so much I would like to do but don't seem to have the time - what with all the sitting infront of the TV grazing. And, I am not going to give up!!!! Don't worry, I am not going to spend my Whole30 whining! I am going however to use this space as a daily diary x Kmlynne thank you for your support. A Costa Coffee franchise has just opened at our hospital!!!! My issue at work is the lack of breaks. I start at 7.30 and will get a 10min break at about 11.30am then I get 20mins for lunch at around 3pm. We have a water cooler in the kitchen so I intend to sneak off there to top up. I'll let you know how I get on - this is where planning is going to be key!!! I am from Wigan in the North West of England nr Manchester. It's very wintry here at the moment and at times like this a quality fish & chips just hits the spot x We also have a delicious chippy within walking distance of our house!!!! We go less than once a month so I am going to save this treat for summer days by the sea x I love this forum and have been made to feel so welcome x Thank you for all of your support. Kathryn x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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