Starting again with food (18 February)

[Ytu]

Day 15

Halfway point!

Good sleep again, 8 hours with no waking in the night.

 

M1: 3 boiled eggs, cooked spinach with ghee, half an avocado. A black tea

M2: a tin of sardines with a salad of celery, apple, beetroot and a few walnuts and hazelnuts. This gave me indigestion and bloating starting an hour and a half after lunch and lasting until early evening.

Snack: a small tin of tuna, a few cherry tomatoes

M3: leftover salmon and prawn curry from yesterday, a sweet potato.

 

I took some new supplements today: zinc, a B50 complex, Vitamin B5, Vitamin C, kelp. Took the first two in the morning, latter three after lunch and felt awfully dizzy headed a few hours later when leaving the cinema. None of these should have any side effects, so that was weird. Could be a coincidence and maybe I'm coming down with something. Still feeling a bit off now at bedtime.

[Hannlib]

Halfway already! Well done.

I meant to say - I like the sunshine sauce but I do drop the garlic content, especially if I'm eating it raw eg with salad etc. I just use barely half a clove if any. If I'm cooking it in a pad Thai I use more. I do often drop the garlic content in Mel's recipes, just personal taste.

[Ytu]

Thanks Hannlib!

 

I have no problem with large amounts of cooked garlic, but should have remembered that I find raw garlic overpowering... I used to always blitz the clove in the microwave when making hummus, should have remembered to do the same with the sunshine sauce. Curious to try the pad thai recipe. Did you manage to get a spaghetti squash or did you use something else?

 

Unexpectedly going to the cinema tonight straight after work so will need to supermarket forage a mini meal to keep me going through the film and until a late Meal 3.

[Hannlib]

No I've never found a spaghetti squash. I use courgette noodles :-)

It's a bit of a faff but worth it. Delicious.

[Ytu]

Day 16

Still feeling a bit dizzy headed. Won't take any more supplements today, to see if this passes. Good sleep but even after 8 hours felt like I could have slept more.

 

Had dreams again of accidentally eating something, this time it was whipped cream. Food dreams have been fewer this time round and hardly any cravings. I keep looking at displays of cake bars or sweets and thinking they have no appeal at all. Coffee still has an appeal, and I keep wondering whether to have it again. I did enjoy my morning coffee more than my morning tea.

 

M1: 3 boiled eggs, cooked spinach with ghee, quarter of an avocado.

M2: tin of mackerel, cooked beetroot, a small sweet potato.

Note: This wasn't enough food and I was hungry again before leaving work. Had a small snack of olives before starting to cook dinner.

M3: lamb's liver with onions, parsley and lemon, crushed swede with ghee, salad of cucumber, tomato, parsley, olive oil.

 

Made another jar of ghee. Also made almond butter, which unsurprisingly turns out to be a food without brakes or at least more difficult to brake. I kept going back and dipping my spoon in the jar a few times. I want to make the SB&J burger but other than for the purpose of a specific recipe it's not a food I should have around. At least I only made a small amount.

[Ytu]

Day 17

Day off. Didn't manage to make any plans so not quite sure what to do with it, some cooking for sure. Want to make a beef and prune tagine.

 

Bought some decaf coffee yesterday and enjoyed two cups this morning. I missed the taste of coffee and really enjoyed drinking it again. No complaints about drinking it black.

 

Had another epsom salt bath last night before bed. Mostly good sleep, briefly awake around 4 but got back to sleep until 7. 8.5 hrs. Had some more food dreams but this time I went to a burger restaurant with a friend and got my burger without a bun, without cheese, and asked them to substitute vegetables for the fries. There was some sauerkraut but it had weirdly sweet mayo in it so I wasn't sure I should have it. At least I'm now making an attempt to be compliant in my dreams!

 

Going to take the supplements one by one to see if one of them gave me the dizzyheadedness the other day. Today, vitamin C which I don't expect will have been the cause.

 

M1: 3 scrambled eggs, cooked spinach and swede, ghee. 2 cups of black coffee.

M2: 2 Elvis Burgers, iceberg lettuce

M3: Larb (ground pork, chili, shallots, fish sauce, lime juice), iceberg lettuce, a sweet potato.

 

Ate a lot more meat today than usual, probably nearly a pound.

 

Finally got some compliant fish sauce in Tesco. Honestly, I do feel like a bit of a mug paying twice as much for the sauce without sugar, compared to one which has a tiny amount of added sugar, but playing by the rules.

[Mamatutu]

SB&J Burger!!!!!!! Oh well now you've gone and done it! I am so making myself one of those this weekend!!!!!!  I love cooking but for some reason it just had not occurred to me to make my own Sunbutter... doh!

[Ytu]

I couldn't wait (also couldn't risk snacking away the almond butter spoonful by spoonful until there was nothing left for the burgers!!) so made the banana and bacon version for lunch. Absolutely delicious and also definitely has a junk food feel. Not something I feel I should eat frequently but perfect as a treat on my day off.

 

Will try with sunbutter next time, I don't seem to have the same kind of snacking issues with that as with almond butter. And with strawberries, when they're in season. It's feeling much more spring-like today, I can actually start to believe that summer is on its way!

[Hannlib]

That Elvis burger looks epic!!! I've been wanting to try the SB &j too but I did a fruit free w30, meh.

I'm pretty sure I'll fall off the fruit wagon soon, these are top of my list to celebrate!! Better than just eating a banana slathered in almond butter, right?!

[Mamatutu]

It's a rare thing but the sun is shining on Wales today and it's toasty warm in my little portacabin   I'm eating my chicken salad as I type, sat in a puddle of sunshine and feeling rather jolly. 

 

I bought almond butter in Waitrose the other day and while I liked it for dunking apple slices when I tried a spoonful it was too much (unlike peanut butter which I can eat and eat and eat) but I did buy it with a view to making sunshine sauce and not eating by the spoonful I suppose. 

 

I've got my step kids saying over tomorrow night and at 6 and 7 years old I think homemade burgers will go down a storm and I can indulge in some too Happy Days.  Not sure they will go for the strawberry puree idea though and I'm not wildly enthusiastic about buying them out of season either as they are so flavourless.

[Ytu]

Hannlib - definitely better than just having banana and almond butter! I was craving the almond butter all morning yesterday and kept eating little spoonfuls of it, but after having the burgers I would NOT have wanted to eat any more of it as they were so satisfying. Also I had lunch around noon and was only just hungry for dinner at 8pm, so very filling, too!

 

Mamatutu - burgers feel like such a treat! Let me know what fruit you go for. I had the same thoughts re strawberries, the exported ones look so anaemic. Wonder whether any frozen berries might work, maybe blackberries?

[Ytu]

Day 18

 

Feel bloated and constipated again, possibly due to large amount of meat yesterday. Constipation seems to be my main issue this time round, where last time it was insomnia. Will try to eat more veg - try for 3 cups at each meal - and enough fat and also enough water to drink. Also got some kimchee from the farmer's market (which is definitely live) and some Polish sauerkraut (which I'm not sure is live but does not say pasteurised).

 

Even had a 'real' (caffeinated) coffee today in hopes of moving things along but it didn't have an effect. Another epsom salt bath tonight maybe but I wonder if I also need a magnesium supplement.

 

Workout: 6 x hill sprints, 10 x each reverse pull-ups/chin-ups, 10 x one leg squats each leg, 10 x incline push-ups. My nearby park is drier now and it's actually possible to sprint on the grass, whereas last week it was all squelchy slippery mud.

 

M1: 3 scrambled eggs, kippers, spinach and swede with ghee, a banana, a black coffee.

M2: Hot smoked salmon, salad of cucumber, parsley and tomato, carrot sticks, kimchee.

M3: beef and prune tagine with cauliflower pilaf, pureed carrots with caraway, cabbage with ghee and capers.

[Mamatutu]

What is kimchee like?  Not that I have any hope of finding it locally but Waitrose might be a possible maybe?

 

We had burgers but no fruit as I had 2 servings for breakfast today.  Got plenty left over though so might try with banana tomorrow as I have some of those.  Got some frozen berry fruits as well so there's another possibility.

[Ytu]

Day 19

M1: 3 poached eggs in spicy onion and tomato sauce, black coffee.

M2: tin of mackerel, aubergine in tomato sauce, cooked beetroot, olives

M3: coconut crusted chicken leg, cabbage and carrots sauteed in nitr kibbeh, a potato.

 

A lot of walking today which I hope will help with digestion. A bit less bloated today but still feel constipated. Read on what foods to have/avoid and got some pears and raw beetroots which are meant to be helpful. I hope the eggs are not the problem. I do normally eat 2-3 eggs a day anyway without any problems so they shouldn't be.

 

Mamatutu - kimchee is like spicy, garlicky sauerkraut. I usually buy a Korean brand in the chinese supermarket but there is a man in the farmer's market who sells live sauerkraut and fermented pickles and has started doing kimchee as well. So delicious! I want to try making my own, have had moderate success with sauerkraut in the past and it's pretty much the same process.

[Ytu]

Day 20

Two thirds through after today. No sign of tiger blood, still feel like I’m struggling with digestive issues which is probably what’s stopping me from feeling great. Clothes actually feel tighter than last week but I hope that’s bloating rather than weight gain. I would dearly love to step on the scales to check I’m not putting on weight. Really don't want to put on weight as it is such hard work to lose it again. Or weight doesn't matter, whatever, but I feel like there's more pudge on my belly, top of hips and thighs than last week and that was precisely one of the things I hoped to address.

 

Sleep has been good and steady though. About 8 hours last night.

 

M1: 3-egg omelette, spinach and swede with ghee, a black tea.

M2: tinned mackerel, cabbage with ghee and capers, raw beetroot and pear salad (Very tasty!), carrot sticks.

M3: beef and prune tagine with cauliflower rice pilaf, pureed celeriac with ghee, radishes, olives.

[Mamatutu]

Day 20

Two thirds through after today. No sign of tiger blood, still feel like I’m struggling with digestive issues which is probably what’s stopping me from feeling great. Clothes actually feel tighter than last week but I hope that’s bloating rather than weight gain. I would dearly love to step on the scales to check I’m not putting on weight. Really don't want to put on weight as it is such hard work to lose it again. Or weight doesn't matter, whatever, but I feel like there's more pudge on my belly, top of hips and thighs than last week and that was precisely one of the things I hoped to address.

 

 

that time of the month perhaps??  I was feeling the bloat the last few days and put it down to being in days 9 and 10 but then 'it' arrived this morning so now I realise it was water retention.  I too am struggling with digestive issues but I'm still only a third of the way through so it's too soon to make any assessment I suppose.

 

Kimchee sounds great, I'm going to have to make a trip to Cardiff by the sounds of it and hit City Road for supplies.

 

We had AB&J burgers for breakfast yesterday and I used the Black Forest Fruits in my freezer.  I wouldn't recommend blackcurrant for your 'jelly' as it overpowered the almond butter too much.  The mouthful I had with just a mushy strawb and AB was amazing though so roll on strawb season!!

[Ytu]

Oh, maybe frozen strawberries would work then! I thought they might be too mushy.

 

Sadly the bloating is not TOTM related (that was last week). I feel I'm doing everything I can to help my digestion now so need to just give it all time to work I guess. Here's hoping.

[Hannlib]

I was mega bloated this round. Then in the last week the weight just seemed to fall off. Hope the same happens for you!!

[Ytu]

I hope so, Hannlib! I just want my digestion to get back to normal. I've been drinking warm water with lemon juice first thing in the morning, taking magnesium citrate, eating kimchee, also got some acidophilus capsules, drinking coffee in the morning again, drinking water all day but not with meals, walking around, doing yoga poses meant to be beneficial to digestion; just hoping if I continue with it things will improve. 

 

Day 21

 

Couldn't bring myself to eat a full template breakfast because digestive system feels so clogged up it didn't feel right to add too much more food to it. Considered eating nothing at all but thought broth would be a nice soothing compromise.

 

M1: Spring greens and potato in chicken broth with olive oil and vinegar. A black coffee (decaf).

M2: beef and prune tagine, celeriac mash, greens, beetroot and pear salad.

M3: smoked aubergine soup with shredded chicken.

 

On my first whole 30 I enjoyed the food immensely and everything was delicous. Now I don't have all that much of an appetite. Having digestive problems really puts a shadow over being able to enjoy my meals. 

[Mamatutu]

I was mega bloated this round. Then in the last week the weight just seemed to fall off. Hope the same happens for you!!

Gosh I hope that is the case for me too!

[Ytu]

Day 22

 

Woke up so tired I thought I was coming down with the flu that's been going around. Maybe I am. Felt a bit better once I got up though, still very sleepy.

Digestion has improved a bit but still not back to normal and still not very hungry. Trying to choose easy to digest foods and reducing portions a bit.

 

M1: 2 egg yolks mixed in chicken broth, cooked greens, potato, olive oil, kimchee. Soaked prunes. A black coffee.

M2: aubergine and tomato soup with shredded chicken, a pear

4pm update: my stomach is rumbling! Good sign, haven't actually felt properly hungry for at least 48 hrs until now.

M3: shredded chicken, spring greens and coconut soup, a sweet potato.

[Ytu]

Day 23

Just a week to go after today!

Digestion has improved a bit and I was hungry for breakfast which is good.

 

Sleep very good, probably close to 9 hours. I'm sleeping well but still not exactly bouncing out of bed.

 

M1: 3 soft boiled eggs, spring green and coconut soup, kimchee, soaked prunes. A black tea.

M2: spring green and coconut soup, a sweet potato, sardines

M3: spring greens in coconut milk (this time didn't puree into soup), potato, salmon.

 

I blanched a whole load of spring greens on Sunday having bought two bags at the farmers market. Figured that even blanched they were probably not the easiest thing to digest, so I cooked them until soft and pureed them into a soup with coconut, garlic, ginger, chilli and lime. Feels very nourishing. Soup for breakfast is nice.

 

Felt hungry for all my meals today and ate a normal sized dinner. I'm not so bloated any more but still somewhere between constipated and normal.

[Ytu]

Day 24

You can tell my digestion has improved because instead of worrying about it I'm worrying again about not having lost any weight/inches! Pretty sure clothes are fitting tighter, if anything. Disappointing if that turns to be the case at the end, but a week to go so let's see if the final week works its magic...

 

I know I haven't been exercising very much this time round, only at weekends, so that could be a reason why.

 

M1: 3 soft boiled eggs, cooked spinach, half an avocad, soaked prunes, black coffee.

M2: salmon, spring greens and potato in coconut milk.

M3: pan-fried lamb's liver with onion, sauerkraut, a sliced pear, mashed potatoes with ghee. (The pear was a really nice addition. I fried it in the pan with the liver.)

[Ytu]

Day 25

 

Feel more constipated again, disappointingly.

 

Pre-w/o: spoonful of coconut oil in black decaf coffee

Workout: 8 x hill sprints, 10 x each reverse pull-ups and chin-ups, 10 x incline push ups, 10 x single leg squat each leg, 90 seconds plank.

Post-w/o: sweet potato, 2 egg whites, soaked prunes.

M1: 3 soft boiled eggs, avocado "goddess dressing" (avocado, anchovies, spring onion, garlic, lemon juice, parsley, vinegar), cold mashed potato, cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes, an orange.

M2: beef larb with lettuce, steamed bok choi, a sweet potato.

 

Got some beef bones for making broth. Not a lot of connective tissue on them so probably won't be very gelatinous, but should get the other nutrients.

 

Larb was not nice. We usually make it using one recipe and it's delicious and I would even say it's one of my favourite dishes. But my BF tried a new recipe... We're both into cooking but have completely different approaches. I'll glance at two or three different recipes to cook one dish, do what makes sense to me and freely make substitutions as I feel like (often to make things paleo friendly). He is obsessed with authentic recipes and will watch several youtube videos, in this case, on a Thai cooking channel, and loves complicated instructions and is unwilling to make omissions or substitutions.

 

The trouble is, I think my approach has by far the better hit rate! About a quarter of the time, what he makes turns out to be less than nice to eat, and sometimes borderline inedible. This was one of the latter. The ground beef was marinated in lime juice for hours and kneaded together to draw the meat juices out, before being lightly cooked. The trouble was, this made it incredibly, mouth-puckeringly sour. The large amount of added white pepper after that did nothing to improve it! I ate a palm sized amount just to get my protein but it was a struggle.

[Ytu]

Day 26

 

Rainy morning so did a pilates core workout at home instead of going for a run. A mug of beef bone broth pre-workout. It came out very nicely and I've taken the first lot out and put more water on the bones as I think there's still flavour and nutrients left in them.

 

M1: 3 soft boiled eggs, cooked spinach, half a sweet potato, handful of cherry tomatoes, half an avocado, a black coffee.

M2: beef larb (made according to the normal recipe, not the super sour one), aubergine, carrots, tahini, half a sweet potato.

M3: sea bass and scallop ceviche - what a treat! with cucumber, red onion, chilli, a sweet potato, mug of beef bone broth.

 

Lots of sweet potato today.

 

Got my new charcoal water filter bottle! I read that chlorine retards lacto-fermentation so that may be why I've had a problem with sauerkraut before. So now I can try with filtered water. Will try kvass first and then sauerkraut.

 

Can't believe there's just four more days to go. I think I have just enough ghee left to get me through to Thursday.

 

I do wonder if I've put on weight - it feels like there's more fat on my stomach than there was before. Hard to judge for sure.