Amanda's log (starting 4/23)

[agk]

I'm starting a log tomorrow and am pasting my introduction from the other thread below.

****************

Hi everyone!

I am starting Whole30 on April 23rd. I think my husband may be joining me (he is "going paleo" regardless). We have both just started CrossFit.

A bit about me:

I am a law student and sometimes runner. I'm one of those people who has read everything about health and fitness, knows how to cook, knows how to buy vegetables, knows how much junk is hidden in processed foods, knows how to prepare healthy foods on the go if you actually do the work, knows how to exercise... etc. But I lack consistency and discipline and am an emotional eater. The strictness of NO cheats for a month does scare me, but that's probably why Whole 30 will be good for me. I've failed miserably at "no cheats" diets before, of the low carb variety, and feel like Whole 30 will be good for me because it is NOT necessarily low carb. Sweet potatoes, fruits, etc. to fuel workouts are ok. And as a law student taking exams, I can have my cup of coffee when I'm up late studying. I can even put a nice dollop of clarified butter and good shake of salt on my vegetables if I'm craving that. OH! I only eat fish and eggs, no red or white meat. Scallops, salmon, tilapia, shrimp ... no problem getting in the animal protein.

At first I was very skeptical about paleo because I'm skeptical of anything that claims that one food group is poisoning you. I've had friends go vegan - and trot out research backed by PhDs and doctors from Harvard - and claim it is the only way to health. Same thing with low carb. I'm not sure what our ancestors ate and when what they ate stopped being good (or if it was good) and I'm not convinced grains are the devil. BUT - don't hit me yet! - it's hard to argue that quality lean protein and fruits and veggies are GREAT for you and highly processed junk crammed with sugar is bad for you. And processed junk, bread, pasta, alcohol, sugar are usually my downfall. So rather than ditching paleo because of skepticism about some of its premises I'll focus on the good, especially the good that seems to allow a range of foods from all of the macronutrient groups to satisfy the needs of someone training intensely in something like CrossFit. It's hard to "diet" and fuel your body for athletic feats, and I'm already convinced Paleo is pretty great for that. You're getting a lot of nutrient and protein bang for your caloric buck. And, before I start to justify "Well, a little oatmeal in the mornings or the occasional piece of cake..." I need to acknowledge that attempting moderation hasn't led me to accomplish my goals thus far. So let's do this!

What ARE my goals?

-Feeling energized and having long term good health against heart disease, cancer, etc. to be sure

-Losing body fat for both fitness goals and vanity

-I currently weight 169 lbs. at 5'2" and have 30% body fat. I want to lose 20 lbs. or more long term and be closer to 20% body fat. My fitness goals are to excel at CrossFit, be able to lift a lot of weight relative to my size, and eventually get back into FAST running. I have run a marathon and done back to back century rides on a road bike and know that being lighter will make these things a lot more satisfying. And I want to look good in a bikini!

I'm putting the scale away and starting Whole 30 tomorrow. I've already thought through some of my concerns, such as replacing my post-workout shake of lowfat milk/Greek yogurt/fruit/whey protein powder with a hard-boiled egg and fruit/coconut milk mix. I'll need to eat more seafood than I am eating now to keep my protein up. Dairy has definitely been a crutch. There's not much on my life plate in the next few weeks except locking myself in my apartment to study for finals (which actually makes food prep/eating pretty easy) and then a few vacation days too! While I admire anyone who can keep this up through things like weddings, big trips, starting at a new job, etc. and resist some of our culture's food/social bonds, I'm grateful that the next few weeks are a GOOD time to start the Whole 30.

In addition to feeling great and having more control over what I eat, the numbers I hope to see change in a month are:

-Waist 34"

-Weight 169 lbs.

Off to buy some ghee at the Indian market near my apartment! Thanks everyone!

AGK

[agk]

Hi everyone! So yesterday was my first full day.

Two hard boiled eggs for breakfast with some chopped up broccoli cooked in a little balsamic vinegar; slices of mango seasoned with salt and lemon. Black coffee, which I love, but it's strong in the mornings so I may swap for green tea.

I snacked on organic roasted almonds during an exam.

Dinner was bay scallops cooked in diced tomatoes with lots of garlic and fresh oregano, and a fillet of really good wild caught salmon cooked with just lemon and salt and pepper. (We're cooking in olive oil right now - coconut oil has been ordered and arrives tomorrow.) Peppers, eggplant and portobello roasted in olive oil and seasonings on the side. Pretty good! I munched on some tropical fruit (pineapple, etc.) for dessert but am having it as an accompaniment, not great heaping bowls of it. My Whole30 *is* geared toward weight loss and cutting out sugar, so we need to be careful with the fruit. But *some* fruit is one of the great pleasures of doing this!

Hubby is also doing the Whole30. He went to Whole Foods yesterday for breakfast and was disappointed by the fact that they cook their scrambled eggs in Canola oil and a lot of their prepared meats at the hot bar are out too because of various ingredients. That salad bar has been his go to for quick, healthy meals out while at work. I cooked some diced up free range chicken thighs in good seasonings and lemon, mixed in with last night's roasted vegetables, that he'll eat over a bed of lettuce for lunch today. And we'll be hard boiling eggs like crazy!

Today's plans include making a butternut squash soup with carrots and summer squash pureed in along with lots of fresh cilantro. I go to CrossFit today and will crash and burn without something starchy for glycogen levels. And hubby doesn't like sweet potatoes!

Feeling fine so far. Not getting on the scale is frustrating!

I can already tell that lemon is going to be my savior and obsession during the next month.

[Derval]

Sounds lik an awesome day1, wel done. Must try the lemon & salt on mago - interesting!

[dboothsummers]

keep it up! you get used to the black coffee in the mornings. strong taste > caffeine headaches. tea wouldn't cut them out for me.

[agk]

Hi everyone!

A quick report on today's food:

An omolet with an accompaniment of sprouts for breakfast, along with a berry smoothie. A few scoops of frozen berries, a few spoonfuls of coconut milk, water, a squeeze of lemon, a shake of salt. Was very different but good. Not at all sweet. Adding a banana in post-workout definitely helped with the taste. We're rolling with the thick, in a can coconut milk now and I like it a lot.

Lunch: Leftover scallops in tomatoes, a small bowl of tropical fruit for dessert.

I spent the whole day alternating between studying and cooking things. A big batch of smooth butternut squash (and summer squash and carrot) soup with fresh cilantro for the rest of the week, with a little coconut milk for creamy texture. A batch of spaghetti squash cooked in a casserole dish with cherry tomatoes, a squeeze of lemon, a dash of chili pepper, and olive oil. A big tupperware container of simple green salad with sprouts and finely chopped broccoli mixed in.

I cooked a rack of short ribs for my husband: Rubbed salt and pepper into the ribs, brown briefly in a pan, and then built a juicy sauce of diced tomatoes, fresh garlic, finely chopped peppers, pine nuts, onion, fresh oregano, balsamic vinegar and browned prosciutto (actually found some with just ham and salt!) around the ribs in a pyrex baking dish. I didn't have as much time as I wanted to really let it cook slowly in the oven, and I didn't marinate it before. But with two hours at 325 F the meat was soft and good. I can't taste any of the meat, just the sauce before the meat goes in, so was proud that this came out quite delicious.

My dinner was much easier: I defrosted a fillet of mahi, whacked it in half and stuck it in a tiny Le Crueset baking dish with diced mango, fresh cilantro, a bit of finely chopped onion, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Cooked for maybe forty minutes at 325 and then poured out the liquid and let it cook a little more on low heat.

Our workout at CrossFit today was heavy lifting of strict presses and then lots and lots of power cleans. I got to a point I wanted in the WOD (workout of the day) lifting a decent amount of weight, but then felt tired and stopped without pushing to muscle failure. Don't get me wrong, I lifted good weight and worked hard, but lacked that little bit of extra determined, almost kamikazi push. Maybe adjusting to the diet, maybe exam distraction. Not sure. A glass of the berry smoothie and a hard-boiled egg post workout. Drinking some black tea now for a long night of studying! I did have a headache with no afternoon caffeine or sugar pick me up.

LOTS AND LOTS of dishes to clean! We usually eat out a lot, but bland grilled fish with simple salad, likely the option at most restaurants, isn't as good as what we can do at home. And I have the luxury of cooking time right now.

Thanks for the encouragement!

[Derval]

My mouth is watering, what a great day!

[agk]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! I really feel ok - slight headache, wanting everything really salty. I killed it at Crossfit today with lots of overhead squats, knee raises hanging on the bar, and sprints. But a three-and-a-half-hour exam, madly typing 5,000 words, in what has been an extremely frustrating class with a pompous, confusing professor (I'm not talking about typical - I'm talking about an entire class of bright, normally patient, FRUSTRATED students). Grr. This was a HUGE trigger for me. One kid had Cheer Wine, another M & Ms during the exam. And when I finished the exam, I was HUNGRY (didn't have good nuts to bring to snack on) and ready to dive into a margarita, bowl of fettucine, frozen yogurt or all of the above. GAH. But I had a hard-boiled egg and bit of berry-coconut-milk mix, went to CrossFit, and had a small repeat of my mahi in mango sauce for dinner. I'm up late working on an editing project tonight so it's still rough going. Probably the first time in the three days I've been tempted to break into old habits and order pizza, but it's more like, "ok, this is something you're experiencing" than a real danger of being bad.

Today I made an all-the-left-over-veggies, lots of herbs and ground turkey sort of sheperd's pie for hubby and had some of my butternut squash soup, green salad and a salmon burger for lunch. Breakfast was a fried egg over spaghetti squash. I realize my food choices are a little slanted toward fruit and the starchier squash veggies and I may fine tune this as the month goes on. But it's a big enough change, so as long as i"m getting protein, eating SOMETHING green every day and feeling good, I'm not going to worry for now. I'm also still adapting to CrossFit and want to be primed right for that. I'm also not eating BOWLS of fruit - and trust me, I can eat bushels of the stuff.

I was up 'til 3 am last night and grabbed a few chunks of fresh pineapple and half a cup of my soup at 1 am or so. I try to cut out the late night snacking but I was STARVING. Tonight I am up late again so stacked my meals so that i had my mahi dinner at 9:30 pm - hopefully this helps fuel me through the night.

By the way, when I stay up until 3 or so I am getting through a goal stopping place of studying or work and then sleeping hard until 10 am. A bit unconventional, but the main thing is to get sleep! Though I feel surprisingly energized with these food choices, I don't want to put being cranky and sleep deprived into the mix!

[dboothsummers]

that soup sounds awesome. definitely going ot make some tonight!

[gatork]

Hi Amanda! I started on the 23rd as well, so we're in about the same place. Your food sounds so delicious! I'm a law school grad and I can't even imagine starting Whole30 around exam time - I pretty much snacked my way through (and then hit the bar after, hard) exam week! Look forward to following

[agk]

@Gatork, good luck; we can do this! As for law school, yeah, it's a big mental shift to not be chowing on carbs and drinking. BUT I study at home, and the long days of reading period actually make it easy to toss together a simple, satisfying meal - the perfect break.

@DBoothSummers, yes, the soup is easy and really good! I posted the recipe (well, the ingredients) in the Athletes forum.

Today's food:

Breakfast: Two eggs scrambled into spaghetti squash; coffee with a dollop of coconut milk.

Lunch: About 5 oz. of salmon in a tomato and eggplant sauce with fresh oregano, pepper, etc. Was out of garlic, and it needed it! But still good.

Snacks: Five or six macadamia nuts, a mango with lemon and salt, a glass of berry-coconut milk smoothie.

Workout: Brutal! Tabata intervals doing various kettlebell moves, then 4 rounds of deadlift X 10 (115 lb.); 20 pushups (I was on my knees for these after the first round!); 30 sit ups, 120 single under jump ropes.

Post workout: A hard boiled egg

Dinner: Shrimp in a coconut milk sauce with ginger, lemon, cilantro; a sweet potato with a generous pat of ghee and cinnamon. I'm being careful with the coconut milk, it's high calorie, but even a few table spoons mixed with some water made an incredibly decadent broth around the shrimp!

I feel like I'm eating a lot, but tonight I was really, really hungry, and with three days of hard workouts in a row I didn't want to screw up my recovery. On rest days I am trying to be a *little* judicious about portion sizes and eating late at night.

More studying to do, even though today's workout about killed me. Black tea here I come. Hope everyone is doing great!

[agk]

Breakfast: Two eggs scrambled with the last of my spaghetti squash/pine nut dish, coffee with coconut milk

Lunch: Scallops in a bit of ghee and lemon, steamed broccoli

Exam snack: About 10 macadamia nuts, carrot sticks

Post exam sugar crash snack: 3 dates

Dinner: Bowl of shrimp soup with bok choi and shitaki in a coconut broth (ginger, lemon, cilantro, a touch of garlic). A chicken version for the hubby.

Late night snacking: 3 more dates, an apple. DATES ARE AMAZING! Found some without a single preservative or ingredient added. I'll need to ration them, but they were a fun discovery on a night when I REALLY wanted some wine and pizza.

Tonight was one of those nights where I came home feeling like crap and exhausted and not wanting to cook, just crash, but a glass of water and quick carb pick me up and a little gumption got dinner on the table and I felt much better. I think my Whole30 would be derailed (or I'd at least feel very frustrated with it) FAST if I lost the energy to cook. A night where I don't want to cook, I normally would end up munching cheese and cereal or ordering in. The Whole30 version of that is pretty bland and boring. Sure, nuts, fruits, cold meat if you eat that, but still - a lot of my satisfaction and ability to feel positive about this comes from the flavors and rituals of cooking to keep things exciting.

[agk]

The weekend! Popcorn at the movies! Decadent brunches! Beer! Afternoons of ice cream!

Just kidding.

But today was plenty decadent. Slept in, made a broccoli and mushroom omolet, went to Crossfit, did a LOT of pullups and back squats and ring dips. Had a hard boiled egg and small bowl of butternut squash soup to recover.

Staying in writing a paper. As a break I looked up different recipes for paleo barbecue sauce and made one that came out well; got some pork ribs marinating to make tomorrow for hubby. Munched on some macadamia nuts and a few too many dates, wondering what to make for lunch/dinner.

Ended up baking a salmon fillet in the barbecue sauce and cutting up a sweet potato and baking sweet potato wedges brushed in olive oil in the oven, with green salad. Yup, basically sweet potato fries and barbecue! What's funny is I don't even normally like barbecue that much, but this was really good! And fries aren't a part of my normal "off road" diet (of all the things I crave, fries is not one of them), so the sweet potato felt wonderfully indulgent but not like I was trying to "replace" one of my normal bad foods. I am STUFFED and really happy after that meal.

Because I've been somewhat careful about portion sizes, etc. thus far on my Whole30 I've been mostly satiated but never full, with happy taste buds but always still vaguely craving something. That's to be expected and I do want to lose weight, but I actually feel much more enthusiastic and motivated after one meal that was downright sinfully good.

[agk]

Well, I think I had a Whole30 version of a "binge" yesterday. I ate a mango, an apple, 10 or 12 dates, a big handful of pumpkin seeds, and 3 packets of (thankfully insanely low calorie at 15 cals a package!) SeaSnax, and a bunch of carrot sticks none of which were really part of my planned meals. At the time I didn't feel full and my body was telling me I needed food, but I woke up feeling kind of full instead of hungry for and excited for breakfast. Home writing a difficult paper with writer's block=stress trigger.

I mean, I love that on Whole30 the "damage" was eating too much fresh fruit! But still - there ARE a lot of high sugar, high fat foods, albeit healthy ones, that could sabotage my goals if eaten excessively. I think maybe my new rule should be only snacking on raw veggies (carrot sticks, cut up broccoli) after my planned dinner if I still feel like I have to eat.

[agk]

Hi everyone! Better day today, or at least a day more in line with my goal of weight loss. My feeling about monitoring portion sizes with an eye toward leaning out on the Whole30 is that if you can stick to the Whole30 foods, fuel your body AND resist the urge to top off the tank with that extra snack (because a slightly hungry feeling seems to be the key to weight loss for me without calorie counting), then DO IT! But if you're feeling frustrated and really on the verge of cheating and breaking the Whole30, then by all means have that extra handful of nuts or dates or coconut milk or sweet potato with ghee or whatever it is that will get you back on the rails.

But yeah. Today was a day a little more like I envision to feel good and healthy AND lean out significantly on my Whole30:

Breakfast: Two egg scramble with broccoli and mushrooms and less than a tablespoon of olive oil, coffee with a spoonful of coconut milk

Lunch: 4 oz. mahi cooked in about a tablespoon of ghee with raw snow peas

Snack: Banana

Dinner: 4 oz. mahi in the homemade paleo barbecue sauce with plain green romaine/broccoli salad and stealing a couple bites of hubby's sweet potato fries.

Night: Black tea with a spoonful of coconut milk

I didn't do CrossFit today so needed less food overall.

The big food adventure today was making baby back ribs in my homemade barbecue sauce for the husband. They came out really well!

DONE with the semester, yay!

[agk]

Food so far today:

Breakfast: 2 egg broccoli/portabello scramble, coffee with two spoonfuls coconut milk

Lunch 1: Big bowl of mesclun greens drizzled in balsamic vinegar - limited option at a restaurant, but late breakfast so all good.

Lunch 2: Leftover shrimp/shitake/bok choy soup

Snack: Glass of berry smoothie (berries blended with mostly water and some coconut milk, chia seeds); handful macadamia nuts, 3 dates

[agk]

Rest of yesterday: Was weird! I ate scallops and some snow peas for dinner, went to Crossfit, and had a hard-boiled egg, glass of smoothie, and a couple more dates after. The workout tired me, but I had really bad insomnia last night and didn't get to sleep until about four. Then I woke up a few hours later really hungry and almost feeling a little weak and dizzy. I ate a bunch of macadamia nuts and raisins then went back to bed and got three more hours of much better sleep. Really weird night though, and I don't like when my eating gets messed up. I just had more dates and a hard-boiled egg and will make sure I have a good nutritious late lunch/early dinner this afternoon. My only caffeine yesterday was a cup of coffee in the am and a couple glasses of what I thought was fairly weak cold ginger peach black tea. I did take a vacation nap yesterday. So no more tea and no more naps!

[agk]

Today was really fun! I spent a couple hours at the gym showing my slim but not athletic sister different exercises that I've done at CrossFit and got in a pretty good workout myself. Then I went to WholeFoods and stocked up on three pounds of chicken, beef and pork, tons of frozen seafood, some veggies and fruit, and the ingredients for a coconut seafood stew from my husband's country, Colombia. Swordfish, shrimp, clams, YUM! Here's the recipe - I "Paleofied" it by skipping the white wine and using all coconut milk and fish stock instead of cream. http://www.mycolombianrecipes.com/seafood-stew-cazuela-de-mariscos

[agk]

Hi everyone! I seem to be chugging right along on day 10 here. I had to think about what day I was on in the 30, which I take as a good sign.

Breakfast: A scramble of bok choy, mushrooms and 2 eggs in a little ghee. I grabbed what veggies needed to be used and had an appetite for them - that's something that shifted. Less pickiness.

Lunch: Cold shrimp from a shrimp cocktail platter I picked up yesterday, with carrot sticks, guacamole, and my own homemade sauce instead of cocktail sauce.

Snack: Two dates - the last of them. Those calories are serious and I don't trust myself to ration them!

Dinner: A bowl of the cazuela - it has swordfish, clams, shrimp and is REALLY good!

CrossFit: Deadlifted 205 pounds!

Post workout: Berry smoothie (frozen berries, coconut milk, banana, water); hard-boiled egg

Random late night snacking: 6 or 7 macadamia nuts, a SeaSnax. Those things cost a fortune for the measly 15 calories they provide, but MAN they are strangely satisfying!

Hope everyone is doing great!

[agk]

Hi everyone! Another day that felt good today.

Breakfast: 2 egg omolet with cherry tomatoes and guacamole cooked in olive oil; 1/2 cup pineapple and melon

Snack: Handful macadamia nuts, 1/2 a mango, munched on a few fresh strawberries my dad brought over

Lunch: A bowl of seafood cazuela

Pre what I knew was going to be a beast workout: Small sweet potato with ghee

CrossFit: "Mini" WOD of KB snatches, pullups, ball slams 3 rounds of 10 reps each; 200 kettlebell swings at 35 lb. with 40 "active rest" (ha) burpees mixed in.

Post workout: Handful macadamia nuts, 1/2 cup pineapple and melon, a SeaSnax

Dinner: Large (5 oz?) portion of salmon with a hearty tomato sauce with fresh cherry tomatoes and spices added with a generous splash of olive oil; 1/3 of a banana

I'm still cooking - a beef stir fry for hubby; my salmon tonight; we polished off the delicious seafood stew today. I think a continual commitment to cooking creatively will be the challenge in the next few weeks, but also the key to staying happy about the Whole30.

[agk]

Hi everyone!

Yesterday was a day of eating way too much and snacking heavily on fruit and nuts. I'm actually ok with that - it almost felt like a "refeed."I cheated and peeked at the scale and I have lost weight, so I feel like I'm on the right track. Hubby and I enjoyed a nice indulgent meal - rosemary pork for him, a cod fillet in lemon and basil for me, with baked sweet potato fries - tonight after a day that included a tough CrossFit workout. I'm taking the next two days off from working out as I feel like I'm bordering on overtraining, and I'll use that time - and the remaining two weeks or so of my Whole30 - to work on zeroing in a little more on portion sizes, keeping the protein up and the snacking down.

We definitely get cravings associated with the weekend. And we miss going out - yes, there are Paleo friendly enough restaurants, but the choices are still somewhat limited even at those. Right now it just feels easier to stay in and avoid temptation. It kind of confirms for me why the Whole30 is so hard and why Mark Sisson's 80/20 formula (or any Paleo version thereof) is kind of nice. But I'm glad we're doing this. The "off road" post-Whole30 might be, I would hope, a beer out with some kind of fish dish where I don't worry about the minute ingredients of the sauce, or even a beer and splitting a naughty appetizer like popcorn shrimp, but not the beer, the shrimp, then ice cream, then pop corn at the movies headlong into disaster! I'm also realizing that if you keep the house 100% compliant and, like my husband and I, only go out once or twice a week, that keeps you in pretty good shape right there.

Anyway, my Whole30 is moving right along!

[agk]

Just wanted to say that I am still here and doing well! My husband and I just completed day 22 with some scallops and shrimp cooked in coconut oil and milk, baked sweet potato fries, and green salad with fresh avocado with a squeeze of lemon and salt.

We traveled to see the in-laws for the weekend and that was successful. They're pretty chill, supportive folks and were happy to let us do our thing diet wise. A dinner out was fortunately paleo friendly - raw oysters, then mussels in a curry coconut sauce for me, roast chicken for the hubby. The wine was missed but not too much. Nuts, fruit, hard-boiled eggs and hubby's primal packs for the long car ride. A couple brunches laden with fresh bread and cheese caused me a momentary bang but not that overwhelming craving and frustration I've felt before when certain foods are forbidden.

The good news for me is that even the foods which led me to be a little binge-ey, like dates, just aren't triggers tempting me to eat them in large amounts in the last few days. I'm paying a little more attention to portion sizes as the Whole30 winds down. I did sneak a look at the scale and am down six pounds in three weeks after months of having the scale stuck at the same number. Also two inches of waist size. I'm glad to be beyond obsessing about daily weight fluctuations - the point, I suppose, of abstaining from weighing yourself during the Whole30 - but glad to see the progress and have a little extra motivation to moderate my fruit and nut intake during the last week.

Gosh darn it if I am not obsessed with sweet potatoes now. I think it's partially my body craving them since we are doing CrossFit five times a week. And yes, I do make spaghetti squash in marinara sauce as a sub for pasta - with tons of fresh seafood thrown on top. I guess no matter what food plan you are following you'll find those little pockets of pleasure or eat a little too much of this or that. I'm happy to have overcome my date benders within the Whole30. It resolved itself naturally.

Now I'm more nervous about post-Whole30 than the last week of finishing up Whole30. I have a lot of thinking to do about how much "pleasure" eating I want in my life and how much I'm willing to balance that with body composition goals and overall health. Nah, rephrase that. I know what that balance looks like in my mind - I need to see what approach actually works in practice to avoid triggers and the slippery slope of bad habits.

[agk]

Second to last day almost wrapped up! It was my first day of a 1 hour 15 minute commute (that's just one way) and work in a new office. It wasn't the perfect way to stick to the Whole30 - I made a two egg spinach omolet for breakfast, had two had hard boiled eggs, a handful of macadamia nuts and a couple prunes for lunch, wolfed down half a sweet potato and some roasted melon seeds before CrossFit, then cooked up a tilapia filet and the other half of the sweet potato after dinner. I'm munching kale chips misted in the barest amount of olive oil and sea salt straight off the baking tray right now. So so good.

But anyway, I'm proud of myself for making it through my first of many twelve hour days sticking to the Whole30 - and tomorrow is another day of it, Day 30! My workmates went out for $1 tacos today - in a post-Whole30 world, I probably would have had one or two mini corn tacos stuffed with lettuce and salsa and munched some raw veggies and a hardboiled egg or two as a "snack" after to get at least half my lunch calories from Paleo sources. But I was fine skipping a quick social takeout lunch and instead chatting and being friendly during breaks. And I made it to my workout and felt a million times better for it.

One more day to go!

[agk]

Day 30 is basically in the books! Veggie two egg omolette for breakfast. Adding peppers to spinach helps with both flavor and feeling full. And coffee with coconut milk.

I had a larger than usual baggie of nuts and seeds with me today. That was good. A partner at the firm I was at, gracious white haired Southern gentleman-attorney type, took us out to lunch at a roadside barbecue place. There was no veggie combo dish or meal salad. Almost all sides full of non-Whole30 ingredients. And I don't eat red or white meat. There was a small seafood section with fried fish - I assumed it was a filet just fried in oil and figured it was the best I could do to be compliant. Well, the fish came out breaded! I should have known breaded=fried. I was in a situation with someone else paying for my lunch and really not wanting to call attention to my eating habits. So I ate my plain iceberg lettuce side salad and side of sliced tomatoes, and cut the fish open and ate some of the inside of it that wasn't touching the breading. I think it just looked like I wasn't very hungry; no one was staring at my plate lol. This was definitely my most difficult situation of social pressure and limited options. I didn't want to seem snooty or ungrateful by pickily eating a plate of lettuce. Yes, I get that we should put our health as the first priority, etc. But Southern + career + meal at a first meeting with someone + being treated=tricky. Oh well. Wasn't the most graceful way to deal but I got a few bites of plain fish, had my nuts as back up, and came home to a delicious meal of swordfish, sweet potato fries and good salad.

I'll have a few treats in the next couple days, to be honest. If I fight that too much I'd end up falling off the wagon. Just eat some things I haven't had in awhile, then back to Paleo. I still remember what cheese and ice cream and pizza taste like and the flavor inspires SERIOUS LOVE - even though I've not been craving them or abusing fruit, etc. because of cravings. I'm never going to convince myself that I don't love those foods. I just have to very clearly decide to love my health more. I imagine my post Whole30 world as something like 80/20 Paleo, with 15% of the 20 being Greek yogurt, protein powder, beans, oatmeal, a slice of cheese here and there - "healthy" foods according to the rest of the world, and 5% being a really amazing cupcake, good Italian food, wine ... but Whole30 taught me I can be really happy and interested in my food without those things. I plan to be a huge snob about what treats are. It better be exquisite if it's going in my mouth.