Nicole's Low Fodmap Whole 30

[bpxdomino]

I completed my 2nd whole 30 last Monday but did not follow the reintro schedule - just dove right in to 1/2 price Easter candy. So my sugar addiction lives on and I'm well aware that I need to just cut it out, cold turkey. I do have a good understanding of some of the problems I have with other foods from following reintros during my first whole 30 in 2014, so I'm ok with where I landed this week - no guilt, no regrets. Viva la Cadbury Creme Egg.

 

But I would like to be done with sugar binges for good, so I'm ready to jump back into the game today. Especially after this morning - I went out to breakfast with my husband and had some pancakes. My stomach cramped up almost instantaneously. No bueno. Did I also mention that 'that shoulder thing' reappeared this week? Back to the chiropractor for me.

 

So this time around, I'm focusing on a few things, most importantly following the low fodmap approach. I just didn't feel so great during my 2nd whole 30. There's a lot of variables at play here - for one thing, I have quite a bit of work-related stress. Also, I'm selling my home this summer and moving south. So maybe my digestive system just needs to take it easy for the next month - of course, I don't know if I'm just adding in some additional stress by cutting things out that I really enjoy - cauliflower, onions, garlic. We'll just see how it goes. I may try to keep kraut in for a little while - I stockpiled the stuff from Trader Joe's a few weeks ago, and my husband won't touch it. I am also using up the last of my onions in a batch of bone broth I have simmering away right now, so I don't know if that will have the same effect as eating the onions in my soup/chili/etc. Have to do some research there.

 

Other things I would like to control during this round that I was fairly lax about last round:

• Cut back coffee from 3 cups to 2 cups (most days I only have 2, but weekends or when I'm working from home, I've been known to sneak a third). I know the caffeine adds additional stress.
• Slow down and take 20 mins for each meal. Usually, I'm all hurry up and get to the next thing on my to do list.
• No nuts or nut/seed butters (this is part of the low fodmap plan anyway. these have been binge triggers for me). No eggs either. Also seemed to be a bit of a trigger for me.
• Incorporate the PWO, g'damn it. I was really bad about that last time. Plus not too many starchy veggies in general - picked up a pile of sweet potatoes at the grocery store for this purpose.

[bpxdomino]

Alright, so here we are one week later... and finally starting Day 1. There were a few things about last week that made me second guess my attempt at starting W30 again - added stress at work (more than usual), a packed social schedule... stress city. Didn't need the added stress about worrying about my food.

 

But I don't know. Maybe I would have handled last week a lot better had I just committed. The last two weeks since I ended my last W30 have been pretty much a sugar buffet. Stupid 90% off Easter candy. Also, that 'shoulder thing' rages on, which forced me to miss a few bootcamp workouts. I so easily get into this all or nothing mentality - since I had sugar, I might as well have more sugar*. Since I skipped today's workout, I might as well skip tomorrow's and start over next week...

 

So today is Day 1, sort of. I ate cleanly, but haven't quite applied all of my new low FODMAP rules just yet - I had brussels sprouts at lunch (needed to eat them since the husband doesn't), and will finish them off tomorrow. I'm also still eating up my chicken soup made with bone broth that was made with onions. I don't think it will be the end of the world. 

 

I did slow down at breakfast - took my 20 minutes, but I wouldn't say it was an entirely mindful 20 minutes. I still checked my email on my phone, prepared my lunch to take to work, etc. in between bites. Still a vast improvement over how I usually eat. However, the 20 minutes to eat went right out the window at lunch and dinner - once I got into the crazy schedule of the workday, it just felt like I needed to hurry and eat and get on to the next thing on my agenda.

 

No nuts, nut butters, eggs, and I did stick to two cups of coffee today so that was good. But didn't really incorporate the PWO as planned since I'm running low on veggies and needed to eat my sweet potato with dinner. Went to the chiropractor in the hopes I could get my shoulder cleared for bootcamp, but ended up doing a bodyworks workout instead - it's a little less intense then bootcamp, but I would rather not push it too hard yet.

 

Here's my menu for the day.

 

M1: Tuna over baby spinach, balsamic vinaigerette, coffee, BP coffee

M2: chicken soup, brussels sprouts w/ ghee, tea

M3: chicken soup, sweet potato

PWO: coconut milk chai, 1/2 grapefruit

 

* Here's a special note about sugar and just how addicted I am. On my drive home from the gym, my mind tried to betray me with thoughts about stopping at the grocery store for 90% off Easter candy. The usual justifications ran through my head - you had a stressful day, you can start tomorrow, one piece of candy is fine... I ended up actually screaming - out loud - and told my brain to F-off. That I don't want to f-in eat sugar anymore. That really shut my brain up, and I found myself back at home, no risk of stopping at the grocery store. I'll have to remember that trick for next time.

 

It's funny because I watched "Fed Up" on Netflix last night - a documentary about sugar in the US - and figured the movie provided some good ammunition for me to remain committed to the W30 this month. But sugar really hijacked my brain and made me forget all the crap about it I just watched last night... I just want to be off of it for good.

[bpxdomino]

Day 2 - Gotta make this short because I. Dont. Feel. Good. Headaches and nausea, and looking at computer screens certainly doesn't help. I hope this is gone by tomorrow and also hope this is a result of detoxing from my last two sugar weeks detoxing and I'm not really getting sick. I have not experience this kind of illness on either of my other whole 30's though.

 

M1: Tuna over baby spinach, balsamic vinaigerette, coffee, BP coffee

M2: chicken soup, brussels sprouts w/ ghee, tea

M3: chicken soup, sweet potato

[JJB]

Why is Easter candy in particular so f'in good? Every year I literally dread going to the store in the months of March and April because I know how hard I'm going to fail. And the sales....aghhhhhhhh. Does the fact that it's only 34 cents instead of 99 cents change how bad it is for me, how mad at myself I'm going to be when I eat it, and how much harder it's going to be to stay away from it once I give in that first time? Nope. Doesn't matter though, does it? Stupid evil Cadbury. 

[bpxdomino]

JJB, I know it. Cadbury caramel eggs and cadbury mini-eggs... they create the perfect storm of emotional eating. For one thing, it's only around at this time of year ("I should eat it now since it won't be around later"). They evoke memories of childhood ("I remember Mom used to put these in my Easter basket"). And... they are on sale! ("I'm getting such a deal")! I find this much time of year even harder than Halloween - at Halloween, you are just getting candy that's around at ANY time of year.

 

Anyway... it's early on  Day 3 but I just wanted to report I'm feeling better (no nausea - headache still lingers a bit, but it's dull, not the raging migraine I had last night). Yesterday at about noon I had intense sugar cravings again, and it was shortly after that I began to not feel very good. On my drive home from work, I debated stopping for something sweet, but promised myself that I would go home and eat my dinner first and then see if I wanted something else. I was odd because usually when I'm not feeling well, I don't really have an appetite. So I had my dinner, did a few things around the house, and then I went to bed pretty early last night because I wasn't feeling well.

 

Missed my workout last night because of it too, and today I have a meeting I have to attend right after work. I'm going to bring my gym clothes and try to hit up the gym after the meeting - so will be a late night. Planned meals for the day are:

 

M1: Tuna over baby spinach, balsamic vinaigrette, coffee, BP coffee

M2: chili, salad, tea coffee, grapefruit

M3: chicken soup, sweet potato

 

Update 5:45pm - definitely feeling 100% better, and for the first time in over two weeks, my shoulder feels decent. I'm happy I have been able to plow through sugar cravings, but still have a busy night ahead of me - hoping my meeting doesn't take so long so I can get to the gym afterwards. Still gotta work on slowing down for meals, though - so far I am very good about taking 20 minutes to eat breakfast but work is driving me crazy, and I always feel as if I need to rush through lunch and dinner to get on to the next thing.

[bpxdomino]

Day 4 - Day 0.

 

I don't want this year to be a repeat of 2014.

 

Basically, what happened last year was I did my first whole 30 and had great results... did reintros, found myself out of control with sugar, and promised myself I would regain control with another round of whole 30.

 

Except I was never actually able to complete another whole 30. I'd get a few days under my belt, and then fall face first in a pile of donuts. So I finally ended my first successful whole 30 in 2015 and it's been a pretty crappy two weeks since. Just when I was starting to feel better three days in to my next round... I caved to hot chocolate last night. The late night meeting I had to attend went later than expected, and I rationalized that the only thing that would make me feel less stressed about my evening and missing a workout was drinking a sugary beverage. 

 

So then I had trouble getting to sleep after that (combination sugar/caffeine) and had to jump into another stressful day at work... and once again found myself running to sugar as the only thing that can soothe a stressful day. That and skipping another workout...

 

Gonna hop over to the off track forum and see if there's any advice for handling stress, because I don't think that sugar is helping my cause, yet my brain can't seem to wrap itself around other solutions for relieving my stress and anxiety. Skipping the workouts certainly isn't helping, but it feels good in the moment.

 

Guess I'll give it another shot tomorrow.