Just finished first W30...

[jeanw30]

I'm finding these forums a bit overwhelming so forgive me if this isn't the right place to post this!

 

I just finished my first Whole30 (yay!). I enjoyed the experience but I don't really think 30 days was long enough for me so I'm doing another round. 

 

I followed just the normal W30 protocol, however I do have several autoimmune issues (asthma, eczema, allergies, past gastritis,  interstitial cystitis, and endometriosis). I thought that if I made a huge change to my diet by eliminating grains, gluten, dairy, sugar, alcohol, etc, that I would see improvements in my symptoms without having to follow the autoimmune protocol. 

 

I did see somewhat of an improvement of my symptoms, (less bloat, skin improved, asthma and allergies improved, less belly pain) and I understand that it could take much longer, but I felt like symptoms would come and go and I had a really hard time figuring out what was causing what. I'm trying to focus on the good improvements I've seen but also want to figure out why I'm still experiencing other symptoms (headaches, extremely tired, some gas, and belly issues). 

As you can guess this next round I want to follow the AIP - however, I find it to be extremely limiting. I don't like the idea of feeling deprived, or severely limited by what I can or can't eat. I've also had an eating disorder in my past (fully recovered, and not an issue now but I do know what my triggers are and what my danger zones are). And I worry that the AIP protocol might bring back some old issues.

 

I guess I'm looking for some guidance, and wondering if there's anyone else with experience in this or has advice. I just picked up "The Autoimmune Paelo cookbook" to get some extra meal ideas, but I'll be honest the idea of eating liver or feet is not appealing at all. 

My biggest issue during my first W30 was I relied on fruit too much, which I realized was keeping the sugar dragon alive, and possibly keeping some symptoms going. No matter how much I eat for breakfast or lunch - I am always hungry (starving) by 3pm. I would usually have something like a banana and almond butter or just a handful of almonds. Both of which I thought were "healthy" choices, but probably not. I feel at a loss for what to eat at this time. Kind of overwhelmed by the amount of meat I'm eating but I want to make a good choice for this "snack". Also, I've tried drinking a lot of water when I feel this 3pm hunger but it doesn't help... I am honestly hungry.

 

This was kind of all over the place! But any help would be appreciated. I really, really want to start feeling 100%.

 

[Tom Denham]

If you tell us what you eat for breakfast and lunch, we might have some ideas about how to improve how long you stay satisfied. 

 

Instead of eating a "snack" at 3 PM, eat another meal. As in eat lunch #1 at lunch time and eat lunch #2 at 3 PM. I ate 4, 5 and sometimes 6 meals per day until I figured out how to compose three meals per day that kept me satisfied. 

[jeanw30]

Here's what I had yesterday, a good example of what I've been eating.

Breakfast: 

2 chicken sausage, about a cup of roasted veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, carrot) and a sweet potato, black coffee and a glass of water.

Lunch:
Large spinach salad with veggies (onion, green beans, olives, carrots, bell pepper) a few strawberries, and a 5oz can of tuna mixed with 1/2 an avocado, water.

3pm snack: banana and almond butter.

Dinner: turkey chili with veggies (onion, peppers and kale), with coconut water.

[jeanw30]

Day 34 and today is the worst I've felt in a long time.

 

Woke up at 2am with stomach pains. It felt like there was a snake wriggling and doing flips in my small intestine. I was able to fall back asleep but woke up several times later with the same feeling. 

 

Here's what I ate yesterday:

breakfast: chicken sausage and sweet potato, sautéed in coconut oil, coffee with coconut cream.

lunch: chicken breast, left over sweet potato, broccoli and kombucha.

made "fig energy balls" from the AIP cookbook for my husband and ate 2 balls myself (just figs, coconut oil, and coconut flakes)

dinner: not much of an appetite, made salmon cakes and ate 3 of them, with tarter sauce.

 

This morning I was so hungry it hurt, I ate leftover chicken breast and veggies but couldn't finish as I felt really full after about half of it. It's lunch time now and I have no appetite, my stomach is still hurting. Stomach feels swollen, different from bloat and there's no gas.

Could it be the coconut oil? This is so frustrating and confusing.