Having trouble eating enough protein...

[lrig7704]

Hi,

 

I'm new to this progam (day 6!) and I'm having a lot of trouble eating the protein.  I was pretty much your standard SAD eater before whole30, I ate veggies, but I also ate ALL the other awful processed stuff. I've shocked myself that I've been able to stick to this eating plan for almost a week, when every other attempt to change my eating habits failed literally during the first day!

 

  BUT I'm starting to struggle a lot with the protein.  I'm pretty good at getting creative with my veggies and changing them up a lot with either using different veggies, or using different spices, and I think I'm doing okay with the fat (I love avocado and olives and olive oil based dressings) but the protein is KILLING me!  We really don't eat pork and try not to have red meat more than once a week, so I am left with a lot of poultry and I just feel like I can't stand to eat another bite of meat!  This morning for breakfast, I mixed up some seasonings from a well reviewed recipe with some ground beef and made sausage patties.  We ate those with a white potatoe (whole30 Saturday morning breakfast treat...half a potatoe each) and onions cooked in olive oil (I know coconut oil would be better but I haven't gotten used to it for savory foods yet...I'll get there!), I also had a huge double handful of spinach, half a kiwi, and half a peach. I loved everything, but when it came down to eating the sausage, I just couldn't even finish it.  I made 5 patties about half the thickness of my hand, and 2/3 the size, and tried to eat 2 and a half of them.  I managed to eat one and a half, by hiding it in the spinach and potatoes, but I felt like if I finished the last one I'd just make myself sick it was so repulsive.  This has been happening with every meal!! Last night I made a "thansgiving" stir fry sort of thing, I sauteed turkey breast with green beans, asparagus, garlic and all the "thanksgivingie" spices like sage, rosemary, etc.  I had half an avocodo on the side and it was the same thing...gobbled up the veggies and the avocodo (delish!), couldn't finish the turkey (and I only give myself maybe HALF of my palm serving size because I knew while I was cooking it that I wouldn't be able to eat it because it was grossing me out so much just smelling it!  The only protein I have been able to handle is fish and seafood (LOVE salmon, sardines, shrimp, anything!), but I'm trying to get pregnant so I don't want to eat fish every day, every meal, and I've been having trouble finding sardines in a glass jar (don't want to eat things from cans if I can avoid it while trying to conceive especially since I am doing the Whole30 to get my hormones squared away so I can hopefully get pregnant...been trying for a year and doc can find nothing wrong).  I tried eggs twice, and I liked them and enjoyed eating them both times, but I felt unbelievably nauseated fo the rest of the day. I'm not 100% sure it wasn't a coincidence, so I'm going to give them one more try next weekend (when I have time to throw the rest of my day away if it happens again since I was too sick to really do anything).  But I don't really know what to do at this point.  I'm forcing myself to eat as much meat as I can, but it doesn't feel right or good at all.  Any suggestions?

[Physibeth]

Have you always had these aversions to protein or are they just starting? 

 

What is the reason you are limiting your red meat intake? Beef and lamb are top of the list for protein nutrients especially when pastured.

 

Some people who have issues with meat find taking a digestive enzyme helps them adjust to digesting more meat.

 

You might find information in this article helpful: http://whole9life.com/2013/02/eating-meat-a-primer-for-the-meat-challenged-2/

[GFChris]

Regarding increasing seafood, if your concern is mercury, you might find this resource helpful, as well as this article on Paleo and pregnancy.



 

[lrig7704]

Awesome, thanks for the links. Maybe I should just bump up the fish.

 

I guess I don't have any "good", well-founded reason for avoiding red meat, it's just been drilled into my head forever that it is "bad" and I guess it kinda stuck.  I could eat more of it, but I'm not sure it would help since I tried that for breakfast this morning (beef sausage) and still had the same problem. 

 

I've never had any problem being grossed out by meat before. Other than steak and ham, I used to like everything, I just didn't eat it nearly as often as I am now, maybe 4/7 dinners per week and a small amount of some pseudo-meat (deli type stuff) most lunches. I ate a LOT of grains for entire meals (pasta, rice on pot sort of deals).

[Hannlib]

I love meat but I struggle with beef for breakfast. Pork and chicken and eggs are my preferred breakfast proteins. Try eating your red meat in the evening and yes no need to limit to once a week! If you love fish, eat more fish.

[J.Nardin]

do try eggs again, that is generally a great source of protein:  scrambled, casseroles, omelets, hardboiled (I like a dash of garlic, or dipped into salsa) but deviled eggs are my favorite!!  (especially made with homemade mayo!)

 

you can get some good protein from nuts like almonds & macadamia and of course: hemp seeds!! I think Costco has these now at a reasonable price

[GFChris]

you can get some good protein from nuts like almonds & macadamia and of course: hemp seeds!! I think Costco has these now at a reasonable price

Nuts and seeds are fats, not proteins, on a Whole30, and are recommended to be used on a limited basis only.

[MTNan]

One other thing to keep in mind is that many people (myself included) go through a phase of feeling like they need to "choke down" their food during the first week - 10 days of whole 30. When I went through this is we more in the mornings, and more focused on protein and other savory food; perhaps because of eating grains and sugar every morning for many years up to W30? I don't really know, but I do know that it passed for me. Do your best, hang in there!