Healthy PhD Whole30 Ramblings

[HealthyPhD]

I posted a starting post in the "Join the Whole30" so I won't rehash it except to say that I am starting this and the intensive writing phase of my doctoral dissertation at the same time. I've been paleo/primal for two years but had been slipping and "cheating" more and more, and gained twenty pounds back after losing fifty. I've maintained in the 190's for about eight months but my body is telling me it's time to do a little more work, both to lose weight and to correct hormonal imbalance (32 years old, MIA period, not pregnant or exercising excessively). 

 

So today is my Day 1. My normal diet is pretty close to the principals of Whole30 but I had gotten more lax about added sugar, corn (I do get mad nacho cravings), dairy, and especially alcohol. I've been on the road for the past week and managed to gain about seven pounds (I realize it's probably not a fat gain, but that doesn't make my pants fit any better). 

 

So starting weight is 197.8 (though that is after a glass of water and before my "morning constitutional." (for reference, my height is 5'3.5")

 

Starting measurements: 45" - 38.75" (!!!) - 44.5"

 

I realize that inches may come off other places and measuring thighs, neck, arms, etc. might get me a more satisfying total number for my final measurement, but my waist size is my biggest concern. I know I need to get it under 35 (for starters) to decrease my risk for a number of ailments. Ultimately I hope to get under 32".

 

Resisting the temptation to weigh is going to be very difficult for me but I will try to commit. Normally I look at the scale as data, and keeping an eye on it keeps me reined in (this past week I didn't weigh and balooned up seven pounds without even noticing it...). But I know that if I stay true to Whole30, that isn't necessary anyway.  

 

I'm going for a long walk with a friend in just a bit. Breakfast will be 2-3 eggs and 2 slices of Maverick uncured nitrate/sugar-free bacon with an avocado and a slice of tomato. I'm also having warm water with lemon before the walk and black coffee after.  Not sure about lunch yet. May post again later.  

 

[jmcbn]

Breakfast will be 2-3 eggs and 2 slices of Maverick uncured nitrate/sugar-free bacon with an avocado and a slice of tomato. I'm also having warm water with lemon before the walk and black coffee after.  Not sure about lunch yet. May post again later.  

Hi there & welcome to Whole30.

 

You might want to take another look at the meal template just to check the make-up of your meals going forward as your breakfast looks very light on veg. The recommendation is for 1-3 cups with every meal, with 3 being optimum. Avocado is a fat on Whole30.

 

Other than enjoy your day! 

[HealthyPhD]

Thank you for the feedback, but my understanding is that the template is only a recommendation and not a rule. Unfortunately one of the challenges of being a student is living on the budget of one, and incorporating the full amount of recommended vegetables into every meal is extremely expensive, especially for a single gal who can never seem to get through everything before it rots. I live in an area without access to a great variety of vegetables and I've found in the past that relying too heavily on the limited options I have can have detrimental effects (eating heaps and heaps of goitrogens in cruciferous vegetables, for instance), so I find my money is better spent on satiating proteins and fats, having lived a similar lifestyle successfully for an extended period before. I am not even sure if I will be able to eat every day this month at this point, considering my paycheck is already gone and I don't get another until October, but the high-quality proteins and fats tend to carry me further and help me go longer on less food. I realize it isn't "optimal," but it is the best I can do on a monthly food budget of well under $200. I did, however, have some salad greens which I normally incorporate when I don't have anything else, but unfortunately I left them in my boyfriend's refrigerator in Tennessee when I came home to Georgia on Tuesday.    

 

I did have a carrot at mid-morning, which is something I try to do every day to help balance hormones. For lunch I had a ground beef patty and a little over a cup of steamed broccoli.  Dinner will be chicken breast with boiled cabbage and roasted asparagus, with some coconut oil on the cabbage and a little ghee on the asparagus. 

[jmcbn]

Your veg don't have to be fresh - any kind of frozen veg will do, as will pickled veg in jars.

With regards to your mid morning carrot, again we'd recommend not to snack in between meals to allow your digestive system some down time. Each meal should keep you satiated for 4-5hrs and it is around about the four hour point that your body turns to your fat stores for fuel, so it's kind of key in becoming fat adapted.

Maybe you could incorpate your daily carrot into your meal one 

[HealthyPhD]

The reason for the carrot is based on specific claims that the fiber in it works best to help the body eliminate excess estrogen when it's eaten on an empty stomach, and it's the only "snack" I ever have. Today's schedule was a little off, but usually I eat it just before I start fixing lunch so it's more like an appetizer, I guess. My experience with the carrot-a-day experiment seems to confirm the claims, as when I started it my cycles went from completely irregular to a steady 28-30 days, my PMS virtually disappeared, and my cramps became manageable. I fell off the carrot wagon about a month ago and now my period is MIA. Today was only my second day back in the carrot swing, but I am hoping to see some results. 

 

Generally I eat breakfast around 7:30, the carrot around 11:30, lunch around 12-12:30, and dinner around 6PM, so my meal spacing should be fine. And I should also specify that full ketosis (becoming "fat adapted") is not my goal. Clean eating and hormonal balance are. I'm also concerned about dental health, which is another compelling reason to space meals out at 4-5 hour intervals. I've never had a cavity and I am determined to keep it that way!

 

I looked at the frozen vegetables the last time I went to the store but the options were extremely unappealing. I love vegetables, but have not had much luck with frozen ones and absolutely cannot stand canned anything. I always feel like they taste like a can. So I stretch what I can, what I enjoy eating (because it isn't supposed to be unpleasant to follow this, right?), and fast (read: starve) when I have to. Eating healthily is not made for the poor in this country, unfortunately. But I would rather spend my money on food now (and starve when I have to rather than eat junk) than on medication later.

 

If you would prefer I no longer post because my budget does not allow me to follow the "optimum" version of the plan, I can take it elsewhere, but my understanding is that this was a place for our private thoughts and that the personal logs were not supposed to be moderated. I am following the rules of the plan, even if I can't manage the exact template. But the spirit of the program is to correct bad habits, and considering I am not a snacker, I don't think a pre-lunch carrot is in particular violation of any part of the program... 

[jmcbn]

I was offering some constructive advice that is all.

Although the logs are not moderated we do tend to read the new ones to check people are on the right track - we have your best interests at heart, honest!

Post away, and I'll intrude no more - unless you have any questions, in which case just ask 

[HealthyPhD]

I certainly appreciate the active involvement of moderators to help the newbies out. I get touchy about my current state of poverty because it really stresses me out But I do the best I can with what I've got! 

[HealthyPhD]

I am happy to report that after two days on my carrot regimen my two-and-a-half-weeks-late period has made an appearance. I realize that correlation does not equal causation, but it fits closely enough with my past experience of the carrot-a-day routine to make me never want to miss it again!  

[HealthyPhD]

So I did break one rule this morning and got on the scale to get a new starting weight. With my period FINALLY starting, and knowing that my weight usually drops a couple of pounds at the beginning of a new cycle, I thought it might give me a more accurate representation of in the end. So my new starting weight is 196 instead of 197.8.

 

Today I woke up feeling good. I cancelled the walk I was supposed to go on with a friend because I have too much work to do and I'm still distracted obsessing over nutrition. Plus cramps. 

 

For M1 today I grated up some leftover zucchini ends into my three eggs to make a scramble of sorts. It was okay. Not great. But I got close to a cup of vegetable matter out of it, so there's that. But it just kinda made me miss cheese. Also had two strips of compliant bacon and a small glass of GT's Multi Green Kombucha. Having some black french press coffee now.

 

M2 will start with my daily carrot about 30 min before the meal, which will be either leftover chicken breast or a ground beef patty with sauteed purple cabbage. M3 will be which ever meat I didn't eat for lunch with broccoli. Going to try roasting it this time because steaming just seems to kill the flavor too much without butter.

 

It occurred to me yesterday that I have a major challenge coming up that I need to mentally prepare for. Next weekend (the 19th) I am supposed to meet my boyfriend and a guest from overseas in Birmingham for a pub crawl (funded by our guest). We'd made this plan before I decided to do Whole30 and it had completely slipped my mind. Now my inner southern hostess is having fits because if I'm not drinking, it means we will be forcing our guest to drink alone, as my boyfriend doesn't really drink at all. On the one hand, I would be totally okay with taking a break for the special occasion (probably only breaking from the no alcohol rule,and only with 2-3 drinks because getting tanked on another person's dime is equally rude) and starting over from day 1 after it's over. I'm a grown-up, I can do that if I choose to. But October brings more challenges. On the other hand, none of the challenges I will face in October will involve me being rude to a guest of honor (the guest is a visiting scholar from Northumbria University whom my boyfriend is hosting while he does research and a series of lectures at our university). My October challenges that would fall within the 30 days if I start over after the weekend trip include a trip to see my boyfriend in Tennessee, which isn't really that big of a challenge with proper planning, and a four day conference in San Antonio, which will be an important networking opportunity for me. The San Antonio trip comes with its own set of baggage, as I will be alone there and probably should abstain from alcohol because when I'm alone I sometimes get carried away and end up embarrassing myself.

[HealthyPhD]

My keyboard suddenly quit working on me before I could wrap up that last post. Anyway, I'm worried about the availability of Whole30-compliant food during the conference, especially since the conference hotel does not offer in-room refrigerator or anything to allow me to take a variety of supplies (if I were driving I would carry a cooler but since I'm flying that seems a little excessive). I know I need to order some Epic bars and other non-perishable emergency snacks, whether I'm doing Whole30 or just my usual Primal. The only concern about going tee-totaled on the trip is that my dissertation chair will be there and he'll probably be the only person I know, and going out for a drink with him at a conference is usually a good way to either meet other scholars in the field or get an impromptu dissertation meeting out of  him.

 

Or maybe I just need to spend the next few weeks focusing on a healthy, clean, diet, adhering to all of the principals of Whole30 except for those special occasions, and then do a full Whole30 after the conference, at which point I won't have any challenges that will be quite so difficult to navigate for a longer time.

 

I've spoken with my boyfriend about our trip next weekend, and he says he might have a pint with our guest, in which case I will feel like our work as hosts is done. But the other complicating factor is that my boyfriend's snoring is so bad that usually when I stay with him or he with me, I sleep on the couch. Sharing a hotel room with him, I have only ever managed to sleep through his snoring with the aid of alcohol, and I generally lose less productive time when I've have the 3-4 glasses or wine it takes for me to sleep than I do when I don't sleep, and right now productivity is an extremely high priority.

 

Thank goodness I have an appointment with my therapist today...

[HealthyPhD]

I spoke with my therapist about the above issue today and she thinks that I should relax and go with it over the Birmingham weekend. So I'm going to stop fretting over it and cross that bridge when I come to it. If I decide that I want to join our guest for a drink, then I will do it and I will start back over. And if I decide to do the same when I go to San Antonio, then I will do it and start back over. After San Antonio, I shouldn't have any major challenges to staying on track for the full thirty days if I can just ignore Halloween, which shouldn't be an issue considering I'm a little short of friends right now. As of now, however, I will proceed as if those possible restart breaks don't exist. 

 

Today ended up being an unexpected challenge. I went to do some research in the early afternoon, then to therapy, ten stopped by the film festival where I'm volunteering over the weekend to pick up my t-shirt and entry badge. A friend who is on the board was there and looked like she was about to pull all of her hair out. The festival starts tonight and it was mass chaos. I offered to help and ended up stuck there for three hours of absolute mayhem. By the time I could slip away it was almost 7, which is normally the time I'm turning the lights off in the kitchen after cleaning up from dinner, washing my face, and putting my pajamas on. I had to go the store on my way home and it was VERY difficult to resist the wine aisle and an 80% cacao chocolate bar. I also passed one of my favorite watering holes which is having trivia and 1/2 price well drinks. And I REALLY wanted to be able to just go, sit on the patio, watch drunks play trivia, and chat about economic theory with a local professor I know will be there over a couple of nice cocktails. But alas, I came home, popped some leftover chicken in the oven, a sweet potato in a pot to boil, and some asparagus in the skillet. That plus a pile of spring greens made for a pretty alright dinner, even if I didn't finish until after 8:00. 

 

My biggest challenges at this point have less to do with food and more to do with figuring out how to blow off steam and unwind. I often go out to eat because I've been cooped up in the house for days or weeks at a time with little live human contact outside of brief exchanges with store clerks. Eventually I take myself out to eat, budget be damned, and sit at the bar where people tend to socialize, or at least the bartender will usually chat with me for a bit. I am hoping that the volunteer work I am doing this weekend will provide an alternative outlet, and that it won't backfire because of the stressful and chaotic environment the situation is turning out to be. I have to be strong tomorrow evening, because I won't be getting done until 7PM and I expect I will be STARVING. I haven't had any luck finding suitable snacks in this town that work for me (nuts tend to make me ravenous for some reason). Normally I don't need them so I haven't worried about it, but my volunteer shift for tomorrow got changed to an awkward time for me, as I normally eat around 6PM but my shift is 5-7. If I eat too early I'll be ravenous by bedtime, and too late and I won't sleep well (likely the case tonight), so this whole thing could end up throwing me for a loop instead of providing me with a healthy social outlet.  I guess we'll see...

[HealthyPhD]

Slept TERRIBLY last night. I have always been a poor sleeper. I've developed a good nighttime routine that helps me sleep pretty normally, but whenever I get thrown off of that routine I either revert to insomniac or use wine to self-medicate myself to sleep. My usual routine involves eating dinner around 6PM so I can have everything cleaned up and kitchen lights out by 7, after which point I don't drink any more fluids, and I take off my makeup and put on my blue blockers and keep things low-key and dimly-lit for the rest of the night so I can go to sleep by around 11:00. Obviously (see previous post), that didn't happen last night. I went to sleep okay, by about midnight, but woke up at 2 with a full bladder and, thanks to menstrual cramps, didn't go back to sleep until sometime after 6AM. My boyfriend called and woke me up at 8:30 (I should have texted him not to call...). So altogether I got about 4.5 hours of completely disrupted sleep. I'm afraid tonight may not be much better unless the cramping stops. I'm going to try to plan better. There is a place near the theatre where I'm volunteering that I can get a good burger with no bun and a green salad. I might just call in an order and pick it up on my way home, but it will put me right in the den of temptation, as the place with the burger is also one of my regular haunts and the bartender tends to pour me a drink as soon as she sees me walk in the door (I'm not there THAT often, but have been going for a long time). But, in theory at least, it could put me on the path to a relaxing evening more quickly than getting home at 7:30, cooking dinner, eating, and cleaning it up. I'm not too worried about temptation unless tonight is as crazy as last night at the film festival, but hopefully they will have ironed out some of the wrinkles by my shift...

 

M1 today was a little late - about 9:00. Had three eggs, scrambled, over a bed of salad greens, then another egg and some coconut oil in my coffee. Feeling like I need more coffee. ALL THE COFFEE. No I don't think this is the standard Whole30 slump, as I'm not coming off of anything that should put me there. I just suck at sleep.

Probably a ground beef patty and roasted broccoli for lunch, which might have to be a little early so I can get everything done that I need to before my volunteer shift. Today is complicated. Especially without my brain to help me figure it out. 

[HealthyPhD]

I'm more broke than I even thought so the stopping to pick something up option is pretty much out of the question, even at happy hour prices (1/2 price menu, which makes the burger $4). Back to square one.   

[HealthyPhD]

Today turned into a four-meal day. Between TOM, lack of sleep, and an awkward, busy schedule, the day was stacked against a perfect-template day. I'd eaten breakfast late, but was hungry at my normal lunch time and had afternoon errands so I went ahead and ate lunch around noon (about 4oz ground beef and a cup of sauteed cabbage), had to run home before my volunteer shift to get ready and I was absolutely famished so I had a small meal around 4 (about 3oz ground beef, a fried egg, a few strips of red pepper and a handful of wilted spinach) and then just now (7:15ish) repeated the same meal again but with a heartier serving of spinach and no egg. I'm still hungry but it might just be due to exhaustion. Maybe a spoonful of coconut oil will help. Anyway I managed to get it all done and should be cleaned up and ready for my evening ritual by about 7:45, a little late but not devastatingly.

[HealthyPhD]

This evening has been challenging because it is just so nice outside! All I want is to go out and enjoy the sunshine on a patio enjoying the nightlife with friends. But alas, here I am. I had a lovely dinner: grass-fed ribeye with a side of roasted broccoli and wilted spinach, and I'm waiting for a sweet potato to finish boiling right now, to which I will add some coconut oil (delish!). But to save myself from the temptation to go out I have already taken off my makeup and changed out of my clothes. I'd love to be out on my porch with a glass of wine and a book, but I'm still working on my sleep routine so I must refrain from even enjoying the porch, I'm afraid. 

 

Overall it has been a very good day, and I have no real complaints. It's just my favorite time of year to be out enjoying all my little sleepy mountain town has to offer at a time when it really comes to life, but pretty much all it has to offer is food and booze, and I don't trust the food.   

[HealthyPhD]

I finally got a good night's sleep last night. I was asleep well before midnight and woke up at 5:20 to use the bathroom, then went back to bed until 8:00. Part of me wishes I would have stayed up the first time I woke up but I was very groggy so I decided to take advantage of it since I've been getting so little sleep lately. I'm running low on vegetables so today's breakfast was just 3 eggs cooked in a little ghee, plus another egg and some coconut oil in a cup of coffee. I'm going to try to figure out a way to get some more veggies. My meat is well covered for at least the next couple of weeks. I took a roast out of the freezer a couple of days ago and it will be going into the crock pot later this morning. It should get me through lunch and dinner for the week. I have another still frozen, plus a couple of bags of homemade bone broth from a while back and some leftover vegetable bits (a couple of broccoli stems, some zucchini cores leftover from making noodles) to put in it for some soup, now that it's getting cooler. 

 

Today is the last day of the film festival and my volunteer shifts are done, which will make life a little easier. Still a busy day, though, since I'm finally going to get to go WATCH some of the movies I've been working to support, and then have to go to a baby shower later in the afternoon which may come with some drama and temptation. I may need to take a Larabar in case I get too hungry. Because of today's schedule I'm going to be eating on a bit of an odd schedule, as I had breakfast at 9:00 but I'll have to have lunch at noon to get to the film festival in time, and then I won't get to eat again until 6 or later, which will make whatever is available at the baby shower (3:30-5:30) harder to resist. 

 

So my plan for the day: I'll have my carrot around 11:45, then start making lunch (ground beef patty with whatever vegetables I can scrounge up, which won't be much), then film festival 1-3 (possibly followed by a short walk in the beautiful weather), baby shower 3:30-5:30, grocery store for some (probably not organic, unfortunately) veggies, and home to take the roast out of the crock pot and gobble down some dinner, hopefully by 7. 

[HealthyPhD]

Whew what a day! I ate lunch (ground beef patty, wilted spinach, and sauteed red pepper) around noon but I wish I had bee able to eat more. I got to the film festival just in time to get a seat for the first showing, stayed until 3:15 then hurried off to the baby shower, hungry, with the smell of tamales and cake filling my nostrils.  Yeesh! I finally caved and ate a couple of spoonfuls of guacamole to take the edge off. After the party the parents were hosting a bonfire in their back yard, but I had a roast in the crock pot to get home to. I'd thrown a few chopped carrots and a big butternut squash in with it and had about half of what I'd put in with my dinner portion of roast. Delish! The squash was SO good. I should really eat more of it. I picked up some more spinach, kale, a cauliflower, and some raspberries on my way home as well. Starting to eat into next month's money at this point but hopefully the results will be worth it. I'll deal with the financial consequences later. I had a handful of the raspberries after dinner (extremely unusual for me but hoping it will help me sleep) and they were absolutely divine. I very rarely eat fruit so whenever I do it's a real treat. 

When I got home and checked my email I found there was an invitation to the film festival closing night reception, which is being held at my favorite swanky bar, one I can't normally afford to go to. But alas, here I am at home, hoping the health benefits are worth missing the fun!  

[HealthyPhD]

Day 6 and I've overeaten on roast beef, butternut squash, and zucchini noodles! 

 

Slept pretty well last night. had a bit of a hard time getting to sleep, was awoken by my cat at 2:10 and had a bit of a time getting back to sleep, but once I did I slept until daylight, woke up to my alarm at 7:15, went back to sleep until 8. I need to make an effort to get into bed earlier tonight, as last night I didn't even start trying to go to sleep until almost midnight which is really much too late for me. 

 

M1 was two eggs, two strips of compliant bacon, and a pile of wilted spinach and kale.

M2 was roast beef with zucchini "noodles" and butternut squash.

M3 is supposed to be more roast beef (since it's what I have...) but I am having a hard time stomaching the idea right now. Will probably make some roasted cauliflower and wilted spinach and kale to go with it. I ate way too much at lunch and the thought of any of it makes me feel gaggy at this point. If it comes down to it I might just have a late meal of a couple of eggs just to have some sustenance and be done with it. 

[Cbiggs85]

Hi! Just being nosy and reading your log for some inspiration. I have struggled with crippling, terrible insomnia in my past and aside from mess which controlled it, I have found that if i get some good exercise in it helps. I am off those meds now but have been taking magnesium at night which supposedly helps sleep as well.

I hear you on how expensive it can be to eat healthy. It is sad! Especially to find stuff like bacon without all the junk- it costs like $6 or $7 at my Whole Foods! Ugh

[HealthyPhD]

Hi! Just being nosy and reading your log for some inspiration. I have struggled with crippling, terrible insomnia in my past and aside from mess which controlled it, I have found that if i get some good exercise in it helps. I am off those meds now but have been taking magnesium at night which supposedly helps sleep as well.

I hear you on how expensive it can be to eat healthy. It is sad! Especially to find stuff like bacon without all the junk- it costs like $6 or $7 at my Whole Foods! Ugh

 

 

Hi there! I have a lot of anxiety about sleep which is my biggest issue. My routine is the only thing I've found that works fairly consistently. Exercise certainly helps me sleep better, but it doesn't help me GET to sleep. Turning my brain off is always a problem. Living alone gives me a lot of anxiety on top of my regular sleep anxiety, and anything that throws me off of my routine is just double jeopardy. It's probably something I should explore more deeply in therapy, but I can't afford to continue right now so I'll just have to do my best with my evening routine. I take magnesium and a supplement called Power to Sleep, which contains stuff like melatonin and L-theanine. It's pretty helpful but not all the time.  

 

I ended up going out to eat with a friend (after we went for a long walk around the neighborhood). I could NOT face another pot roast meal. We went to a Mexican restaurant and I ordered steak fajitas with extra spinach, skipped the sides and just ate the fajita veggies and steak, and a little bit of the salad and guacamole. Had a handful of raspberries when I got home because evening carbs sometimes help me sleep. I'm afraid there was something unanticipated somewhere in my food because I ate plenty but for some reason I feel absolutely starving. Not sure what that's about. Gluten on the grill, maybe. My hunger signals are excessively sensitive to wheat. Ugh.

 

Tomorrow night I have a meeting that is going to throw off my schedule. I'm on the steering committee for the group, so we have to gather at 5:30 for a 6:00 meeting and we'll probably be there until 7:30, so either I have to eat before, which is WAY too early, or after, which is WAY too late. There is dinner provided - spaghetti. Ugh. Gonna be a tough one!  

[HealthyPhD]

Day 7 and having a hard time eating enough. Still working on eating enough at one sitting that I don't feel hungry three hours later. Part of this is due to a wacky schedule. I've been doing the best I can but it's just been a week full of disruptions, it seems like. I overslept today after a bad night's sleep last night so breakfast wasn't until 9 again, at which time I had two eggs (all I had left) and two slices of bacon plus a pile of wilted spinach, kale, and bok choi. Didn't get hungry until 1:00, at which point I had a carrot, then a few minutes later ate some leftover pot roast and butternut squash with a spoonful of coconut oil for some added caloric density, but it wasn't enough and now I'm hungry two hours later. I have to be at a meeting at 5:15 so I've either got to eat before, which is way early for me, or wait until after, which will be way late. If I don't eat before, however, I will be subjected to the smell of the provided spaghetti dinner and garlic rolls on an empty stomach. It's note exactly a temptation for me since I am already well aware of the negative effects of gluten grains on my system, but it's still a bit torturous.

[HealthyPhD]

Well I made it through the meeting and its attendant spaghetti supper, which adjourned at 7:30, then came home and made a ground beef patty with some sauteed red bell pepper and wilted spinach and kale. I finished eating and cleaning up by 8:30, which is definitely late for me, but hopefully I am tired enough to sleep anyway. 

[HealthyPhD]

Day 8 was a relatively easy day today. Slept pretty well Tuesday night night but still overslept. M1 at 9: 2 eggs, a bit of roast beef, and wilted spinach and kale; M2 around 1: Ground beef patty with cabbage cooked in coconut oil (after my pre-lunch carrot, of course); M3 at 6pm: Roast beef with a big pile of roasted cauliflower cooked in ghee and some wilted spinach and kale. I also got in a nice walk in the afternoon. Plenty of sunshine and fresh air. 

 

I've been feeling pretty productive the past few days which has been wonderful. I definitely need to stick as close as possible to Whole30 principals beyond my thirty days. I think it could make a big difference in my ability to complete my dissertation on schedule, and improve the quality of my work. 

 

I had a little bit of a struggle getting to sleep last night, but once I got to sleep I slept straight through to my alarm, which was awesome. I wish I had gotten up with my alarm but, alas, I hit snooze once and never heard it again until almost 8:30. Sleep is good, right? 

 

Started the day with a probiotic supplement and warm lemon water, which I've been trying to get in the habit of. I don't have a lot of vegetables left so M1 was just eggs and bacon. I'm leaving town for a couple of days on Saturday so I'm trying to conserve so I don't have to make another trip to the store. But I should have enough broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage to get through lunch and dinner for the next couple of days. I realize it would probably be better to have the bigger meal first, but I'm just a little to bleary first thing in the morning, usually, to make a big meal.  Maybe that will change. We'll see.  

[HealthyPhD]

I've been having a problem with late evening hunger, which is a little weird because I haven't been a late night snacker in years. But I figure the problem is just that I'm struggling to eat enough during the day. I haven't been able to make my first meal larger, which is probably what needs to happen, but if I get hungry at 10 after my 6PM meal, then I am going to have to get check for a tapeworm! I had a huge helping of fajita vegetables (a whole onion, half a red bell pepper, half a yellow bell pepper), cooked in a ghee-coconut oil mixture and seasoned with sea salt, pepper, paprika, garlic, and cumin, plus a whole head of broccoli topped with ghee and pink Himalayan salt, and a sizable portion of pot roast. It took me a while, but I finished all of it! I'm hoping it will help me get to sleep a little earlier. The late night hunger has caused enough discomfort to keep me awake. Fingers crossed! I'm home all day tomorrow so I am going to work on my water intake, which has been a little low for the past week because of a varied schedule and the need for a resilient bladder in many circumstances.  

 

Tomorrow should go relatively smoothly. I'll have eggs, bacon, and wilted spinach and kale for breakfast, probably a similar lunch (now I'm almost out of protein), and a ground beef patty with roasted broccoli and cauliflower for dinner. Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in an afternoon walk. 

 

I would like to pat myself on the back for once again resisting the temptation to go out. I have often found that when I'm working downtown for any reason, once the work day is done it is too easy to give in to the siren song of prepared food, happy hour drinks, and trivia night. I was very tempted today, but I slipped away before anyone had the chance to invite me anywhere and got my rear end home to cook dinner. I have a great weekend to look forward to. Yes I will be going slightly off plan with a few drinks on Saturday night but I should otherwise be able to stick to the program. After that I'll have 23 more days before my trip to San Antonio, during which I expect I will not be able to maintain so closely to the Whole30 principals, but there are certain things I am NOT willing to compromise on, like gluten-bearing grains and corn. 

 

I think learning to tell myself "no" is a major positive outcome of Whole30 so far. It's not a gain which can be entirely credited to the program, however, as I am currently also motivated by the fact that I am feeling the need for a great deal of space between myself and the local bar scene after a couple of crazy weekends before I started Whole30. I start thinking I would like to go have a rooftop drink, and then my brain reminds me that there are certain people I'm just not ready to face quite yet. I want to teach myself to be a homebody!

[HealthyPhD]

Victory! I wanted really really really really really badly to go out for dinner this evening. My supplies were down to six eggs and a bunch of kale and I was feeling absolutely gaggy at the prospect of more eggs and kale. But I did it! I had a huge lunch consisting of a big pile of broccoli and cauliflower and a small hamburger patty.  It took me a while to get hungry after that but once I did I did NOT want to cook. I wanted to go out and let someone cook for me and have a nice glass of wine to pair with my meal. But alas. I managed to eat at home one more night, knowing that after breakfast tomorrow I will have very little control over my food for the next couple of days and I would really like to feel some of this fat mass slipping away!