Debzella's Whole30 Log Redux

[Debzella]

Starting September 14th for my second Whole30. I finished one in the Spring, and felt great. Then… life happens… and here I am again. I will chart my progress, and post recipes daily. I think it can be an easy program to follow, once you find out which brands of foods have no added sugar, or corn products, or other nasties that are non-compliant on Whole30.

 

Today and tomorrow, I am preparing for my start. I shopped today, and got a lot of vegetables, including avocados, a few fruits, including concord grapes fresh from the vine, lots of organic meats and eggs. I bought some raw cashews, and some Lara bars for emergencies. 

 

I was reminded how easy it can be to shop when doing a Whole30. There are entire aisles that have nothing for me, and I wheel right past them. lol. 

 

This time around, I have a full-time job, so there will be creative lunches to pack, and compliant emergency stashes in my desk, for those long (sometimes 4 hour!) meetings. 

 

Tomorrow, Sunday, I am putting' on a chicken. Lol. I'll make a big batch of slow-cooked organic chicken soup. I'll have it all week, and use some of the chicken for lunches too. I think that will make my week easier, since I will have to cook when I get home every night. I will also use my grill for steaks, and grilled veggies, and my slow cooker for big hunks o'meat, so I don't come in the door at night wanting to eat everything in sight. 

 

So, I am using this weekend to prepare, physically, mentally and emotionally, for my big start on Monday. Can't wait!

[Debzella]

It's Whole30 Eve! My enormous pot of slow-cooked chicken soup is cooking, and I am ready for tomorrow. I'm excited. Last time I did the Whole30, my breakfast of choice was 3 soft-boiled eggs, so I'll continue on with that. Lunch is going to be a challenge everyday because I have to pack it and take it to work. I'm thinking tomorrow, I'll have a chopped fresh tomato and avocado salad drizzled with olive oil, a chicken breast, and maybe a baked sweet potato. Then for dinner, I'm having chicken soup (of course), grilled eggplant and a grilled pork chop. 

 

For some reason, sitting at a desk all day looking at a computer screen makes me want to snack. I'll bring a Lara bar, but I'll try not to use it. I should be able to make it on 3 meals a day.

 

Chicken soup recipe:

1 whole organic chicken

10-12 cups water

Any combination of leeks, onion and garlic, chopped

3-4 stalks celery, chopped

3-4 carrots, chopped

Any other vegetables or greens you have on hand. (I like zucchini, shredded cabbage or turnips. You can also use potatoes.)

2 tsp. salt

ground black pepper

1/4 tsp. allspice (You can also add 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp ground turmeric, if you want, if you want an Indian inspired broth.)

 

Put the chicken in the pot, cover with the water. Simmer slowly for 3-4 hours. Scoop the chicken out of the pot, and let it cool in a bowl, Be careful to remove any bones from the broth, too. Sometimes I strain the broth into another pot, just to make sure all the little bones are removed. 

 

Add all the vegetables, chopped into small pieces, to the broth. When the chicken is cool, shred the meat and put most of it back in the broth. I usually save the chicken breasts for another meal, and put the dark meat in the soup, but if you like a really meaty soup, you can use all the meat. Add the salt, pepper and allspice. Bring the soup back up to a simmer and cook for another 30-40 minutes, until all the vegetables are tender. It's done! It makes a lot, so you can freeze some for quick meals another time.

 

Tomorrow is the big day!

[Debzella]

Day 1

 

I stuck to my meal plans… ish. A few changes here and there but 100% compliant overall.

 

Breakfast - 3 soft-boiled eggs

Mid-morning thing - cashews (because it's a long time between 6 am and noon.)

Lunch - A tomato, an avocado, and 4 oz. chicken breast

Mid-afternoon thing - a Lara bar

Dinner - Pork chop on the grill with grilled eggplant and half a baked sweet potato.

 

Tomorrow i will add some fat to my lunch so I can make it to dinner without a snack. 

 

Totally talked my cubicle mate into starting Whole30 tomorrow. 

[Debzella]

Day 2

 

Breakfast - 3 soft-boiled eggs

Mid-morning thing - cashews

Lunch - Baked sweet potato, chicken breast and a tomato, drizzled with olive oil

Dinner - Chicken soup, baked potato, leftover grilled eggplant

 

No Mid-afternoon snack today. I think adding the olive oil to my lunch really helped.

 

I won't snack tonight either because I go to bed by 9pm. I have an early rise-time. 

 

Tomorrow's lunch - Baked potato, chicken breast and a tomato with olive oil

 

Breakfast will always be 3 soft-boiled eggs, because I can't think in the morning. lol.

 

Dinner tomorrow… Maybe something in the crockpot. I have turkey breast in the freezer. It will give a lot of meals. With carrots and potato. Sounds like a plan.

 

On the less delicate side of things… I have been dropping water weight like it's my job. I woke up three times last night with a full bladder. I love science! 

[Debzella]

Day 3 in the books.

 

Breakfast - 3 hard-boiled eggs. I had to switch from soft-boiled because they took too long to cook. Hard-boiled eggs can be made the night before and grabbed quick.

Mid-morning thing - Lara Bar

Lunch - Leftover baked potato, chicken breast and tomato, drizzled with olive oil

Dinner - Crockpot turkey breast, carrots, black olives, and a half an avocado.

 

I feel full, a little bloated and already tired of so much meat. But, I know it will pass. 

 

Posting the timeline, if for no other reason, so I can find it fast and refer to it often.

 

http://whole30.com/2013/08/revised-timeline/

 

Tomorrow is Kill All The Things! I can't wait. 

 

Ah yes… re-reading the timeline, and I am reminded that nothing good happens until day 12-15. Patience, patience. 

 

No idea what I'm making for dinner tomorrow. Some sort of animal and a vegetable. 

[Debzella]

Just thought I would check back in to announce to no one in particular that I am in KILL ALL THE THINGS a little bit early. Erg! Does wanting to rip out trees by the roots and tear roofs off houses qualify??? Then I am in Kill All The Things. Woe to everyone.

[Debzella]

Day 4. 

 

Still in a flustery, head-achey, want to kill the things, but don't have the energy kind of mood. But also, weirdly and paradoxically, productive.

 

Breakfast today was 3 hard-boiled eggs.

Mid-morning thing - 2 nectarines

Lunch - Sweet potato, leftover turkey and a tomato with olive oil

Dinner - Homemade bolognese sauce over zoodles (zucchini noodles), black olives

 

Homemade bolognese sauce recipe

1# ground turkey

1 chopped leek

2-3 tbls. olive oil

1 6 oz. can compliant tomato paste

1 15 oz can compliant diced tomatoes

1 cup homemade chicken broth

 

Zoodles = 1 zucchini spiralized into noodles.

 

Saute the turkey and the leeks in olive oil, until the turkey is cooked through. Add the tomato paste and the tomatoes. Add the broth. Stir to combine. If the sauce is too thick, add about 1/2 cup water, or more broth. Simmer the sauce for about 15 minutes on low heat. It's done. Put it on the zoodles. Love life.

[Debzella]

Day 5: I'm over the whole Kill All The Things phase. Now I just want to sit in a corner with a bottle… er… glass of wine, a wedge of brie, and a French baguette.

 

But no….. I'm doing Whole30. Whose idea was that anyway??

 

Breakfast - 2 hard-boiled eggs and about 2 oz of left over pork chop. (I ran out of hard-boiled eggs)

Mid-morning thing - Lara bar (too many meetings today)

Lunch - Leftover turkey, a tomato and some raw zucchini drizzled with olive oil

Dinner - So far, ravaging the fridge in a compliant way… leftover bolognese sauce from yesterday and I'm going to cook a cauliflower. Yup. The whole thing. And then I'm going to drizzle it in olive oil and enjoy the heck out of it. 

 

Then, I'm going to bed, because I'm really, really tired.

[Debzella]

Day 6! 

 

I'm doing it! I'm doing it!

 

I really want to relax with some wine this weekend, like people do, but I am sticking with this. Wine makes me overeat, especially things like cheese and crackers. So… no. Just no.

 

Breakfast this morning - my beloved 3 soft-boiled eggs. I have been eating 3 eggs every morning since my first Whole 30 in May. I don't know why but they are so satisfying and keep me full longer. I love them.

 

Lunch - All I have left over is the turkey. Blarf. I must go to the store pronto and buy something that isn't turkey.

 

DInner - Maybe going out. Suggested to new date that we should have a picnic where I bring all the compliant food. Resisted the temptation to suggest that he might want to try Whole30 too. 

 

So… I feel okay this morning. Not stellar, but not awful either. I slept really good, which is unusual for me. I don't feel any less fat or bloated yet. I feel the same as before I started. The first Whole30, I noticed results right away. Patience is the name of the game. It will happen. Maybe I'm eating too much salt. I've been salting everything, so I should probably cut down on it.

 

I have a refrigerator filled with leftover pizza, from a party yesterday. I will avoid making eye contact with said pizza and we will go our separate ways. My kids will eat it, so it won't go to waste. 

 

Off to the farmer's market and grocery shopping. 

 

"Have a lovely day," she said, to no one in particular.   

[Debzella]

Day 7 - And hello, Miracle! This morning, my stomach bloat is noticeably down. Noticeably! As in, standing sideways in front of every mirror in the house, and marveling that the unmoveable has finally moved! Let the dancing in the streets commence! 7 days of sticking to this 100% has reaped a reward!

 

Yesterday, I didn't eat lunch at all, because I was so busy buying compliant stuff for the picnic dinner. We had pistachios and olives for an appetizer, grilled chicken, grilled potatoes and a tomato salad with oil and vinegar dressing. Bananas for dessert. New date didn't even realize he was eating a Whole30 compliant meal. The fun of it all was trying to grill everything in the middle of torrential rains and thunder. Somehow, in the eye of the storm, our charcoal hadn't gone out and we were able to cook, before the heavens opened up again. Crazy weather, but still fun.

 

Today...

Breakfast - 3 soft-boiled eggs

Lunch - Leftover tomato salad, leftover chicken, leftover potatoes.

Dinner - homemade compliant chicken soup. It starts again. Having the soup and cooked chicken in the fridge for the week, really helps when I come home from work starving.

 

I am thinking that I will add exercise to the mix this week, beginning with dusting off that gym membership I pay for every month and never use. And yoga. I need to start that back up too. I feel like I have the energy for it now. Although I'm not really near Tiger Blood level yet, I think I hear a baby tiger rustling in the nearby thicket.

[Debzella]

Day 9 which shall be called the day before Day 1 from this point forward.

 

Yes... it happened. The siren song of Kimchi Chigae called to me and I succumbed to heavenly Korean deliciousness. So, today I am regrouping, and reading my Whole30 book, and reaching out to previous Whole30ers who are coming back and joining again, and I will start Day 1 tomorrow morning.

 

Oh, and I can't eat any eggs anymore. For some reason, they are going right through me in almost no time flat. Not a happy circumstance at work for sure. So I have til tomorrow to figure out what else I'll have for breakfast tomorrow.

 

:: hums "Back in the Saddle, Again" ::