Slaying Dragons

[Sweet]

DAY 1

Starting my Whole30 today and will keep a log for the duration in an effort to keep myself accountable. I have had a few false starts but I am choosing to focus on the positive outcome from my initial efforts. For example, I am now able to enjoy black coffee after years of using gallons of cream. I gave up alcohol in 2006. It made a huge difference and helped me through a difficult time and I haven't looked back since. If I can give up alcohol, I can do anything so here I am looking to slay the dragons that stole my health.

Current problems:

-gained 20 pounds in past 10 months

-depression

-chronic insomnia

-acne

-severe neck pain

-sugar cravings

-pain in right foot

-pain in left hand - thumb joint

-sore spot on my scalp that keeps reoccuring and won't go away

-stress

-lethargy

That list makes me sound like a mess! OH MY!!

I studied nutrition at university, however this was when the government was flogging us with the healthy Food Pyramid which promised us that the road to good health was paved with healthy grains and low fat living. Ha!! I purchased "It Starts With Food" some six weeks ago, and am astounded at how much sense it makes and am ready to commit 30 days of my life to a quest for better health. I am having a tough time at work with a horrid co-worker, I'm pretty much alone in a new city, and I need a positive focus - so here I go!

Day 1 - Saturday September 15 - Weight 170 (yikes...)

Plan: Plan meals, go shopping, be prepared for taking lunches to work.

Breakfast:

black coffee

2 eggs (from happy chickens of course) scrambled with broccoli and a bit of coconut oil

[Tom Denham]

Sounds like a good plan!

[Sweet]

Okay, Day 1 in the bag!!

Lunch was salmon salad with onion, celery, spring mix lettuce avocado all glued together with a bit of homemade olive oil mayo - delicious

Dinner was a curry made with chicken breast, green pepper, carrots, coconut milk and spices. Oh yum.

I made Kale chips (kale, olive oil) which I nibbled on while preparing dinner.

Drank lots of herbal tea.

I went kayaking for about 2 hours.

I had a great day but I did not sleep well and the brain fog is with me today.

I signed up for the daily emails, and smiled when I heard my phone beep in the wee hours to let me know I had mail - I knew what it was!

Its a beautiful day here in BC and I am hoping for another kayak adventure this afternoon. I've put a roast in the crockpot with cracked pepper and garlic so that dinner today and my lunch for work tomorrow will be a no-brainer.

I've been reading on the forum and am smiling at someone's description of "carb porn"- I'll never be able to think about bagels the same way again.

[HikeMoreTrails]

If I can give up alcohol, I can do anything so here I am looking to slay the dragons that stole my health.

you got that right! I started my paleo journey earlier this summer and it has reminded me so much of both when I quit smoking 11+ yrs ago, and when I got sober 9+ yrs ago... ahhh, what a journey, yes?

maggie

[Sweet]

Hi Maggie and Tom, thanks for the drive by!!

Okay, looking like Day 2 is a WIN as well! Had some hazelnuts for lunch and had yummy potroast for dinner with mashed sweet potato, celery sticks, roasted cherry tomatoes, strawberries (somehow those make me feel guilty, I had 5) and homemade salsa which I made with onion, tomato, cilantro all smashed up in my teeny blender. Oh and dried hot pepper flakes of course Look, I even took a picture:

I packed up the leftovers to take to work tomorrow and went for a nice walk along the beach.

Okay I took the pictures of me in my undies. Oh.My.God. How demoralizing. How the hell did that happen to ME???

[CarmenS]

Sounds like you are doing great! I started my second Whole 30 today, so we'll be traveling along this road together. The photo of your dinner is great--it looks delicious! And don't feel guilty about the strawberries--berries are the best of the fruits!

[Sweet]

Okay - Day 3 has gone well. Except for the commuting with my new hours but that's another story.

Breakfast - scrambled eggs, black coffee

Lunch - leftover pot roast and mashed sweet potato; celery sticks, 5 sliced strawberries and 1/2 avocado

Dinner - leftover pot roast, cauliflower (with ghee), roasted broccoli with olive oil, um about 1/4 cup big shreds of coconut cuz I was RAVENOUS when I arrived home.

Going to go clean up the kitchen and pack up some food for tomorrow. Working this later shift just sucks I hate it.

Looking for a new job!

[DVeep]

Hi "Sweet" - that roast sounds wonderful with cracked pepper. Lately I'm like a little kid following the pied piper. When anyone talks about beef I do a 180 and follow my carnivorous nose! Make sure you get plenty of those healthy fats to cut the sugar cravings, and eat your leafy greens. Aren't kale chips delicious?! Good luck! -d

[Sweet]

Hi DVeep! Thanks for the visit!

Day 4 - Bring on More!

Today was a TOUGH day but I made it through. Not tough because I was eating Whole30, oh no. Tough because YOYO neighbour came home intoxicated last night and started pumping the music long after I had gone to bed and gone to sleep, so loud he woke up the lady across the lane and she came over in her nightie and blasted the living hell out of him. Hee hee. She's on the strata council and I wrote a letter to my landlord and this NOT the first time so I feel an eviction coming on. THEN the freaking fire alarm goes off... So today slept in, just did not have time for breakfast, traffic all snarled up blah. I had grabbed a ziploc container of cooked mashed cauliflower on my way out the door. Thank goodness. We had a work "do" and lunch was promised, and somehow I was foolish enough to think that perhaps they would serve something Whole30 compliant as in the past there have been nice fruit platters and veggie trays -- NOT!!! Every kind of fancy sandwich you could think of. So, I grabbed a big thick roast beef sandwich and took it to my office and you would laugh at the surgical precision with which I took it apart and inspected it. All went in the garbage except a couple of slices of roast beef which LOOKED like they had no evil lurking and tasted as if freshly roasted. Given where I work and the price they pay for catering, I think I'm right on that guess. So that and my cauliflower, good lord I was hungry when I came in the door. I had made some burger patties last night, so some of those were dinner with a salad of lettuce and a couple of sliced strawberries. With olive oil and sea salt/pepper. Now I am enjoying a nice cup of decaf chai tea with coconut milk, this is a lovely combination. Oh and I had black coffee this morning.

So, a mixed up kind of day and I'm tired and cranky BUT I made it through.

[Sweet]

Oh My - Day 5!

So busy today that I did not even get a chance to read my daily emails!!! Have I mentioned that I now hate my commute? 3 hours in my car every day instead of 2, and nasty 1st and 2nd gear driving, stop and go. Grrr. I applied for a new job today - cross everything and lets hope I get an interview.

Whole30 - what did I eat today! 2 scrambled eggs with a bit of coconut oil, yum. Lunch - last night I grilled two chicken breasts, one went into a salad with cucumber, cherry tomatoes and a few sliced strawberries. Dinner was the second chicken breast, more cherry tomatoes and a couple of sliced strawberries - hmmm I see a pattern here and yes Im tired. I ALSO cooked up 4 slices of eggplant, it was to die for. All brown and crispy on the outside and melty soft inside. Don't want to think about how much oil they soaked up because its OK, right?

So - Im doing great! Another big meeting at my office and big platters of muffins, scones, sandwiches etc lying around - me, I found the fruit plate and had a few grapes and a few slices of kiwi.

Anyway - on to tomorrow, good luck everyone!

[Sweet]

Day 6 Done - I need to grocery shop!

Mornings aren't going well - new schedule is wreaking havoc with me. No breakfast but I grabbed blueberries and strawberries on the way out the door. There was some chopped cauliflower in a ziploc bag so it came along too. Noshed on that and at lunch found a few minutes to grab some (natural) cashews. Read the labels on everything - oh my. Baked up some wild salmon and some kale chips. Day 6 done.

Tomorrow will be a WEEK!! AND.....FRIDAY!!!

Oh I had such a headache last night too. I don't get headaches. I decided it was a good sign

[Sweet]

Day 7 - That's one whole week! I have learned something important - being prepared is key. My first week coincided with a change in my working hours that puts me on the road during peak hours in a major city, translated this means I'm spending 3 hours each day commuting to and from work. This is not sustainable. A direct result is that when I get home at night I'm just too darn tired to cook or go to the grocery store, so I have pretty much run out of food, other than a big spaghetti squash sitting smack in the middle of the fridge looking at me!!! At work yesterday I walked to the Greens grocery store nearby and bought organic nuts (no peanuts) and an apple for lunch, it was the best I could do. I know I had too many nuts. But it wasn't doughnuts!!!

I haven't been sleeping well at all, tossing and turning like a mad thing, however last night at 9 I started to fall asleep on the couch so went straight to bed and had a really good night. I hope this is the beginning of a trend as I have suffered from just awful insomnia for my entire adult life.

Positive results after one week:

At work, the snack cupboard has stopped calling my name when I walk past.

I don't have that urge to snack. I am however, HUNGRY at mealtime. Hunger is a new sensation after years of snacking and grazing.

Plan: I will cook tomorrow and make sure I have enough prepared food ready to take for lunches and for when I just can't cook dinner.

Good news! I have a job interview on Wednesday which I hope will get me out of my current commuting nightmare.