I am freaking out.

[Jhazmin]

Yup. I have no idea what to do with myself, and I am not doing "well."

I am on Day 23 of my Whole30 and up until this week, things were splendid.

On Sunday I ran into my first hurdle. I didn't like the chili I'd made for this week's dinners. I couldn't even bear to eat more than 2 bites. I ate a bowl of roasted veggies and called it a night.

Then Monday rolled around. I couldn't stomach my breakfast. I couldn't stand dinner. Same deal on Tuesday. I even had to go home from work I felt so ill and freaked out and depressed.

I've felt tired, depressed, and FULL of cravings. Now, an important note is this: I'm PMSing. PMS for me is depression + cravings. I know that. But it is BRUTAL and nigh unbearable and after 4 days of barely being able to eat once a day, I'm at my wit's end.

No food appeals to me. Sometimes the things I normally eat are making me feel nauseous. I would kill a man for a bowl of mashed potatoes or some pizza. And these aren't normal "if you are really hungry you'll eat steamed fish" cravings because I actually am not eating when I can't have what I'm craving.

I am HUNGRY AS HELL! But nothing I can eat is palatable. I feel really really really awful. I just want to feed my PMS what it wants and then get back on track after but I've done SO WELL on the whole30 till now that I feel bad breaking it. A lot of this is my hangups re: guilt and failing and food etc.

I am stumped. I know not what to do. For the first time on Whole30, I have a headache. I just want mashed potatoes.

[Brujinus]

Hi!

I can totally feel your pain. I'm on day 18 and sooo sleepy and tired, and I crave almost everything in this world. I'm just hating this feeling of deprivation, specially because I'm feeling physically bad.

One one hand, I would say... we have committed to do this. Food will be there forever. You can eat everything you want for the rest of your life; now it's only thirty days. Your mind is tricking you. I mean, it can't be anything physical since you are not lacking any nutrient... there is nothing that potatoes have and the other food you can eat don't have. It's just your mind. So try to figure up the way to go through this like something psychological. Find strategies to relax and distract yourself. You won't starve. Days will pass.

On the other hand... I'm ready to leave this in case I feel I'm feeling real and strong discomfort. We are not all in the same place of our lives, we have different stories and relationships with food and my mental health is my primary goal. And as much as food will always be there, so will be the Whole30.

BUT... actually for me the idea of starting over any time soon reaaally makes me stick with it NOW since I've arrived so far... I can't even imagine having another day one, two, three... and so on.

God I feel bad too Don't know if this is actually going to be helpful, but I'll post it so at least you won't feel alone

[Jhazmin]

Thanks. Sorry to hear you're struggling too!

I guess what strikes me as most weird about this is that the beginning of the whole30 was easy as heck. I had no problems and felt no pain and had zero cravings until this week.

Maybe part of that is because I was already eating paleo/primal on a 80/20 basis. If i wanted chocolate milk, I had it. If I wanted the fries at In n Out once a month, I had it. And it wasn't a big deal.

Now I am so caught up in this restrictiveness that I feel stifled. And I know it is largely because I feel so unhappy and so achy from PMS.

Truth be told, as "cheats" go, mashed potatoes with butter and garlic is pretty damn benign. Maybe I should just go for it.

[Brujinus]

Agree... actually, I don't get the reason why potatoes are out... according to the book, it's because they make easier to return to the old habits since americans eat tons of unhealthy fried potatoes... I'm avoiding them because I wanted to follow the protocol exactly (so I could blame them if something went wrong ) but intelectually it's one of the things I don't get at all.

i thing that the cheating question right now is much more about the psychological consequences than the physical ones.

All my support for you

[deblinne]

I say stick it out. 7 days is nothing. You can do this. Drag your mind back into submission! I know that paleo has taught me more about self restraint and discipline than anything I've ever done. Remember what mashed potatoes do...they spike your blood sugar, cause inflammation and provide no nutritional support. You will most likely feel awful 10 minutes later. How about an avocado and some steamed sweet potato slices? Nice and fatty and squishy!

[Jhazmin]

I don't like avocado or sweet potato. I am difficult, I know.

[Jhazmin]

I'm probably not going to have it, I know i only have a few more days. I just feel so horrible that I am barely functioning at work and all I want to do is lay in bed and cry. I feel... really bad and not at all like my usual self.

[Renee Lee]

Mashed turnips? Cauliflower? Squash? yucca?

There are a lot of plain starchy foods that are compliant. eat one of those! You have come incredibly far, and to let your cravings get the best of you now would be a bummer.

Yes, PMS sucks, but most of the symptoms are blood sugar related. IT GETS BETTER with better eating.

[homerfrizzell]

Jhazmin,

I had a baked sweet potato with ghee last night. It was very satisfying. Though not the same it might get you past this hump. Good luck!

[Renee Lee]

Agree... actually, I don't get the reason why potatoes are out... according to the book, it's because they make easier to return to the old habits since americans eat tons of unhealthy fried potatoes... I'm avoiding them because I wanted to follow the protocol exactly (so I could blame them if something went wrong ) but intelectually it's one of the things I don't get at all.

i thing that the cheating question right now is much more about the psychological consequences than the physical ones.

All my support for you

Brujinus, you're right. the white potato exclusion is mostly arbitrary, but they ARE less nutrient dense than other starchy options, so allowing white potatoes pushes better choices off your plate. Also, they DO have some negative effects on folks with autoimmune issues though, which is another reason why they're out.

[homerfrizzell]

Holy heck, I took so long with my comment it's no longer relevant (except for the good luck part).

[Jhazmin]

thanks everyone. cauliflower mash does sound good and since i do now have a food processor i might give that a try.

[Quinn]

Sorry for the struggles. I am only on day 11, and I had a bad weekend. I totally can relate with you on the food topic. I did not eat until late on Friday evening, then hated my breakfast, lunch did not sound good, and then the cravings began. I did some things that helped. Not perfect to the program, but within bounds. One of my biggest cravings (don't laugh) was protein smooties. I lived on them for years. I was literally just having huge withdraws. My solution....coconut milk, raw berries, a half a banana, and some applesauce (no sugar). It saved my rear end. My blood sugar and mind got back to normal, and I did not feel like I was deprving everything. I then roasted a chicken (I ate ground grass fed beef for a week) and that tasted amazing. As my wife was grilling up potatoes and sausage, I realized how to make sweet potaotes and yams look and taste similar with my organic chicken sausage...My long point was, as I started taking on more food that was similar to reality and getting my blood sugar back up (I counted my cals for a day and was taking in like 1700, and I should take in about 2500) I started to feel much better.

You have come a long way....Keep it up. You can do this

[Brujinus]

BTW I meant I support you on whatever decision you make... not that I'm encouraging you to eat the potatoes! I just read the message again and realized it kind of sounded like that LOL

I'm sticking with it... at least I have slept like a baby today, which is already big deal for me... but I want my super energy and I want it NOW!!

Hope you are doing better...

Brujinus, you're right. the white potato exclusion is mostly arbitrary, but they ARE less nutrient dense than other starchy options, so allowing white potatoes pushes better choices off your plate. Also, they DO have some negative effects on folks with autoimmune issues though, which is another reason why they're out.

Agree... I think it's important to follow the rules anyway. It's part of the deal. We are supposed to be trusting this people at least for 30 days. Thanks for the explanation anyway.

[quotidianlight]

Eek, pms is horrible. I have a question though. Have you been eating similar foods for awhile? Usually when I get cravings, doing some new recipes that aren't similar to what I usually eat helps. It keeps my mind off what I'm missing as I focus on something new. Also I need more salt during my TOM when paleo or low carb. I sweat more out due to PMS body heat changes. If I don't eat more salt and fat i'll get cravings for every bad thing on the planet. I just wonder cause potatoes don't really have there own flavor they are fat and salt delivery systems.