Too much fruit

[Mistress]

Ok, so I haven't been recreating any desserts or junk foods.

I replaced my nightly chocolate and red wine with Tahitian Vanilla Hazelnut tea by Yogi Teas which has whole stevia leaf in it, I assume that its fine because it's not an extract and doesn't really make the tea sweet. A cave girl could make tea from it just the way it is.

I've also stopped making my berries and coconut milk dessert, though is it ok to have that once in a while?

My real question is... I've been eating a lot of fruit. It's summer and the fruit is there... I've only been eating seasonal and local fruits... but yesterday I ate a peach, a whole honeydew (granted, a small one...), and some watermelon.

Is this an emotional eating pattern/sugar dragon feeding behavior? My gut says yes... but my gut also says that it is natural cave-girl behavior to gorge on fruit during the summer while it is seasonal.

What should I do?

~Mistress (of fruit)

[Robin Strathdee]

Mistress -

A few things here.

1) Stevia in tea = no go. Sorry, friend. Try the Mayan Cocoa Spice. It's heaven in a cup (especially with a head of coconut cream...)

2) Berries in coconut milk are fine, as long as you're not using them to fill the desert shaped hole in your life. Plus, you really need some protein with the fat and fruit to make it worth the while.

3) Only you can say if you're using fruit as an emotional crutch. If you think you are, you may well be right. If you deliberately eat it to curb a sugar craving, then yeah, that's what you're doing. If you're hungry and think to yourself, "I think I'll have a peach with my lunch" that's fine. It is seasonal, more reason to enjoy it, just be aware of your own motivation. That's one of the best bennies of this program, if you ask me ;0)

[Mistress]

Thank you for the tips. Bummer about the stevia. I got a new tea but I see that it has "natural flavors" what's up with that?

Do you think I should start over? I will probably do longer than 30 days anyway... it feels like I've made a number of mistakes. I guess there is a whole30 buffer period of learning how to do it well.

I do think that I've been eating fruit as dessert, but I'm also confused as to how berries with coconut milk could be considered anything but dessert. Under what circumstances is it ok? Today I had a peach with my lunch, but now I'm going to eat dinner and was planning to have some fruit with macadamia nuts afterward. It does feel like dessert... I feel rather confused by this concept.

[Robin Strathdee]

I don't see a reason for you to start over, but that really is a personal choice. If you want to say you did 30 perfect days- and its totally awesome if you do- go for it! But no W30 is perfect, even for those of us with practice.

Natural flavors are fine )

To avoid the dessert conundrum, you can always have your berriers and cream with some nuts as an afternoon snack

[FusaroFTW]

@Mistress - I had/have the same problem. I am day 22 and about 1 week into my Whole30, I asked a similar question... Am I eating too much fruit? I got a similar response as you did, and after much reflection I realized that I was using fruit as a crutch for my sugar dragon. I then went another week or so with NO fruit, and was miserable. I think it was more "knowing" I could NOT have fruit... and I wanted to give up. From there, I told myself that if I want to have fruit - it cannot be more than 1 piece a day WITH protein/fat. And if I am craving it - i cannot do it. I also only eat it on days that I do Crossfit. This has helped me a lot. I don't feel restricted, yet, I am working extremely hard not to rely on fruit as my sugar demon. Again... when you have those fruit cravings - eat an olive, or for me - a pickle! If it gets REALLY bad, i will eat some carrots (not sure if this feeds the dragon, but they're CARROTS). And now I am in a position where I eat fruit, maybe, every other day and it will be 1 small granny smith apple (I try to pick the least sweet). It helps... stay busy...

[Mistress]

Thanks to both of you! I realized after some reflection that I idea of not sitting down to some fruit at the end of the day seemed horrendous, and that i must have a very strong emotional connection to my end of the day treat.

I guess it's time to break that habit.

I think the afternoon snack is a great idea. If I just move my fruit to a less dessert-like time of day that will help me see food as a supplement to my nutrition and not an end-of-day reward.

Also, I committed myself to only eating local, seasonal fruit, so I know that when winter hits I will be eating a lot less of it.

I'm not going to "restart" my whole 30 per say, but I am going to extend it by at least a week. I am thinking about doing 60 days, actually. I ate very clean even before the whole30 so I think my food challenges are mostly emotional, i.e. - what I eat and when I eat it. Those subtle relationships are in some ways harder to heal and a pizza-every-day habit because they are harder to recognize and easy to reason away.

Thank you for the support! I'm so glad I started coming to the forum.

<3

Mistress