Jeanni Hall Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 This first day of my logging. I started whole thirty officially yesterday. I'm actually looking forward to being more adventurous with my food... yes... i realize most people will think this is restrictive, but compared to my past few years, this is a smorgasbord! Suffice it to say, I've spent the past several years being actively afraid of food. I was having some serious stomach problems and was on a highly restrictive diet called the FODMAP diet (I LOVE That a shopping list was available with fodmaps greyed out on the site, by the way.) I'm not sure I really needed to be on it though - I do have some sensitivity to a few things, but those have been improving with digestive enzymes. I'm betting that what I needed was to be doing the Whole30. I'll spill the long crazy story when i have more time. Anyway, yesterday wasn't the best day because i actually only had 2 meals - Weekends are the worst for me as far as staying on an eating schedule, but they were compliant, at least. Day 1 Meal 1 - 2 eggs scrambled in ghee, steamed root veggies mix. Meal 2/3 - 1 large boneless chicken thigh, grilled with coconut oil (which doesn't work so good for non-sticking a grill, just FYI for anyone wondering), 3 small steamed white (creamer) potatoes, and the rest of the plate filled with steamed brussels sprouts, with a thumb sized portion of ghee and a bit of salt melted over both the potatoes and brussels sprouts. Finished with about 1/4 cup of mixed berries (defrosted from an organic frozen mix. delish!) I felt a little hungry later in the evening, but really wanted to avoid eating too close to bedtime, so I just drank a cup of herbal tea instead. Peach... mmmm. And onto today! Day 2 I woke up a bit too late for making anything cooked for meal 1, but I had a plan in place for that, because I can almost guarantee that for at least the first few weeks, that's going to be my modus operandi. Morning and I don't get along. It's because I am chronically excessively under-slept. I know that... and it's part of what I've determined will be fixed as part of this program. I'm going to bed by midnight every night. That sounds late, I know... but since 3 am or even 4 am are not unusual for me, and I get up at 8 or 8:30, trust me, midnight is a HUGE improvement. My goal will be to get up around 7:30 so I can have breakfast while i feed the puppies and stuff. So that gives me 10 minutes to finish this and finish up the last few dishes from the mess i made (more on that in a minute). Meal 1 - Epic Beef with Apple Bacon bar and a packet of naked sun-dried nuts & raisins. This was a big punch of salt first thing in the am with that epic bar - but it wasn't bad. It was the first i'd ever had... I didn't hate it. Although i was a bit leary of the apple. Apples have historically killed my stomach.. but this was fine. Yay! Meal 2 - A HUGE salad with mixed greens (romain, spinach, spring greens & baby kale), avacado, 2 boiled eggs, tomatoes, cucumber, celery, green olives. I put olive oil and unfiltered apple cider vinegar on it for dressing. I love avocado in salads.. omg. The mouth feel of it is just so decadent to someone who's been eating low-fat/no-fat for years and years. Tonight was the night of my big prep cook. I used the week 1 plan from Well-Fed and made the following: roasted chicken thighs, browned ground beef, a pork roast (still in the slow cooker overnight), a big pot of chocolate chili, roasted spaghetti squash, roasted sweet potatoes, steamed green beans, steamed broccoli, steamed zucchini and home-made mayo (although i only had heavier olive oil, so i'm not certain i LOVE it, but i may stop and buy some lighter stuff tomorrow and remake that). I also decided to roast some cherry tomatoes with a bit of olive oil, and boil a dozen eggs. It really only took about 2.5 hours or so. I'm truly surprised, and I have EASY food options all week! Plus I also have a bunch of fruit and salad fixings in the refrigerator. In the midst of that cooking frenzy, I ate my meal Meal 3 - Oven roasted chicken thigh, steamed green beans with leftover root veggies added to them, roasted spaghetti squash. I put a bit of the olive oil/chicken juice from the pan i roasted the chicken in over my spaghetti squash at the last minute, because I was afraid i didn't have enough fat in the meal. That ended up adding some really nice flavor. Finished my night with some blueberry herbal tea. I'm running a few minutes late for bed... but that's a good start on the logging. And tomorrow meal 1 is going to be some roasted pork and an egg scrambled in ghee with some roasted tomatoes, I think! YUM! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmcbn Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Hi Jenny & welcome to Whole30 It looks like you've done lots of prep work & are really geared up to tackle the challenge - good for you!I'm impressed that you had a plan in place so early on for your lack of time in the mornings, but can I just suggest that you maybe eat leftovers at breakfast time, or have the likes of a breakfast frittata or egg/veg/meat muffins pre-baked & just in need of re-heating? Your meal was really very light & snack-y, and whilst the bars are compliant they are really for emergency use only, and we really want to see you eating proper foods so that you see the absolute best results from your 30days...You've put me in the notion for some chocolate chilli now Too bad it's Goan chicken & braised kale for lunch!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 2, 2016 Author Share Posted February 2, 2016 Hi Jmcbn, Thanks for the reply. Actually it was late at night when i was typing that and so I didn't quite finish my thought about that breakfast - which was that it was basically an emergency breakfast because i hadn't really cooked yet, but that I was planning to do the cooking last night so i'd have better options for the rest of the week to eat cold... To be honest, i didn't hate the epic bar, but I'm not likely to eat them regularly. It was super salty, and the apple worried me. Apples and I have a very unfriendly relationship the past few years... This morning's meal 1 was a lot better, although I'm still struggling with remembering to include fat on purpose: 1 serving (about 2 nice chunks, adding up to about palm sized) of that delicious italian pork roast that roasted overnight in my slow cooker 1 hard boiled egg a few large cherry tomatoes 1/4 cup of berries 1 travel mug of black coffee My main concern was that I'd been hoping to include the ghee by scrambling the egg, but again couldn't quite get up in time to do that plus feed the puppies and put my lunch together... so i went for the hard boiled egg instead because it was simply faster/easier. I'm hoping that the fat in that yummy juicy, fatty pork and the egg yolk were enough to suffice for that meal... I felt very satisfied. I'm not a person who eats in the morning in general, but I understand the need to, and pork roast in the morning was surprisingly yummy! I ate that while i packed my plate. I got a portioned plate with divided areas and a cover to take to work each day. Going forward, I intend to load it up after dinner for the next day, and I'll try the idea of actually "plating" a breakfast for me for the mornings too, so I can come downstairs and grab my plate out of the refrigerator and eat it while I do my morning chores before leaving. Cold breakfasts are going to be my thing, but to be honest? I LOVE cold beef and cold chicken etc. SO I don't see that being an issue. Meal 2 - prepacked to eat around 1pm: Another serving of pork roast (that was SO GOOD) 1/2 sweet potato taken out of its skin and smashed into that little section of my plate (I was determined to make it fit ) steamed green beans steamed zucchini A packet of naked dried nuts/fruit (mostly because i worried about the fat again, and didn't remember i could just put a little ghee on top of the veggies in the plate and would have been fine - so i'll keep that in mind for tomorrow. I don't really want to rely too much on the nuts... i'm thinking they're more like an every 2 or 3 days thing. So far my day 3 has been pretty pleasant. I'm in a great mood and feeling satisfied. I have noticed my allergies were acting up a bit today, so I'll probably try to find a claritin to take... and the stiffness/achiness in my knuckles was a bit more noticeable this morning, but thanks to the newsletter, I am expecting that... what surprises me most is that, while I did have a bit of a tummy ache after the kale yesterday, it has resolved again overnight and my stomach is feeling just fine... Yay! I'll post again after dinner. I'm meeting with my holistic health advisor and have a chiropractor appointment later this evening, so i won't be getting home til about 8:15, but i think that chocolate chili is in my future for the evening! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 2, 2016 Author Share Posted February 2, 2016 Update -- Ok... i feel like out of all the challenges the hardest part is going to be the water... wow... but i'm doing my best.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 3, 2016 Author Share Posted February 3, 2016 So I had a really successful day 3. I'm feeling good and upbeat. My holistic coach called me a "joy bubble" tonight. LOL. I ate my lunch as packed, forgot to eat the nuts and raisins, but decided to eat them on the way home in the car, since dinner was going to be delayed until about 8:45 or so what with the appointments in the evening. So i had those around 6:00. Then when I got home, my sweetie had heated up the chili and made a nice side salad for us. I put a hard boiled egg on that and some olive oil and vinegar for a dressing, then we finished it off with a handful of fresh raspberries each, savored slowly one at a time. A cup of herbal tea and the rest of my glass of water have capped the evening off while i poke around on my computer, and I may even get to bed early tonight. I pre-packed my lunch for tomorrow (ground beef, roasted tomatoes, spaghetti squash with ghee and some grapes) and made up my plate ahead for breakfast, (roasted chicken, mashed sweet potatoes with ghee, green beans and a small serving of pineapple.) I'll nuke everything but the pineapple, since it's already plated i can just unwrap it and pop it in the microwave while I feed the puppies. I was thinking i'd just eat it cold but then i put the sweet potatoes with the ghee on top on the plate and realized that those will really be better if i heat them for 2 minutes or so. I can spare that I need to stop on my way home tomorrow and buy some shredded coconut or something, just so i have an alternative fat to the ghee and olive oil. (Olive oil i'm using mostly as a cooking fat, so i know that doesn't count quite as much unless i use it on a salad). I want to get a lighter olive oil too, to make more of that mayo (i'm still freaked out over how easy that was), and maybe some coconut aminos... I presume those are in my health food store.... they're an ingredient in one of the sauces that i'd like to try. Tomorrow night i'll probably make a frittatta for the rest of the week, but I just didn't feel like spending more time in the kitchen tonight when i already have lots of food options to choose from. I also need to try to stick with that meal 1, meal 2 thing instead of breakfast, lunch, dinner... it does help with disconnecting from the expectation of "traditional breakfast foods" ... On we go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 3, 2016 Author Share Posted February 3, 2016 Day 4 Meal 1 went off without a hitch. I woke up a little earlier than normal - that's a good sign - and I took a quick shower, which put me in a bit more of a crunch than maybe i'd have wanted, but I went downstairs, pulled out my meal 1 plate, took off the plastic wrap and popped it in the microwave for 3 minutes while I ushered the puppies outside and made up their bowls of food. Then I let them back in to eat, and I started eating my own food. I probably ate a bit faster than I should have... due to having taken up some of that time with a morning shower instead of waiting til the evening like i usually do, but I did eat everything except the fruit. I was stuffed after chicken, green beans and sweet potatoes, and so i put the pineapple back in the fridge. Instead of filling up a coffee mug with coffee, i filled a bottle of water instead, and took that with me for the drive. I drank the whole 16 oz on the way in, so i feel good about managing to add a bit more water that way. I'm going to take a moment here to acknowledge what a positive shift this is for me. This is an NSV if ever there was one. Go Jeanni! I ate first thing in the morning and did NOT feel ill as a result. Normally, I loathe food before noon. I remember one day in elementary school, when my mom was on a kick of making sure we ate before we left the house (not a normal event), we were riding to school on the bus and i had to have the bus driver pull over so I could be sick. Of course, breakfast had been a huge carb and sugar bomb of cornbread with syrup, so maybe that was part of it. At any rate, eating first thing in the morning is HUGE for me. Even if I did NOTHING else, and kept just the habit of eating real food in the morning and drinking water to start my day, I bet I would see a lot of health benefits. But this is NOT all that i'm doing. I'm doing the WHOLE whole 30... and I'm proud of that. Meal 2 is in the fridge and waiting for me when I break for lunch in about an hour and a half. I'm looking forward to it because it's going to be SUPER delicious.... that ground beef was really flavorful when i tasted a bit after i made it Monday night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 3, 2016 Author Share Posted February 3, 2016 Day 4 - continued Meal 2 was great. I'm not sure grapes are my best option for a fruit though. I'm glad I only packed a small amount of them. I'll admit that I'm new to all of this and probably don't know yet... but they are the first thing i've eaten since starting this that felt like a food with no brakes for me... i was just popping them so fast... i kept thinking i should slow down and savor them, but never really managed to.... I just craved more of that cool sweet burst you get when you first bite down. And I REALLY wanted MORE when I was done, even though I feel comfortably full. So, I think my sweetie can have the rest of the grapes.... live and learn. That's what this is about, right? So meal 2 (i thought i'd typed it somewhere but i guess i didn't?) was: browned ground beef roasted tomatoes spaghetti squash with a pat of ghee that melted while i microwaved the dish a side salad with tomatoes, cucumbers and a sliced boiled egg drizzled with olive oil and vinegar a sprig of green grapes (maybe 15 total) But I wonder, am I eating too much or not enough? It seemed like a LOT of food to me, but then I was looking at some forum posts yesterday and people were telling this one person that s/he didn't eat enough at any of the meals, and that accounted for less than stellar results... I'm not eating to lose weight. Trust me - I need to. I could shed 115 lbs and be right exactly where I need to be.... but that is NOT my goal.... i just want to feel better. I've felt awful for so long now - surgeries and stomach problems and digestive problems and ugh..the list goes on and on. I am approaching 50 and teetering on the verge of diabetes and heart disease. My mom and dad both had heart attacks at 53.... I don't think i'm quite there, but i don't like where i see myself going. I had to pull it back. I've made some great progress with my holistic coach. I went to her when traditional medicine couldn't figure out what was causing all my symptoms, but had pretty much determined that whatever it was wasn't likely to actually kill me anytime soon, so i had some room to experiment. But a bit of progress wasn't enough. I needed to turn things around now. Today. Pronto! And that's when she told me about the recipes in the whole30 cookbook - thinking some might be more easily tolerated than some of the rest of my diet. I looked it up.... and the rest is history. She was SO pleased and proud of me when I told her I was doing a whole 30. Anyway, I digress. Back to the question at hand. If I eat as much as people are saying we should eat, I am physically uncomfortable. REALLY uncomfortable. To me, 3 - 4 eggs, plus the rest of a typical meal would be WAY too much... (plus i can only hold 2 eggs. I have really tiny hands.) Does that change over time? Will i get to the point where eating such vast (to me) quantities of food is normal?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 3, 2016 Author Share Posted February 3, 2016 Plus I'm REALLY sleepy. I think there was too much sugar in the grapes.... I may disappear for 20 minutes and go take a power nap somewhere... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 4, 2016 Author Share Posted February 4, 2016 Day 4 - the finish. Well, I went down to my car to power nap, but sat there feeling guilty instead, so i got back out and went back up to the office and forced myself to pay attention to work. Stopped on the way home and got some coconut butter, some shredded coconut, coconut water (it was a coconut focused trip!), and some avocado oil to make the mayo with (I couldn't find any light olive oil and the recipe said it was ok).. and some olives. So... mission of finding other fat sources - complete! Meal 3 was pork, sweet potatoes w/ghee, a heaping pile of spinach with a bit of oil and vinegar on it, and the pineapple i didn't eat this AM. Plus I tried a taste of the coconut butter, but i think i did it wrong because it was NOT what I expected. it was like a mouthful of coconut oil. I hadn't heated it and mixed it though, so now that I've read up on it, i'll try that. Packed tomorrow's meal 2, and now i'm thinking of making a fritatta for meal 1. But i'm not sure i have the gumption. I skipped right over the hangover days straight to the sleepy days (with a hint of kill all things that popped out while i was cooking meal 3 earlier.... right on schedule for what will be day 5). I'm gonna look up a recipe for a fritatta and see how hard it is ... plus i've got the stuff coming to room temperature for the newest attempt at mayo. Although.. what i'll put mayo on, i'm not sure.... I guess just slather it on stuff? Oh, i know - i could use it to make deviled eggs.... mmmmmmmmmmmmm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 4, 2016 Author Share Posted February 4, 2016 Day 5 - Not ready to kill all the things... I expected (based on a tiny bit of snappishness last night) that today would be "kill all the things" right on schedule... instead, I'm still in a pretty even tempered mood, and again woke up on my own about 45 minutes earlier than pre-whole 30. I've banned all coffee and black tea after noon, and between that and going to bed around midnight, i think i'm already seeing the payoff there. Another few weeks and i may have repaid my sleep debt, according to some articles i've read. Wouldn't that be something? Meal 1 was sort of adhoc, but yummy 3 hardboiled eggs 1 avocado (scooped straight out of the skin into my mouth in bites. O M G... how have i spent so much of my life just being "meh" about avocados?) 2 spears of broccoli. This is one of those foods I am SLOWLY reintroducing - after 20 years of being actively afraid of it... I love it, but it has NOT loved me for a very, very long time. - normally within about 30 minutes my stomach would have been so painful that i'd be doubled over... but i took my food enzymes and 3 hours later.... not a problem. I might try 3 for dinner tomorrow .... 2 homemade pickles. I made a few jars last month when i got in the mood for pickles, so i could control what was in them (garlic also hates me). So they are literally only cucumbers pickled in vinegar with dill, mustard seed, and salt. So i'm counting them as a vegetable... I also bought the ingredients for several more jars this week, and plan to make them this weekend. black coffee to go in the car along with the 16 oz water bottle. Meal 2 is in the fridge in my lunch bag. It is: roasted chicken thigh steamed zucchini roasted tomatoes roasted spaghetti squash a tangelo I'm not sure i remembered to add some fat to the dish - the ghee on top of the squash.. so if i didn't, I have a bottle of EVOO at my desk that i use on salads, so I'll just drizzle a bit of that on there. Meal 1 was really satiating with the avocado, so I think I'll still be ok on fat if i do that. I also have a coconut water, which I might actually go grab now. I am feeling good, and committed, and I'm REALLY enjoying my food, and it's NOT making me hurt... wow... I can do this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 5, 2016 Author Share Posted February 5, 2016 So, it's the end of Day 5. Turned out to be a fine day. For Meal 3 I took some of my pre-browned ground beef and added chili powder and cumin and put that on top of a salad with mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumbers and olives. No dressing because the meat took care of that. And i made those deviled eggs i was thinking of last night, with my avocado-oil homemade mayo and a bit of mustard. I checked the mustard and it had no sweeteners in it, just ground mustard and vinegar etc., so i was like "YAY I can eat that!" Those were a real treat, but made my day pretty egg heavy... guess that put me up around 5 eggs for the day. Probably going to back off on those for a few days and go with chicken or something for my morning protein tomorrow. Oh and i had some pineapple at the end of the meal too. And a cup of herbal tea i've been nursing for the past hour and a half. I'm a bit sleepy. Think I'll shut down and go to sleep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 5, 2016 Author Share Posted February 5, 2016 I didn't go to sleep when i said i would... what is wrong with me??? I fight sleeping like i'm a little child. There's always one more thing to do... anyway, i finally hit bed about 12:45. Got up around 7:45 though, so i got 7 hours. Day 6 has arrived. I'm still in a good mood, but a little sleepyish this AM. Eating breakfast was a bit more of a struggle. Getting bored of the stuff I cooked up for the week, I think. I'll make a fritatta tomorrow AM, since it'll be saturday and i'll have more time. Meal 1 today: 1 cold roasted chicken thigh 2 pickles 3 pieces of broccoli 1.5 oz packet of the naked sun dried raisin, almond, cashew medley. Meal 2 packed: remaining salad with olives, cucumbers and tomatoes from last night a can of polecaught wild tuna to go on the salad a tangelo an avocado Lots to do today... guess i'll get started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 6, 2016 Author Share Posted February 6, 2016 Tonight's meal 3 was a treat! ribeye steak pan-cooked with coconut oil 3 pieces of broccoli 1/2 sweet potato with ghee about 8 olives a handful of shredded coconut I'm super exhausted for some reason though... and feeling a little down. Not sure why..... Maybe just a stressful PM. hopefully tomorrow is a brighter day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 6, 2016 Author Share Posted February 6, 2016 Day 7: Good afternoon Whole30 world! I'm feeling brighter again today. I think I was just tired. Popped right out of bed this morning, but I was running a bit late for my appointments - so, knowing it wouldn't take too long, I took the puppies to the groomers, stopped at starbucks for an earl-grey tea (black), then went to the chiropracter and then came home about 30 minutes later and took the time to make my first frittatta. Meal 1 Frittatta made with pre-browned ground beef, a can of fire roasted tomatoes with the juice squeezed out, chopped up pre-steamed zucchini sauteed in ghee. 1/2 avocado 1/4 cup pineapple Yum! SO - IN OTHER NEWS...I survived my first MAJOR test of willpower. My dear sweet hubby, seeing a shari's berries ad, thought they looked delicious and would be more healthy than a box of chocolates, so he ordered a big order of them for all three of us for Valentines day. (Yes, I know it's a bit early - i think he saw them and wanted them and didn't want to wait. LOL.) So, when it arrived, he called me and Sam in and was like "look what i got for us! Happy Valentines Day"... and was so pleased with himself.... So I exclaimed and oohed and ahhed and ... picked one up and was looking at it, thinking... i can NOT give up seven days and start over again for this... so... i tried to surreptitiously break off the chocolate (which comes right off, nice and clean, yay!), and when he saw and asked..."oh... why can't you have chocolate?" I breathed and smiled brightly and said "well, i can't have added sugar...but this berry looks DELICIOUS!!" and Sam just nonchalantly grabbed the chocolate i'd peeled off and said "Ooh, good! I've had a chocolate deficit!" and munched. So I rinsed and ate the strawberry plain and exclaimed how wonderful it was (it was quite tasty!) and kissed him and told him i loved it, and we put the rest of the berries in a container in the fridge, tucked out of my line-of-sight. Crisis averted, feelings not hurt... and i got a yummy berry snack. Hubby, while being supportive in his own way, is kinda clueless about what all I'm actually doing. I've explained but I can see when he sort of glazes over... and as a result, he didn't realize that I couldn't have chocolate or sugar, I guess. I can hardly blame him for getting confused - I've had so many variations of restrictive eating over the past few years (not on diets, but in attempts to handle stomach distress and pain). I didn't rebuff his gift, I enjoyed one with him, but I was able to do it in a way that kept me whole30 compliant, and Sam got extra chocolate! Win-Win-Win! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 7, 2016 Author Share Posted February 7, 2016 Well it's Day 8... but i didn't get back in to log the rest of day 7... so i'll do that first and then do Day 8 in a separate post. Day 7's last 2 meals Meal 2 last remaining roasted chicken thigh - cold 4 pieces of broccoli - cold heaping handful of hazelnuts, originally raw but i toasted them in a pan and salted them lightly. Yum! Meal 3 zucchini noodles (about 2 small zucchini's worth) browned ground beef avocado cream sauce (yum!) grapes 1 giant strawberry from Shari's berries with all the chocolate coating taken off and rinsed (see my above post for an explanation of this ) Meal 3 was delicious, but i probably needed to make more noodles or something - i was hungry later in the evening but didn't eat... because i wasn't quite hungry enough to eat steamed fish and broccoli... tee hee. Almost though. I gave it serious consideration but it was just too late to be eating really. I didn't get to bed early - i let myself stay up til 2am, knowing I could sleep as late as I wanted. So I still got 8.5 hours sleep. yay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 7, 2016 Author Share Posted February 7, 2016 *** and now for something completely different*** In yesterday's email I got a link to the Food for Thought Self-Reflection worksheet and they suggest journaling it. So since i'm doing all the journaling for my whole30 here for now (I'm seriously considering doing a blog, because i see this being a part of my overall journey to wellness), I decided to just type it into here with my answers. So, here we go. Day 7 - Food for Thought Self-Reflection worksheet / questions and answers I find myself craving sugar, bread, or sweets when I've eaten too much fruit at the end of a meal instead of mixing it in with the rest of the food. I may try eating it first instead. I also crave sugar when I smell sweet things - like there's this one keurig pack of coffee I have that's called "sugar bush maple." It has no sugar in it - just the scents of things - but while at first i thought it was a good idea to have it like a treat... i find it really just makes it harder. So i ditched the last few packs. Sometimes I think I'm hungry but I'm actually just dehydrated or tired. When I'm craving sugar, I used to eat cookies or dark chocolate or sugary cereal. During my whole thirty I'm going to reach for water or an herbal tea first while I do something to distract myself or remind myself of my reasons for doing this. And if that doesn't work, a small portion of protein, veggies and fat. Anything but fruit or sweet-tasting veggies, because that just reinforces the craving by satisfying it with something my brain recognizes as sugar. When I eat sweet food like fruit, I notice that I don't want to stop and I want more when I'm done, unless it's right in the mix of a real meal with protein, fats and veggies too. When I eat salty foods like nuts or olives, I notice no real issues. I eat a normal amount. I thought I'd miss eating dairy, particularly butter and/or margarine, but I don't actually miss it/them at all, because ghee really fills the same role. I didn't think I'd like eating ghee - because i thought it was gross sounding, but i'm actually really enjoying it. I'm having the hardest time sticking to the whole30 when i'm feeling tired or hassled at the end of a long day, or like I should go shopping but don't feel like it. I'm having the hardest time sticking to the whole30 when I'm in the office. There is food EVERYWHERE. When I eat a good breakfast, I feel proud of myself, and surprisingly satisfied and awake. Breakfast has NEVER been my thing. When I prepare a healthy meal from scratch, I feel proud that I haven't given into easier/quicker, and that I'm taking care of myself and making myself a priority. Since I started my whole30, I've noticed (answer each of the following): that my exercise or sports performance isn't really applicable -- YET. that my sleep is much better and i'm waking easily that my energy levels are on the rise. that my emotions have remained mostly positive and level. No real change. that my recovery after exercise isn't really applicable -- YET. that my body feels more responsive, less sluggish - like it's waking up from a long period of just being exhausted all the time. that my clothes fit mostly the same - i thought i might have detected a slight change yesterday... but i wasn't sure... not really worried about that anyway. that my conditions have begun improving a bit. My stomach is behaving very well (the primary concern going into this), my fingers aren't going numb quite as easily... my skin on my arms and legs seems to be just a bit less dry... and my hands are maybe not quite as stiff as they've been recently.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 7, 2016 Author Share Posted February 7, 2016 Minor edit to the meals for day 7 above - it wasn't hazelnuts.. it was macadamias. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 7, 2016 Author Share Posted February 7, 2016 Day 8 -- finally got to this one Meal 1 leftover frittatta (ground beef, roasted tomatoes and zucchini) half a can of green olives 2 cups of black coffee Now I'm going to practice some music for a while, then take a quick look at what's in my pantry and go shopping to get stuff for another week's cook-up, which I plan to do tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 8, 2016 Author Share Posted February 8, 2016 Day 8 continued So i dragged myself out to the stores and went shopping, so i'm prepped for my big cookup tomorrow evening. I'm afraid I didn't have a meal 2 - I was shopping at the time then came home and made meal 3 (which was really 2). So I've actually been a tiny bit snacky this evening. But it's too late at this point to eat more. So i'll list this as: Meal 2/3 handful of hazelnuts while i cooked (yes, actually hazelnuts this time - picked some up while i was shopping) last remaining pork roast sauerkraut (it was sooo good with the slightly fatty pork mmmm) broccoli - i actually had a normal portion this time. maybe 5 or 6 pieces. No tummy problems. O M G. I actually have gotten broccoli back! green olives - about 8 - 10 Then a little later at the end of the superbowl i snacked on a handful of coconut flakes, then 2 more olives while I was packing lunch for tomorrow. I have bone broth in the slow cooker, cooking overnight and I'm going to be heading offline to just read, with the hope that it'll get me to bed on time tonight. Work comes too fast. Weekends don't go slowly enough. *sigh* Tonight was about finishing up stuff from last week before i do another cookup tomorrow. There's some chocolate chili left, so we'll have that before we start cooking tomorrow night. But the rest got eaten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 8, 2016 Author Share Posted February 8, 2016 Day 9! Whew, this was sort of a crazy morning. Hubby stayed home today (Superbowl Monday Holiday anyone??) and we were having someone come to do some work at the house, so I felt like I had to pick up a bit after the busy weekend... so i got up at 7:30, ran around straightening, feeding the puppies and the cat, gathering stuff for work, and grabbed the last of the fritatta and my packed lunch and some coconut water and ran out of the house around 8:30. I ate the frittatta in the car with my fingers (yes! i had washed them before leaving!) and was still hungry after - i'd meant to bring some nuts but forgot. So I broke into my lunch and had the olives from that instead. I think there'll still be enough fat in lunch since i made egg salad with my homemade avocado mayo. I'll have to plan better for tomorrow though. I do count this weekend as a victory in general. If I'm going to fall of the wagon and skip breakfast and lunch and over-eat in the evening, it's ALWAYS on a weekend, historically. So the fact that I only missed one lunch on Sunday while I was shopping was actually REALLY impressive for me. Meal 1 fritatta with ground beef, fire roasted tomatoes & zucchini 10 olives Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 8, 2016 Author Share Posted February 8, 2016 Meal 2 was really nice. I made some egg salad with my home-made avocado oil mayo, and then had some cucumber spears that i ate with it along with half a sweet potato. I would have had olives... but.. yeah... we know what happened to those. Looking forward to going home and doing a cook-up tonight. My bone broth will be done so I can pull that out and put the ribs in the slowcooker. Back to work... just needed a mental downtime minute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 Day 9 - Meal 3 Chocolate Chili Large side salad with mixed baby greens, tomatoes, boiled egg, olives, olive oil and apple-cider vinegar 1/2 cup of thawed mixed berries Whew. Just had a big "cook up" night.. .I'm absolutely beat. I didn't get as much done this time. Got home late and started late, so I put off the slow-cooker ribs until right before i go to bed tomorrow night so they can cook overnight. But here's what I did make: cinnamon beef stew (minus the orange stuff on top. i tasted it. it doesn't need it and it seemed needlessly complicated given that i was tired and trying to get stuff done - i like my food simple anyway) 3 lbs roasted chicken thighs 2 lbs browned ground beef roasted spaghetti squash 4 small roasted sweet potatoes sunshine sauce (minus garlic and coconut aminos because i didn't have the aminos and can't really tolerate garlic well - but it tasted AWESOME anyway) Tomorrow I'll make the ribs and roast several types of veggies: tomatoes, cauliflower, turnips, carrots, and brussel sprouts i was really dehydrated feeling the last hour or so, and craving a long cool drink of something, so I brewed a cup of zen tea and plunked a berry herbal tea bag in there along with it and let it steep while i put dishes in the dishwasher and washed up the ones that wouldn't fit by hand. Then I poured it over ice. mmmmmmmmm...that's just what i needed. so i figured i'd type this while i sat here and enjoyed it. Hopefully the green tea isn't enough caffeine to bother my sleep... i have to get up fairly early to get to a doctor's appointment. oh crud.. i just realized it's supposed to snow overnight so i have to get up even earlier than i was thinking because people here lose their minds when it snows.... you'd think they'd be used to it but.. yeah no. goodnight sweet whole30 world. Day 10 here I come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 Day 1. Yep, you read that right. Day 1. Bummer! One of the forum posts I read last night made me go back and check the ingredients on my nice herbal tea I'd been having at the end of the day and *argh* wouldn't you just know it. Soy lecithin. GOL DARNIT. I totally didn't know, and who really expects anything but herbs in their herbal TEA? But while I've been having lots of good results, which I will not discount, i've still noticed a lot of inflammation in my joints in my hands and wrists, and was wondering why it wasn't really responding ... that may have been part of it. Every other thing I've eaten has been compliant. I know that for sure. I just didn't check the stupid tea. I drank what i had there. Oh well. At least the timing was fortuitous. I'd happened to make an appointment to go to a new primary care doctor today and get a physical so I could get a sense of how much the whole30 really improved my "numbers." So they had to weigh me and stuff anyway... hard not to see the stupid scale in front of you, so that rule got broken too. But I'd lost almost 4 pounds. So that was a bit of a boost. So, since I'm starting over today, and got blood drawn today, and my new doctor is supportive and intrigued by what I'm doing, and as curious to see the results as I am, it'll be a good starting point. And I think it won't QUITE be like starting over... i've gone through the first few stages already, so I don't see that re-starting. It's not like i'm going to get cravings again just because it's an official restart, because other than that one unknown slip, I am staying on plan and continuing to do what i've been doing. So... here we go. Day 1 Meal 1 (very light because i was fasting, so had to bring fairly portable stuff to eat after the dr. appointment) 1 hardboiled egg 1 bottle coconut water 15 macadamia nuts 1 cup of coffee with coconut milk/cream from the can (only coconut/water/guar gum) - OMG... how have I never known this existed?? I tried it last night when I made the sunshine sauce. It's the perfect non-dairy creamer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 Make that 2 cups of coffee with coconut milk/cream. Sooo good. I don't think I'll do it every day - but after 10 days of black coffee and plain tea, this was quite a treat. Also - just noting for the record - the doctor has me coming back tomorrow to do some allergy testing, including food allergy, so that will be REALLY helpful info, I think, in making good choices while on the whole30. He had never heard of it, but was interested and asked me the name of the book etc. He said he had been reading about paleo because a family member of his wants to go paleo, and he said that the problem he had with it was the "paleo-fied" treats... so it was really interesting that this addresses that. I just hope the food allergies don't come back with avocado or coconut or i will be a very sad Jeanni. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanni Hall Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 Day 1 redux (cont.) Meal 2 chicken thigh roasted with olive oil, salt & pepper roasted spaghetti squash with ghee green beans small sweet potato with ghee pineapple chunks coconut flakes I ate it all. I was starving after having such a late/light breakfast. Still feeling all woogy from getting off on the wrong foot today. OH well. I have a meeting coming up. I know I'm gonna fall asleep. I have to go rooting around to see if i have any tea that DOESN'T have Soy Lethicin *mutter mutter* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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