Confused about snacks

[SaraW307]

Hi all,

I'm on day 5 and feeling pretty good. Day 3 was rough but otherwise I'm feeling relatively functional and I'm enjoying the food. I am confused about the Whole 30 snacking policy and I'm wondering if I'm doing it "right". I have a long commute so I wake up very early and eat breakfast around 6 am. I eat lunch around 11:30/12 because I am usually very hungry at that point, but often I'm not home to make dinner until 7 or so. I've been snacking on a piece of fruit or macadamia nuts (or both) mid-afternoon. Another issue is that I can get carsick on my commute home on an empty stomach.

I know that snacking is discouraged but it seems like an appropriate thing to do here since I'm early in the program and I am going a long time between meals. Should I try to hold off? Are there other things I should snack on instead?

Thanks!

[ShannonM816]

Your meals should be keeping you satisfied 4-5 hours. If you have longer than that between meals, it's fine to eat between meals. Ideally, these snacks would still have some protein, fat, and vegetables, just in smaller quantities than a full meal.

[Wendy9999]

Hello,

 

I am starting my second round of Whole30. I did it 3 years ago with the most fantastic results and I kept on Paleo. Things are crazy now that I work full time, went  back to college, run marathons and take care of my family.  I also have breakfast fairly early, between 6:30-6:45am, by 11:00am I am starving. I leave my office at 4 and I get awfully car sick on the commute bus. I can barely make it til dinner time. My schedule to go to class varies each semester, this one I have class Tue-Thr from 6:00-7:30 and I come home until 8:00 pm and have dinner so I definitely need something in between lunch and dinner to function.  On Wednesday my class is from 7:00-9:45pm. I come home by 10:30pm, eating is not an option. I have only 15 mins break to eat something.  I am doing what I can to make it work. The first time I did the program was a piece of cake because I wasn't as busy as I am  now. I also need to sleep more and stress out less with finals around the corner.

 

In summary, I can only make this work with a 4th small meal before I leave work. I remember the template calling for a 4th meal if necessary for athletes, so I don't see why not making the adjustment. 

[SugarcubeOD]

Hello,

 

I am starting my second round of Whole30. I did it 3 years ago with the most fantastic results and I kept on Paleo. Things are crazy now that I work full time, went  back to college, run marathons and take care of my family.  I also have breakfast fairly early, between 6:30-6:45am, by 11:00am I am starving. I leave my office at 4 and I get awfully car sick on the commute bus. I can barely make it til dinner time. My schedule to go to class varies each semester, this one I have class Tue-Thr from 6:00-7:30 and I come home until 8:00 pm and have dinner so I definitely need something in between lunch and dinner to function.  On Wednesday my class is from 7:00-9:45pm. I come home by 10:30pm, eating is not an option. I have only 15 mins break to eat something.  I am doing what I can to make it work. The first time I did the program was a piece of cake because I wasn't as busy as I am  now. I also need to sleep more and stress out less with finals around the corner.

 

In summary, I can only make this work with a 4th small meal before I leave work. I remember the template calling for a 4th meal if necessary for athletes, so I don't see why not making the adjustment. 

Fourth Meal it UP!  This is precisely the type of situation that would call for a 4th meal! 

[BecFreeby]

I'm going to chime in quickly on the snacks topic, because I have a few questions for the rest of the Whole30 world/moderators.

 

A little background- this is my third Whole30, I completed one successfully and the second I intentionally ended 3 days early because I was creating food hangups for myself that didn't used to be there.  No bueno!  But I am back and on day 3.  Feeling right on par for day 3, but my schedule is so much different now than the previous times that I did this program. 

 

I work two jobs, one of which starts at 4:30 am.  Then, I work until 5:00 pm and I am doing ok on lunch and dinner, but breakfast is a challenge.  I can't really eat before I leave for work because eating that early makes me nauseous the rest of the morning.  However, I only get ten minutes to eat between 4:30 and 10:00 am.  I scarf down a boiled egg and some salad greens/squash, hoover a bit of avocado and guzzle water.  I hate eating like that, but I don't know how else to do it in that amount of time.  My struggle, besides the obvious eating too quickly, is that I don't feel like I am getting enough nutrition to get me through the morning and I am really struggling to get enough protein.  So, question 1: is this an instance where a smoothie might be better than the alternative?  I can pack that sucker with greens and nuts/fruit/eggs but I do want to be in the spirit of the program.

 

Question 2: I am hungry at 10:00 am (like, shaky hungry) and I'm wondering if I should eat lunch then, and add a fourth meal in the afternoon before dinner?  I think it would help but I don't want to upset the ol' metabolism.

 

Thanks in advance for the wisdom of the masters!

[Carlaccini]

Make a pureed soup ahead of time along with a batch of egg "muffins".  Both are great for grab and go breakfasts.

 

Yes I would add a fourth meal in the mix.  You are working pretty much 12 hours - so I think you should.  Meals should hold you for ate least 4 to 5 hours. So having a fourth one between lunch and diner seems feasible. If not a full meal - at least a mini meal of protein, veg, and fat (or at least 2 out of those 3)

 

As for smoothies - they are generally discouraged as your brain doesn't register liquefied foods the same way as solid ones.  So even if you were to have a smoothie - which tends to be a sugar bomb in itself because they tend to be very fruit heavy - you are not setting yourself up for a very successful day that way. 

[SugarcubeOD]

  I can't really eat before I leave for work because eating that early makes me nauseous the rest of the morning. 

 

Hey Bec;

 

This sentence that I highlighted is key to the issue... the fact that you are nauseous when eating in the morning is a clear indication that your hormones are off.  Now that this is your new normal, you need to teach your body that it eats within an hour of waking... If your NORMAL getting up time was 6 or 7, it would make sense that your body would reject food at 4am because it's still 'sleeping'.  But now that this is your wake up time, we need to get body understanding that this is the time we wake up and eat.  The only *ONLY way to do this is to eat in the morning.  It can be miserable and yucky for the first couple of days but it resolves fairly quickly and once it does, you'll be eating a template breakfast within an hour of waking... thus removing the wolfing down of meager food in a 5.5 hour window from getting up...

Our recommendation is to plate up a template meal, eat as much as you can stomach and then wrap it up and eat from it again as soon as you're able... don't wait to be hungry... our hormones put us to sleep and they wake us up... a balanced hormonal system wakes us up and then makes us hungry pretty soon after... to 'break the fast'.  It's not healthy wake up and then not eat for six hours... especially if you're working so hard/busy that you only have 10 min to eat in that six hours...

 

Even with all this, if you're finding that by putting 4-5 hours between template meals that you still have a big gap of time, or you have more than 4-5 hours between meals, I definitely agree with Carla to add that 4th meal or split it into two mini meals to have between your main meals.

 

Smoothies will do nothing for this hormone problem, they'll do nothing for your shaking hunger at 10am and they can in fact put you further behind in trying to get those hormones adjusted to your waking/sleeping hours. 

[BecFreeby]

I'm definitely willing to give it a try, I will focus on getting as much food down between 4 and 4:30 (when I'm commuting) as I can, and can use that ten minute break to finish whatever I'm not able to eat before my shift.  Thanks for the feedback, I will give an update on the progress :-)

[BecFreeby]

Hi all,

 

Just wanted to report that I took your advice and I have seen some positive trends.  I made veggie fritatta with a potato base, and each piece has about 4 eggs so it's a grip o' protein.  I can't get it all down during the drive to work, I'm just not there yet and the texture stimulates my gag reflex... but I am pushing through it and it is getting easier.  I make it a goal to eat at least half and wash it down with coconut milk or coffee with coconut cream to make sure I am getting fat in to get me through.  I think it's starting to help, this morning I had 2/3 and felt great by the time I left at 10- hungry, but stable.

 

I have stayed away from smoothies and will continue to do so unless it's some kind of weird emergency (which shouldn't happen as I am doing well at planning ahead and packing meals).  Thanks again for taking time to help, having this community to lean on is more helpful than I can say.