Portion sizes

[Vixxx]

Hi,

 

I'm on day 3 of my first Whole30 (sooo tired!) and not sure about protein portion sizes.

 

I have been making protein salad and 1 1/2 tins of tuna seems a lot and more than a palm sized amount - is this right?

Also, 4 eggs is more than I can manage, is it ok to just have 3?

 

There's a lot to think about!  Loving the ranch dressing and Melissa's Sweet Potato Hash - thanks xx

 

 

[jmcbn]

How many whole eggs can you hold in one hand without dropping? that should be your serving size of eggs when it's your only source of protein. As for the tuna start out with a palm sized amount & increase if you feel the need. Is the salad just for one serving? A palm would be the absolute minimum you should eat, but it's perfectly okay to eat more...

If you're tired I'd hazard a guess that you're not eating enough fat, but it's difficult to say without knowing what you have been eating. If you'd like to post what you've eaten over the past three days indicating portion sizes, and giving specifics about types of veg, activity levels & liquid intake we can take a look and check that you are on the right track.

[Vixxx]

Hi,

Thank you, that would be really helpful.

 

Day 1

Meal 1 - Spinach frittata (3 large eggs, 1tbs goose fat, 1/4 onion, 125g tomatoes, 125g spinach, squeeze of lemon)

Meal 2 - Protein salad (200g tuna, 4tbs ranch dressing - double what recipe says, 1/2 romaine lettuce, 1 spring onion, a few grapes, 4 finger sized sticks of red pepper, closed handful of cashews, squeeze of lemon juice)

Meal 3 - Chicken Hash (200g chicken thighs, 1tbs cooking fat, 15g walnuts, 1/2 ssweet potato, 1/2 apple, 2 tbs apple juice, 1 small handful of rocket

 

Day 2

Meal 1 - Chicken Hash (as day 1 meal 3 with chilli flakes in)

Meal 2 - Protein salad (200g tuna, generous handful of spinach, 4 tbs ranch dressing, 1 tbs olive oil, 1 portabello mushroom, 1/2 courgette, 1/2 red pepper)

SNACK: 1 apple, 1 Cocoa orange Nak'd bar

Meal 3 - Pork chops with spiced apple sauce (1 pork chop approx. 250g, 11/2 tbs goose fat, 1/2 onion, 1/2 apple, spices, small handful of spinach and lettuce, about 100g green beans, a tiny handful of sliced almonds

 

Day 3

Meal 1 - Pork leftovers (150g pork, 1/4 onion, 125g tomatoes, 1/2 green pepper, 1/4 sweet potato, 1 tbs clarified butter

 

Activity levels: Day 1 walking - about 7000 steps, fairly sedentary otherwise

Day 2 Ballet class - 45 mins in evening, daytime walking around town

Day 3 - very sedentary as so tired - have just had a nap - slept for 3 hours!

 

Liquid intake - i think i was dehydrated on Monday following a weekend of helping friends move house and not stopping often enough for a drink, I have been trying to make sure I am drinking plenty of water and having 1 cup of tea mid-morning.

 

 

[jmcbn]

Hey Vixxx - apologies for not replying to this sooner - I've been so busy this week that your reply slipped below my radar...

So a couple of things:

Forget about weighing your food. Measure your protein against the palm of your hand - that's the width, depth & length of your palm. One palm sized piece is the absolute minimum you should eat. If you're hungry eat more. If you're particularly active you may also need to eat more. And if you need to eat more than 2 palm sized pieces to get you to that 4-5hr window that's okay too. Veg wise, again, don't weigh, just fill your plate. The 1-3 cup reommendation was really about ensuring tha people eat SOME veg, but really plate up your protein, fill the remainder of your plate with veg, and then add your fat. Talking of fat don't count what you use to cook in - add an additional source to each meal.

So, snacks - try to build your meals large enough so as to avoid them, but if you're genuinely hungry try to eat at least two of the three food groups, with protein & fat being your best option. Bars of any kind are as close as you can get to candy on Whole30 and for emergency use only. Fruit when eaten on it's own will impact blood sugar and cause mood swings, energy spikes & troughs, faux hunger etc - if you chose to eat fruit add it to your salad, or eat it at the end of a meal. If your snack was before or after exercise then actually you should be incorporating a pre and/or post WO. PreWO aim for protein & fat (a hard boiled egg works well here), and post aim for a lean protein and starchy carb. No fruit pre or post, and no fat post. You may well find that you can forgo the preWO meal if you've eaten already that day, but don't short change your body of protein after exercise...

Nuts - limit them to one closed handful every other day max. They're a fat source for Whole30 purposes but an inferior one due to their poor omega 3:6 ratio, and the fact that they are notorious for causing digestive distress.

Water - aim for half your body weight in ounces, daily so if you weigh 160 pounds then 80 ounces of water is good.

Ok, so overall your meals look pretty good to me except that they are low on fat in some cases (see my comment baove about cooking fat). At breakfast on day 1 for instance you could add some avocado or compliant bacon alongside your frittata. Lnch looks better with the ranch, but at dinner you could add some mayo... Same applies pretty much on day 2, and again on meal 1 day 3 - no fat other than the clarified butter I'm assuming you used for cooking.

Think of it this way: protein gives you staying power, veg provide fibre which makes you feel nice & full, but fat provides the satiety and energy - and without it the brain will start to fog, and your body will feel run down - fat is your friend here   

Hope this helps!

[Vixxx]

Thank you so much, that is really helpful.  It's hard getting my brain to see fat as a friend when I've spent so long trying to avoid it!  New mantra "healthy fats are good" Day 5 here I come...

[Vixxx]

Well...I'm now on Day 17 and the advice has been really helpful.  My energy levels are up which is great!  I am getting a lot of cramp in the back of my legs - could this be Whole30 related?  On the whole, going well, but really fed up of constantly prepping, cooking and clearing up - despite the fact that I've tried to be organised!

[jmcbn]

Well...I'm now on Day 17 and the advice has been really helpful.  My energy levels are up which is great!  I am getting a lot of cramp in the back of my legs - could this be Whole30 related?  On the whole, going well, but really fed up of constantly prepping, cooking and clearing up - despite the fact that I've tried to be organised!

Apologies once again - I was away on hols & am only just seeing this now...

How are the leg cramps?

Cramps are usually an indication that you're lacking in one (or more) of three things: sodium, magnesium and/or potassium. Remember that switching to eating whole foods from a typical SAD diet can reduce salt intake by up to 75% so you really need to remember to salt your food. For potassium try bananas, potatoes, mushrooms or beets. Magnesium you'll get from green leafy veg like spinach & swiss chard, but since mmodern farming techniques have depleted our soils of magnesium it's helpful to add a supplement - a lot of folk here opt for natural calm (the original is compliant I believe but as always check your labels. The magnesium should also help with sleep, as well as keeping things oving in the bathroom department....

Hope this helps.

[Dawnski55]

Useful info re the magnesium I have been having more cramps too - have increased salt intake which seems to have helped though

[jmcbn]

Useful info re the magnesium I have been having more cramps too - have increased salt intake which seems to have helped though

I'm not sure that we have Natural Calm in the UK Dawn, I've never checked to be honest.

Magnesium is one of things I think we all should be taking - it's a very common deficiency. I get Magnesium Citrate from Holland & Barrett - it's more expensive, but more easily absorbed than Magnesium Oxide. The Magnesium Oxide usually comes with calcium added as it aids absorption, but you still need to take more of it so it works out around the same price in the end.

The current UK recommendation for women is for 270mg/day in addition to any you get in your diet (only around 30-50% of dietary magnesium is absorbed).