rachelhillary Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 DAY ONE Happy Holidays! Today is DAY ONE of my second Whole30. I completed my first round in February of 2016, and it helped me immensely. For the first time in my entire life, I spent the rest of 2016 at the SAME weight--I maintained the weight at which I ended the Whole30 for ten whole months, which was just the most incredible breakthrough for me. For the first time in my adult life, I felt HEALTHY and strong and capable of doing anything I set my mind to. What an incredible feeling! I have largely NOT maintained my Whole30 eating habits, except for a few cooking tips and tricks I picked up along the way. In December 2016, I started having unexplained contact allergic reactions (hives, throat swelling, etc.), and I'm ready to help my body calm down with the help of the Whole30 while I get allergy testing and figure out what I'm allergic to with the help of an allergist. I also have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, which is a genetic connective tissue disorder, and I definitely need the nutritional reset to help my body stay healthy. Finally, my husband and I are trying to conceive our first child, and I know that I will feel much more confident about the process when I'm doing everything I can to keep my body in tip-top shape. When I finished my first Whole30 in February, I felt SO incredible. I don't feel as terrible as I did when I started that first round, but I'm excited to get that glow and energy back! So off we go! __________ Today was off to an interesting start: instead of grabbing the chicken salad I had prepped last night for lunch, I accidentally grabbed the container of mayo I made for the chicken salad instead! So I found myself an hour away from home with a container of mayo and a container of coconut cream... Luckily I work in a church, so there was a can of chicken lying around and I made a quick chicken salad with my compliant mayo! This is a good lesson for me: always have tuna or canned chicken available! I also woke up too late to prepare a good breakfast, so day one has thus far consisted of coffee with coconut cream and that make-do chicken salad. I have a pot of chicken bone broth on the stove, though, so I'm excited to make an easy spinach egg drop soup with that as soon as I get home! BREAKFAST: coffee with coconut cream (I will do better!) LUNCH: canned chicken, homemade compliant mayo, dash of table salt and pepper SNACK (optional, depending on hunger): baked sweet potato with egg and avocado (or maybe avocado aioli... Depends on how ripe my avocado is when I get home!) DINNER: spinach egg drop soup from Everyday Maven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachelhillary Posted December 28, 2016 Author Share Posted December 28, 2016 DAY TWO Some non-scale things I am looking forward to seeing improvement in this round: waking up with more ease: right now I struggle to get out of bed promptly about 45 minutes before I have to leave for work. I am a morning person and I consistently get 8 hours of sleep, so the problem isn't that I am not sleeping enough or that I'm trying to go against the grain of my nature! improved motivation: I know from experience that when my body is running at its best, my mind works better as well. increase in physical performance: I am a barre3 instructor, so I need to be on my game when it comes to physical tasks--and I haven't been lately! improved attitude: I have a tendency to get pretty moody, especially at certain points on my menstrual cycle, so I'm hoping to get that in check. Updates on yesterday's food: I ate a baked sweet potato with coconut cream on top (I know, I know--a lot of coconut cream in one day, but my avocado was still completely un-ripe!) after the egg drop soup. Current favorite teas: Timothy's Peppermint Ginger and Aloha Protect Tea ________ BREAKFAST: chicken salad (for real this time) with compliant mayo, lemon juice, and chopped Gala apple; brewed coffee with a dollop each of coconut cream and full-fat coconut milk LUNCH: leftover spinach egg drop soup (this was SO GOOD and SO easy--I'll be returning to this recipe often this round) DINNER: walnut encrusted pork tenderloin with smashed potatoes and garlic avocado aioli (from the Oh She Glows Every Day cookbook--this is a vegan cookbook that has a lot of compliant dishes [or at the very least, dishes that can easily be made compliant by swapping some ingredients and pairing them with a W30-compliant protein]; for this one I'm using the egg mayo I made on Monday instead of vegan mayo) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachelhillary Posted December 29, 2016 Author Share Posted December 29, 2016 DAY THREE First, an update on yesterday's meals: dinner became pork tenderloin without the walnuts, and I toasted the walnuts on the side to top off mashed sweet potato (mashed with coconut oil and coconut milk), but I did NOT like the sweet potato, so that was a bummer. We only had enough Yukon gold potatoes left for my husband to have a full serving of smashed potatoes, but I did get a few. Plus, hubby liked the pork! So it was overall a win. After dinner, I didn't break any W30 rules, but I did go against a strong recommendation: I did have a smoothie with banana, almond milk, spinach, and almond butter. Last time I did the W30, I did this once or twice and I used it as a crutch to get through two difficult days, but I'm going to try hard to re-program that and really approach this with the full spirit of the program moving forward. And for what it's worth, waking up this morning was SO HARD. So I think that will help me focus on no quick fixes. Symptom Tracking: right knee is swollen for some reason. I think my kneecap dislocated on Tuesday night while I was sleeping and some fluid built up over the night. It still hadn't subsided when I woke up this morning, but it's much better than yesterday. Stairs are still hard! Looking forward to fewer recurrences of EDS symptoms throughout this process. SO TIRED. SO SO SO TIRED. It was IMPOSSIBLE to get out of bed this morning. I seriously wouldn't have been able to wake up without my husband's help. I am feeling slightly more motivated to do things. I bought Well Fed 2 and the Whole30 cookbook yesterday and I got SUPER excited to get to work making new recipes, so that's a good sign! ________ BREAKFAST: I made breakfast this morning!!! Huzzah!!! Three eggs cooked in EVOO, topped with a small dollop of W30 mayo and a few sprinkles of hot sauce: YUM. No veggies, but I'll get there. Coffee with almond milk and coconut cream. LUNCH: early lunch of chicken salad with chopped Gala apple, late second lunch of the rest of the spinach egg drop soup since there's not a ton left. SNACK: Going to a coffee shop with a friend to catch up, so I brought my coconut cream for coffee! DINNER: I'm going to stop and pick up the veggies for Pad Thai from Well Fed, because I'm LOVING the roasted chicken I made on Monday. I'm excited to make the Sunshine Sauce! I have spaghetti squash cooked and ready to go, so this will be perfect! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachelhillary Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 DAY FOUR The Paleo Pad Thai from Mel Joulwan's blog was AMAZING. That Sunshine Sauce is the bomb, and I didn't even make it 100% correctly (dang blender!)! Symptom Tracking: It was slightly easier to get out of bed this morning. I still needed a couple alarms and my husband's gentle wake-up call, but it took less time for me to actually feel ready to get out of bed. Improvement! My knee and other joints continue to worry me, but part of that is the weather, and part of that is an inescapable part of having a genetic collagen disorder. Always on the lookout for improvement. The curse of Day Four: back in February when I did a complete Whole30, days four and five brought nausea and dizziness for me. In September, I attempted a second W30 with no success--because I gave up when that nausea and dizziness set in. Well, I couldn't escape it this time: I woke up with mild dizziness and mild nausea. Not enough to impede any progress or make me stay home from work, but enough to be annoying. I've had a twitch in my left eye intermittently since yesterday. Again, just annoying. Things to stock up on: canned sardines. I've never tried them, but the way Mel Joulwan describes them in Well Fed 2 makes me want to give them a try... ________ BREAKFAST: Three eggs fried in EVOO, topped with sliced avocado, a dollop of W30 mayo, and a few generous shakes of hot sauce. YUM. SNACK: An apple. I know I should have combined the fruit with something else, but I ran out the door this morning and I'm proud of myself for grabbing anything to have as backup food. LUNCH: Leftover paleo pad thai! Can't wait. DINNER: Whole30-approved hot dogs with roasted butternut squash on the side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachelhillary Posted January 2, 2017 Author Share Posted January 2, 2017 DAY FIVE (Saturday, December 31) Happy New Year! I'm going to back track a little bit here because I took the weekend off from logging. I honestly can't even remember what I ate on Saturday, but I do know it was compliant. My husband and I are moving (!), and we were able to get the keys to our new place on Friday and start moving on Saturday, and then on Sunday (Day Six) we did a couple big trips with heavy furniture. Luckily on Saturday morning I roasted a chicken and started some chicken broth going all day so that I would have quick, easy protein for this weekend's hard moving days. I made some more Paleo Pad Thai with the roasted chicken (I'm obsessed with that recipe), so I have extra roasted spaghetti squash in the fridge (although I overcooked it a bit, which is disappointing). I also prepped some more olive oil mayo and some other veggies. Symptom Tracking: Saturday was the first day I didn't have any coffee. I had been cutting back on my coffee intake bit by by this first week--not on purpose! I just slowly needed less and less, and I found myself having more than half of my travel mug left at the end of each work day. While we were moving boxes and bags up and down (we're moving from a 3rd floor walk-up to...a 3rd floor walk-up), I felt energized and ready to take on the challenge. As soon as we got home, I completely crashed, but although I was feeling exhausted, I was still able to prep and cook food for the rest of the weekend. That felt good! Pre-Whole30 round 2, if I felt exhausted I would just lie down and scroll, so this was a nice change. I'd rather be cooking! If I have down time, I find myself wandering into the kitchen--not to snack, but to cook! I have found that I really want to prep food for the week and see what I can conjure up from nothing, and that is SUCH a good feeling! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachelhillary Posted January 2, 2017 Author Share Posted January 2, 2017 DAY SIX (Sunday, January 1) What a good way to start off the new year! We continued moving into our new apartment, and this time we brought the majority of our heavy furniture. We even drove 30 minutes to IKEA, purchased a sofa, drove back, assembled the sofa, and drove again to return the SUV we were using from my parents! In the midst of all of this, I stayed on track and ate really well! I'm actually impressed with how well my body handled the biggest day of our move yet. Symptom Tracker: I had a good amount of energy that stayed steady all day! No bloating or intestinal discomfort--especially important when trying to move! ________ BREAKFAST: 3 eggs cooked in coconut oil, topped with a dollop of olive oil mayo, 1/4 avocado, and a generous drizzle of hot sauce (currently my FAVE breakfast) LUNCH: leftover Paleo Pad Thai DINNER: chicken salad with chopped apple, roasted zucchini. After dinner: bowl of thawed frozen berries topped with coconut milk and unsweetened coconut flakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.