BlueKoala's January 2016 W30

[BlueKoala]

Day 1

I started my W30 today.    Did a lot of shopping and a lot of cooking since I have the day off from work.

Despite the fact that I have been planning this for a while, I found myself at loose ends first thing in the morning.       

Meal 1:  Two hardboiled eggs, olive oil mayo.    Dutifully eaten within an hour of waking even though I didn't feel like eating at all....I'd completely forgotten about my salmon cakes and golden cauliflower soup, both of which I like very much for breakfast.

S:  6 small dill pickles (fully W30 compliant;  I checked the label)  (Really, I just want to finish up the gigantic pickle jar so I can get it out of my fridge;  I like pickles but they have been added to my list of "things I shouldn't buy at Costco because they have to be kept refrigerated and the container is the size of a goldfish bowl.")

Meal 2:  Sweet potato hash with some baby spinach thrown in, topped with the last of the leftover Kalua Pork.

S:   A small bowl of golden cauliflower soup

Meal 3:  W30 chicken cacciatore in the pressure cooker, served on spaghetti squash.

My menu plan is ready for the week and I have an alternative variety of W30-compliant pureed veggie soup stashed in the fridge for when/if I get bored with the cauliflower.   The main ingredient of this soup is beets, which is why my kitchen looks like the Kool Aid Pitcher Man was murdered in there.      I don't know if I like beets or not, but one of the goals of this W30 is to broaden my veggie-eating horizons, so I'm trying them.   I saved the greens (such beautiful colors) and I'm going to eat them.     If anybody out there has a great recipe for beet greens, feel free to post....:D 

[BlueKoala]

Day 2

Meal 1:  Three salmon cakes, olive oil mayo.

Meal 2:  Leftover spaghetti squash and chicken cacciatore from yesterday's dinner.

S:    A handful of macadamia nuts and another little bowl of golden cauliflower soup.

Meal 3:  Moroccan Beef w/Cabbage from Well Fed Weeknights (the recipe actually calls for lamb but it's really good with beef too!)

I've not been hungry at all but I've been making myself eat.  

Lots of water, lots of sleep. 

 

[BlueKoala]

Day 3

Meal 1a (pre-workout):  1 salmon cake and some olive oil mayo

Meal 1b (post-workout):   The last of the spaghetti squash and chicken cacciatore

Meal 2:   Leftover Well Fed Moroccan beef and cabbage 

Snack:  Larabar lemon bar

Meal 3:   Well Fed Weeknights' Moo Shu Pork.    I have been a fan of the Well Fed cookbooks for years but I think the new Weeknight one is already my favorite  - so far everything in it I've tried is quick, easy, and delicious.

Snack:   Handful of macadamia nuts

This marks 2 out of 3 days when I've had macadamia nuts;  watching this pattern to make sure it doesn't become a daily thing, but not too worried about it at this point.

Still feeling pretty good, but sleepy despite going to bed early last night.

 

[BlueKoala]

Day 4

Meal 1:   Sweet potato and spinach hash, 3 hard boiled eggs, olive oil mayo

Meal 2:  Leftover Moo Shu pork and cabbage

Snack:  1 tsp sunflower nut butter (just a little, really!)  

Meal 3:  Lemon Garlic Chicken w/Fennel (Well Fed Weeknights again)

Meal 2 did not get eaten until around 2 PM because I was busy and not hungry and I forgot to eat.  

I haven't been able to sleep very well at night for the last few days (playing catch-up with afternoon naps) and this morning I really wanted to Kill All The Things but refrained from doing so.  Go me.   

[BlueKoala]

Day 5.

Meal 1:  Two hard boiled eggs and some guacamole.

Meal 2:  Salad greens and veggies with more hard boiled egg, some grilled chicken, and homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

Snack:   Larabar and apple.

Meal 3:   Cauliflower rice, the last of the cacciatore sauce and veggies from earlier this week (all the chicken was long gone), and two compliant sausages (chicken and red pepper flavor). 

Tonight and tomorrow's plan is to replenish the staples (hard boiled eggs, olive oil mayo, maybe some more sweet potato hash too since I'm almost out) and also come up with a menu plan for next week.     

Physically I feel fine (not hungry at all) and I'm sleeping better, but the Things are still putting me into Kill mode.    Not seeing any other NSV at this point, other than still being on the plan.   

[BlueKoala]

Day 6

Meal 1:  Three salmon cakes,  the last of the olive oil mayo, and some sweet potato hash.  

Meal 2:  Leftover lemon garlic chicken w/fennel.

Meal 3:  Leftover Moo Shu pork and cabbage.

Random snack:  Spoonful of sunflower seed butter.   I was going to treat myself to a Larabar when I was at the store earlier today, but forgot to buy one.   

Really, I haven't been hungry at all today.    And I'm not wanting to Kill All The Things, either.     Which I guess is an improvement.

Today I made my hard boiled eggs (in my Instant Pot!  so easy!), made a fresh batch of olive oil mayo, and decided that the Tex Mex Skillet from Well Fed Weeknights is going to be my breakfast for the next week - I'll make it tomorrow and eat it all week.    I am also giving some thought to how I get through Tuesday and Thursday, both days when I will have to eat lunch away from home.    I'm not letting Day 10 or 11 get me on this round....

[BlueKoala]

Day 7!!

Meal 1:  Two hard boiled eggs and some guacamole.

Meal 2:  Tex-Mex Skillet with some more guacamole.    

Meal 3:  Tropical Cole Slaw (yup, from Well Fed Weeknights again).

Apparently I am not following the time line exactly because I'm not particularly tired today (although I got a lot of sleep last night;  yay for weekends and not having to set the alarm).  

NSV:   My skin looks better.   Clearer and (I think) softer too. 

[BlueKoala]

Day 8.

Meal 1:   3 salmon cakes and some olive oil mayo.

Meal 2:  Lemon fennel chicken (not very much, the last of the leftovers) and a serving of Tex-Mex skillet because I still felt empty

Snack:  Lemon Larabar 

Meal 3:  Spiced keema and sweet potato hash (from Nom Nom Paleo) and another Larabar (mostly because it was here;  there's a reason why I don't buy them by the box).  

Tired and grumpy today and not really pleased with myself even though I am still technically compliant with the W30.    Going to bed early sounds like a good idea.   

[BlueKoala]

Okay, I went to bed early last night and slept for 12 hours!    Don't know where that came from but obviously my body needed the rest!   On to:

Day 9.

Meal 1:   Tex-Mex skillet with salsa

Meal 2:   Tropical cole slaw with a hard boiled egg and some guacamole

Meal 3:    Slow cooker beef shanks with garlic and herbs (from Delicious Obsessions) and some roasted carrots

Snack:   I had another two teaspoons of sunflower nut butter today...looking at the jar, I'm not sure I have enough left for the Well Fed pad thai I was planning on making     Also, I ate about half a dozen of the little compliant dill pickles today (er, NOT at the same time as the nut butter) 

Today has been very hectic, so I'm pretty happy that this morning I managed to eat my compliant breakfast, grab my compliant lunch, and get my compliant dinner started in the slow cooker before I left. 

So far I have not been hungry at all and the cravings have been manageable.    

Tonight I'm going to make the pad thai (assuming I have enough nut butter) and also the Chinese BBQ meatballs from the Well Fed Weeknights book.    One of the benefits of overpreparation is always having something yummy to eat in the fridge!   And the flavors will be novel/exotic enough that hopefully I won't fall prey to the Day 10-11 Blahs. 

[BlueKoala]

Day 10.

Slept terribly last night for reasons that I would not attribute to the W30 (more like my sleep schedule being completely out of whack).    I was up all night and then napping on and off all day.    I'm tired and cranky and just want to whine about my food instead of eating it and then eat a giant bag of Doritos washed down with Merlot.     And I did not do any of this.   (Okay, so I did a little whining, but not wining...)   My menu for the day was not great, but it still got me through Day 10 and that's one more day closer to 30.    And I did eat a fair amount of vegetables and protein despite myself.    So I'll count the day as a victory.  

Meal 1:  Tex-Mex skillet

Meal 2:  Tropical cole slaw, several spoonfuls of nut butter, bowl of golden cauliflower soup.

Snack:  2 lemon Larabars.  

Meal 3:  One hard boiled egg and guacamole and I also ate the last handful of macadamia nuts.   Bad koala!  

 

[BlueKoala]

Day 11!!

On the road for work pretty much all day but I packed a lunch and stayed on plan.  

Meal 1:  Tex-Mex skillet

Meal 2:  Tropical cole slaw, hard boiled egg, some olive oil mayo.   I bought myself an unsweet iced tea (plain brewed, no weird flavorings), then found a quiet place outside in the sun to eat and had an impromptu picnic while I read my book.   This was so peaceful....much nicer than my usual out-of-town lunch in which I sit in a restaurant somewhere eating with one hand while I stare at my phone screen.  

Snack:  Cashew date Larabar and a little fruit cup with pineapple and grapes.    

Meal 3:  Chinese BBQ meatballs (from Well Fed Weeknights) and the leftover roast carrots

The Tex-Mex skillet is definitely entering my regular food rotation for breakfast - it's tasty, well-balanced, and super-easy.    But I'm ready to be done with the tropical cole slaw.   It's good but I'm getting a little bored with it...and it won't freeze so I have to eat it now.    

NSV:  It might be my imagination but I think my belly is a little less bloated and the bags under my eyes have shrunk.    My skin definitely looks and feels better.   Looking forward to a three-day weekend so I can get my sleep schedule into shape and do some more food prep.   Surprisingly, I am really enjoying the food prep, even though it is time consuming.  

 

[BlueKoala]

Day 12

Meal 1:  The last of the Tex-Mex skillet.   I need to make more.

Meal 2:   Tropical cole slaw.   Not the last, but close to it.    I'm ready to finish this off.   The recipe is quite good, but it might be summer before I try it again. 

Snack:   A bowl of beet soup.   (Ingredients are beets, fennel, carrots, broth, and a bit of fresh orange juice.)    And...you know what, turns out I don't really like beets all that much.     Oh, well, it was an experiment and it's certainly added to my veggie totals for the day.   The rest of the beet soup is in the freezer so I can eat it when I'm ready.   Or, er, not.

Meal 3:   Chinese BBQ meatballs and sugar snap peas (from Well Fed Weeknights again).

No Larabars, nut butter, fruit or nuts today!   I'm drinking a lot of Le Croix.  My local supermarket had it buy-one-get-one so I'm experimenting with different flavors.   

NSV:    Feeling lighter, calmer, and more clear-headed, although this may just be due to my finally getting a decent amount of sleep last night.

 

[BlueKoala]

Since I am approaching the halfway mark now, and have gotten into a bit of routine, I'm looking over my food journal so far with a critical eye trying to spot unhelpful patterns and see how I can tweak things.   What I've noticed:   

My snacks don't include protein!   (How did I miss that?)    This omission is not something I've been doing consciously, but it is something I will consciously try to fix.   I have a cupboard full of compliant tuna and a fridge full of hard boiled eggs, so I've got no excuse here. 

Also, although I'm definitely consuming more veggies than before, I don't think I'm quite up to the W30 recommended level.    So: more veggies.   I'm actually pretty excited about the prospect of poking through my cookbooks for tasty new side dishes.

Finally - and this isn't really a conclusion from my journal, just something I've been thinking about for a while -  it is long past time for me to get over my "ick" reaction to organ meat.   So this week I'm going to start slowly by making Well Fed Paleo's Dirty Rice, which sounds delicious and contains chicken livers.   

[BlueKoala]

Day 13.

Meal 1:  Four Chinese BBQ meatballs and the leftover sugar snap peas

Snack:  Larabar, hard boiled egg, guacamole

Meal 2:    Sicilian Beef and Cauliflower from Well Fed Weeknights.   Another one-dish winner that is going to be added to our family meal rotation.

Meal 3:  (added belatedly after I realized that I probably haven't had enough food today)   Two hard-boiled eggs with olive oil mayo, and for the veggie, kale tossed in olive oil and salt and roasted until crunchy

I was planning to get a lot more cooking done today (including my Dirty Rice with chicken livers)....but we were in the middle of a home improvement DIY project all day and I'm ready to sit down for a bit with a cup of tea and a book.    

[BlueKoala]

Day 14.

Meal 1.   Tex Mex skillet, freshly made, with salsa and guacamole.   I added kale and zucchini to the original recipe so there were a lot of veggies in there.  This is like the perfect meal.  I could eat it every day.   (And perhaps I will...)

Meal 2.   Leftover beef shanks in their own gravy over cauliflower rice.

Meal 3.   My first foray into restaurant eating on the Whole 30, at my local Applebee's for a family gathering.   I had a 6 oz sirloin and a double side of steamed broccoli.  Per my request, my steak was grilled in olive oil and they didn't top my broccoli with anything.    The waitress was happy to accommodate me, I didn't have to be That Annoying Person, and I wasn't even remotely tempted to eat anything non-compliant.    

NSV:   I was expecting wine cravings today due to the social setting.   I did not experience any wine cravings.  

Almost halfway through!    

[BlueKoala]

Day 15!  Halfway there!

Meal 1:  My favorite, the Tex-Mex skillet (with salsa).

Meal 2:   Tropical cole slaw (the last of it, finally) and a hardboiled egg for protein, *and* some guacamole

Snack:   Pumpkin spice Rx bar and a handful of macadamia nuts

Meal 3:  Pot roast (w/carrots, celery, leeks) and a side of broccoli with some ghee

[BlueKoala]

Adding so I have a record of this in the journal:  on the afternoon of Day 14, I bought some unflavored Natural Calm - I would have liked to try a flavored version instead but unfortunately I could not find one without stevia.    The goal is to get into a clear sleep routine.   It's too early to tell whether it has any actual calming/soporific effect on me, but I did sleep well last night.  

 

[BlueKoala]

Day 16.

Meal 1:  Tex-Mex skillet.

Meal 2:  Small serving Paleo chili, 3 celery stalks with sunflower nut butter, handful macadamias

Meal 3:  4 Chinese BBQ meatballs, garlic mashed cauliflower, some Quick Pickled Carrots (from NNP) that while tasty did not really go with the rest of the meal

Waiting on tiger blood.   I may take a nap while I'm waiting.

[ArtFossil]

@BlueKoala what is yourTex-Mex skillet recipe please?

[BlueKoala]

It is from Melissa Joulwan's Well Fed Weeknights book.  I do not see the recipe listed online, but it's basically ground beef, yellow squash, onion, red sweet peppers, and eggs, all scrambled up together.    Stir fry the veggies by themselves until crisp/tender, then put them aside and brown the beef, then put it aside and cook the eggs until they start firming up, then toss the beef and the veggies into the egg pan and mix until everything is one big delicious mess.   Top with fresh cilantro and scallions and salsa and guac.    It's simple, insanely good, and keeps me going for at least four or five hours after breakfast.   Also, it could probably be modified to tastily accommodate all sorts of meat/veggie/spice combos.   

[ArtFossil]

1 hour ago, BlueKoala said:

It is from Melissa Joulwan's Well Fed Weeknights book.  I do not see the recipe listed online, but it's basically ground beef, yellow squash, onion, red sweet peppers, and eggs, all scrambled up together.    Stir fry the veggies by themselves until crisp/tender, then put them aside and brown the beef, then put it aside and cook the eggs until they start firming up, then toss the beef and the veggies into the egg pan and mix until everything is one big delicious mess.   Top with fresh cilantro and scallions and salsa and guac.    It's simple, insanely good, and keeps me going for at least four or five hours after breakfast.   Also, it could probably be modified to tastily accommodate all sorts of meat/veggie/spice combos.   

Thank you so much! I was thinking about getting that book and this convinced me!

[BlueKoala]

I can totally recommend the book.  I've been using it pretty much every day.   The recipes really are fast and tasty and my non-W30 family has been eating them with great enthusiasm and without even noticing the absence of rice/pasta/grainy carby things. 

[BlueKoala]

Day 17.   

Meal 1:  Tex-Mex skillet, again.   Oh noes, I am running out of my staple food!    Time to make another batch!    

Meal 2:  2 hardboiled eggs, some sunflower nut butter, and cherries.    Basically a complete trainwreck.    But I managed to stay compliant, which is something.  

Meal 3:   Spiced keema (from NNP) and sweet potato hash.

NSV:    I'm sleeping better and my digestion seems to have settled down.    I feel lighter but I don't know if my clothes are fitting differently.   Sadly, tiger blood has yet to make an appearance.

[BlueKoala]

Day 18.

Meal 1:  Hard boiled egg, crammed in my face as I ran out the door.    Totally non-template and unbalanced but still compliant.   Go me.  

Meal 2:  Tuna salad (tuna, chopped apple, walnuts, olive oil mayo, scallions, spices) and two apple slices with sunflower nut butter on them.    Mmmm.   

Meal 3:    Moroccan beef cabbage sautee from Well Fed Weeknights. 

NSV:   Previously, "missing" breakfast would have been treated as an excuse to go out to lunch, or at least stop somewhere and grab a bag of chips.   Instead I went home with my seltzer water and made lunch.   

I wouldn't say this has been easy so far, but it has not been as hard as I thought it would.   

[BlueKoala]

Ah, crap.   I was shopping for Sunbutter on Amazon and realized:  the Sunbutter I have been using has sugar in it.   !!!!!!!   I think I have read literally EVERY SINGLE LABEL except that one.   I just thought, "Oh, Sunbutter, like in the paleo cookbooks!" and grabbed it.   BIG MISTAKE.   I really should have known better.    ARGH.   

Even though this is literally the only noncompliant thing I've been eating, and I haven't been having it every day, I have been consuming it frequently enough and in sufficient quantity that IMO eating it has compromised my Whole 30.   Even though the mistake was inadvertent, I have not followed the Whole 30 rules.   So I will have to start my day count over.   And it'll have to be tomorrow, since I had some of the forbidden substance at lunch today.    

Surprisingly, now that I'm done screaming in the ktichen at the demonic sugary Sunbutter, I'm OK with this.   Disappointed, of course, but I don't have any big events scheduled in the next 30 days that might interfere, and I was already thinking about maybe stretching my Whole 30 out to a Whole 45.     It's not like this is anything I did on purpose and I am still really proud of how well I'm doing so far.     And although my day count will reset to zero, I should continue to make very rapid progress on the NSV's, which I am looking forward to.     

I'll journal my food for today - Day 0 - after dinner, as usual, and keep going.    Excelsior!