Julzology's January 2017 Whole30

[Julzology]

Day one!  I did well my first day.  Scrambled eggs cooked in coconut oil for breakfast, chicken breast and papaya for lunch (weird, I know, but I hadn't gone shopping yet).  Dinner was roast chicken, roasted cauliflower with turmeric and roasted sweet potato.  Yum.  

I went to Orange Theory Fitness for the first time and got my ass thoroughly kicked.  Last time I did Whole30 I didn't sleep well.  My body was too used to daily wine consumption.  Anticipating that same problem I thought a hard workout will help me sleep through the night.  

My attitude is good.  I haven't had any cravings but I have had moments of reaching for something and then reminding myself that I'm Whole30.  

I did not meditate today and I really want to get back into my daily meditation routine.  

I did get the grocery shopping done and am fully stocked with Whole30 compliant food.  I need to make ghee, maybe tomorrow.  

Goals for this Whole30:

1.  Finish (last time I bailed at day 20)

2.  No obligatory eating.  I'm always surprised how much guilt I have over wasted food even if it's food I haven't purchased.  Like it is my personal responsibility to eat it or it will be wasted.  This goes double for food someone has prepared for me.  It's crazy.  

3.  No over eating.  I want to learn to listen to my body and stop eating past full.  

4.  Eat more slowly and really taste the food (this will help with goal #3).  I am often surprised and embarrassed that my husband and I will spend literally hours making an elaborate feast that we finish in 10 minutes.  

That's it.  The day is not over yet and I may have some more of that papaya for dessert but I think I did pretty well for day one. 

 

 

 

 

[Julzology]

Day #2

Unfortunately that workout didn't really help my sleep.  It took me forever to fall alseep and I woke up 3 or 4 times during the night.  

Today I feel like I've been hit by a truck.  Combination of still detoxing from New Year's Eve and that workout yesterday.  

I also discovered that the broth I purchased at the grocery store yesterday contains sugar.  Dammit!  I have to find the recommended stock/broth for cooking or make my own.  

Problem is that I made a huge crock pot of beef stew using the organic beef broth that contains sugar.   I didn't look at the label on the broth (stupid mistake) until it was all in the crock.   I have been trying to figure out what to do about that.  

1. I could just feed that to my family and eat something else. 

2. I could decide that it's not that much sugar and just eat it

3. I could decide that it's not that much sugar and just eat it but extend my whole 30 two days so that tomorrow would be a restart, day #1 again.  

My husband is on board with #2, I'm leaning toward #3.  

This also touches on my "no obligatory eating" goal.  Just because I made it doesn't mean I have to eat it.  I could cook it, feed it to the family, then freeze the leftovers until I'm reintroducing sugar.  

Oh, bother!   

 

[lhfrommelt]

Definitely feed to the family, make yourself something else.  You are worth it.  Freeze the left overs, give some to a neighbor, do what ever and move on to Day #3. 

 

[Julzology]

OK so here's my yesterday:  

Breakfast:  Leftover Chicken Breast and Leftover Cucumber Salad (I have always been a person who can eat anything for breakfast) Coffee with coconut Milk,

Lunch:  Leftover Roasted Chicken and Roasted Cauliflower, with an apple for snack. Black Coffee for my afternoon coffee. 

Dinner:  Beef stew.  Yup, I ate it.  It was just OK.  I think I cooked it too long in the crock pot and the meat was a little dry.  Papaya and a handful of Marcona almonds for dessert. 

 

Yup, I ate the beef stew with the non compliant broth.  I'm not thinking of this as a re-start but just adding an additional two days at the end.  I know that seems like semantics and it is but it helps me to see it that way.  

 

This morning I had to get my exercise stuff together because I enrolled in an Orange Theory Fitness class right after work necessitating getting changed either at work before I leave or at OTF.  I also had to pack an afternoon snack because a 5:30 class with an empty stomach sounds like a bad idea and those classes are HARD! 

This is what I've planned for today:

Breakfast:  Coffee with coconut milk, grapefruit, two soft boiled eggs.  

Lunch:  Tuna with olive oil and lemon juice, romaine lettuce, apple.  Coffee, black

Afternoon Snack:  Apple, Almond butter (Fairway makes their own almond butter that contains just almonds and salt.  It's really good. 

Dinner:  Pork Chop, Broccoli, Sweet Potato.  

 

Day #3!

[Julzology]

Day #4.  

Breakfast - Bacon from US Wellness, Scrambled eggs, Coffee with coconut milk

Lunch:  Sardines canned in olive oil, leftover roasted broccoli and cauliflower, apple, half a baked potato, black coffee

Dinner:  Bison Chorizo from US Wellness, Sweet Potato which my husband spiralized in our new spiral cutter.  Plus broccoli Rabe.  A small handful of dried turkish apricots for dessert.  

I'm very sore and getting sorer from yesterday's workout.  Ouch!  Tomorrow will be worse than today.  I'm taking a break on the HIIT workout at Orange Theory until Sunday.  

Feeling pretty good but really craving an after dinner snack.  I realize I'm used to sitting in front of the TV with a snack, pop corn, nuts, whatever.  That's a hard habit to break.  

And I'm still a little foggy headed.  Not like I feel sick, but more that I keep making silly little mistakes like I'm just not thinking straight.  I think that will straighten out in time.  

Onward!

[Julzology]

Day #5

Egg Salad (I made whole egg mayo, so yummy), Coffee with coconut milk

Lunch:  Tuna Salad (did I mention that I made mayo? ) romaine lettuce and cherry tomatoes with olive oil and vinegar, salt and pepper and a little adobo (I use the adobo from Pensey's because it has no salt and no msg)

Dinner:  Salmon filet, Potato salad (Ok, I'll admit that we're a little crazy about the mayo ) and spiralized zucchini sauteed in coconut oil. 

We are also currently in love with our new spiral vegetable slicer.  It's not a vegetti, it's a different model that does a little more.  It's fun.  

 

Today we're making beet soup and we're having that with polish beef sausages from US Wellness tonight.  

 

I was watching America's Test Kitchen a few days ago and realized that we could easily make ropa vieja Whole30 compliant.  The only ingredient we'd have to leave out is the wine.  I plan on making that and serving it over roasted cauliflower 'rice'.  That should be tasty. 

Not quite as sore today as yesterday.  I have booked another Orange Theory Class for tomorrow.  I think the HIIT workouts have helped me this first week.  I think it made detox faster.  My mood is good.  I am not craving alcohol or grains or sugar but I also need to be careful to not get complacent.  I have realized this week that if I were to eat off plan it wouldn't be a conscious decision, it would be a mindless thing.  I would eat or drink something without really considering it, without thinking about it.  I like what the newsletter said about "counting to zen" to count to ten before eating off plan to allow yourself to really consider the implications. 

On to Day #6 (which this is because I never logged yesterday)

 

 

[kirkor]

13 minutes ago, Julzology said:

(I made whole egg mayo, so yummy)

(did I mention that I made mayo? )

(Ok, I'll admit that we're a little crazy about the mayo )

Hahahaha it really is great, isn't it?

[Julzology]

2 hours ago, kirkor said:

Hahahaha it really is great, isn't it?

OMG I never want to eat regular mayo again.  We used an organic extra virgin olive oil that has a very grassy peppery flavor.  I like the taste of olive oil so I don't mind really being able to taste it.  

I've made it once before successfully and then several times where it would just not come together.  I'm really happy with the nice consistency.  My husband is also quite hooked.  

 

[kirkor]

I make mine with avocado oil and white wine vinegar. Perfecto!

[Julzology]

1 hour ago, kirkor said:

I make mine with avocado oil and white wine vinegar. Perfecto!

I have not yet tried avocado oil.  I'd like to though.  Sounds delicious.  I love avocados. 

[Julzology]

OK so I made it through Day #6.  Managed not to drink (I was tempted) Yay!

Breakfast:  Bacon and Eggs

Lunch:  Tuna Salad, Romain, Cherry Tomatoes

Dinner:  Beef Polish Sausages from US Wellness Meats, Cabbage, Yams cut with our new spiralizer and cooked in coconut oil.  Those were amazing.  So yummy. 

Trying to take it one day at a time.  

Today was hard because it snowed all day so didn't leave the house and my mother in law is driving me a little crazy.  (we take care of her, she's 95 and has dementia/alzheimer's)

Good night.  

[Julzology]

I think I need to revisit It Starts With Food to check out the meal plans again.  I'm eating Whole30 but not really structuring my meals carefully in terms of balancing protein, fat and carbs.  I think I could do better. 

Breakfast:  Coffee with coconut milk, 1 Haas avocado

Lunch:  Broccoli Rabe, Leftover salmon with a little mayo, grapefruit and papaya. 

I think I'm going to boil an egg for my pre - workout snack.  I have a HIIT class at 1:45 today

Dinner:   We're making arroz con pollo using cauliflower rice and chicken thighs.  I think that will be delicious. 

I feel good.  Still not paying attention as much as I could to what I eat.  Even when it's a meal that I've prepared I'm not eating as thoughtfully as I'd like.  I will endeavor to do better.  

 

 

[ShannonM816]

Meal planning template, in a nice printable pdf you can attach to your fridge: http://whole30.com/downloads/whole30-meal-planning.pdf

 

[Julzology]

18 hours ago, ShannonM816 said:

Meal planning template, in a nice printable pdf you can attach to your fridge: http://whole30.com/downloads/whole30-meal-planning.pdf

 

Yes!  Thank you for sharing that.  I am going to do just that.  Attach to my fridge so I can remember. 

Anyone else having trouble sleeping?  It's not insomnia really, but I wake up numerous times during the night.  Last night I went to bed at 10:00, woke up at 11:00, 1:00, 2:00, 4:00.  It's always the same, wake up, look at the alarm clock to see what time it is, turn over, adjust pillow, etc and fall back asleep.  I'm usually too hot (menopause) so that might be part of it.  I'm not having trouble falling back asleep after I wake up, but I'm waking up a lot during the night.  I remember that from my last Whole30, I never did get to where I was sleeping through the night.  

I enjoy a big cup of coffee in the morning and another early afternoon (though I did not have afternoon coffee yesterday).  I also read on my kindle before bed and even though I have a blue light filter and the brightness turned way down, I've read that screen time can disrupt sleep patterns.  I may have to experiment with those.  

Here were are on day #8.  Life is good. 

 

[Julzology]

Day #9 today but I need to back up to Day #8 for a little bit. 

Two years ago my daughter introduced me to Whole30.  She decided to do a Whole 30 and I agreed to do it with her for moral support.  I went to the web site and read the testimonials and other information and realized that my boss who has multiple allergies, fibromyalgia and asthma in addition to being overweight might be interested so I forwarded her the link.  I made my commitment and she decided to do it too.  That lasted 2 days for her, 5 days for my daughter and 20 days for me.  Clearly we're not finishers, LOL.  

This time it was my idea, my decision and so I told everyone, friends, family, co-workers that I was starting Whole30 in January.   My boss and my daughter both said they wanted to do it too.  So far, both of them are kinda sorta Whole30, .  Now, this isn't a problem in and of itself but yesterday I found myself feeling really frustrated and angry at my boss for not being able to stick with it.  It just seems so short sighted.  She's sick all the time.  She's constantly in pain from the fibromyalgia and frequently has allergy flare ups and in spite of reading It Starts With Food and the Whole30 guidelines and numerous testimonials she just can't or won't actually stick to the guidelines.  The thing that interests me is why does this irritate me so much?  My daughters non compliance doesn't irritate me nearly as much as my bosses.  I'm really trying to sort out why I'm so disappointed/irritated/annoyed that my boss is doing a wishy washy version of Whole30.  

So that's my dilemma for today.  And I found myself feeling sad for no reason yesterday and still haven't figured out where that came from.  A lot of this for me is alcohol withdrawal.  Alcohol problems are common in my family and I used to think that the alcoholism gene had skipped me but this past year I have slipped into some serious regular drinking that's not healthy.  

Meanwhile, in the what are you eating department:  

Egg Salad yesterday for breakfast, two boiled eggs with my homemade whole egg mayo which surprisingly made me feel slightly queasy. 

Lunch:  Leftover Arroz con pollo made with roasted cauliflower rice.  This, right here, is a shining example of how delicious Whole30 can be my friends.  Yum!

Dinner:  Pork Chop, Mashed white yam with coconut milk, Sauteed mushrooms (it was actually mushrooms and peas because my husband forgot that peas are legumes, I picked out the peas and just ate the mushrooms which, thankfully, he had left in rather large pieces so it was easy to miss the peas.  

Today:  coffee with coconut milk, Avocado, leftover pork chop for breakfast

Lunch:  More leftover Arroz con pollo this time with a dollop of leftover yam

Dinner:  I have no idea what he's making for me today but it involved ground beef.  

We're getting anther wellness delivery today.  We bought a brisket so we can make ropa vieja which we will serve over roasted cauliflower rice.  I saw the recipe on America's Test Kitchen and the only non-compliant ingredient is wine which we will leave out.  

And I meditated this morning.  

I'm not in an especially happy frame of mind today.  I guess I'll contemplate that as the day progresses.  

 

[Julzology]

I think journaling here helps so I'm going to redouble my efforts to maintain a daily journal but it is a time committment.  

Day#11 here.  I brought 2 boiled eggs and an avocado for breakfast to work (because I ran out of time at home) but the avocado was overripe and I had to toss it.  All brown and gross inside.  Eeeew. 

I have packed leftover ground beef with bell peppers (my husband's W30 take on pepper steak) and some leftover cooked cabbage and an apple so that's lunch.  

Tonight we're having pork chops from US Wellness for dinner with cauliflower and I'm  not sure what else.  

I bought two beef briskets from US wellness and am looking forward to making ropa vieja this weekend.  I found a good recipe on America's Test Kitchen and the only non compliant ingredient was wine which I can easily leave out.  Ropa vieja over cauliflower rice.  Yummy.  

I have another Orange Theory workout scheduled for Friday which makes my third this week.  I only have two schedule for next week.  I really need to be planning some lower intensity workouts for my other days.  I have an eliptical, a pilates ball, hand weights and a small step.  I have the 7 minute workout app on my phone.  This is not hard but I haven't been sleeping well which means that I don't wake up in the morning as energetic as I used to.  This morning I turned off my alarm and slept for another 20 minutes which made me short on time.  

Onward Day#11.  

[Julzology]

Whew, two days with no journaling.  I'm not sure I'm going to catch up.  

The big news for me is that I went out last night and did not drink adult beverages and even more importantly, didn't feel deprived.  This is such a breakthrough for me.  

I firmly believe I am going to finish this Whole30 including reintroduction which I did not manage last time, two years ago.  

Time for breakfast.  We need to go food shopping so I'm not sure what I'm going to eat but I'll figure something out. 

[perceivingperdita]

33 minutes ago, Julzology said:

Whew, two days with no journaling.  I'm not sure I'm going to catch up.  

The big news for me is that I went out last night and did not drink adult beverages and even more importantly, didn't feel deprived.  This is such a breakthrough for me.  

I firmly believe I am going to finish this Whole30 including reintroduction which I did not manage last time, two years ago.  

Time for breakfast.  We need to go food shopping so I'm not sure what I'm going to eat but I'll figure something out. 

Good for you going out and not drinking! We were invited out last night to watch football at a bar with some good friends, but we declined because we can't drink or eat at a bar right now so why bother. We did counter-offer and invited them here but they had a baby sitter and really wanted to go out out. Anyway, you handled a big challenge really well. You are really doing great! I believe you will finish the full 30 days  You are more than 1/3 the way there. 

[Julzology]

Thank you so much @perceivingperdita.  It is important for me to have support wherever I can find it.  My boss and my daughter who started this with me have both already bailed which is disappointing but I really feel determined this time. 

Alcohol was the reason I quit on day 20 last time.  In retrospect I look at that and think, geez, you only had 10 days left but this time I feel more determined and I'm owning this Whole30.  No one is telling me what to do, this is me making a conscious choice to complete this experiment.  

I made some delicious Egg salad for breakfast, hard boiled eggs, homemade whole egg mayo, onion, celery.  It was delicious.  Hubby had it on toast but I ate it just like that.  Yum.  

[Julzology]

Here's day #14

Breakfast:  Coffee with coconut milk, egg salad 

Lunch:  Apple with almond butter (I know this is not a good Whole30 lunch but the cupboard was bare as we had yet to go grocery shopping. 

Dinner:  Ropa Vieja and Tostones   A true example of how delicious Whole30 can be.  Ropa vieja:  slow cooked beef brisket with onions and bell peppers, Tostones:  Fried green plantains.  OMG this was so good. 

There was wine with dinner but I stuck to water.  This was so much harder than yesterday to avoid that glass of wine because it's such a dinner thing with us but I didn't succumb to temptation.  

[Julzology]

Oh, dear, here I am in Day #18 and I haven't logged since Day #14?  Where does the time go. 

In general I'm feeling pretty good.  I'm not really sleeping very well though.  I'm trying to decide if it's the afternoon coffee or the pre-bed screen time.  I'm thinking I might switch to afternoon herbal tea for a few days and see if that makes a difference.  Last night I turned out the lights at 10:15.  Woke up at 11:30, 12:30, 1:30, 4:30, then 6 when my alarm went off but I turned it off and slept another 25 minutes.  

I'm going to explore that further.  I'm only doing two Orange Theory workouts per week and haven't been doing any other exercise.  I want to make daily exercise a habit even if it's only a walk.  

My breakfasts could use some more veggies but my other meals have been good.  Last night we had boneless rabbit loin saddles which were delicious.  Cooked simply with potatoes and some roasted kale on the side.  Yum.  

Breakfast-Coffee with coconut milk, two eggs scrambled, two slices bacon

Lunch leftover Ropa Vieja plus half an avocado

Dinner leftover rabbit and a salad. 

We were invited to a friends for dinner saturday.  This particular friend likes to go all out where food and wine are concerned so we declined his invitation.  He has promised a wine paired dinner when my W30 is complete.  I might have different feelings about a wine paired dinner when this is over.  I'll have to wait and see.  So far the temptation has not been difficult. 

[Julzology]

Last night I was out with my husband.  Our record label had a CD release event and he was playing with two of the groups.  While I was there I saw a lot of musicians who haven't seen me since last September.  I got a number of compliments.  People telling me I looked great one person even said I was 'glowing' and asked me what my secret was.  Of course I told them Whole30.  It was nice to get some validation.   A few people had heard of it or even tried it for a while but not succeeded.  One friend said she tried it and lasted about a day and a half.  

This venue serves beer and wine but I did not partake.  We brought bananas and trail mix because we knew we'd be missing dinner.  I know bananas and trail mix aren't a good dinner but it's what we had that was portable and compliant (we make our own trail mix: Cashews, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, raising, cocoa nibs and a few dried apricots).  So, three square meals didn't really happen for me yesterday but I was compliant and I did not drink nor did I have the temptation to drink.  

It was a great night, good music and I'm on day #19.  Last time, two years ago I bailed at dinner on day #20 so I'm looking forward to the weekend and making it past day #20.  

I feel different this time.  My motivation is different.  My meals are different.  I do not feel like I'm hanging on or dragging myself through it like I did last time.  

Life is good. 

 

[Julzology]

In the interest of actually logging:

Breakfast:  Coffee with coconut milk, egg salad with homemade mayo, 1/2 grapefruit

Lunch:  Leftover roasted rabbit, potatoes, cucumber salad with oil and vinegar

dinner:  Bratwurst, kale, potatoes

snack:  honey bell orange (my mom sent me oranges from FL, she does it every year and they are so juicy and delicious)

time for bed.  I would really like to not wake up every hour. 

[Julzology]

I did better last night.  Woke up every 3 hours or so.  turned off the light before 10, woke up at 12:30, 2 30 and 6:00 which is when I actually got out of bed.  

I don't want to give up my afternoon coffee and the days I haven't had it I haven't noticed a difference but maybe I should. 

Yes, and I don't limit screen time but I do have a blue light filter on my kindle.  Do those things work? 

[Julzology]

In the sleep department I limited screen time before bed.  Woke up twice which is an improvement over waking up 4-5 times.  

Today I made ghee, whole egg mayo and a big breakfast casserole (sweet potato, bacon, onion, bell pepper, spinach, eggs) which should see me through the week.  This should help me with my breakfast timing issue.  

Got my ass kicked at Orange Theory Fitness today.  Didn't hydrate enough before hand.  Big mistake.  I drank a whole 20 oz bottle of water during the workout then I fellt like throwing up.  I did notice, this being my 7th or 8th Orange Theory workout that I am recovering faster.  You wear a heart rate monitor and there's a big screen that tells you by color how hard you're working.  Blue being resting, green being aerobic, Orange strenuous and red is all out.  First time I was in the red almost the entire class.  This time I noticed that after being in the red for a minute when I slowed down on the treadmill, I was back to orange more quickly.  Amazing how our bodies adapt.  

Tough working out in front of a mirror though.  My jiggly arm fat is horrifying.  When did that happen?  LOL.  This too shall pass.  

Tonight we're making buffalo chorizo from us wellness for dinner.  Making a short of hash with bell pepper, onion and garlic and serving it with spiral potatoes.  Should be good.