Cahliah's Mother/Daughter Whole30

[cahliah]

12 hours ago, Georgina2 said:

The W30 has made me decide I really, really need a Costco membership!

They're raising the membership price in the next month or two - might want to head in sooner rather than later! It's worth it, though. The amount of money we've saved over the past year has more than made up for the membership cost. And they're one of the top organic retailers in the country, too. Plus, they're good to their employees - unlike other big name chains.

[cahliah]

Day 28 is almost over, and I am so tired of vegetables! If I never see another vegetable, it'll be too soon, I swear. Before Whole30, honestly, our veggie intake was slim. I'd have them in meals when I could convince my mom that I wasn't buying out the store for a single meal (yeah, right.) It's been nearly a month now, though, with vegetables at every meal... And I'm sick of them. Don't want to eat another bite. Hoping that this goes away tomorrow, because if not, it's going to be a long reintroduction period.

Been trying, over the weekend, to come up with this coming week's menu, and I'm drawing a blank. There are so many possibilities for food on Whole30, but very few that my mom and daughter will eat. I've identified only a few things I can make and have them both enjoy it... Shepherd's pie (assuming I do the potatoes myself), roast chicken, roasted potatoes (and carrots for myself and my daughter), and pork belly. Not a lot of variety there - especially with the veggies.

Also, I'm thinking I might have a bit of a pork sensitivity - at least to some cuts. Last year, we had a ham for Easter, and I had some really bad stomach cramps afterward, but figured it was just that specific ham. Then the ribs last weekend caused issues... And then, last night, I had a bit of a stomach problem after eating that pulled pork. Nobody else had issues, so it has to be my screwed up body... I just need to be careful, I guess. (Somehow, though, pork chops, pork belly, and bacon are fine, though. And sausage. So who knows.)

Made chicken & leek soup for dinner tonight. I'd say it was a hit, but it really wasn't. I ate a bowl, and it was good for that one bowl, but I don't really want more. My daughter - who hates soup - ate a small bowl of it, but she doesn't do leftovers (unless it's pasta) so she's not going to eat any more. And my mom tried a few bites, made a face after each bite, and said she didn't like it. I think, maybe, I'm going to quit trying to make Whole30 soups. *sigh*

Anyways, 1st meal was leftover pulled pork, and roasted potatoes. Had a handful of cashews while I was cooking the soup. 2nd meal was, obviously, chicken & leek soup, with pork belly on the side. Really hungry today - wound up having 2 small meals/snacks since then - the last bit of shepherd's pie (more like 1/2 serving), and later, a chicken & apple sausage with grapes. Going to have another meal in an hour or two, I think, but no idea what it's going to be, as I really do NOT want more veggies. At all. I do have some sauce in the freezer, though, from before I started Whole30, that's tomato based. I intentionally made it compliant, so I might steal some of that - tomato sauce is better than no veggies, right?

...I'm so over this. But 2 more days. I can get through 2 more days. Even if I have a package of (gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, naturally sweetened) mint dark chocolate honey patties that are calling my name.

[cahliah]

Final mini-meal of the day... TJ's Chili Lime chicken burger, and my (failed) attempt at potato pancakes. Which I've never made before, and didn't realize until I had them in the pan that I really needed a binder in them. Like egg. Or flour. Or anything other than potatoes and ghee and seasoning. Oops. The bits I scraped off the bottom of the pan were good, though, so I can't totally complain. And there were at least some veggies in the burger, even if it wasn't all that great.

I'd say we'd just have leftovers tomorrow, but I'm not even feeling any of our leftovers, so it's going to be rough. Maybe sloppy joes in baked potatoes - or over roasted potatoes - and possibly carrots (french fry cut, maybe?) And I'm going to see if I can make that Pakistani Kima that I wanted to make a couple weeks ago but never got around to.

I'll make this work, one way or another. And I can live without that chocolate for now. I've made it 28 days, 2 more isn't going to kill me.

 

Today's food log:
Meal 1: Pulled pork, roasted potatoes
Snack: Cashews
Meal 2: Chicken & leek soup, pork belly
Snack/Meal3: Shepherd's pie (and last bits of pork belly)
Snack/Meal4: Chicken & apple sausage, grapes
Snack/Meal5: Chili lime burger, failed potato pancakes

[cahliah]

So, my spreadsheet was wrong. Again. Today/yesterday/Sunday was day 29. Monday is day 30. Reintroduction starts Tuesday! One more day!

Nope, I was right. My mom confused me. Still day 29.

[JenHZ]

either egg or mashed potato is a good binder for potato pancakes.  you can use both if you want.  dry out your potato shreds as much as possible too.  we  spin ours in the salad spinner

[Guest]

we use egg and potato starch in latkes/ potato pancakes.  (latkes being made with shredded potato, potato pancakes made with mashed potato).  We also sometimes sneak a carrot or two in there and don't tell the kids, lol.

[JenHZ]

potato starch is great too.  just lots of households don't have it on hand

[cahliah]

If I do them again, I'll definitely add some egg and some sort of starch (mine were just mashed potatoes, a little ghee, and spices - but I was in a mood, and not thinking so clearly.)

Today was better, at least. Didn't get to bed until way late, and wound up having an orange before bed. Had another after I woke up, along with about 8 cashews, because it was too close to meal time to have a full meal. Made sheet pan fajitas tonight, and they were so good! I went back for a second bowl, and wound up having more veggies than chicken in that bowl. (Nobody else will eat the veggies - their loss!)

Had a talk with my mom, and read a few things online, and I'm feeling better about finishing, and about reintroduction. I'm even feeling better about vegetables again! Managed to get the menu for the rest of the week figured out, too.

My mom had another doctor's appointment today, this time with the doctor that suggested Whole30. He was impressed with how well she's doing, and I think that gave her more confidence to keep going, even if reintroduction is going to last 2 more weeks. Though, she's still kinda on the edge about the whole idea. To her, it was all about weight loss... But she does admit she's been in a better mood (other than dealing with my daughter) for the past couple of weeks, and feeling better in general. But we'll see what happens.

I have to admit, I'm looking forward to Thursday - non-gluten grains, which means (bean-free) chili and homemade cornbread!!!

[cahliah]

2nd/3rd meal was leftover fajitas (chicken, peppers, and onions - yum!), a spoonful of cashew butter (very little fat in the fajitas), and an orange.

Tomorrow, I make my Kima. Here's hoping it's good!

 

Today's meal log:
Snack 1 (last night): Orange
Snack 2: Orange, cashews
Meal 1: Fajitas (chicken, peppers, onions)
Meal 2: Fajitas, cashew butter, orange

[SustainableJen]

You're log is inspiring. Thank you for sharing.

[cahliah]

Finally made the Kima I've been meaning to make for weeks. Figured, today was a "GYO" day (Get Your Own meal), and nobody else was going to eat this, and I slept later than usual, so would be eating off-schedule. Was the perfect time.

...and wow, this is the best thing I've made all month! Ground beef, potatoes, carrots, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, and spices (curry powder, mainly, with salt, pepper, cinnamon, and ginger.) I already promised my sister we'd make it for her when we go to visit. And, it was one of the easiest recipes I've made - had to cook it longer so the potatoes cooked through, but the most time consuming part was just cutting up the veggies. This is going to be one of my go-to meals - even if it's only for me.

I'll go over my progress later tonight, just wanted to log this while it was fresh in my mind.

[cahliah]

So, more Kima for my 2nd meal (along with an orange), and will likely be my 3rd meal as well. This stuff is good! And filling, too. Plus, veggies! Honestly, if I made it meatless, I probably wouldn't even miss it. But meat is good. 

Went through my snack & emergency food drawers in my office tonight. Pulled out everything that I wouldn't be returning to after Whole30 - mainly anything with soy in it. Threw out the remainders of a box of stem ginger cookies after briefly thinking "I should finish those off" - and deciding that, no, I don't need to, even if they weren't off-limits right now. Granted, I've tried to keep weird ingredients out of my snacks & emergency food for quite a while, so there wasn't a ton that I had to remove. And it's all stuff that I feel ok passing on to my sister. (She's not eliminating soy - her wife is vegan, and soy's actually a big part of their diet!)

I technically only have a few minutes left in my Whole30, but I'm going to at least finish out the night/morning - at least until I sleep. It doesn't feel like such a big deal now - nowhere near as much as it did when I started. Even if I have yogurt in the fridge, waiting for me to start reintroductions. Maybe because I also have good food that I can feel good about eating!

[cahliah]

3rd meal was, indeed, more Kima. Along with some orange & banana slices. I do tend to eat the same thing for multiple meals in a row, at least when I have leftovers. Don't think there's really anything wrong with that, so long as I get some variety over the course of the week. Which I do try to do.

As for my Whole30 experience...

Overall, I haven't seen as many physical changes as I had hoped. My acne hasn't really cleared up, I'm not really sleeping any better than I did before (if anything, I'm sleeping a little worse, but that's probably just from stress.) My knee and wrists still act up, too... But I did manage to wear a smaller ring than I've been able to before, my stomach issues have calmed a bit - so long as I stay away from certain cuts of pork.

I lost a total of 1 1/2 lbs. But, then, weight loss was not my goal here. I've learned over the years that focusing on weight isn't good for me, mentally and emotionally, and that focusing on my health is a lot more important. And, no, weight is not an indicator of good or bad health.

I've had some successes, though. I was already aware of what was in the food I was eating, but I was a bit apathetic about it. Not so much anymore - I already read labels, but now I'm making  better decisions about what I do and don't want to put in my body. I do have slightly more energy, though I'm sure, if I went back to eating how I was, I'd feel more sluggish than I used to think I did. Whole30 didn't fix my depression and anxiety issues, but those are likely a lot more deeper seated than just food issues.

I do find that I can focus with less caffeine now. Before Whole30, I did a survey of available energy drinks beyond the super-sugary (or fake-sugary) drinks available at the store, and the amount of caffeine I needed to focus was much greater than the little tea-based drinks I'm using now. But the tea works fine, has no sugar, no weird chemicals, and doesn't keep me up when it's bedtime.

The biggest successes, though, aren't so much mine, but my mom's. The numbers on her blood work are now all in the "normal" range for an adult her age. She's lost over 15 lbs. She has more energy, and she says she's in a much better mood - more positive. Plus, she's starting to learn to put more priority on healthier foods, and to make better choices. Sure, she asked if she could get some fries this afternoon, but she actually listened when I told her that it was her choice, and that, in the end, it's not me she needs to get permission from - she needs to make the decision, whether to prioritize her long term health, or short term food craving. She didn't get the fries.

I'm hoping, in the future, we can maintain at least some of what we've learned. I will certainly continue to cook from scratch, though it will be easier to plan and cook meals when I can use dairy and grains. We've made the decision that, while we are going to add bread back to our diet, we won't be buying it - any bread we eat will be homemade (and, so, we won't be having bread nearly as often as we used to.) I will be doing my best to make sure that the things we do add back in wind up being of better quality and nutritional content - even if it costs more. And I will continue to emphasize that, in the long run, it's worth the investment into our health.

Overall, I'm proud of myself for sticking with this, no matter how tough it got. If nothing else, I proved that I have more perseverance than I ever thought, and that I can do hard things when I put my mind do it. It's a confidence booster, for sure.

I'll be sticking around in the forums for a little while, but I'll be moving my journaling over to the post-W30 section, at least through the reintroductions.

...and I'm so ready to start adding things back in.

 

Day 30 food log:
Meal 1: Pakistani Kima (ground beef, carrots, potatoes, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, onion, garlic, seasoning)
Meal 2: Kima, orange
Meal 3: Kima, orange & banana slices