Kahokkuri's Whole30

[CriticalValue196]

This is it, day one of my first Whole30.

I'm off to a bit of a weird start because I didn't prep very well leading up to today. I got some goodies—ghee, TJ's tahini (which I read was compliant), riced cauliflower, avocado oil, some spices—so I'd have them ready in the kitchen, but I didn't buy fresh ingredients to actually make my meals!

• Breakfast: 3-egg omelet with spicy chicken sausage and avocado
• Lunch: Curried kabocha soup, carrot, the rest of that avocado. This meal is a mess, but like I said, insufficient prep.
• Dinner: Beef stir-fry of some description with riced cauliflower. My coconut aminos should here tonight; if not, I'll try something else.

My omelet immediately put me off, and I've been picking at it since I made it at 7. I absolutely love hard-boiled eggs, but I'm not sure that cooked eggs as a main ingredient are going to work for me. I might end up going for a more dinner-for-breakfast vibe with meat as my breakfast protein.

My boyfriend, who is quite health conscious but specifically avoids fat, and some of my friends are very confused about what the hell I'm doing. "Why aren't you logging? And you're not weighing yourself?!" "Low carb, high fat is bad for you." I'm glad to have one close friend and some acquaintances who have done this before because I can't spend the next thirty days explaining what this plan is and isn't, especially since I'm learning that for myself as I go.

[CriticalValue196]

It's not even 10AM, but I'm tired and having a slow day at work, so all I've thought about for the last hour is food! I know I'm not really hungry, though, because the thought of anything that isn't a Hershey Kiss is making me feel a little queasy. I can tell that the "detox" period is going to be really, really rough. I hope that I can find lots more to do to keep me occupied on slow days in the next month, or this is going to be excruciating.

[CriticalValue196]

Turns out the curried kabocha soup I made was awful, and I was glad that I had agreed to go to the dining hall with a coworker. I grabbed some squash, grapes, and a plain chicken breast; I ate my avocado and threw away the soup. Normally the dining hall would be filled with amazing, exciting foods, but it's Spring Break here. The only thing I was sad not to be eating was the ravioli in brown butter sauce, which looked amazing.

I'm nauseated and tired; looking at Whole30Recipes on Instagram made it worse, so I closed the window. I thought the Timeline said Day 1 was (more often than not) smooth sailing. I'm trying to find logs and threads from people who struggled right from the get-go. I need to commiserate!

[CriticalValue196]

Day Two

I felt nauseated the whole way to work just thinking about eating the food I've prepped. I love steak and potatoes, but thinking about eating them right now makes me feel sick. The only food that has smelled good and tasted delicious since yesterday morning has been fruit, which makes it pretty obvious to me that the issue is with sugar. And now I need to find a way not to use fruit as a crutch for the whole month. 

• Breakfast: Egg salad (three eggs, mustard, salt pepper) and some graphes
• Lunch: Leftover steak and potato plus strawberries
• Dinner: Halibut with orange glaze, as of yet unknown veggies

I know that what I'm feeling is part of the detox, and I know it's warranted because I've been eating 80% crap for the last three years or more, but that doesn't make the feelings (or the nausea) any easier to overcome.

[CriticalValue196]

Day Three

I realized this morning that my biggest problem isn't eating well but not preparing well. Even with the best of intentions, I've failed to prepare fully three days in a row. For yesterday's dinner I had to run to Chipotle to eat the most disgusting carnitas-guac-lettuce-salsa bowl ever because I didn't have my fish ready and it would be two more hours before I got home. Today I scooped up all the compliant food on my counter (not much!) and quickly sauteed some tilapia in hopes to I could wring breakfast and some lunch out of it.

I've realized in just over two days that my concept of "prepared" is totally wrong, and that I've always been able to get away with it because there was food around every corner. If I don't feel like cooking, I don't. If I don't feel like grocery shopping, I don't. But when there's no food I can eat available within five miles of work, suddenly it becomes really important that I spent the time prepping the day(s) before. I can't afford not cooking/grocery shopping if that means I won't have anything to eat the next day! I can no longer justify not cooking, no matter how tired/sad/uninterested I am in doing it. Before Whole30, failing to plan was costing me money and calories but now it's costing me my sanity.

• Breakfast: Sauteed tilapia and some grapes. No veggies and not fat beyond the coconut oil I used. 
• Lunch: As of yet unknown-but-compliant meal from the Whole Foods buffet
• Dinner: ??? Total planning fail. I'm going to get enough groceries over lunch that I can cook something as soon as I get home.

It's a really good thing I feel excellent mentally and physically today or else I'd be in huge trouble with this lack of plan.

[kellyfoss]

3 hours ago, CriticalValue196 said:

Day Three

I realized this morning that my biggest problem isn't eating well but not preparing well. Even with the best of intentions, I've failed to prepare fully three days in a row. For yesterday's dinner I had to run to Chipotle to eat the most disgusting carnitas-guac-lettuce-salsa bowl ever because I didn't have my fish ready and it would be two more hours before I got home. Today I scooped up all the compliant food on my counter (not much!) and quickly sauteed some tilapia in hopes to I could wring breakfast and some lunch out of it.

I've realized in just over two days that my concept of "prepared" is totally wrong, and that I've always been able to get away with it because there was food around every corner. If I don't feel like cooking, I don't. If I don't feel like grocery shopping, I don't. But when there's no food I can eat available within five miles of work, suddenly it becomes really important that I spent the time prepping the day(s) before. I can't afford not cooking/grocery shopping if that means I won't have anything to eat the next day! I can no longer justify not cooking, no matter how tired/sad/uninterested I am in doing it. Before Whole30, failing to plan was costing me money and calories but now it's costing me my sanity.

• Breakfast: Sauteed tilapia and some grapes. No veggies and not fat beyond the coconut oil I used. 
• Lunch: As of yet unknown-but-compliant meal from the Whole Foods buffet
• Dinner: ??? Total planning fail. I'm going to get enough groceries over lunch that I can cook something as soon as I get home.

It's a really good thing I feel excellent mentally and physically today or else I'd be in huge trouble with this lack of plan.

THIS, so much! Oh man, it's been interesting re-training myself on how to plan ahead for food. I was always a last minute person too. Because I'd either get off work and pick something up on the way home, or go meet up with my S.O. somewhere to get dinner. I rarely cooked. Now I don't just have to plan for the day-of, I have to plan at least one full day in advance for all three meals. I have to make my lunches the night before to take to work the following day. And every Saturday I plan my meals for the following week so I can grocery shop for them on Sunday. You will get the hang of it, I promise. Make some lists, have some go-to meals you can throw together if you need to.

[CriticalValue196]

Days Four and Five

I continue to be surprised by how good I'm feeling in this first week, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I'm waiting for that to catch up to me. When am I going to feel detox-level awful? That being said, the lack of choice is getting frustrating. I refuse to put my social life on hold, which meant that I had to stay compliant for a day out on the town and an evening in at D&D.

I got frustrated even at the Whole Foods hot bar because everything had unnecessary sugar—almost every "plain" meat, plantains, sweet potatoes, cabbage slaw, and many others. I'm disappointed because I expected WF to be my port in a storm, the place I could go to grab something quick if my planning failed me. In the evening, I nearly cried in the face of a box of Cheez-It Snack Mix that everyone but me was sharing at D&D, and I normally find Cheez-Its mediocre at best (I'd never buy them, but I'll eat them if they're around). I didn't eat between 1:30 and 9:30PM, which was absolute misery. No wonder I wanted to cry at freaking Cheez-Its! But we were running so far behind to get to D&D that I didn't carry snacks out with me. We made a delicious Thai red curry when we got home, but I was so hangry that I could barely enjoy it.

Day Four

• Breakfast: Two hard-boiled eggs, Kiku apple
• Lunch: WF rotisserie chicken, spicy vegetables, garlic green beans, and kombucha
• Snack: Banana on the way home from town
• Dinner: Thai red curry with chicken

Day Five

• Breakfast: Banana with sunflower butter, leftover curry
• Lunch: ???
• Dinner: ???

Looks like I have some planning to do.

[ShannonM816]

If you can, you might want to try to prep at least proteins for several days at a time. Grill or bake a bunch of chicken, cook a roast or a pot of chili or stew big enough for several meals, hard boil eggs a dozen at a time. I do something like this weekly cookup -- I know some people aren't big on leftovers, but even if you're not, try to think of things you can cook in advance that you are willing to eat left over. I also like to keep things like cans of tuna or salmon on hand for quick meals if I do run out of food -- here's a list of things you can fix from stuff you can mostly keep in your pantry or fridge to just throw together quickly.