Day 3 of my Paleo Prison Sentence (xD)

[caTones]

Hi Everyone,

I started last Friday and will lead a group of 5 other individuals who have their Day 1 this coming Tuesday.

I'm a bit cautiously optimistic about the Whole30 so far.

In just 3 days, I can report the following:

• Less food cravings
• Less feelings of being hungry
• Sleep seems better as well as waking up.
• Psychologically, I feel apathetic at times because it seems overwhelming determining what is actually ok to eat.
• Body feels a bit weird adjusting to the program because I normally only eat eggs once or twice/week.  I also hardly ever eat potatoes which is now my go to starch, that and sweet potatoes.
• I have to confess my mind and body feel a bit "weird" at the moment.   I don't feel energized nor do I feel fatigued.  I feel like I have a mild jet lag sort of feeling.
• What's stranger is that as weird as I feel, my running doesn't seem affected by the changes so far.

With the change, I find less desire to binge on foods and so far, do not miss any of the foods from the "do not eat" list.

Early on, my go to foods seem to be smoked salmon, sweet potatoes, whole30 compliant olive oil fried hash browns and avocados.   I haven't had a problem with fruits or vegetables as my diet naturally has a lot of those already.

The big change is my snacking habits which have been horrid prior to the start of this.  Now, I only snack on an apple, banana, unsalted nuts or a can of sardines.

Still early in this program but looking forward to seeing how it affects me.

[caTones]

Day 5 into my Whole30 and I'm starting to "get it."  I feel less cranky as I felt in the previous post.  It seems that in the early stages, I feel full but malnourished simply because my body is getting used to the spike in fats in my diet.

This morning's Chia seed pudding with black berries, banana, raspberries with a pinch of cinnamon and some mint leaves cheered me up.

Will be exercising today for the 2nd time.  Look forward seeing how I function after a gentle 2 mile treadmill run.

[SugarcubeOD]

Okay so you probably won't like this, but that chia seed pudding and fruit hit first thing in the morning is not doing you any favors... is that all you ate?  Have you seen the meal template?  Those types of 'close to my old sweet breakfast foods' concotions are not nutritious enough.... I"m glad you're feeling better but imagine how amazing you could feel if you ate a real template breakfast with protein, fat and veggies and left the fruit and puddings off...

[caTones]

3 hours ago, SugarcubeOD said:

Okay so you probably won't like this, but that chia seed pudding and fruit hit first thing in the morning is not doing you any favors... is that all you ate?  Have you seen the meal template?  Those types of 'close to my old sweet breakfast foods' concotions are not nutritious enough.... I"m glad you're feeling better but imagine how amazing you could feel if you ate a real template breakfast with protein, fat and veggies and left the fruit and puddings off...

yup that was it for this morning's day 5 breakfast.  I changed it up this morning partially because I had no appetite at all but primarily because I had to wake up earlier to attend a very early meeting at work so this was "cooked" over night.  that being said my coconut milk, chia raspberry, blackberry banana pudding was a huge serving; at least 8 ounces of food.

Days 1-4 were breakfasts similar to what what you hinted at.  My protein/veggie intake for lunch and dinner were filled with both.

Day 5's Lunch was at least 16 ounces of pure veggies and protein.

Dinner was Irish Shepherd's pie (lamb, carrots, onions, scallions) which I'm finding to be a nice lullaby (sleepy now)

I had a few unsalted nuts (1/2 a palm's worth) and a pear wedge with almond butter as a dessert (I'm loving unsweetened almond butter)

Decided to exercise lightly today and stationary biked for 10 minutes and ran 2 miles on the treadmill at a gradually increasing pace.  No pains or post run soreness.  Have a 10-13 mile long hill run planned out this Sunday.  Will hit weights tomorrow, do ab exercises, and 10 minutes on the stationary bike.  Thursday will be the same routine as today.

Pants already feel a little looser and my "jet lagginess" feeling is waning.

I still have a little bit of jitteriness and have no cravings for simple carbs or sugar.  I don't even miss legumes (which I love).

Today the strangest thing happened, I actually craved mash potatos (which I had actually started getting bored of).  

That Irish Shepherd's Pie was delish!!!

 

 

 

 

[caTones]

End of Day 8 feeling strong.  My cravings are changing now that I've removed sugar, grains, legumes and dairy from my diet.  The other day, I had a huge craving for pickled herring.  Just a few bites and I was happy.

Have had two light 2 mile runs this week as I adapt to this new dietary approach.  On day 5, I felt great, just in time to coach my 4 others in my group that the first couple of days would be challenging.  My group seemed encouraged when they saw how vibrant I looked at discussions.  Usually, I prepare a discussion but my mind was so sharp I ad-libbed the meeting and we had great discussion.

Tomorrow morning, I will run 10-13 miles in preparation for a half marathon I'm scheduled to run in 3 weeks.  

Feeling really good at the moment.  8 days into it, I do not have that "filled up and malnourished" feeling as I initially posted.  More importantly, I have no knee soreness.  I'm a musician and I must admit, my guitar playing feels better and the musical ideas more sharply applied.

Let's see how my energy levels are prior to,during and after running 10-13 miles.

Mood is a 10 out of 10 today.

[SugarcubeOD]

Glad you're feeling better!

I've moved your topic to 'My Whole30 Log' as it's a better fit... the 'Join the Whole30' is more for groups conversating about their journey and less for individual logging.  I encourage you to find a group to join in the Join section as you're doing so well and really in tune with how your body is reacting; you would be a great inspiration to others in a group setting

[caTones]

2 hours ago, SugarcubeOD said:

Glad you're feeling better!

I've moved your topic to 'My Whole30 Log' as it's a better fit... the 'Join the Whole30' is more for groups conversating about their journey and less for individual logging.  I encourage you to find a group to join in the Join section as you're doing so well and really in tune with how you're body is reacting; you would be a great inspiration to others in a group setting

thanks so much, it's definitely turning more into  sort of blog

[caTones]

Day 10.  Sigh.   I have to admit, early into it, the results are positive.  I am not a morning person, but love the quiet of mornings in a big city that is loud anytime after 10am.  I've run 19 marathons and fell into a rut after December 2015 when I ran the St. Jude Marathon in Memphis.  That year, it was my 5th marathon in one year.  What was odd was that when I ran my first marathon that year, I was as light as I'd ever been in many years.  In Memphis, I finished that marathon 20 lbs heavier.

After having run 5 Marathons in a single year, I knew my body needed a rest and took the rest of December 2015 off and just relaxed.  Once I stopped running, my habits changed.  I ate more simple carbs and my body had no need for that energy and suddenly, I gained 5 more pounds.  By Mid January, when we decided to start training for the next marathon, I got injured.  I ran as if I were 15 lbs lighter and my knees instantly started flaring up.  I wrongfully ignored the pains and by March 2017, my knees were shot.  To make matters worst, I ran shifting my weight to other parts of my body to minimize the impact on my knees and finally, while doing planks, my back gave out on me.

I pretty much summed up all my injuries as just a part of being old.  I waved the white flag and decided to rest my body for 2 more months.  This caused me to gain more weight.  Suddenly, by July 2016, I was 40 lbs heavier than I had been only a year earlier where I had run the fastest and best marathon of my life.

After four more months of rest, my knee still hadn't healed.  Normally, that kind of "runner's knee" injury heals with 3 weeks rest.  It actually seemed worse.  I now had soreness there even when I walked.

What to do? What to do?

I decided that the primary cause of my injured knee was the sudden weight gain and the increased load to carry around.  So I embarked on my own weight loss program diligently logging in my calories and taking notes on my diet.  In a matter of 4 months, I lost 19 lbs and seemed to be headed in the right direction.  But holidays came 'round and that weight went back up to 15 lbs just like that.

What to do?  What to do?

Then I developed a very bad bout of fatigue.  I was so exhausted, I took two days off of work and literally slept for 72 straight hours (other than to eat or use the restroom).  While feeling fatigued, I asked myself: "what could I do to feel better again?  I miss that person." 

My girlfriend Alicia told me about how her friend had conversed with someone about the Whole30 Program.  I find programs such as the Whole30 interesting because I lead a group of 15 co-workers in a weight loss program where we meet once a week to weigh ourselves and once a week to discuss for 30 minutes about diet, health, nutrition and the challenges of weight loss and the issues associated with being overweight.

I read the rules and noticed that the rules were straight forward.  It was black and white: eat these items and don't eat those items for 30 days.  I always eat a lot of good vegetables and fruits in my diet so didn't think it would be too difficult to tweak my diet a little and eliminate other things that I ate for no reason other than the fact they are everywhere (i.e. sugar, grains, cheese and alcohol).

I started the Whole30 loosely following the rules in early March and by March 5th, decided to try and go all in on the idea.  After a hiccup, I had to reset on March 10th and now find myself on my 10th day.  Days 1-4 were very difficult.  While I felt certain improvements, I also felt completely out of whack and even detached from my body that seemed utterly confused over the transformation.

By Day 5, my energy levels started getting stronger and with each day, I've gotten mentally tougher and my body has responded positively.

This morning, at 7am (I was so tired this morning) I ran a half marathon training hill run.  6.7 miles to a  1,500 foot peak and then downhill the other 6.7 miles.  This was the first time I had ran this route since prior to the St. Jude's Marathon.  We ran it at a light pace as we're in training.  There are some difficult inclines and we managed them without too much difficulty other than the mental difficulty of wrapping our minds around the fact that we were doing it.

I can report that my knee feels great!  I have some natural soreness and aches but nothing to be concerned about.  I had a great breakfast, 3 poached eggs and corned beef hash browns with onions.  It was the first day I ate out since I started so I'm not completely sure if the breakfast was 100% in compliance (is "corned" beef ok? and I doubt the oil they used on the hash browns was good but the eggs were poached which tells me no oils were added to that) but I did substitute the toast with a small bit of fruit.

I have no idea how much I weigh at the moment, but it must be a good number because at my starting weight on Day 1, there would be no way I'd be able to run a full 13+ miles and feel as good as I do today.

Let's see how my body feels tomorrow.  Unlike my first post where I indicated that I was "cautiously optimistic", I can say that I am OPTIMISTIC, without any qualifier, that I will be feeling great tomorrow morning.

I smirk at my title on this blog: "Day 3 of my Paleo Prison Sentence."

Maybe the real prison sentence was the 1 year prior to starting this Program where I found myself gaining 40 lbs., feeling down because of inconsistent sleeping patterns and with a knee that couldn't walk let alone run.

Maybe this is a start of a permanent change in my outlook on things that prevents me from being an imprisoned version of myself.

[caTones]

Day 1.15 OR 2.11 OR 3.1

So I'm on day 11, but not really.  I read my post yesterday about my pickled herring cravings and finally decided to look at the ingredients on the container only to find that there was sugar in it .  It was an innocent mistake as I wasn't really craving sugar, just had a serious "pickled anything" craving and thought piggybacking my pickled craving with a protein would be creative, but no, it was a fail.  So today thus becomes my Day 1 all over again.  My third crack at this, hence: Day 3.1.

I had pickled in herring on Days 2.10, 2.8 and 2.6, so my previous try is only a 95% Whole30 Compliant diet.  For blogging purposes, I'm still tracking as if I'm 11 days into it, but for the purists, I'm back to day 1 all over again.  I'm also suspicious about the corned beef hash I had yesterday, specifically the oil the establishment used to cook it.   Further delving into my "version 2.0 Whole30 diet", I realized that I used alcohol in my coconut/chia pudding mixture from the vanilla extract.

Hopefully my Version 3.0 diet will be more Whole30 compliant.  The version 1.0 of me was Whole30 compliant other than the fact that had previously planned to attend a sushi and sake tasting event.  My calendar for the next 30 days should be free of any other 

Day 3.1 Meals:

M1.  Was two over easy eggs, cowboy potato hash browns, and chopped up green onions.  Was gonna have kale too but ran out of time and had to scurry off to work.

M2.  Had leftover kale potato italian sausage soup from yesterday's 2.10 dinner.   Was not satiated so I made two butter lettuce wraps with slices of heirloom tomato wrapped with turkey and bacon, with some chopped up avocado and persian cucumbers.  I added a balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and apple cider vinegar dip and I was in heaven.

Will snack with an apple and unsalted nuts and salted pistaccios (a handful).

M3.  Still not sure what we're gonna eat.  Stocked up yesterday on food.  Probably pan fried chicken with mashed sweet potato and lots of kale and other veggies.  On deck for tomorrow is a corned beef dish of some sort.

Day 3.1 Exercise:

Yesterday I ran 13.4 miles so I will not exercise today.

Day 3.1 State of Mind:

I am feeling more exhausted today.  No feelings of hunger or cravings.  My fatigue directly relates to my long run yesterday as I hadn't ran over 12 miles in at least 10 months.  I am just trying to make it thru the day.  I'm honestly too lazy to make dinner but when I get home, my woman and I will figure out something.  She's pretty supportive of the process and is fortunately more creative about dishes than I am.  I usually just follow her lead for dinner and in return, I make hearty breakfasts and lunches.

I have 5 others in my weight loss group (at work) embarking on the Whole30. I saw one of them, she's on her 6th day and her face was glowing..  On a Monday???? That's a first.  Usually the entire office looks like one big weekend hangover.  She will report to our group (we meet every Thursday's to discuss how we're progressing).

In the interim, she indicated that one positive that she is sleeping much better.  Let's get thru this day!!!

 

[caTones]

Day 12*

Was nice and tired the night of day 11.  For the first time yesterday, I was fast asleep before 11pm.  I woke up at 3am wide awake.  After tossing and turning was asleep and awoke at 6:30am rather exhausted.

M1: Was so tired this morning that my plan to have some kind of potato with my eggs wasn't gonna happen.  Instead I had 5 strips of bacon and two eggs with chopped onions cooked in avocado oil.  I also pan fried some dino kale and cooked it in avocado oil, a little salt, pepper and squeezed half a lemon.  That half a lemon really tasted good with the kale.

M2: Worked sluggishly even after two cups of black coffee.  I just wanted to sleep all day but I was still functioning better than my preWhole30 days of torpor.  When I got home for lunch, I had a ton of vegetables: heirloom tomato, persian cucumber, mushrooms, butter lettuce, chopped chard, more kale, green onions, chopped parsely and coriander with pumpkin seeds sprinkled on them.  For my protein I added canned salmon.  Sprinkled pepper on it and added apple cider/extra virgin olive oil dressing.  For the 2nd straight meal, there was no starchy carb.  Again, it was out of sheer laziness that I didn't have potato.

M3: Had a late dinner cause i had a craving for steak.  We went to Costco and stocked up on other items that we were short on.  This included chicken stock, turkey meat and turkey bacon.  We also stopped at our grocery store and bought some more purple sweet potatoes (our favorite of all sweet potatoes).  We also bought raw radish and made our own Whole30 compliant horse radish.  It's super easy: skin the radish, grate it, add vinegar and salt and wallah, raw horse radish.  On the steak it was delish!!  Really wanted steak sauce but just assumed that A1 Steak sauce probably wasn't compliant so I added tabasco sauce (salt, vinegar and peppers),   Had that with a boiled japanese yellow sweet potato and two zucchini's worth of pan fried veggies cooked in the chicken stock and minced garlic.

For dessert, had a pear, four slices with almond butter.

And that was day 12.  The only remarkable thing about day 12 is that I'm developing a better understanding of myself and my relationship with what I eat.  It seems that prior to embarking on my whole30 journey, I never really enjoyed my food.  Now that I'm eating everything from scratch, I find myself really reading the ingredients and find myself eating with a conscience.  I'm not eating like a Walking Dead zombie which is what I now see all around me.  Of course I always knew about the ingredients in foods but never really slowed down and took into consideration what it was that I was eating on a consistent basis.

In general everything's slowing down.  The over energized feelings are not as intense and my clarity is much stronger.  There's no sense of rush anymore.  Just a sense of relaxed steadiness.  The days don't seem as manic as they had been.  If I want a coffee, it doesn't have to be 5 cups to satisfy me now.  One or two does the job.

In two days, I meet with my 5 colleagues who are participating in the whole30 with me.  I hope that they are still adhering to the program with success.

Tomorrow, I look forward to exercising.  I will also try and up my fried eggs to three instead of two.  I actually love over easy eggs. Yum.

Let's rest and see how Day 13 goes.

 ^-Technically day 2 because I accidentally ate foods with sugar in the ingredients and had a tad of alcohol from vanilla extract.  It's day 12 with a couple honest mistakes of eating things that had non-compliant whole30 ingredients.

[caTones]

Good Morning Day 14!  So far, until this morning, Days 11, 12 and 13 found myself more fatigued than previous mornings.  I attribute this to my first long run (13+ miles) in over a year.  Despite that, as exhausted as I had been, I noticed another positive health change: less sensitivity to light.  For probably the past 10 years, my eyes always were too sensitive to light in the morning.  So much so that I often would shower in the dark at least 98% of the time.

The past two days, the bright morning lights have been on and I'm not bothered by it.  Just thought I'd note that.

Day 13 Meal Summary:

M1:2 eggs, 3 strips of turkey bacon, a small bowl of mashed yellow sweet potato, pan fried chopped avocado, heirloom tomato and green onion.

M2: A huge chard, kale, butter lettuce salad with chopped carrots, pumpkin seeds, a handful of salted pistachios, another chopped up heirloom tomato and chopped up cilantro and Italian parsley; with an olive oil, lemon, sea salt, garlic salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar and apple cider vinegar dressing; another small bowl of leftover yellow sweet potatoes.

M3: Like day 12, an 8oz steak; pan fried collards and some mashed orange sweet potatoes (garnet).

For dessert, had a small bowl of organic apple sauce with a dash of cinnamon.

Day 13 Exercise:

Was too busy grocery shopping on day 12 to exercise so I counted my running around Costco and my local market as exercise.  However on Day 13, I really wanted to hit the gym even though I felt a bit tired and sluggish all day.  Stationary biked for 10 minutes and then ran 2.5 miles at a gradually increasing pace (started miles 1 and 2 at 6.5 mph and upped lap 9 to a 7.5 mph and sprinted the final lap at 8.5 mph.

Post run, my body felt great.  There was mild thigh soreness but no post run fatigue and I was relaxed and comfy within 10 minutes.  Today, I hope to FINALLY hit the weight room.  I've always sucked at weights, but for marathon training, that's a must.

Day 13 State of Mind:

Felt a bit exhausted all day but not out of focus and was able to work fairly productively and with clarity.  At the end of the day, I had enough focus to hit the gym and was relaxed by dinner time.  I am getting conditioned to prepping foods and find that I love chopping veggies and herbs.  I'm even positive about cleaning up the mess every morning, lunch and dinner.  I look at it as simply exercise and as a duty to ensure that I'm really putting care into what I eat.

I'm one day from being in the "eye of the storm" (day 15) and must say that's exactly what it feels like: a great calm.  There's less of the anxiety that comes with days 1-5 and there's no overwhelming positive effect either.  

There's simply a cautious balance.

A part of me is very curious about how much I weigh but I am now comfortably patient about that weigh-in process.  All I can say is that my clothes are really fitting me nicely.  I even wore my Voodoo Doughnut t-shirt that I bought when I visited Portland a few years ago. That t-shirt hasn't fit me in years and it felt great on me.  I'm eating very large portions at each meal.  I also am starting to not even consider snacking, something that I have always had the habit of doing.

More importantly, I don't even have a craving for sugar.  I recall in days 1-5, I was thinking about how I could incorporate sugar in my meals by adding fruit or fruit juices.  That's not even an issue now.  Sweet potatoes are fine enough sugar for me; even potatoes with all of it's glucose does the job.

The other day, I had some coconut water, that in the past, I always thought wasn't too sweet.  When drank it, I notice every little morsel of sweetness in it.  I'm starting to realize how all those excess sweetened foods have made my taste buds numb to less sweetened items.  I even notice the sweetness in lemon juice now or tomatoes.  It seems bizarre to me, in a positive sense.

[caTones]

Good morning Day 15!  On Day 14, I met with my colleagues who are participating in the Whole30.  Of the 5, only 2 arrived at the meeting.  One that didn't show up, had a minor slip by eating cake on day 9 "just because it was there."  She's still very committed to the whole30 and has promptly reset the clock.  In her mindset, "it's only 30 days so I'm not to concerned about restarting."

The other two that showed up the meeting were at day 9 and both reported positively.  

M1: It seems like a year ago the breakfast I had yesterday.  What did I eat?  I think it was carrots pan fried heirloom tomatoes, avocado, a small bowl of leftover mashed yellow sweet potatoes, two fried eggs and 3 strips of turkey bacon.

M2: Tuna salad and leftover red sweet potatoes.

M3; A fully loaded Turkey salad.

My meals were more along the boring side yesterday because I simply just wanted to eat more as a chore than out of enjoyment.  It was weird.  I simply didn't even feel like eating all day.  I ate because I had to.  I was however rather proud that I ate all the vegetables that I bought.  All my parsley, cilantro and green onions?  Gone.

I've always enoyed those herbs in the past but 9 times out of 10 would wind up tossing them after not using them for 3 weeks.  In 1 week, I used them all up.

My state of mind yesterday was fairly positive.  I considered it a relax day.  My morning was great again and given that I have always dreaded mornings, that says a lot.  I also reported to my group that I sleep better and have less sensitivity to light in the morning.

Yesterday night, I did find myself more sleepless as it took me around an hour to fall asleep once I touched the bed.  12:30am out cold is still a massive improvement for me given that 1:30 -2:30am was the norm on work days when I'd have to be up by no later than 7:15am.

Overall my energy levels on Day 14 were good.  At times, I did feel a bit impatient in general.  I even wonder if it relates to my impatience at being at day 31.  This morning, I feel a bit of the impatience as well.  I just want my goal to be accomplished.  The funny part is that food isn't my primary concern.  Getting healthy is and fitting into all my favorite clothes is.where my visions lie.

Day 14 also increased my overall intellect with regards to why I've taken this challenge.  I'm naturally figuring out how my body responds to foods and really have a strong control over my appetite.  I'm realizing that in days 1-3, it was just my natural curiosity and excitement of change.  I probably subconsciously was trying to diagnose the flaws with this program like how all "diets" fail in the long run.  But now, I'm seriously considering staying on this path for a little while longer because it makes sense intuitively.  The biggest positive that my left knee, diagnose with inflammation and possible osteoarthritis has nearly all but disappeared very quickly.  Being able to run up stairs without pain hasn't been the case in a year so that result alone keeps my spirits up very high.

I am tired this morning but at least it's a Friday.  Lets finish off day 15 in the Green, get a nice long weekend rest and plan out how we're gonna tackle days 16-22.

Did not exercise today but semi-exercised because of other organizing projects about the house.  Will run 2.5 more miles tonight and will run another 13.4 miles on Sunday morning.

[caTones]

Here we are at Day 18.  Sometime on Day 15,

State of Mind

I actually had a few bouts of skepticism.  I began missing certain "technicality components" of my diet.  Things like soy sauce, cooking wine, and other ingredients I like in the things I eat that I know for sure I'm not overdosing on.  I hit a certain boredom of potatoes and sweet potatoes.  Sure, I've always loved sweet potatoes, but 3-4 times in the same week?

I also read up on the Mediterranian Diet and began missing all those Italian foods.  This longing for foods on my "do not eat list" was fleeting but I must confess the general lack of freedom to not have the right to eat them bothered me.  My civil rights were being violated with this Whole30 diet!!!!

Although I had a little bitterness, my commitment to completing this process was greater.  There are definitely greater things that I have benefited from by staying with this Program.  An understanding of myself and how I relate to food.  I am learning that I am not an addictive person when it comes to food, but rather, and obsessive/compulsive person towards food.  All my life, if there's something in my proximity that can be eaten, I must subconsciously obsess that it has to be eaten.

The Whole30 to date has isolated that aspect of my deeper personality and I find myself thinking that way.

It's weird because there are packs of madeline's waiting to be eaten, sugar-coated nuts, and chips.  In the past, those would be gone in days.  No kidding.  When I finish my reset, those items may never be eaten by me.

Perhaps the greater thing I'm getting out of the Whole30 is the elimination of unnecessary snacks.  On an average day prior to taking on the Whole30 Program, I average between 750-1,500 calories of snacks/day.  That hole in my diet will forever be a thing of the past.

Meals over the Weekend

I didn't log or take photos of what I ate this weekend.  I just stayed with the program.

On Friday, it was:

M1: Eggs, Bacon and Sweet Potatoes

M2:  Turkey Salad with Balsamic Vinegar

M3:  Chicken Breast (adobo style, soy sauce replaced with coconut amino sauce...not a really good replacement for soy sauce in my opinion), Pan Fried green chard.

Dessert: 3 kiwis

On Saturday:

M1: Shakshuka (eggs, stewed tomatoes, green onions, garlic and onions)

M2: Leftover Meal 3

M3: Pan fried in garlic wild fresh water shrimp (sooooo delish), mashed sweet potatoes, and Kale and Italian Sausage soup.  Very good!

Pear slices and almond butter for dessert.

On Sunday:

M1: (3) Poached eggs and corned beef hash browns with onions and chopped bell pepper (tasted horrible)

M2:  Leftover meal 3 with two more fried eggs added to i.

M3:  Shepherd's Pie (ground organic beef, carrots, onions and brown mushrooms).

Bartlett Pear slices and almond butter for dessert.

Excercise:

On Friday, I ran a light 2 miles.  Felt pretty good.  Didn't over exert.  On Sunday, I ran 10 hill miles and am ready for my half marathon next week.  I plan to run 3 miles on Tuesday, 3 on Wednesday, and 2 on Friday.  

Overall Physical Condition:

I don't feel lighter but when I look at myself, I think I actually am lighter.  My stomach is definitely not as bloated looking.  My running seems to be getting better and most importantly, my knee is not inflamed or aching post runs.  Also, in general, my recovery from runs is substantially faster.  Prior to the Whole30, I'd need an entire day to recover from my run. I'd need so much time that I really had no energy to do chores.  But now, not only do I recover faster, I'm doing chores the same day and have leftover energy at the end of the day.

Sleep:

My sleep continues to improve significantly.  I'm concluding that end of day sugar has been the problem with me getting effective and consistent sleep.  I am also dreaming.  Had a goofy dream that I simply forgot now but remembered it was sort of funny.  It's at the type of my memory but I can't grab it now.

But anyway, it's nice to be dreaming again.  I never dream more than 4-5 times a year and 18 days into the whole30, this is my 4th dream.  I'm very happy about that as it's a sign that I'm getting relaxed with the program and relaxed and most of all, happy with who I am.  

It's great to feel that way.

The kid is back.

 

 

 

 

 

[caTones]

Day 19

Almost 3 weeks into the Whole30 and I am functioning like a machine.  I am not a morning person, but I have committed to meet with my weight loss group every Tuesday mornings between 7:15am - 8:15am to record each person's weight.  Today, two indivuals in my group who are doing the Whole30 with me arrived and both looked dazzling and very positive.  They are both starting their day 15.  They are not completely compliant with the Whole30, specifically one of the two who simply had to weigh herself for positive reinforcement.  Since she started the Whole30 14 days ago, she has lost 6.5 lbs.  She's telling me that she's sleeping like a baby and feels very positive.  The other member who just wanted to stop by and tells us he's not be around for the next meeting broke down and said, "Oh shucks, I have to weigh myself, I'm just too curious!!"

He stepped on the scale, and has lost 10 lbs since he started the Whole30 just 14 days ago!!!  They both looked at me and told me that I look much younger and the my face is changing.  They were surprised when I told them that I'm not in the least be interested about how much I weigh.

I must say, my weight isn't of much concern to me.  My focus is on meal prepping, staying as close to the meal template as possible and reading directions so that I am confident nothing is slipping in my diet that could derail my whole30 focus.

Let's look at what I ate yesterday for day 18:

First of all, woke up very tired because I had trouble sleeping.  Didn't get to bed until 12:30pm.  This was because on Sunday night, I met with my friends.  A fantasy baseball draft party.  There was tons of beer and pizza flowing and I made some Shepherd's Pie and brought it and settled for 3 glasses of water as my beverage.  I'm naturally extroverted, so by the time I got home, I was charged from the good times and laughs with my longtime friends who were very supportive of me and my Whole30 Program.  No peer pressure to drink.  Just good times and lots of laughs.

M1: Two eggs over easy, green onions, 3 slices of bacon and 12 servings of leftover Shepherd's Pie.

M2:  Another 1/2 servings of Shepherd's Pie and leftover kale, Italian sausage soup.  Wanted  a quick and fast lunch so that I could nap for 30 minutes as I was very tired from the lack of sleep.

M3: Salmon Filet (ingredients looked ok except for one question item called yeast extract...sounds suspicious so I ate it reluctantly.  I literally could hear sirens in my mind of the Whole30 police telling me to pull over to inspect what I ate, lol); mashed potatoes, 7 pieces of grilled wild fresh water shrimp pan fried in garlic (YUMMY!!) and my new favorite dish:  ZOODLES (zucchini noodles).. OH MY GOD!!! THEY ARE SOOOOOOOOO DELISH!!!  I eat zucchini all the time.  Not because I necessarily like it, but because it's easy to prepare and it's a vegetable (and I eat my greens).  My girlfriend bought a zucchini noodle grater and pan fried it in olive oil with peppers and garlic with a little chicken stock: OH MY GOD!!! It was like an optical taste illusion.  It really does look and taste like regular good ole pasta.  I don't think I ever have to have pasta again for the rest of my life because Zoodles really tastes amazing!!!

Finished the night with a sliced banana dabbed in almond butter with sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top.  It was the perfect end to a long day.

Still feeling a tad tired today.  WIll plan on running 3 miles after work.  My stamina and endurance is slowly coming back.   After I run my half marathon this Sunday, I'll be ready to train for the San Francisco Marathon in late July.  I will be Marathon number 20 for me.  I am still not 100% but my mind is.  My legs and body are at about 90%.  With running and my new approach to eating, I'm confident that I will finish #20 with a respectable time.

Wow, day 20 is tomorrow.  My resolve is still very strong.

 

[caTones]

22 minutes ago, caTones said:

Day 19

Almost 3 weeks into the Whole30 and I am functioning like a machine.  I am not a morning person, but I have committed to meet with my weight loss group every Tuesday mornings between 7:15am - 8:15am to record each person's weight.  Today, two indivuals in my group who are doing the Whole30 with me arrived and both looked dazzling and very positive.  They are both starting their day 15.  They are not completely compliant with the Whole30, specifically one of the two who simply had to weigh herself for positive reinforcement.  Since she started the Whole30 14 days ago, she has lost 6.5 lbs.  She's telling me that she's sleeping like a baby and feels very positive.  The other member who just wanted to stop by and tells us he's not be around for the next meeting broke down and said, "Oh shucks, I have to weigh myself, I'm just too curious!!"

He stepped on the scale, and has lost 10 lbs since he started the Whole30 just 14 days ago!!!  They both looked at me and told me that I look much younger and the my face is changing.  They were surprised when I told them that I'm not in the least be interested about how much I weigh.

I must say, my weight isn't of much concern to me.  My focus is on meal prepping, staying as close to the meal template as possible and reading directions so that I am confident nothing is slipping in my diet that could derail my whole30 focus.

Let's look at what I ate yesterday for day 18:

First of all, woke up very tired because I had trouble sleeping.  Didn't get to bed until 12:30pm.  This was because on Sunday night, I met with my friends.  A fantasy baseball draft party.  There was tons of beer and pizza flowing and I made some Shepherd's Pie and brought it and settled for 3 glasses of water as my beverage.  I'm naturally extroverted, so by the time I got home, I was charged from the good times and laughs with my longtime friends who were very supportive of me and my Whole30 Program.  No peer pressure to drink.  Just good times and lots of laughs.

M1: Two eggs over easy, green onions, 3 slices of bacon and 12 servings of leftover Shepherd's Pie.

M2:  Another 1/2 servings of Shepherd's Pie and leftover kale, Italian sausage soup.  Wanted  a quick and fast lunch so that I could nap for 30 minutes as I was very tired from the lack of sleep.

M3: Salmon Filet (ingredients looked ok except for one question item called yeast extract...sounds suspicious so I ate it reluctantly.  I literally could hear sirens in my mind of the Whole30 police telling me to pull over to inspect what I ate, lol); mashed potatoes, 7 pieces of grilled wild fresh water shrimp pan fried in garlic (YUMMY!!) and my new favorite dish:  ZOODLES (zucchini noodles).. OH MY GOD!!! THEY ARE SOOOOOOOOO DELISH!!!  I eat zucchini all the time.  Not because I necessarily like it, but because it's easy to prepare and it's a vegetable (and I eat my greens).  My girlfriend bought a zucchini noodle grater and pan fried it in olive oil with peppers and garlic with a little chicken stock: OH MY GOD!!! It was like an optical taste illusion.  It really does look and taste like regular good ole pasta.  I don't think I ever have to have pasta again for the rest of my life because Zoodles really tastes amazing!!!

Finished the night with a sliced banana dabbed in almond butter with sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top.  It was the perfect end to a long day.

Still feeling a tad tired today.  WIll plan on running 3 miles after work.  My stamina and endurance is slowly coming back.   After I run my half marathon this Sunday, I'll be ready to train for the San Francisco Marathon in late July.  I will be Marathon number 20 for me.  I am still not 100% but my mind is.  My legs and body are at about 90%.  With running and my new approach to eating, I'm confident that I will finish #20 with a respectable time.

Wow, day 20 is tomorrow.  My resolve is still very strong.

 

Funny typo..that was ONE serving of Shepherd's Pie.  Not TWELVE?!?!?!  (LOL)

[caTones]

Day 20!!!

2/3rd's thru this and feeling pretty good, maybe a little overly charged.  It's funny how 20 days later, the standards are different for me now.  I'm much more judgmental about what's in the ingredients.  It's to the point where if it's not out in the open and covered in any sort of a package, I assume unhealthy things have been added to it making me suspicious.

Also, I'm much more sensitive to sugar.  Even fruit has me concerned that I am eating too much sugar.  

Most importantly, I'm very judgmental if I find myself more awake than normal after say 10pm.  Yesterday night, I was still more awake than normal after 11pm but finally closed my eyes at 11:30pm; Under the Whole30, 11:30pm is concerningly late for me when back in my preWhole30 days, any sleep before 1am was considered a victory.  I love that I am sleeping better.  I still find myself waking up in the middle of the night from time to time though but I'm still a lot less sensitive to light in the morning which makes me happy.

Yesterday's Menu:

M1: Eggs, Hashbrowns, Turkey and Pan fried spinach and kale.

M2: The last of the leftover Shepherd's Pie and Kale & Italian sausage soup

M3:  Chicken Picatta, Steamed Red Potatoes and Pan fried collard.

for dessert, I had banana and almond butter with sprinkled sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds

had a few other snacks: a handful or two of unsalted nuts and hemp milk and chia seeds.  I really like hemp milk and may permanently replace milk with it in the future.

Excercise:

Did a quick 10 minutes on the bike and ran a light 2 miles on the treadmill.  Tonight, I want to up that number to 3 miles.  I'm hoping to run on back to back days for the first time in over a year.  My knee hasn't allowed me to run on consecutive days for awhile now so tonight's run will be a major victory for me.

Nothing much to report.  Just looking to be make it to legal drinking age (haha!).  Day 21's just around the corner.

[kellyfoss]

18 hours ago, caTones said:

Day 20!!!

2/3rd's thru this and feeling pretty good, maybe a little overly charged.  It's funny how 20 days later, the standards are different for me now.  I'm much more judgmental about what's in the ingredients.  It's to the point where if it's not out in the open and covered in any sort of a package, I assume unhealthy things have been added to it making me suspicious.

Same here! My boyfriend laughs at me because even things that probably are compliant with compliant additives make me cringe and I put them back. Definitely learning to be picky, which is not a bad thing.

[caTones]

Day 21

Still sleeping well and will be honest that this morning, I didn't wanna get up, but once I'm up, I slowly but eventually snap out of the torpor.  Yesterday had me eating the following:

M1: 2 eggs, 3 strips of turkey bacon, pan fried heirloom tomatoes and leftover garlic/green onion mashed potatoes.

M2: Prosciutto Melone and a potato, kale, spinach heirloom tomato, chopped shallots and parsley sautee that was pretty much a nasty cooking add lib by your's truly  .  I ate half of it and saved the rest for this morning with my eggs and turkey.

M3:  Corned beef (with carrots, onions and cabbage)

Dessert: Banana with sprinkled pumpkin seeds and almond butter.

By the end of day 20, I was spent from all the food prepping.  It took me an hour to prep and cook my lunch and I was exhausted simply from all the chopping and dish washing.  This morning, I look at my low egg supply and sadly realize that I have to head back to the market and buy everything all over again.  It's tiring but I know it's beneficial.  

Exercise:

Yesterday wound up being a brutal one for me.  I was spent by the end of the day.   This probably correlates more to the fact that I ran 3 miles and for the first time in over a year, I ran on back-to-back days.  While I was walking home, I almost broke off this commitment but fought that off, changed into my running outfit and was out the door before I could change my mind.  The light and simple 3 mile run was very tough for me.  I felt the gravity with each and every step.  Maybe it was my new running shoes or, just rust.  But, it was hard.

I did manage a great sweat but felt myself licking my wounds all night.  I was very lucky that my woman made a huge pot of corned beef.  Don't know what I would've have done had she not had my back.  I love her.

I looked in the mirror and my face was red.  Could have been sunburnt but I also felt a little dizzy so I took a couple of aspirin to help alleviate any aches and pains I was feeling.  By the time I got in bed at 11pm, I tried reading a book about a different food program called the high metabolism diet which is interesting to me.  After reading 3 pages, I was out cold dead asleep until I reawoke at 3am only to fall right back asleep until my 6:45 alarm went off today.

State of Mind:

Still very tired after yesterday but on the positive, today will be my quasi-Friday as I am off tomorrow.  A nice long weekend will be just what I need.

I am traditionally a good finisher so, let's tackle these final 9 days like a champion.

 

 

[caTones]

Day 25: "The Dream"

Ok, ok, I finally had that "dream" (lol).  I had three separate dreams between Day 24 and this morning Day 25 about eating non-compliant Whole30 foods.  In one dream, it was some kind of a tortilla wrapped item; on the second, I bought these nasty fries from a vendor who happened to be Michael J. Fox, and the 3rd dream, just prior to waking up was sugar related.  I think there was also a greasy cheeseburger within one of those three dreams.

I woke up literally feeling stuffed from the crap I had fed myself.  What was strange about the dream was that I did not feel any comfort at all while eating them.  I felt a self-disgust.  The disgust seemed to be more directed at society and all the filth that they poison us with rather than at myself.  I mean seriously, with all our science, the best we can do to our consumers, to make a profit, is lace foods with transfats, something used to make candle wax??  And all that coloring and texturizing of food just to make crap look appealing.  It's a metaphor that reminds me of people who wear nice clothes and makeup but have no soul, no spirit, no personality, no heart.

These thoughts placed me starting my fourth week in a state of renewed vigor.  Since day 22, I didn't chronicle what I ate so I'll try and recollect what I had:

Day 22:

M1: Eggs, bacon

M2: Can't even remembered what I ate.  Probably Day 21 leftovers.

M3:  Went to a ball game and had horribly tasting chicken strips with garlic fries.  Utterly disgusting.

Day 23:

M1: (2) Hard boiled eggs

M2:

M3: Mashed potatoes, Chicken breast sauteed in onions and some kind of a pan fried veggie.

Day 24:

M1: (2) Hard Boiled eggs and a banana

M2: (2) Two eggs (overeasy), 8 oz steak, hash browns and a small bowl of mixed fruit

M3: Two large bowls of cabbage, carrot, onion, potato garlic, chick stock, tomato, and ground organic beef soup

Exercise:

On Friday, I ran a light 2 miles on the treadmill without any problem.  On Sunday, I ran my first road race in over a year, the Oakland Half Marathon.  I'm a marathon runner so I wasn't expecting this to be tough but it was because it was extremely warm and sunny.  I hit the wall at mile 5 simply because I felt dehydrated despite the water stations.  For the final 8 miles, I relied on my running experience to finish in a slow time of 2 hours 10 minutes and change.  I was just happy I completed the run without passing out.  I felt some mild heat stroke symptoms of nausea and a slight headache.  For the final 3 water stations, not only did I drink two cups of water, but I used a 3rd cup to pour on top of my head to cool down my mind which literally felt as if it were on fire.

I looked at the weather report and the temperature during the peak of the race couldn't have been warmer than 65-68 degrees but it felt like a 100 degrees to me.  I'm a cold weather runner and hadn't trained in the sun so I really had to reach from inside to finish this.

After a 2 mile walk back to my apartment from the finish line, we head breakfast and the warm egg yoke going down my throat in one explosion and swallow was the most nurturing feeling I've had in a long time.  I spent the remainder of yesterday just licking my wounds with two very sore, but uninjured knees.  By 5pm, it occurred to me that my head was still on fire it seemed so I literally iced my temple and forehead for an hour which really helped to finally cool me down.

Other Reads over the Weekend

Over the weekend, I found myself reading a book that incorporates a diet I may use partially after my reintroduction phase is complete.  It's similar to the whole30 and it's called the "Fast Metabolism Diet" by Haylie Pomroy.  Like the whole30, it recommends cleaner, leaner, organic meats but breaks down the diet in three separate phases that are repeated for 4 weeks.

Like the Whole30, refined sugars are off the table as is alcohol and dairy.  The more I think about it, I don't miss dairy all that much.  I might miss the mozarella from pizza but not much more beyond that.  I already feel more committed to hemp milk and, I'm very close to completely eliminating wheat from my diet altogether as well.  Haylie Pomroy made an excellent point about wheat and it's dietary effect on our bodies:  her point was that wheats are mostly genetically modified to withstand crop failures that occur from bad weather and insect ravaging.  Her point was, that if wheat it genetically designed to withstand such attacks, wouldn't be able to withstand the human digestive system from benefiting from any of the nutrients it contains?

Thought provoking ideas.

Anyways, I'm traditionally a good finisher and see the finish line ahead of me.  I haven't weighed myself and feel pretty excited about what my results will turn out to be.

Almost there!!!

[caTones]

Good morning Day 26!!!

I feel extremely exhausted this morning.  i don't think this correlates to my Whole30 experience as it does with the half marathon (in hot sunny weather) that I ran on Sunday.  I'm just beat.  Yesterday was a non-exercise day and today, I will hit the weight room and run a very gentle 2 mile recovery run.  I wanna run 3 miles but I don't think my legs will be ready.

Day 25 Meals:

M1: Two hard boiled eggs and a potato cabbage, beef, onion carrot soup.

M2:  Kale and Spinach Salad with lots of nuts, smoked salmon, pumpkin seeds, chopped celery and persian cucumbers in a balsamic vinegar/extra virgin olive oil dressing.  Yum!

M3:  Roasted chicken breast (the fried skin was soooo delish) and a large bowl of potato cabbage carrot onion ground beef soup.

Dessert: (3) Kiwis (even ate the skins)

State of Mind

It seems that early into this program, I felt those great feelings of invincibility.  Now, I just feel exhausted.  This seems to relate more to my running.  I'm concerned that I am not hydrating enough and I think I must've lost a lot of weight which might also be translating into fatigue.  My protein, good fat and complex carbohydrates seem to be in the right doses; my simple carbs (potatoes and sweet potatoes) might not be sufficient which results in me not having enough energy to burn all day.

I haven't had any major bouts with hunger at all though.  My sleep has been a little less consistent.  It all began with the eve of the half marathon.   I was so excited about running it that I had a lot of trouble sleeping.  There was just too much adrenaline in my system.  I woke up three times after falling asleep at around 2:30am.  It wasn't quality sleep which is another contributing factor that my half marathon was more brutal than it had to be.  With a full night's rest, I'm certain I would've ran better.  Then on Sunday to Monday, I did rest well though I woke up at 3am.  This has been a common pattern.  At around 3am, I am waking up.  Even on my good days.  I have not problem after 5 minutes getting right back to sleep but I'd really love to sleep at 10pm and wake up at 6am without interruption.

That would be a great feeling.

Reintroduction:

With my Day 31, the reintroduction phase just around the corner, I am starting to plan out how I'll approach it.   I had my first real intense non-compliant Whole30 craving yesterday: Falafels (lol).  I have no idea but if someone walked up to me now and put a plate of falafels and hummus in front of me, I'd woof it down like a dog in front of a bowl of Alpo.  

So on reintroduction day, I just need to figure out which legume to have for breakfast.  I normally don't eat legumes for breakfast.  One possiblity is a red bean bun but that would contain grains too (rice flour).  Possibly a red bean soup might be the ticket for Day 31 for breakfast.  That with a side of bacon and a hard boiled egg or two and I should be golden.

For my Day 31 meal 2, it will be a kale/spinach salad with black eyed peas, green peas, garbanzo beans, chickpeas and whatever legume I could conjur up.

And for my meal 3, it will be take out chicken kebab with falafels and hummus with a middle eastern salad of some sort (lettuce, diced tomatoes, diced cucumbers...my mouth is watering just thinking about it).

On Day 34, my next reintroduction might be gluten free grains.  That means M1 will be oatmeal (miss that too!);  M2 would be a salad with quinoa;  M3 would be brown rice, veggies and salmon.

On Day 37, my next introduction would be tofu.  M1 might be a soy sauce hard boiled egg, bacon and yams; M2: will be some kind of Chinese food; and meal M3 would be Lahksa with a hard boiled egg.

That means Day 40 will be dairy: 

For breakfast, hard boiled egg with greek yogurt; M2: something with cheese; M3: something else with cheese.

Meal 43 will be when I finally get to try toast with eggs again.  I can't wait!!!  and M2 will be a sammich!!!!  M3 will be some kind of fried chicken in a flour batter of some sort.  I'm not a huge gluten eater to be honest so that's not an area I'm worried about.

After Meal 43, I will probably do a whole30 diet until day 50 where I will reintroduce a combination of Whole30 items in my diet, specifically: PIZZA!!!!

After Day 50, I will consider processed sugar but won't schedule what exactly I'll eat.

Between days 31-50, I'll probably eat some sugar here and there that's embedded in foods I had to stop eating that contained trace sugars in them, such as the pickled herring I love so much and other meats with minor amounts (less than 0.5 grams of sugar) in them.

After Day 50, I think I'll be committed to maintaining a Whole30-esque breakfast and lunch on a daily basis.  I also will probably discontinue snacking on anything that is NOT whole30 compliant.

One thing I've learned about myself is that I am not truly and addictive person.  I am however a spontaneous person who has bursts of energy.  While I was gaining weight, that spontaneity was functioning while in the presence of a lot of food.  Instead of using those bursts of energy to do something healthy, like exercise or run or dance or do anything productive, I used those moments of energy to snack more while sitting in front of the television.

I think the Whole30 has changed me in that sense.  Once I'm permanently off the whole30, I am not sure if I will eat eggs as often.  I prefer something quick and simple in the morning, like cereal or oatmeal.  My weekend will definitely be egg based, but not my work days.  My lunches will be primarily whole30 with legumes added unless my knee flares up again.  Should that happen, I could probably be certain that legumes could be the culprit (or grains).

For dinner, white rice may be permanently written off for brown rice instead.  I will also eat soy in moderation.  Lastly and most importantly, I wil commit to eating pizza no more than 2 times a month and ideally just once a month.

Ok days 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30...let's have at it!!!

[kellyfoss]

Almost there! Keep up the good work! *insert cheerleader emoji here, if we had one*

[MeadowLily]

3 minutes ago, kellyfoss said:

Almost there! Keep up the good work! *insert cheerleader emoji here, if...... we had one*  

[kellyfoss]

13 hours ago, MeadowLily said:

I bow to your superior emoji skills, haha! 

[MeadowLily]

3 hours ago, kellyfoss said:

I bow to your superior emoji skills, haha! 

Trix are for kids.

[caTones]

Good morning Day 27!!!  Woke up tired but after an hour, suddenly, my energy levels are much better.

Day 26 Menu:

M1: Two hard boiled eggs, a cold 5 oz piece of smoked salmon, cup of black coffee

M2: Dino Kale salad with heirloom tomatoes, Persian cucumbers, white mushrooms, nuts and 5 ounces of hot roasted chicken breast.

M3: (3) Chicken Sausages, Zoodles and mashed Yellow Japanese Sweet Potatoes

Dessert: 4 pears with almond butter.

All day: lots of water; at least 100 ounces for the entire day.

Snack before dinner: a handful of salted pistachios.

State of Mind:

Yesterday amounted to nothing more than a 2nd recovery day after that grueling half marathon on Sunday in unbearable heat.  I woke up exhausted and was fairly exhausted for most of the day.  Within this exhaustion, I was fairly productive at the office and had enough in my gas tank to exercise. I was pretty hungry for dinner and after a plate, was very full.  My focus all day was to hydrate as much as possible.  In programs like the Whole30, it is easy to forget about fundamental habits that are essential in all diets: hydration.  Something at my core told myself to make a concerted effort to drink fluids all day.   I think it's embedded from all my marathon training in the past that basically says you need fluids to flush out the lactic acid in your muscles so that soreness dissipates faster.  I'm not sure if that's scientifically what's going on but that's just my mindset.

With that,  I will really focus to hydrate on my final 4 days of the Whole30.

Yesterday, I reported falafel cravings.  Today, I can report that I do not have any significant cravings.  As far as I'm concerned, if I never have a dairy, gluten, wheat, corn, tofu, legume or sugar based food item ever again, I'd be ok with that.  One thing that's true about the Whole30 program is that after 30 days, habits are hard to break.  

Some of the habits engrained within the program language of my mind now is that I consciously read ingredients in the products I buy.  They are there for a reason.  If there's poison in food, the company won't get sued if they put it in writing before your eyes.  They warn you they you are spending your money at the expense of harming your health, yet you continue to let them profit from harming you.  I will not be a part of that faction anymore.

I continue to ask all businesses that manufacture food: why isn't there a cost effective way to feed fellow human beings without poisoning them?

I also continue to ask: why, after all these years, has my country allowed for companies to profit by feeding citizens with food that's often not digestable, harmful to our health, and of no nutritional value?  I understand the freedom of capitalism, but foods with chemicals should be regulated in the same manner that alcohol or cigarettes are regulated.

Eh, sorry for sounding so political.  I just have a greater clarity about food now and it saddens me that people out there have the conscience to profit at the expense of the health of others.  It makes no sense at all.

Exercise:

Started weight training yesterday!!!  Just a few reps of gradually increasing bench press weights.  I also added 4 reps of abdominal exercises; stationary cycled for 10 minutes and ran for 2 soft miles at an 8:57/mile minute pace.  At first, the running was hard but by the final half mile, I was staring into a blank wall on the treadmill but focused and not bored to death by the monotony which always happens when I am out of shape.

I'm getting in shape which is a great feeling.  Tonight I will run 3.75 miles outdoors or so and will continue to add weights to my exercise.  I will rest on Thursday and then will try and do 3 light miles on the treadmill.  I plan on adding more weights.  It's time to start building the muscles in my body.  The SF Marathon, which is a very difficult and hilly race will require more than just endurance.  Gonna need to have my shoulders, back, abs, and arms to be solid.

The Finish Line

I have always been a good finisher and day 30 is in sight.  But this will not end at day 30.  There's a greater finish line ahead of me which is the rest of my life.  The Whole30 reminded me that health outweighs any indulgence.

It's nice to be back on track.