April 1st Start Date - Support Group

[jklovey71]

3 hours ago, bethross said:

What is "old zucchini"?

Your soup looks really good.

Haha, oh, it's been in my frig for a while....getting limp and pruney-looking . I forget that soups are perfect for neglected veggies. And thank you! The flavor matched the photo. Happy to eat leftovers a few times. 

[amandapilk]

YES! Coffee filters work great, I use just 1 at a time and put it inside a metal strainer and strain over a bowl! No need to buy fancy cheesecloth  

[amandapilk]

For recipes, I made chicken with shallots, rosemary and dates. By far the best chicken I have ever made! I did mine a little different than recipe, I put all the ingredients into ziplock baggie and marinated all day until ready to cook. Put chicken out on foiled pan, and then covered with toppings. It was really yummy! My store didn't have any fresh rosemary in stock either, so I used dried, still really good!! 

Link: http://paleomg.com/date-shallot-rosemary-chicken/

I also made oatless oatmeal... made with zucchini and eggs, I topped mine with almond butter and blueberries, very yummy, and something beside eggs (even thought eggs are in it) I would probably use organic egg beaters in the future, if I could find them. I hated to waste yokes, but I did use them to bake some chicken. 

Link:http://www.pbfingers.com/oatless-oatmeal-with-zucchini/

 

[SugarcubeOD]

16 minutes ago, amandapilk said:

For recipes, I made chicken with shallots, rosemary and dates. By far the best chicken I have ever made! I did mine a little different than recipe, I put all the ingredients into ziplock baggie and marinated all day until ready to cook. Put chicken out on foiled pan, and then covered with toppings. It was really yummy! My store didn't have any fresh rosemary in stock either, so I used dried, still really good!! 

Link: http://paleomg.com/date-shallot-rosemary-chicken/

I also made oatless oatmeal... made with zucchini and eggs, I topped mine with almond butter and blueberries, very yummy, and something beside eggs (even thought eggs are in it) I would probably use organic egg beaters in the future, if I could find them. I hated to waste yokes, but I did use them to bake some chicken. 

Link:http://www.pbfingers.com/oatless-oatmeal-with-zucchini/

 

This 'oatmeal' thing is not recommended... it's trying to replicate sweet breakfast items which is a no go for Whole30.  Eggs are a whole food as well and the relationship between the yolk and the whites is symbiotic, so separating them is not really in your best interest.  It's also a LOT of fruit, nuts and seeds in the am if you're topping with additional fruit and nut butter.  You'd do better to make a proper template meal of protein, fats and veggies, rather than to try recreating 'oatmeal'.

[Alaska Woman]

I've had the same experience with licking my fingers when there's something non-compliant on them. So far have stopped myself just in the nick of time and now my husband has started the program too, so no more worries on that score.

[amandapilk]

8 minutes ago, SugarcubeOD said:

This 'oatmeal' thing is not recommended... it's trying to replicate sweet breakfast items which is a no go for Whole30.  Eggs are a whole food as well and the relationship between the yolk and the whites is symbiotic, so separating them is not really in your best interest.  It's also a LOT of fruit, nuts and seeds in the am if you're topping with additional fruit and nut butter.  You'd do better to make a proper template meal of protein, fats and veggies, rather than to try recreating 'oatmeal'.

I could definitely see were oatmeal would be a problem for some people. But I don't ever eat oatmeal because I don't like it, think its gross (maybe because I don't eat it with added sugar, cinnamon, etc.) and never filling. But I know we aren't suppose to recreate sweet breakfast items, not sure oatmeal was a sweet treat for me, french toast on the other hand! I could eat it until I burst! And the amount of almond butter and fruit I added was very small compared to how much "oatmeal" I made. 

I will leave this off for my next 8 days though, because I do see how not using the whole eggs you loss your whole food protein of the eggs. Thank you for info!! 

 

[amandapilk]

4 minutes ago, Alaska Woman said:

I've had the same experience with licking my fingers when there's something non-compliant on them. So far have stopped myself just in the nick of time and now my husband has started the program too, so no more worries on that score.

Thats exciting your husband joined in!!! You guys can try new recipes together, now to get him to do dishes   Not licking your fingers is an honest mistake lol I've also almost made that mistake! Such is the ways of habits!

[Alaska Woman]

30 minutes ago, SugarcubeOD said:

This 'oatmeal' thing is not recommended... it's trying to replicate sweet breakfast items which is a no go for Whole30.  Eggs are a whole food as well and the relationship between the yolk and the whites is symbiotic, so separating them is not really in your best interest.  It's also a LOT of fruit, nuts and seeds in the am if you're topping with additional fruit and nut butter.  You'd do better to make a proper template meal of protein, fats and veggies, rather than to try recreating 'oatmeal'.

Both recipes sound so yummy but I'm glad I saw the comment about the oatmeal. I will save that for a treat sometime when I'm not doing Whole 30.

[IndustriousJoy]

46 minutes ago, Alaska Woman said:

I've had the same experience with licking my fingers when there's something non-compliant on them. So far have stopped myself just in the nick of time and now my husband has started the program too, so no more worries on that score.

Super good news--I hope he's able to get his blood sugar down and that he enjoys the process!

[IndustriousJoy]

Happy Earth Day everyone!  The past three days have been full of, dare I say, "boundless energy!"  I think it's going to stick around.  Honestly, I never want to not feel this way again.  This makes me feel like a regular person--the kind that is actually motivated to clean their house, cook something, take a walk around the block to meet neighbors, etc.  If you're not experiencing the energy yet, I'd encourage you to stick with the process as long as it takes.  I'd also say this: having "boundless energy" has not made me feel super happy or have some kind of emotional high.  For me, it has just meant that I can do significantly more with my time than I was doing before.  Almost every day the girls and I go out to a program of some sort for a couple of hours, then I come home completely fatigued--2-3 hr afternoon nap, chores pile up, little planning of meals, etc.  Now I can just do things without it being so hard.  If you're starting out with a health condition, just look out for the feeling being able to do more, even if it's not "boundless" to someone else (because that doesn't matter).  

[Kaylakat]

15 minutes ago, IndustriousJoy said:

Happy Earth Day everyone!  The past three days have been full of, dare I say, "boundless energy!"  I think it's going to stick around.  Honestly, I never want to not feel this way again.  This makes me feel like a regular person--the kind that is actually motivated to clean their house, cook something, take a walk around the block to meet neighbors, etc.  If you're not experiencing the energy yet, I'd encourage you to stick with the process as long as it takes.  I'd also say this: having "boundless energy" has not made me feel super happy or have some kind of emotional high.  For me, it has just meant that I can do significantly more with my time than I was doing before.  Almost every day the girls and I go out to a program of some sort for a couple of hours, then I come home completely fatigued--2-3 hr afternoon nap, chores pile up, little planning of meals, etc.  Now I can just do things without it being so hard.  If you're starting out with a health condition, just look out for the feeling being able to do more, even if it's not "boundless" to someone else (because that doesn't matter).  

I can relate to the more energy to do the "regular" daily tasks. I too struggled with being able to tidy up the house or plan meals because I would rather just veg out and watch tv or sleep whenever I had the time. 

[Whole Nerdy]

Hello, checking in here, Day 22 of 1st Whole 30. Mainly looking to contain uncontrolled snacking and be in deep dialogue with various sugar demons. What I noticed right away on this diet is that my attitude toward my food changed. I am much more conscious, organized, and intentional towards my food. I am not buying food on impulse, taking a few bites, and then discarding it for my next treat. This is important because I used to be vegetarian, and now I am eating meat in a pretty serious way and wanting to respect the animal by not throwing out more than I need to. Even my fridge is neater and cleaner--although I'm eating at home as much as possible, so it's full of food. 

Up until a couple days ago, my sugar craving was continual. To satisfy it, I kept snacking, although with compliant ingredients--you know, an apple slathered with sun butter, followed by berries in coconut milk, followed by pistachios and dried fruit, followed by... well, you get the idea. Melissa keeps saying in the Whole30 book not to do this, and I thought the sugar cravings would subside and I would stop snacking, but it didn't happen. Finally I decided to seize the beast by the horns and cease snacking, and cut out nuts and dried fruit for the last 10 days. (I do plan to use sun butter to make Sunshine Sauce.) Since that happened--voila--those awful sugar cravings have mostly gone away. And I thought it was all physical. Hah. It's habitual--which I believe is the point of these guidelines. So I feel encouraged. Reversing a habit is no easy thing.

 

[Alaska Woman]

 

Good for you. I think there really is a good reason for everything the authors say to do or not do and that the intent is to help us succeed, not to deprive us of goodies just to be mean. lol

[bethross]

How do I post photos on here? It always says failed code 200. The amount of MB is 1.3 and the max is 3.96.

[Alaska Woman]

I'm afraid I can't help you. I'm totally lost when it comes to these things and had to get help just to add a picture to my profile.

[IndustriousJoy]

Can it be?  Day 23 thoughts of ''feeling so good I think I can quit?''  I am happy to have been warned so that I can accept these thoughts as normal and push through!  Side note--a patchy skin inflammation on my shoulder that I have had for months disappeared two days ago. I think it was a candida flare which I have had before.  They can last so long and sometimes go dormant (but still present), then flare up again.  Nothing topical has been able to do more than shrink it or keep it dormant for awhile. 

[DianeD]

On 4/15/2017 at 0:32 PM, MaineMom said:

I had to make an emergency trip on Day 11 until today and I was determined to stay on the Whole 30 plan. I booked a hotel with a fridge and microwave that included breakfast, and found a grocery store as soon as I could. There were always eggs at breakfast and I noshed on veggies right afterwards in my room. I spent a lot of time at a hospital but my hotel was close enough that I could run back for lunch (and take a little break). There was a lot of unpleasant and dirty work involved dealing with my mother's home and car and I REALLY wanted to go out for a nice (Whole30 compliant) meal, but I was so exhausted I doubted my ability to withstand the temptations, so back to my room I went! I doubt that all of my meals precisely followed the template as far as portions, but I did my best and feel so good about managing myself! No longer feeling bloated and having more energy is a huge incentive to stick with it. Can't wait to get home later today! 

 

You are are under a lot of stress and you managed to make great decisions! That is awesome!

Diane

[DianeD]

16 hours ago, Whole Nerdy said:

Hello, checking in here, Day 22 of 1st Whole 30. Mainly looking to contain uncontrolled snacking and be in deep dialogue with various sugar demons. What I noticed right away on this diet is that my attitude toward my food changed. I am much more conscious, organized, and intentional towards my food. I am not buying food on impulse, taking a few bites, and then discarding it for my next treat. This is important because I used to be vegetarian, and now I am eating meat in a pretty serious way and wanting to respect the animal by not throwing out more than I need to. Even my fridge is neater and cleaner--although I'm eating at home as much as possible, so it's full of food. 

Up until a couple days ago, my sugar craving was continual. To satisfy it, I kept snacking, although with compliant ingredients--you know, an apple slathered with sun butter, followed by berries in coconut milk, followed by pistachios and dried fruit, followed by... well, you get the idea. Melissa keeps saying in the Whole30 book not to do this, and I thought the sugar cravings would subside and I would stop snacking, but it didn't happen. Finally I decided to seize the beast by the horns and cease snacking, and cut out nuts and dried fruit for the last 10 days. (I do plan to use sun butter to make Sunshine Sauce.) Since that happened--voila--those awful sugar cravings have mostly gone away. And I thought it was all physical. Hah. It's habitual--which I believe is the point of these guidelines. So I feel encouraged. Reversing a habit is no easy thing.

 

 

 

You are so right how things are "habits" and not from physical need. I went to a function yesterday - wine, crackers, mozzarella sticks, etc. I normally would have had wine and eaten the appetizers. Instead, being conscious of my food intake, I drank water and noshed on the asparagus of a big antipasto dish. Then a bunch of us went to dinner. I ordered the broiled scallops, baked potato (instead of rice) and the veg of the day: green beans and carrots.  I did not realize the scallops would be in butter! So I "drained" them on half the potato before eating and ate the plain half of the potato - weird how I can now eat a plain baked potato, no butter or sour cream, and enjoy it! I did ask for steamed spinach but was told they had none. So I am trying to decide if I need to start the Whole30 all over because of the butter . . . . 

Diane

[IndustriousJoy]

5 hours ago, DianeD said:

So I am trying to decide if I need to start the Whole30 all over because of the butter . . . . 

 

Sometimes the best laid plans have a little twist to them--it's always good to remember that there is no such thing as a perfect Whole30!

I think the entire reason they are "so strict" about having to start over is to impress upon serial diet cheaters that cheating isn't going to work here.  Also, cheating can send a lot of people who start on the program with an unhealthy relationship to food (as opposed to people who are just doing it to further refine an already healthy lifestyle) into binge mode.  I get why that is.  I guess the thing to do is decide if it has sent you into binge mode or not.  Unfortunately during reintroduction it may be harder to get a good read on how dairy impacts you--but if you pay attention to how you feel now after having gone awhile without dairy/butter it may give you a little information.  Or you could just restart now with dairy and do a dairy reintroduction 23 days later than other stuff.  My family tends to get a lot of fast food instead of go to restaurants, so I have been able to pass on the take out and make my own stuff.  I've been reading lots of blogs where people will purposefully cheat (one or two times--it wasn't even an accident in the context of a busy day) and still have amazing results.  Each body really is different.  

[ArtFossil]

50 minutes ago, IndustriousJoy said:

Sometimes the best laid plans have a little twist to them--it's always good to remember that there is no such thing as a perfect Whole30!

I think the entire reason they are "so strict" about having to start over is to impress upon serial diet cheaters that cheating isn't going to work here.  Also, cheating can send a lot of people who start on the program with an unhealthy relationship to food (as opposed to people who are just doing it to further refine an already healthy lifestyle) into binge mode.  I get why that is.  I guess the thing to do is decide if it has sent you into binge mode or not.  Unfortunately during reintroduction it may be harder to get a good read on how dairy impacts you--but if you pay attention to how you feel now after having gone awhile without dairy/butter it may give you a little information.  Or you could just restart now with dairy and do a dairy reintroduction 23 days later than other stuff.  My family tends to get a lot of fast food instead of go to restaurants, so I have been able to pass on the take out and make my own stuff.  I've been reading lots of blogs where people will purposefully cheat (one or two times--it wasn't even an accident in the context of a busy day) and still have amazing results.  Each body really is different.  

Whole30 is both an elimination diet and a way to reset your relationship with food. For the elimination diet aspect, one simply will not get the information one needs from reintroductions if one hasn't eliminated those foods for 30 days, hence the article, Do I Really Have to Start My Whole30 Over?

Quote

Answer #3: Yes, because science. 

The point of any elimination diet is to completely remove 100% of the potentially problematic foods from your life for a full 30 days straight. Without the complete removal, your body won’t experience what life is really like without these triggers. You may think one beer or one piece of pizza won’t really make a difference, but if you’re sensitive to these foods, you require only a tiny amount to break the Whole30 “reset”—to disrupt the gut, fire up the immune system, and potentially trigger the symptoms of your condition. Think about it like an allergy—if you’re truly allergic to peanuts or shellfish, how much does it take to provoke that allergic response? Just one tiny peanut or one bite of shrimp matters. And while we’re not just talking about allergies here, the principles are the same—the point of elimination is full elimination.

Now, you might say, “But if I was sensitive, I’d know it.” Uh, no. You would not. Nobody knows they’re sensitive until something happens to make them realize they’re sensitive. We know Celiacs who walked around eating bread for decades before they realized there was a problem. The point of the Whole30 is to identify sensitivities. So until you’ve done the full Whole30 by the books (which means 100% compliance for a full 30 days), you may not know.

This is especially true of grains (especially gluten), dairy products, soy, peanuts, and alcohol (any form of which is known to promote gut permeability). This argument doesn’t hold up when you’re talking about added sugar, however.

 

[bethross]

I made the GINGER-COCONUT CHICKEN “NOODLE” BOWL. It is really, really good. I never had mint in my meals before but I was always chewing peppermint gum. WOW- it is so refreshing in this meal!!!! 

[RosieD]

Is the recipe in the Whole30 book?

[DianeD]

1 hour ago, ArtFossil said:

Whole30 is both an elimination diet and a way to reset your relationship with food. For the elimination diet aspect, one simply will not get the information one needs from reintroductions if one hasn't eliminated those foods for 30 days, hence the article, Do I Really Have to Start My Whole30 Over?

 

 

So I am starting over . . . . bummer. I guess I should have sent the scallops back. 

[bethross]

Just now, RosieD said:

Is the recipe in the Whole30 book?

Yes, in the poultry section.

[ArtFossil]

7 minutes ago, DianeD said:

So I am starting over . . . . bummer. I guess I should have sent the scallops back. 

You'll be glad you did. It's a challenge to eat out on Whole30. I took the easy way out and always ate my own food.