Ryen's Whole30log

[Ryenday]

Well My almond milk is getting better, used about 1tsp cinnamon and 1tsp vanilla powder in the making of it.  I'll want to try double that, I think.  I'm just drinking it at breakfast - haven't tried it for a cooking purpose.  I make about 30 oz of it or so, I'd guess.  A nice amount for 3 days.  

BREAKING OUT!   It is day 8, so I'm thinking it is something on Whole30 diet?  Never heard of anyone breaking out eating vegetables, so I'm wondering if nuts are the culprit.  With such a limited fat list I'm going to have to keep nuts present in my diet for the Whole30, dang.  A middle age woman with a big huge bright red angry pimple is not pretty.  

Went for a 2 mile walk yesterday and promptly sprained ankle/foot soft tissues.  OW.  

Fatigue is certainly a factor right now.  I fell asleep watching TV with husband the past two nights, and very early in the evening.  Kinda embarrassing.  I am noticing no change in my typical aches, arthritis, skin (except skin potentially worse) etc.  I do have a sense of well being from knowing I'm eating more healthy,  And my ankle hurts less this morning than I expected.  But no big Whole30 successes.  To be honest I read the literature and people's reports and didn't EXPECT anything this soon, but hoped, you know.  

Again, it isn't the food I CAN'T eat I'm having difficulties with, it is the food I HAVE to eat that is hard. 

Overall, I'd say I'm still on the road to success, but not looking forward to the next 2 weeks, as the timeline makes them look pretty bleak.

 

 

 

[Ryenday]

4/27/17 D7 M1: Beef broth, Tomato juice, cucumber, homemade almond milk

4/27/17 D7 M2: roasted carrots, chicken, guac/lettuce wrap, banana, 1 piece pineapple

4/27/17 D7 M3: Spinach with almond butter, reheated Whole30 stew, 

4/27/17 D7 snack - 2 servings macademia nuts

 

[Ryenday]

Well, I guess the good news is that the setbacks and problems are not leading me to abandon Whole30. 

The bad news in the following 7 days:  

• 3 failed mayo attempts, 0 successes  $$ wasted.  (Husband said he'll try to make it next week, but that we've wasted enough money this week to risk throwing more good ingredients down the tube).
• Butcher advice to buy his "good soup bones" clearly took advantage of me, the know-nothing consumer.  The cow neck bones I came home with are NOT indicated anywhere I can find as good broth making bones, and the anemic stuff I was able to make from them makes me even madder.  All the advice to "find a good butcher" is useless, because if one is know-nothing (like me) the bad ones can con you easy.  I've had it up the wazoo with all the research I've had to do this last week, so Kroger Whole30 compliant beef broth it is.
• Hand burns from 'carefully' ladling beef broth out of slow cooker to avoid accident with large heavy pot of liquid.  Ladle (one of those cute stands on the counter but flawed design has handle very bendy) trashed.  Quoting MIL when she saw my hand on wednesday, "Oh, my god, what did you do to yourself, is your hand OK?"
• Went for my healthy 2 mile a day walk yesterday but walked right into hole: sprained ankle/foot tissue.
• Clarifying butter today - butter spatter all over shirt (no prob) and neck (big prob) - the resulting burns look almost like I have chicken pox on my neck and OW
• Numerous meal attempts that are close to inedible, but had to be forced down b/c can't afford to waste food this week on top of the loss we took in trying to make mayo.  
• Pimples
• And unrelated to whole30/ or fitness (as far as I know), but not helping:  Hot flashes are pretty extreme this week.  Duration and amount aren't good, but not unusual either. Sleep disturbed 3 or 4 times a night with hot flashes.  

Right now I just want to curl up in a ball in my bed, cry, fall asleep and hope my kitties curl up next to me.  I guess I can count myself lucky in that others I read about want to just eat something bad for them when they are down.  I'm fine on that account.  I think I have boredom eating symptoms, but the comfort/stress eating just isn't too bad for me (yet, anyway).

Can't curl up and cry b/c hubby is home today, so I'll limp and wince and do something useful while he's mowing the lawn, I guess.

[shii]

6 hours ago, Ryenday said:

Well, I guess the good news is that the setbacks and problems are not leading me to abandon Whole30. 

The bad news in the following 7 days:  

• 3 failed mayo attempts, 0 successes  $$ wasted.  (Husband said he'll try to make it next week, but that we've wasted enough money this week to risk throwing more good ingredients down the tube).
• Numerous meal attempts that are close to inedible, but had to be forced down b/c can't afford to waste food this week on top of the loss we took in trying to make mayo.  
• Right now I just want to curl up in a ball in my bed, cry, fall asleep and hope my kitties curl up next to me.  I guess I can count myself lucky in that others I read about want to just eat something bad for them when they are down.  I'm fine on that account.  I think I have boredom eating symptoms, but the comfort/stress eating just isn't too bad for me (yet, anyway).

Can't curl up and cry b/c hubby is home today, so I'll limp and wince and do something useful while he's mowing the lawn, I guess.

Oh my goodness. I am so, so sorry that you are having so many issues! My heart goes out to you.

I know strangers on the internet offering advice usually aren't welcome - but may I tell you about my experiences? I really, really want you to have as good an experience on the Whole 30 as possible. It's not easy - it's hard, nothing will change that. But there's "hard" and then there's "what the heck is going on?!", and you seem to be in the latter.

I've done 3 complete Whole 30s - the first one I did in conjunction with an anti-Candida diet (shh, I know you're not supposed to, but whatever - I did). So on that whole 30, I couldn't have potatoes or fruit at all. The second one I did "normally." The third one, I did low FODMAP, as my husband had just been diagnosed as having IBD/Ulcerative Colitis. This (4th) one, I'm also doing low FODMAP, because that's how we live these days. (Garlic and onion, I miss thee...!) 

So... I have had more than my fair share of experience of cooking within a restricted ingredient list. I think the first thing that keeps me sane (and my husband sane as well - he's done 2 of the 4 Whole 30's with me) is we just keep everything extremely simple. Prior to low-FODMAP, we pretty much cooked everything in olive oil, with fresh onion and garlic (diced by hand), himalayan salt (or whatever salt you have! because you'll need salt!) and pepper. Now, we do olive oil, salt, pepper, and dehydrated chives (because we love onion/garlic but it doesn't love us) on everything. Then, we add whatever other spices we want - if we want earthy/herbal, we do things like thyme/marjoram/tarragon/rosemary/basil/oregano; if we want more aromatic, we use chili flakes/cumin/ground coriander/paprika; we also have invested in some good-quality indian spices (masala) we like (the staples for us are a plain curry powder, chana masala, and garam masala).  We tend to cook the protein separate from the vegetables, and we try and make sure we have a nice set of vegetables at every meal.  We try to keep prep to 15-20 minutes OR LESS for every meal - usually it's just the effort of chopping the vegetables/spicing the meat!

The oven has become our gods-send (all the time, not just Whole30) - get a whole fryer from the grocery store, drizzle it with olive oil and herbs, stuff it with some chopped veggies (or whatever! we've stuffed it with meat, just for funsies; stuff it with spinach and peaches - that's a delicious mix), stick it in the oven along with some potatoes/sweet potatoes. Roast a head of cauliflower while you are at it! Or bake chicken breasts or chicken thighs. Or a pork loin, pork shoulder, chuck roast, whatever! Maybe roast some carrots along with it if you want. Roast other vegetables! Bell peppers, asparagus, summer squash, winter squash - they all roast well in the oven (especially when seasoned with olive oil and spices!). 

If you don't want to do the oven, crock pots are your best friend forever. So many roasts or vegetable curries or whatever you want can be made in them! 

Now that it's warming up (we live in the desert and it gets REALLY hot in our apartment when we cook with our gas oven), we tend to cook stove-top more. So we dice up chicken or pork and sautee it, along with vegetables in a separate pan. (Green beans and bell peppers are one of my husband's current favorites, as he's "tired" of summer squash at the moment.) We can't have broccoli or cauliflower anymore (because of FODMAP concerns), but steam those! Super easy. We used to have either broccoli or cauliflower 3x-4x/week until we found out it was aggravating my husband's IBD. But they were delicious and super simple! If you have a vegetable steamer (or rice cooker with steamer lid, which is what we have), steam things! Summer squash, broccoli/cauliflower, bell peppers, carrots, all sorts of things!

I can't help with the mayo, sorry.  We've never actually made compliant mayo (nor have we bought it, for that matter) - we just don't use it. But then again, we don't use mayo normally, either. If it isn't something you use in your every-day life, maybe just skip it? I find that mushed avocado makes an amazing egg salad (or tuna salad), no mayo needed. 

Regarding breakfast foods - we alighted on a "breakfast bake" about a year ago, and it's pretty much changed our life. Once a week, we chop up a ton of vegetables and brown some meat (you can do it vegetarian if you wish - we're just really big fans of meat), and layer a 13x9" pan meat-veggie-meat-veggie. Then, on top of that, we pour in the scrambled up mixture of 1 dozen eggs, 8 oz of coconut milk, and 8 oz of water. We then bake that 13x9" pan for 70 minutes at 400 degrees, and it gives us our breakfast for the next six days! (If you do one pan, it's breakfast for 2 people for 3 days or 1 person for 6 days. We make two pans at the same time every week, so we don't fight or have to do it twice per week.) Extremely simple, takes about 30-40 minutes of prep (depending on how fast you are at chopping veggies - it's a LOT of veggies and meat that we put in ours), and it's a brainless breakfast for 6 days per week. Just divide the pan up into 6 slices, microwave one slice for 2 minutes each morning.  

I don't know if I'm just a "bad" paleo/primal eater/lifestyle person or whatever, but I've never done bone broth, I've never made primal mayo, etc. I have bought unflavored gelatin/collagen and added that to my stir frys (it's cool because when you take the leftovers out of the fridge, it's a stir fry jello block! woo!) and other stuff for extra savoriness - that certainly works! However, having survived 3 whole 30's and being 1/3 through my 4th one... I fully admit that I rarely consult a cook-book. As in... maybe 3 or 4 times per Whole30. (maybe?)  Most of the time, we're just living on some variation of meat + vegetable + starch (either a potato or winter squash) for dinner, our breakfast bake for breakfast, and either leftovers or something we whipped up in the crockpot for lunches. (Should be more salads, but... I really dislike greens, they're all too bitter for me.) Yet most of what we eat comes out delicious (not bragging - I think it tastes really good, and my husband agrees, and anyone we've ever cooked for has enthusiastically endorsed it, too - not knowing they're eating Whole30/strict paleo). Simple might be the best route to go! Don't worry about replicating amazing-looking fancy meals - just make stuff that TASTES GOOD and is easy to make! We're already doing fifty million dishes on a Whole30, don't make it harder on yourself!

I apologize for the really long and unsolicited post, but it breaks my heart to see you so miserable. I am so sorry that some of your meals have turned out inedible - being someone under considerable financial pressure myself, I know that throwing out food hurts on many levels! My (albeit unsolicited advice), is just keep it simple and start with stuff you know how to make - and go from there. Have fun experimenting with spices (but don't push yourself outside your comfort zone too fast), but don't feel like you need to start doing everything different just because you're on a whole 30!

I hope you can find at least some of this useful. If not, know that you're not alone. <3 

[Ryenday]

13 hours ago, shii said:

I hope you can find at least some of this useful. If not, know that you're not alone. <3 

What a long and thoughtful post, it is very appreciated.  Thank you.  There is a lot of advice in there, some I can (and will) use and some I can't (I can't do eggs, but your breakfast idea sounds fantastic for someone who can).  Don't get me wrong, tho, all of it is most appreciated and yes, it helps to hear I'm not alone.  

Thank You.

[shii]

Hmm. If you can't have eggs, that complicates some of my other suggestions as well. I was going to suggest this: http://40aprons.com/whole30-bread-pudding-paleo/

But with no eggs (AIP?), that won't work as well. I'll look around further for you - I know I would go insane if I had to try to prepare breakfast every morning. Having a casserole-style breakfast (so... actually... why not a dinner-style casserole for breakfast?) really makes the mornings simpler. 

[jmcbn]

On 28/04/2017 at 3:15 PM, Ryenday said:

Well My almond milk is getting better, used about 1tsp cinnamon and 1tsp vanilla powder in the making of it.  I'll want to try double that, I think.  I'm just drinking it at breakfast - haven't tried it for a cooking purpose.  I make about 30 oz of it or so, I'd guess.  A nice amount for 3 days.  

BREAKING OUT!  

Yeah, these two are related.

The recommendation for nuts is to eat a closed handful every other day, max. And nut butters we recommend you use only to whiten tea/coffee, not to drink.

They are notoriously hard on the digestive system, and are high in inflammatory omega 6 fatty acids (hello pimples!!), and are hard to control portion wise.

Don't go nuts with the nuts

[Ryenday]

On 4/29/2017 at 2:43 PM, jmcbn said:

Yeah, these two are related.

The recommendation for nuts is to eat a closed handful every other day, max. And nut butters we recommend you use only to whiten tea/coffee, not to drink.

They are notoriously hard on the digestive system, and are high in inflammatory omega 6 fatty acids (hello pimples!!), and are hard to control portion wise.

Don't go nuts with the nuts

Thanks, I really appreciate the information that this might be the pimple cause.  

Unfortunately, it's depressing news, because I'm already having a very hard time finding enough fat.  There just are not any legal fat sources for me except cooking oil, (and oily food in the a.m. = yuch.), avocados, nuts and coconut milk.  If I can't drink the almond milk (and I've mostly cut out even the cashew/almond butters) every day, then it is avocado all day and all night, because I can't force myself to gag down coconut milk more than once a week or so, and frankly, I use max 1 tb of cooking oil when I cook something (if that) and most of it ends up in the pan, not in my food at the end of the cooking process.  

21 meals a week, 3 or 4 of them can be almond milk.  2 or 3 might (maybe come close) be able to get the required fat from cooking oil (coconut oil, avocado oil or olive oil). 1 serving of disgusting coconut milk a week.   That would leave 14 meals where I'd need a full serving of avocado.  Yeah, I just can't do that.  I'd be off Whole30 in about 3 or 4 more meals and would call it the "quack avocado diet" when I told people about it.    

Oh, yeah, clarified butter.  But what do you put clarified butter on?  Frankly, I rarely used butter, even when I ate bread, so I can't figure out what I might put it on.  Sure it is good on my broccoli, but that is about a fingernail size slice (or about 1/2 a typical "pat of butter") for 1 broccoli serving.  

I'm not trying to be the fussy problem eater here, but I honestly can't figure out how, if I can only have 3 nut servings a week, it is possible to get enough fat in a meal unless every meal (other than the 3 nut fat meals) is the avocado on the side meal.  And I can not see anything that I'm actually willing to eat that will make the morning meals Whole30 compliant (remember eggs are out for me) day after day after day.  

I guess I'll just be relegated to pimpledom and a nut heavy meal plan or leave the fat out of my meals, whether or not that makes me Whole30 non compliant.  Because there just are not enough fats on the fat list, and none other than almond milk are in any way palatable (not even good, or something I'd ever WANT to consume, mind you, just not something totally gross to me) to me for a morning meal.  

As I said, this is depressing and disappointing.  I WANT to do this Whole30, - but as I understood it, the dietary plan was something that wouldn't FORCE someone to eat things, but gave one choices of a variety of good things to have.  I just don't see any choice or variety in the fat portion of the meal. Especially if I can't use nuts to fulfill the fat requirement.  I never did use much butter, and I don't cook in much oil.  Even the roasted veggies I made yesterday didn't use a full fat serving in prep (maybe 1/2 serving?) - but filled 2 plates (so were 4+ servings) of veggies.  Frankly, I don't even like nuts.  They are not food without brakes to me, they are , eh, I need a fat and I've had guacamole for the last 6 days at lunch and dinner so what the crap can I do tonight when I can't face any more avocados.  

 

 

[jmcbn]

16 minutes ago, Ryenday said:

 I just don't see any choice on the fat portion of the meal.

How about home made mayo and/or mayo based sauces/dressings (there are egg free options out there - I've been egg free too), or olives/olive oil, fatty cuts of meat such as brisket/ribs/chicken wings with skins on, any type of rendered animal fat (tallow, schmaltz, lard etc)., coconut flesh/flakes, or maybe salad dressings made up of compliant oils & acids (ACV/balsamic/lemon or lime juice etc).

Ghee/clarified butter work particularly well on root veg, of which (incidentally) we'd recommend at least a fist sized serving per day, so that's one way to get a little more fat in....

We don't recommend you drink coconut milk either by the way.

Hope this helps

[Ryenday]

On 4/30/2017 at 5:26 PM, jmcbn said:

Hope this helps

Thanks, much appreciated.   I do wish it helped, but unfortunately it doesn't.    I forgot about olives, but I'd rather eat a spoonful of coconut oil than eat an olive.  The animal fats/ olive oils and dressings I only use to cook things in really, but I'm sure I'll figure something out when I'm not quite so depressed.  I don't eat poorly, on or off Whole 30, really I'm learning, but I'm not the norm, especially for fats and sugars.  Truly, even before Whole30 probably was way below norm on fat and sugar intake, and almost certainly way below norm on artificial sweetener/ "fake diet" low fat foods (no diet drink habit for me to kick, thank heavens).  

I guess I'm lucky, again, I don't object to fats, I just don't see how to get enough unless I slather every veggie I eat in fat.  And, I don't love veggies, but I like them best raw, steamed or lightly (minimal fat) sauted - no dressing.  And butter was really only something I cooked with ever since I stopped eating fresh corn (about a decade ago, I'd guess).  I'll manage on Whole30, but don't see how I can sustain this for a lifetime eating habit.  Again, my problem, not yours, thanks for trying to help.  I do appreciate it.

So, onto the weekend food log: 

4/28/2017 D8 M1: Beef broth, almond milk, cucumber and tomato juice 

4/28/2017 D8 M2: Cinnamon Hot Wake-up meal, spinach/guac wraps, cucumber

4/28/2017 D8 M3: New York Strip steak, baked potato & broccoli with clarified butter, and roasted carrots

4/28/2017 D8 Snack: cucumber and carrots with 1 serving of guac

 

4/29/2017 D9 M1: Beef broth, almond milk, cucumber and tomato juice 

4/29/2017 D9 M2: Butter Chicken Stew, carrots and banana

4/29/2017 D9 M3: Prime Rib Eye steak, romaine lettuce and cucumbers

4/29/2017 D9 Snack:  3 servings roasted potatoes (russet)

 

I'll post Sunday and today's meals in a bit.  

 

 

[Ryenday]

BUSY BUSY BUSY few days.  Unexpected visit from out of town friends and fun/hilarity.  

No problem not drinking when they all did - but that's never really been a problem for me.  I wish I had had some Tonic water in the house (is that even Whole 30 compliant?) - that always makes my mouth 'feel' like I'm imbibing when I'm not.

Eating was more difficult than without the guests - mostly because they and husband just snacked all day long Sat and Sunday.  So I snacked much more than I should have, but kept it Whole30 compliant, so I feel pretty good about it.  Saturday was snacking on carrots - but with guac some of the time, so extra fat.  Sunday was snacking on prob 3 servings of roasted potatos.  They were yummy, and potatos are definitely a food without brakes for me unless I only prepare a specific amount.  I can keep from preparing a second serving, but will eat all the potatoes that I have prepared.  

So, onto the weekend food log: 

4/28/2017 D8 M1: Beef broth, almond milk, cucumber and tomato juice 

4/28/2017 D8 M2: Cinnamon Hot Wake-up meal, spinach/guac wraps, cucumber

4/28/2017 D8 M3: New York Strip steak, baked potato & broccoli with clarified butter, and roasted carrots

4/28/2017 D8 Snack: cucumber and carrots with 1 serving of guac

 

4/29/2017 D9 M1: Beef broth, almond milk, cucumber and tomato juice 

4/29/2017 D9 M2: Butter Chicken Stew, carrots and banana

4/29/2017 D9 M3: Prime Rib Eye steak, romaine lettuce and cucumbers

4/29/2017 D9 Snack:  3 servings roasted potatoes (russet)

 

I'll post Sunday and today's meals in a bit.  

[Ryenday]

Posting bobble above, listed day 8 and 9 in a reply to someone and in their own post.  This forum post editor trips me up alot for some reason.  

Thought I'd post on how I'm feeling,

2 days without new pimples, so yay (but that was norm pre Whole30, not a success) - but I'm feeling much the same as always, perhaps a bit more fatigued. There is an intangible awareness that I AM eating healthier.  My brain believes this, my instincts are in synch.  I'm convinced barring an "act of God" or ingredient list reading failure (almost happened, now have husband double read lists for me before I use/eat something).  that I'll be successful.  

I AM doing lots of planning to figure out how this will effect future eating habits.  Breakfast will be much the same, but I'll probably cut out almond milk.  Might see if I can tolerate a breakfast dairy in it's place.  Homemade Beef Broth will always have a place in my home going forward.  I'm convinced that mug of beef broth every morning is exactly the protein shot I need in the a.m.

A moderate fruit intake every day, 1 or two servings, limited to breakfast and lunch, seems very doable.  

Still trying to find my way around veggies, Whole30 asks for a LOT of them, and indeed, I believe I'm going to need to keep their intake high post Whole30.  But my enthusiasm starts to dial down when I think of it.  I like veggies, and there are a variety of ways I like them, and I'm trying to find more - but coming up with 28 servings of veggies a week(post Whole30 lunch and dinner) without wanting to scream - well, we'll see.  Maybe take a page off of AA in the "take it one week at a time" with the whole veggie thing.  

I don't recall ever having difficulty filling out a protein portion of a meal (except at breakfast - I believe now that I need to, but I don't like eating in the morning!), so that should be easy and enjoyable going forward.

[Ryenday]

4/30/17 - D10 M1:  Beef Broth, Tomato Juice, Almond Milk, and Green spinach/pineapple/carrot/blueberry drink.  

4/30/17 - D10 M2:  Veggie Beef Soup, Chicken breast, carrots and guac

4/30/17 - D10 M3:  Beef Broth, Cashews (we roasted them in Avacado oil), Romaine Lettuce, carrots

snack:  Cashews

 

5/1/17- D11 M1:  Same as 4/30/17

5/1/17- D11 M2: Roasted Beets (in avocado oil) breakfast green drink, cucumber (small) chicken and beef broth

5/1/17 D11 M3:  Roasted Sweet Potatos (in avocado oil) New York Strip steak, Brocolli with clarified butter

 

 

[Ryenday]

So, I'm a few days behind logging food again, I have it all captured on my phone, but I want to put it here too, so I'll get to a big two day post of foods again.

Food thoughts, I'm going to try 'banana ice cream'.  I realize it is probably SWPO (is that the right acronym) for many people, but given that I haven't had ACTUAL ice cream in (omg, it's 8 years, I think, on my anniversary when my husband took me to Italy) it isn't for me.  Even as a child/young adult, ice cream once a month would have been a LOT of ice cream.  

It is just with the hot flashes increasing again, in intensity and duration (too much hot spicy guac a trigger?  Fat a trigger?), I can really use some frozen stuff sliding down my throat.  I do NOT want menopausal hormone therapies, so I'm focusing on things that work for me.   I used to make a sugarless frappuccino for times like these, but that had soy and stevia and I haven't figured out a Whole30 compliant one.  Truly, I'm not trying to recreate forbidden items, I'm trying to come up with frozen drinks that slide down the throat, that you have to be careful not to get a 'brain freeze' while drinking because they can cool me all over quickly and reset my thermostat.  I would think I could come up up with something so good and COLD but that isn't SWPO.  I've been so focused on recipes to get veggies and fat into me, I haven't taken any time to see if there are frozen delights awaiting me.  

Smoothies are 'frowned upon' but maybe if I made a carrot/spinach/pineapple/cucumber/coconut water blended drink to go with my lunch time protein?  But honestly, it is the non-sugar frozen drink I need, if I don't want a sugar spike.  Frozen Black blended black coffee doesn't sound like a winner, and everything I can think to add to it would make the frozen coffee drink into a snacking no-no.  I could really use something I could drink at any time, not just with meals.  And for some reason, ice cold water just doesn't have the same internal effect - It has to be something that *Could* give me a brain freeze if I drank too fast.

Otherwise, no major cravings, I'd like some cheese (Tillanook sharp chedder, grated over any number of things would be great) so dairy might be my first post Whole 30 introduction.  I miss green peas for my stew, but otherwise legumes - eh, I don't need 'em, or really want them.  Grains, the convenience of tortillas I miss a lot, but I do think I am healthier without gluten.  Other breads, eh, again, I miss them mostly for the convenience, although the one or two times a year treat of a hot chocolate croissant (yes, I probably average about 2 of these a year) I'll try to include going forward after I finish.  So, no breads/grains unless the delicious factor is consciously considered.  Sugars?  Well, I'll probably limit them to home baked goodies, again, except at family holiday meals, that means no more than one batch of baked goodies a month, and I'm willing to restrict that further (give 1/2 the batch away to co-workers, only make baked goodies every other month, etc.  

Gluten?  Well, except for my mom's stew, I'm just fine using the non-gluten all purpose flours.  I'm gonna have to keep trying to find a wheat flour substitute for mom's stew, tho.  I tried not coating the meat before searing it and did not come up with stew in the end, rather a soupy consistency 'stewed meat dish'. It was sorta tasty I guess, certainly nutritious, but not gonna bother doing that again, too much work and good ingredients for something that I ended up forcing myself to finish. Uh, uh, that is not the wonderful stew I love.  

Ok, morning walk is calling now that my hot flash went away.  Later chica, remember you can do this, (and ARE doing it!)

[jmcbn]

11 minutes ago, Ryenday said:

I'm going to try 'banana ice cream'.

Sorry - but this is specifically called out in the Official Can I Have....? Guidelines & is not allowed - see below:

Dairy-Free or Frozen Banana Ice Cream: No

This. Is. Ice. Cream. Unlike plain frozen fruit, the only purpose of this confection is to replicate the taste, texture and reward sensation of ice cream. (Don’t tell us you’d get the same satisfaction from a frozen banana because we call your bluff.) Plus the addition of cocoa, nut butters, nuts, or other fruits to your creamy concoction… this is straight SWYPO, and it’s off-limits during your Whole30

As far as something to drink at any time, have you tried infusing your water with some combo of fruit/mint/cucumber etc? Or adding a small dash of a fruit juice to liven it up a bit? All fine for drinking at any time....

[Ryenday]

On 5/4/2017 at 9:45 AM, jmcbn said:

Sorry - but this is specifically called out in the Official Can I Have....? Guidelines & is not allowed - see below:

Dairy-Free or Frozen Banana Ice Cream: No

This. Is. Ice. Cream. Unlike plain frozen fruit, the only purpose of this confection is to replicate the taste, texture and reward sensation of ice cream. (Don’t tell us you’d get the same satisfaction from a frozen banana because we call your bluff.) Plus the addition of cocoa, nut butters, nuts, or other fruits to your creamy concoction… this is straight SWYPO, and it’s off-limits during your Whole30

As far as something to drink at any time, have you tried infusing your water with some combo of fruit/mint/cucumber etc? Or adding a small dash of a fruit juice to liven it up a bit? All fine for drinking at any time....

WOW, did you even read what I wrote above?  I'm out of here.  This is officially the LEAST supportive place I've encountered since trying to eat healthy (thanks to the "mods" not other whole30'ers).  

For the record before I go, I said clearly I have HOT FLASHES, one of the very few ways I can cool down my body other than waiting it out is to drink a frozen drink.  I don't have a sugar dragon, I tried that frozen concoction once and it wasn't what I needed, and you come here and letter of the law (that doesn't actually apply to me - I don't find ice cream a reward, I haven't actually eaten ice cream which I don't really like in ages, preferring frozen coffee drinks to try to calm hot flashes.  AND I made it clear in my post that I needed an alternative to the coffee drinks that where now verboten, NOT FOR TASTE, TEXTURE and REWARD Sensation, but for a cooling ease to my HOT FLASHES - and had thought it out) and scold me?  yeah, I drink water.  yeah I drink water with fresh lemon juice.  yeah, if you looked at my whole post or my logs you'd see I'm working very hard on whole 30 compliance.  Your post was a slap in the face so thanks 'moderator'

Good bye.  (Good luck to those Whole30 journeyeres who had been friendly and supportive, but you moderators who have told me "why didn't you google it before posting" (I don't know, maybe I was looking to find someone to talk to about something, maybe I didn't know  your technical term until I posted my question), and "So sad so bad, that isn't compliant, and why don't you drink some water!!!") in response to a TOTALLY different problem (looking for frozen sensation to cool hot flashes - your help is:  'drink water' because you didn't even read my post well, thanks a whole lot.

I sure hope the people who actually pay to keep these boards up look at my history here.  You "mods" have been as unwelcoming, shaming, and unsupportive to me as I can imagine.  I'll succeed in my Whole30 without y'all, but you can bet I'll probably not recommend this to anyone, or at least tell them to avoid these forums if I did tell them about Whole30.

 

[jmcbn]

32 minutes ago, Ryenday said:

did you even read what I wrote above?

Actually, yes I did - I've been reading your log since day one. And as a peri/post-menopausal woman I totally understand and empathise with the hot flashes thing, however my response above was not my own words, but rather a quote from the official 'Can I Have...?' guidelines written by Melissa herself, co-creator of the program, and applies to anyone (& everyone) doing a Whole30, regardless of their feelings about ice cream.

As a moderator it is my job to keep people on the right track, and that's precisely what I was doing here - in my own time, as a volunteer, to help you get the most of your 30 days.

There is nothing in the rules to say you can't use a ton of crushed ice in water flavoured with a  dash of juice, or infused with fruit, or even freeze some flavoured water & then blend that, but the 'banana ice cream' rule stands.

Whether or not you choose to leave is your decision, but I wish you every success in your continued journey to good health.

 

[SugarcubeOD]

Whoa... slow down...

The moderators are here for the PURPOSE of making sure that people understand the rules.  If you wanted to eat the banana ice cream and not be told that it's against the rules, don't post things you KNOW are against the rules on the Whole30 forum and then get mad when the staff call it out...

Second of all, I just read through your posts and the item that you asked about was your 'super tasting' of 'bitter' things and the entire thread was helpful, polite, courteous and filled with helpful information.  We do help people help themselves by suggesting they google because the mods are volunteers who are often helping out during their work hours and instead of watiing around for us to tell you an answer, you can google and find previous discussions about your topic... that's not 'unhelpful', that's helping you help yourself.  We have also never said 'google it' and not given the answer...

Take a step back and realize that if you're that committed to eating pretend ice cream as the 'only way' to cool down, then perhaps there's something there with ice cream.  There are MANY cold things you can use... frozen grapes, crushed ice in seltzer, essential oils misted onto the soles of your feet and back of your neck... 

Please also remember that the volunteer moderators are volunteers and try and have some respect for the job we're asked to do.

[Ryenday]

Hah!  Finished it.  One last post here because I'm a bit OCD about completing things.

Prob a good thing I quit logging here as hot flashes got progressively worse day after day (had 1 or 2 a day prior to whole30 but now average 15 to 20 a day, and haven't had an uninterrupted night sleep in at least two weeks).  I figure the aches and headaches which had begun to subside by around Day 8 and came back roaring into my life at around Day 20 are largely attributable to this lack of sleep which is totally because of hot flash sweats waking and keeping me up.

based upon my experience and other posts here and elsewhere about hot flashes, I'm guessing that something eliminated on the whole30 way of eating( soy and legumes, possibly ) is essential (or at least highly helpful) to estrogen/progesterone hormonal balance as the menopausal body adapts to lower estrogen levels.  Anecdotal, and unscientific as this conclusion is, I nevertheless would not recommend an unmodified whole30 to any menopausal woman.  

Younger women and men? I think I would recommend they try it especially if their weakness is a sweet tooth.  But if they were more like me (a bitter supertaster with a mild weakness for complex carbs like potatoes - but no sugar cravings) I'd probably suggest they look elsewhere as all of the rules and support in whole30 appear to be focused and aimed at taming sugar dragons, leaving others, whose difficulties are not sugar craving related,  to mostly fend for themselves support wise.

 (Also, certainly, as a transportation challenged partially disabled woman on a budget- whole30 eating after the first month experiment would be impossible to continue long term- I just don't have the money or resources to be compliant or close to compliant as a way of life.  I might be able to arrange an expedition to a Whole Foods or something like it a couple of times a year, but wow, even affording the quality food from there twice a year would be quite a big part of my food budget.  (That free range/grass fed stuff tho, yeah I don't have that kind of £$ to purchase protein that way except as a very special treat I would have to save up to afford. )  

Just my opinion based upon my experience, Ymmv and I wish everyone well and a healthy future. 

Ciao