sduke Posted August 23, 2017 Share Posted August 23, 2017 I'll be starting Whole30 with my wife L. on Sept. 1. I thought I'd do a little planning in my log before we get going. What I'll Be Tracking I'll do a Day 0 and Day 31 weigh-in, but I'm really not that interested in weight. I'm more interested in how I feel in a few specific areas: Neuropathic Pain -- I have a genetic condition that causes neuropathic pain. I'd like to monitor this. Depression and Anxiety -- Getting a day-to-day on my mental health will be worth tracking. Insomnia -- I'd love to track when I go to bed and when I wake up each day, as well as naps. Meals & Food -- What I eat Reflections -- Just a few words on each day. If/Then I like the suggestion re: listing out If/Thens so that I have a game plan for when certain circumstances arise. Here's a list of what I've come up with. IF Late Night TV Craving... THEN I will eat bugs on a log (celery, almond butter, raisins) and drink a glass of water. Once done, I will get myself to bed and read. If I haven't "taken my legs off," I will do that in bed. IF Craving on the Road... THEN I will open the stocked cooler I have in my car and eat the apple or jerky inside. I MUST have a car cooler like this. IF stuck on the road without stocked cooler (or finish the supply)... THEN I will find the nearest place that sells apples, which won't be far. IF for some reason I'm stuck without a lunch at home... THEN I will make tuna salad (always have tunafish, celery, mayo, leafy greens). Tuna salad will be my designated "emergency" lunch, and I will not have it unless it's an emergency, that way I won't dread it. IF for some reason I'm stuck without a dinner at home... THEN I will heat the CHILI i've got in the freezer (note: make chili and put in freezer). Chili will be my designated "emergency" dinner, and I will not have it unless it's an emergency, that way I won't dread it. IF it's Sept. 30 and I have that family picnic lunch/church dinner day... THEN I will eat BEFORE each event IF family asks me why I'm not eating... THEN I say "I'm doing that Whole30 thing, so I'll take care of myself." IF church people ask me why I'm not eating... THEN I say "as much as I'd like to join in, Lindsey and I are doing a meal program this month." IF having a "blood sugar meltdown"... THEN fruit IF I have one of my cravings for something 'illicit'... THEN I will eat some of the dried apricots that I have hidden away in a secret stash. I'll be back with more planning at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LydiaJo Posted August 23, 2017 Share Posted August 23, 2017 Best to both of you. I would be interested in the neuropathy. Please keep us up to date on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sduke Posted September 1, 2017 Author Share Posted September 1, 2017 Revision of my IF/THENs, now that I understand the program and the meal template a little better... On 8/23/2017 at 2:17 PM, sduke said: IF Late Night TV Craving... THEN I will eat bugs on a log (celery, almond butter, raisins) and drink a glass of water. Once done, I will get myself to bed and read. If I haven't "taken my legs off," I will do that in bed. IF Craving on the Road... THEN I will open the stocked cooler I have in my car and eat the apple, almonds, or jerky inside. I MUST have a car cooler like this. I will eat some combination to combine macros. IF stuck on the road without stocked cooler (or finish the supply)... THEN I will find the nearest place that sells apples and almonds, which won't be far. IF for some reason I'm stuck without a lunch at home... THEN I will make tuna salad (always have tunafish, celery, mayo, leafy greens). Tuna salad will be my designated "emergency" lunch. IF for some reason I'm stuck without a dinner at home... THEN I will heat the CHILI i've got in the freezer (note: make chili and put in freezer). Chili will be my designated "emergency" dinner. IF it's Sept. 30 and I have that family picnic lunch/church dinner day... THEN I will eat BEFORE each event IF family asks me why I'm not eating... THEN I say "I'm doing that Whole30 thing, so I'll take care of myself." IF church people ask me why I'm not eating... THEN I say "as much as I'd like to join in, Lindsey and I are doing a meal program this month." IF having a "blood sugar meltdown"... THEN fruit and almonds IF I have one of my cravings for something 'illicit'... THEN I will eat some of the dried apricots that I have hidden away in a secret stash. Eat with a few almonds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sduke Posted September 1, 2017 Author Share Posted September 1, 2017 Day 0 Weight in: 251 lbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sduke Posted September 1, 2017 Author Share Posted September 1, 2017 Day One Breakfast: Fried up baked sweet potato hash. 1 1/2 fried eggs. 1/2 avocado. I'm not a big fan of undoctored avocado (I don't like the 'fishy' aftertaste) but I choked it down. May need to find a way to doctor it, or just keep guac on hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowflower Posted September 1, 2017 Share Posted September 1, 2017 On 8/23/2017 at 1:17 PM, sduke said: I'll be starting Whole30 with my wife L. on Sept. 1. I thought I'd do a little planning in my log before we get going. What I'll Be Tracking I'll do a Day 0 and Day 31 weigh-in, but I'm really not that interested in weight. I'm more interested in how I feel in a few specific areas: Neuropathic Pain -- I have a genetic condition that causes neuropathic pain. I'd like to monitor this. Depression and Anxiety -- Getting a day-to-day on my mental health will be worth tracking. Insomnia -- I'd love to track when I go to bed and when I wake up each day, as well as naps. Meals & Food -- What I eat Reflections -- Just a few words on each day. If/Then I like the suggestion re: listing out If/Thens so that I have a game plan for when certain circumstances arise. Here's a list of what I've come up with. IF Late Night TV Craving... THEN I will eat bugs on a log (celery, almond butter, raisins) and drink a glass of water. Once done, I will get myself to bed and read. If I haven't "taken my legs off," I will do that in bed. IF Craving on the Road... THEN I will open the stocked cooler I have in my car and eat the apple or jerky inside. I MUST have a car cooler like this. IF stuck on the road without stocked cooler (or finish the supply)... THEN I will find the nearest place that sells apples, which won't be far. IF for some reason I'm stuck without a lunch at home... THEN I will make tuna salad (always have tunafish, celery, mayo, leafy greens). Tuna salad will be my designated "emergency" lunch, and I will not have it unless it's an emergency, that way I won't dread it. IF for some reason I'm stuck without a dinner at home... THEN I will heat the CHILI i've got in the freezer (note: make chili and put in freezer). Chili will be my designated "emergency" dinner, and I will not have it unless it's an emergency, that way I won't dread it. IF it's Sept. 30 and I have that family picnic lunch/church dinner day... THEN I will eat BEFORE each event IF family asks me why I'm not eating... THEN I say "I'm doing that Whole30 thing, so I'll take care of myself." IF church people ask me why I'm not eating... THEN I say "as much as I'd like to join in, Lindsey and I are doing a meal program this month." IF having a "blood sugar meltdown"... THEN fruit IF I have one of my cravings for something 'illicit'... THEN I will eat some of the dried apricots that I have hidden away in a secret stash. I'll be back with more planning at some point. I would rethink your plans for cravings and emergencies.... dried apricots will make your cravings WORSE! Avoid fruit (especially dried fruit) all by itself. fruit plus nuts for a snack may cause sugar cravings. I would suggest trying jerky or hard boiled eggs with some cut up veggies or fruit (if no veggies are available). no fruit during "blood sugar meltdown"....try some starchy carbs--potatoes, squash, carrots, beets, etc. Fruit will make the meltdown worse. Make all of your snacks include AT LEAST 2 of the food groups. All of your other if/thens look great to me. Good luck to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sduke Posted September 2, 2017 Author Share Posted September 2, 2017 On 9/1/2017 at 10:07 AM, snowflower said: no fruit during "blood sugar meltdown"....try some starchy carbs--potatoes, squash, carrots, beets, etc. Fruit will make the meltdown worse. Make all of your snacks include AT LEAST 2 of the food groups. NOW you tell me! Yeah, I just aped out on some apricots and it was a terrible idea. Thanks for giving me better instructions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sduke Posted September 2, 2017 Author Share Posted September 2, 2017 Revisions to IF/THEN per snowflower and craving tips from a friend: IF having a "blood sugar meltdown"... THEN broth (if available) and carrot sticks w/ dip IF Craving on the Road... THEN I will open the stocked cooler I have in my car and eat the carrots sticks and jerky inside. IF I have one of my cravings for something 'illicit'... THEN I will 'TREAT' myself to something that's NOT FOOD such as buying a cheap app or book off my wishlist DAY ONE (I guess I should do each day all at once either at the end of day or next morning...) Breakfast: Sweet pot. hash, 2 eggs, 1/2 avocado Lunch: Salad with an abominable version of ranch. 2 Hard-boiled eggs. Dinner: Instant Pot Chx., wax beans, black olives. Snacks: I snacked at night on an apple and 2 'chomp stix' Day One was harder than I thought it would be in large part because I went to the movies. Every sensory trigger there told me: "You should have candy and a soda in your hands right now!" I brought an Epic bar and an apple along 'just in case.' But I didn't end up snacking until night. I'm not sure buying those chomp stix was a good idea... they are too much like a "snack without brakes" for me. I frickin' hate avocado unless it's in guac form on a burrito or with chips. The ranch I made was based on a terrible homemade version of the Whole30 mayo. My mayo used EVOO (it's all we had) and probably too much lemon. The ranch didn't have coconut cream (I subbed with water). I seemed to have more energy by the end of the day, maybe buoyed by initial sugar withdrawal somehow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sduke Posted September 4, 2017 Author Share Posted September 4, 2017 Okay, I'm out-of-sync with this log. So I'm skipping Day Two Day Three Breakfast: 2 leftover Chx meatballs from night before; 1 hard-boiled egg, some fruit (apple, maybe?) Lunch: "Kitchen Sink" scramble with: basil, sauteed peach, sauteed spinach; handful of black olives; leftover wax beans Dinner: Whole30 "chili" over baked potato; carrots & guac. Snack: Nighttime: had an Epic bar (chx. sriracha) and a small apple. Our Whole30 chx meatballs are great! Perfect with the Whole30 pesto! We tried the basil/peach/spinach scramble because it worked out so well -- we were planning on scrambled eggs for lunch, and we had a peach to get get rid of, basil to use up, and had baby spinach on hand! It tasted pretty decent -- would should've used less peach and more spinach (about 1/2 peach per 4 eggs would work). Whole30 Chili leaves a lot to be desired. We didn't use beef stock (we had chx broth on hand), but beef stock wasn't going to save this. Maybe we didn't let it reduced down enough? Or RAW doesn't suggest enough tomato? It just is not very thick. It's more like beef soup. Dinner was spare and left me hungry... which I'm usually NOT at the end of these meals. I was worried maybe I was just craving a couple hours later, but when I gave in and had an EPIC bar and apple, it hit the spot. So I think I was just plain hungry. #scalelessvictory : My neuropathy has been doing GREAT! I can usually count on 6 days a year where my resting-state low-level burning is non-existent, and that usually means the weather is perfect (clear, cool). Yesterday was RAINING like crazy which USUALLY means I'm in a good deal of pain. Well, not yesterday! My neuropathic pain is the MAIN REASON I started this, and to get such clear results day 3 was very encouraging and I hope it continues. (Writing this the morning of Day Four, my pain is back, BUT I had insomnia this morning, waking up at 3:30 and not able to get back to sleep AND I haven't taken my meds yet... so we'll see how I feel after nap/meds.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sduke Posted September 5, 2017 Author Share Posted September 5, 2017 I have a terrible memory but I'll do my best here. Day Four Breakfast: Salmon filet and scrambled eggs over baby spinach with pesto, black olives. Lunch: Leftover Chili, lettuce salad with vinaigrette. Almonds Dinner: Um. Um um um... I feel like I need to ask my wife. I have a terrible memory, and frankly, everything is blending into one. Snack: Apple & EPIC bar The notable thing here is that my wife and I were trying to make our Labor Day breakfast special, and we decided to go all out and plan for a daring meal: the Whole30 Salmon Benedict. She broke the hollandaise twice before giving up. Practicing before actual meal prep, I wasted 4 eggs before making 1 good poached egg, then when it came time to make the eggs for the dishes, I f---ed them up. Then when my wife portioned out the salmon, I happened to end up with like the little bit of filet that was undercooked and I cannot stand undercooked fish, and had to judge whether I should suck it up for her feelings' sake or go microwave the fish. I microwaved the fish. I'm still not sure that was the right call. We were both increasingly testy and upset through the WholeORDEAL (TM), but after we ate we celebrated the fact that we made it through, we kept communicating, no one ragequit, no one's feelings got too hurt, and that if we made it through a morning like that, we can make it through Whole30 and life together. We also agreed that attempting an ambitious meal for breakfast is a heinously stupid idea since neither of us had eaten in 10+ hours. #scalelessvictory: Marriage still intact at end of Day Four. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sduke Posted September 6, 2017 Author Share Posted September 6, 2017 Day Five Dinner: This bangin' "one baking sheet dish" with peppers, onions, shrimp and a chili lime sauce. So good! Going Forward Okay, I need to get better at remembering/photographing my meals for this log. I don't remember the particulars of what I ate yesterday. I know that aside from dinner it was largely leftovers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sduke Posted September 6, 2017 Author Share Posted September 6, 2017 Special Report: The Feeling of Success, and a Changing Relationship with Food So I need to write an entry about how great this whole thing is going. Yes, there are cravings, insomnia, etc... but by and large this is the best I've felt in my adult life. Maybe in my whole life. My neuropathic pain is down to a bare minimum. I don't dread getting up to walk the dog. (My dog and wife are both happy about this.) It's raining outside right now but I'm actually lying on the couch feeling comfortable rather than trying not to move too much. I've engaged in fewer distracting/self-narcotizing behaviors because, frankly, I don't feel so bad that I feel I *need* to engage in those behaviors. I mentioned I've had insomnia. This isn't new to me, but rather than being about anxiety it seems more to be about having an abundance of energy. I feel like I've got a nice mellow coffee buzz going at all times, only without the jitters. And the crazy thing is, when I wake up in the morning after only 5 or 6 hours sleep, I pop out of bed. I'm not dragging my feet. One of the primary reasons my wife and I wanted to get in better shape is because we'd like to get to work on starting a family in the near future. We're not spring chickens--we're both in our 30's and I have a chronic disease. We know we're going to need energy to keep up with a small child. Well, today is Day 6 and I feel like this program is already paying dividends. But it has not been f---ing easy. When people ask "what do you like to do?" one of my go-to answers is "go out to eat." Eating whatever I want, trying new restaurants, revisiting old restaurants as a touchstone to the past, celebrating milestones and holidays with grand meals or just taking myself out to a favorite hot dog place have all been central to my identity. Even when I'm not eating, I'm consuming media about food. I read food articles. I have YouTube channels and shows I regularly watch that are all about food. I love talking with people about food. I follow food brands on Facebook. I'm a brand ambassador for Siggi's yogurt. When people find anything having to do with Moxie soda, they send me a link because they think of me as "the guy who loves Moxie." (I have 3 Moxie t-shirts and a Moxie bumper sticker on my car.) Living with a chronic disease, food has been a joy in my life when my body has been nothing but trouble. Changing my relationship with food isn't like having an acquaintance drop out of my life. It's like moving away from a close friend. And if anyone's actually reading this you might be saying "but it's only 30 days." Except for me it's not. 30 days is a start. I'll definitely be taking the "slow roll" reintroduction route, which is frankly not much different than just continuing Whole30. I have to make this change if I'm going to stand a shot at fatherhood and living to see my child(ren) graduate high school. And, yes, there's still plenty of food I can still eat that tastes good. But if "tastes good" is the measure of food, the restrictive Whole30 diet can't hold a candle to eating anything I want when I want. All the Whole30 diet can be by that measure is a bearable consolation prize. But if the measure is "food is supposed to make you feel good and sustain your life," well that's another story. I've lived by the first measure for 36 years and the second measure for 6 days. I have to be able to look back on my old relationship with food as a long lost friend I may never see again. There are good memories there. I have to grieve that loss. "To absent friends," indeed. But. This new thing in my life is something better. It's a new friend I need to acquaint myself with. And it's difficult, but I also know it's better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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