Hazel's Whole 30 Blog

[HazelSkye]

Hello happy 30ers. This is my mini blog/journal/food diary for my Whole30 challenge. It's my first one! I am wanting to get back into healthier eating habits, and hope by that this will be the key to success! I also feel that by writing each day, it will help me stay accountable and on track. (Gotta get rid of this impending double chin).

You are welcome to post here!! I will style "blog" posts to separate them from any conversation that might occur. Support, suggestions, random comments are much appreciated!

[HazelSkye]

||| DAY ONE ||| MOOD  |||

 

First day of my diet went okay. Spent all weekend prepping for the week to come. Purged my cabinet and fridge of old/uncompliant items and replaced it with bundles of veggies, spices and proteins. No temptations here!

For breakfast I had potato, bell pepper and egg white hash that I prepared last night, with a small side of strawberries. It was very good except that about a quarter of it exploded and was lost to the microwave. ;(  Note to future self - microwave in shorter increments. 

Lunch went much smoother. I had technically started last night and made a chicken coconut curry with lots of veggies. Leftovers with a peach on the side were delicious! Only downfall was that I still felt hungry afterwards. It was a decent portion - I didn't eat less than normal. I think I was/am starting to feel the effects of being grain-free. Funny enough, I found myself craving what I normally eat for breakfast- peanut butter chocolate protein bars. They have surprisingly low sugar, and low calories but definitely still a lot of carbs overall. They will be missed </3 

Dinner was a success! (And thank goodness, I was getting lightheaded). We made salmon loaded with onions, tomatoes, ginger, lemon, coconut aminos and a pat of clarified butter. Enough left for lunch tomorrow. Steamed broccoli and plums on the side. Felt much better after eating, but still very tired. Looking forward and not back though!

[HazelSkye]

||| DAY TWO ||| MOOD  |||

 

I wish I could say today went smoother than yesterday. I put in the effort to prepare my breakfast last night - eggs & potato hash - and remembered to bring it to work with me. However, after heating it up in the microwave, I dropped it. I. Dropped. It. I MOTHER F*ING DROPPED IT. I almost cried. 

SO, breakfast constituted of strawberries and a handful of emergency cashews. It held me over until lunch. 

Lunch was leftover salmon (still so delicious) with extra steamed veggies added. I made a special trip to the store before eating to get a bag of plain frozen mix to cover my lack of veggies at breakfast. I probably ate 3-4 servings worth. 

Dinner was a great success!! Definitely made my day better. I was craving spaghetti, but not for the pasta really. My body wanted ground beef. I made my normal spaghetti sauce (which was a happy bonus as it's already compliant), and instead of noodles we baked a spaghetti squash. It tastes just like the real thing, and I felt satisfied afterwards. 

Sugar bug isn't too bad, though I still have a lingering empty feeling sometimes. I know these are cravings. Trying to drink lots of water to keep them at bay. Looking forward to the things I have planned for the coming days and for shredding through this diet!!

[madness]

If you are hungry between meals, you might need to be eating more fat. It goes counter to what we hear so often about a healthy diet - eat less fat! - but you *need* it and it is what keeps you full and energetic between meals. So add fat to your plate - not just cook in it.

You've got this! The first week has plenty of ups and downs (ummm...by which I mean mostly downs...), but once you are through the transition, things will be looking up!

[HazelSkye]

||| DAY THREE ||| MOOD  |||

 

I had a pretty good day today! Didn't have any "empty" feelings. I think sugar dragon is slowly going into remission.

I added an extra egg to breakfast and some turnip greens to get more veggies in my diet. I actually wasn't feeling the potatoes much and only ate a few pieces, but gobbled (slowly) the eggs and veggies, and the small side of mixed strawberries & raspberries. Might not get the raspberries from the store again though because they tasted like chlorine a little. Bummer. ;(

Lunch was delicious, delicious leftover spaghetti. Still so good the next day. 

We actually had so much spaghetti leftover that we had a half portion for dinner, boiled cabbage and one small porkchop (boneless and fat trimmed off) seasoned with salt and pepper. Had a small plum on the side which I had brought for lunch and didn't eat. Felt perfectly full and satisfied after. 

Biggest hope is that I'll start feeling more awake in the mornings. I've always gotten 7-8 hours of sleep, just never been much a morning person. After a couple of hours I typically feel very alert - but that first bit of the day is always rough. Still feeling groggy this morning, but hanging in as always. 

[HazelSkye]

12 hours ago, madness said:

If you are hungry between meals, you might need to be eating more fat. It goes counter to what we hear so often about a healthy diet - eat less fat! - but you *need* it and it is what keeps you full and energetic between meals. So add fat to your plate - not just cook in it.

You've got this! The first week has plenty of ups and downs (ummm...by which I mean mostly downs...), but once you are through the transition, things will be looking up!

I did pretty well today! I'm trying to keep my diet limited to mostly plant fats. Animal fats trigger gall bladder attacks for me, as well as too many egg yolks, mayo, or butter. Avocados, vegetable oil, nuts, etc I have no problems with. 

I keep meaning to buy avocados from the store but I forget. 

[HazelSkye]

||| DAY FOUR ||| MOOD  |||

 

Today as okay. I was kinda grumpy. 

I avoided my potatoes at breakfast again. Ate my eggs slowly with raspberries. 

Lunch was two porkchops and boiled cabbage, along with a handful of nuts for some fat. 

Dinner we baked chicken with carrot, celery and potatoes. It was really delicious. 

I was extremely tired this morning. Went to sleep at last night at 10:40p and had my alarm set for 6:45a. Only woke up once to pee and fell right back to sleep. I overslept my alarm and was almost late for work. Hoping that passes.  

[HazelSkye]

||| DAY FIVE ||| MOOD  |||

 

Today was okay, but hard. We had a food truck at work for employee appreciation, and someone brought cake for a coworker who had a birthday. Felt like I missed out.

My breakfast was egg and veggies (sautéed peppers, onions and turnip greens). I ate as much as I could, but I'm finding I kind of have to choke it down. It's not very satisfying for breakfast. I don't know how to make it taste better. I also ate some raspberries.  

Lunch was leftover chicken from last night. It was still very good the next day, but I would've loved some lamb, falafel and cake with the others. ;(

Dinner we made a Filipino dish called tinola. It has chicken legs or thighs, vegetable stock, onion, ginger, chayote squash, horseradish leaves, spinach or bok choy, fish sauce, salt and peppercorns. We've made it many times before and usually eat it with rice. We just ate the soup part today. It was really yummy. Also ate a banana with dinner for some added fiber, and a 100 calorie packet of mixed almonds and walnuts for added fat. 

I was still very tired this morning. Looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and recuperating from the week. 

[HazelSkye]

||| DAY SIX ||| MOOD  |||

 

Long day today. Pretty tired. 

Slept in this morning and felt GREAT when I woke up at 9. I love weekends. Hardest part is that we usually go out to eat on the weekends to treat ourselves, especially for breakfast. 

I didn't want us to feel like we were missing out. I cooked up sweet potato and apples with some cinnamon and nutmeg with eggs for breakfast. It was very good and very satisfying. 

My spouse's father flew in today for the weekend. Having him here right now is difficult because he is not on a diet and also loves to go out to eat. We ended up going to a Persian restaurant that serves kabobs. Our waiter was really nice and patient with us when we discussed our dietary limitations. He suggested the ground beef or salmon. I had the salmon over some plain salad. I spiced it up with the sumac they have on the table. It wasn't too bad. 

After a long afternoon out with him we came home and had leftovers from last night - tinola.

We then left with dad to go to the home of an old friend of his and help them pack to move. It was impromptu, and there were boxes and lifting and stairs involved. I wouldn't call it a standard "workout", but I was beat and hungry after. When we got home again I had a snack of jicama and a 100 calorie packet of nuts. 

So ready for bed now. ZzZzzzzZZZzzz

[HazelSkye]

||| DAY SEVEN ||| MOOD  |||

Second day of dad's visit. I knew it would be a hard day again for eating. We only got to eat twice, and ate out both times. I had the steak at brunch around 12:30 and the pork chops at dinner around 8:30. Luckily, both restaurants were very accommodating and dry grilled the food with just salt and pepper. They were also able to give me a side of clarified butter for seasoning! My fat content today was probably a little over what it should be, and I didn't feel great after (slight gall bladder tinge, but not a full in attack), but at least I was compliant as I could be. Happy that he will be going home tomorrow so diet can get back to normal with home cooking. I love him, just not the added food stress. 

[HazelSkye]

||| DAY EIGHT ||| MOOD  |||

 

So.  Frikkin. Tired. 

My sister in law invited herself to sleep at our house after she got off of work. She came in at 3AM and made a bunch of noise. I couldn't fall back asleep afterwards I was so irritated with her inconsideration. 

I went off to work a bit early since I was up anyways, but I knew I wasn't going to make it through the day without a boost. I know energy shots are way off limits, so I did some Google research and bought some of nature's energy shot - smoked tinned oysters. Apparently clams, oysters, and mussels have a craaazy amount of B12. 

So my breakfast was a fun mixture of boiled eggs, oysters, and honeydew that I cut up last night. 

Lunch was leftover porkchop and broccoli. I went for a short 15 minute walk after and ate 7 cashews after that. 

At 4:30 I was feeling really wiped and groggy. I ate a plum to perk me up. 

We made tinola for dinner - chicken and bok choy in broth. Also had a couple more pieces of honeydew. 

Its only 7:30 and I'm ready to pass tf out. Zzzzzzzzz

[HazelSkye]

||| DAY NINE ||| MOOD  |||

 

Feeling much better today. Did I mention I also got a flu shot yesterday? Yeah, yesterday sucked. 

I fell asleep last night at like 9pm and didn't wake up until 6:30 this morning. I was OUT. I boiled a couple of eggs and ate those with a banana for breakfast. 

Lunch was leftover tinola. I went for a 20 minute walk and ate maybe half a handful of cashews after. 

For dinner we made spaghetti squash spaghetti, per bae's request. We also had some honeydew after. 

Overall I felt good today. Still craving some pizza though. Or a croissant. Or some mac n cheese. Reese's cups. Mmmmm. 

[HazelSkye]

|||DAY TEN ||| MOOD  |||

 

Today wasn't bad at all. I was a bit tired when I woke up. Scrambled to make breakfast - eggs and some turnip greens and mushroom, with a banana. 

Lunch was leftover spaghetti. Went for a walk after, but wasn't hungry for snack. 

For dinner we had steak and sooo much salad. I had bought some primal kitchen dressing at whole foods yesterday and was very excited to try it. It was soooo good. Also had some honeydew. Very satisfying meal. 

[HazelSkye]

||| DAY ELEVEN ||| MOOD  |||

 

Today was great! I felt less tired this morning, and it's the first day I wasn't really craving sweets. 

For breakfast I had corned beef with onion and turnip greens, and a banana. Felt perfectly full until noon. 

Lunch was leftover steak with sautéed mushrooms and onions and a side of steamed broccoli. It was super yummy. Went for a short walk after eating.

For dinner we made roasted pork loin with carrots and apples and baked sweet potato. It was sooooo delicious and very satisfying. 

It was so nice to have such a good day. Lovely weather and great food. Maybe finally getting the hang of this cooking stuff!

[HazelSkye]

||| DAY TWELVE ||| MOOD  |||

 

Today was great! I felt very awake and alert this morning. I never knew I could be a morning person!

For breakfast I had three hard boiled eggs and a banana. The eggs were from pasture chickens and soooo tasty. 

Lunch was leftover pork and steamed veggies. Also ate an orange. I didn't get to have my walk  today because I was with a coworker  

For dinner we decided to have whole 30 junk food of sorts. We baked chicken wings and julienned potatoes. Had hot sauce on the wings and Tessamae's ketchup with the potatoes. We also had raw broccoli and baby carrots with Primal Kitchen ranch to dip in. It was an indulgent feast. I'm so full. We're gonna go walk now haha. 

[HazelSkye]

||| DAT THIRTEEN ||| MOOD  |||

 

I had a super relaxing and super lazy Saturday. I should've gone for a walk, but instead I hung out at home and watched movies. We also had stayed up super late last night, so I didn't wake up until noon.  Whoops.

I made our special Saturday morning breakfast of scrambled eggs with potato and apple hash. Beautiful autumn colors.

We had lunch/dinner around six thirty. I made hamburger patties and a side salad of spinach, onion, tomato and carrot. It was very filling so I didn't eat again until 11:30. I still felt kinda full so I only ate a banana and an orange. I wasn't hungry for protein. 

I'll try to have an earlier day tomorrow. 

[HazelSkye]

||| DAY FOURTEEN ||| MOOD  |||

 

So I tried to be less lazy today, and failed. Lol. 

I woke up at 10am and made the same breakfast as yesterday - eggs, sweet potato and apple. It was super yummy. 

We ended up eating breakfast around 11, so we had lunch/dinner at around 4. I decided to grill steak and seasoned zucchini. I also made baked potato in the oven. It was all very yummy and kept us quite full. 

At 9pm we were feeling pecking but didn't want to eat anything too big. I had an egg, an orange, and a packet of 100 calorie almonds and walnuts. It was filling enough to hold me over until bed. 

I did at least do al the cooking today and swept and mopped the floors, so I got around a bit. I'll try to do better tomorrow. 

[HazelSkye]

||| DAY FIFTEEN ||| MOOD  |||

 

Today was a little crazy. I woke up and got to work early. Traffic was a breeze today because kids are on fall break from school. 

For breakfast I had two boiled eggs, raw salted tomato slices and an orange. 

Lunch was chaotic. I had a meeting so I ate very slowly over the course of an hour and a half. I didn't finish all of it. 

I was hungry around 4:30 so I had about half a handful of cashews. 

For dinner I made chicken soup. Broth, carrot, celery, onion, spinach, chicken, salt, pepper, bay leaf. It was delicious. I ate a banana after. 

Excited to have a big bowl of soup again tomorrow!

[HazelSkye]

||| DAY SEVENTEEN ||| MOOD  |||

 

So I was suuuuper lazy yesterday and didn't post. Stayed compliant though. 

Today I had eggs for breakfast with a banana. Spilled my tea all over my desk. Diet can't cure clumsiness.  

For lunch I had leftover spaghetti squash spaghetti. Bar was craving it last night so I made it for us. Was yummy

For dinner we had tilapia with tomato and onion. Also had a small apple and a few grapes. Super yummy but still felt a little hungry after. Ignored the feeling. 

After work (before dinner) I went to the store for more eggs and took my blood pressure. 107/70! I've never had high blood pressure, but I usually consistently run a 120/80. Crazy to see it so low considering I've had a higher fat and cholesterol intake than normal. Excited to check it again in a couple weeks when I'm all done!

[HazelSkye]

||| DAY TWENTY ||| MOOD  |||

 

I AM SO LAZY ABOUT POSTING. 

I have been compliant. 

Today we woke up at noon like lazy bums. We had some steak leftover from last night, so I sliced and pan seared it to warm it up. Ate it with some eggs cooked with Rotel tomatoes. It was delicious. 

We went shopping late, and decided to do a shrimp and crab boil for dinner with some potatoes and turnip greens on the side. It was so delicious. I ate a few strawberries and a small banana right after the boil. Feeling very satisfied. 

[HazelSkye]

||| DAY TWENTY THREE ||| MOOD  |||

 

Seven days. Just seven more days and then I get to have BEANS. I've never been so excited for beans before. 

Last night my spouse made sautéed shrimp and roasted pork belly. It was sooo good. Also notable is that rotel tomatoes and eggs taste really good together. Ate that with some avocado and lime for breakfast over the weekend. 

We have some chicken for dinner later. I think we are making curry. 

[HazelSkye]

||| DAY TWENTY FOUR ||| MOOD  |||

 

I WENT TO THE STORE TODAY AND NEXT TO IT IS PIZZA HUT AND IT SMELLED SO GOOD. 

#ihavegreatrestraint

Eggs for breakfast. Leftover salmon & zucchini with half a baked sweet potato for lunch, which was sooooo yummy. I was craving fish yesterday. 

We made the curry for dinner today after I went shopping for some missing ingredient. It came out better than last time I made it. I think I forgot salt before, and this time we added butternut squash and ginger. 

Six more days until reintro! 

[HazelSkye]

||| DAY TWENTY FIVE ||| MOOD  |||

 

Welp. Here we are. 2AM. I almost made it 30 days without a gallbladder attack. Maybe it’s my hormones since I also started my period, idk. But, I woke up in pain. 

I bought ground beef from Walmart instead of Publix when I went shopping a few days ago to minimize my stops, since I had to go to Walmart for non-grocery needs anyways. They had pre-packaged one pound organic grass-fed beef. It was reasonably priced at around $6.50/lb so I bought it over the non-organic. Must be better for me right?

Beef was 85/15. I usually get 90 or better, but they didn’t have that in the organic selection. I made sure to drain in when I cooked it, as always. Even though I drained it, when I ate it, the sauce felt “thick” in my mouth and a bit greasy. I thought maybe it would be fine, since I’ve eaten steak numerous times on this diet now, and that was previously a no-no with my gallbladder. 

But alas, here we are at 2AM. I will just get the non-organic 93/7 next time.  

[HazelSkye]

ONE MORE DAY. Ready for this to be over. Hoping for some good results on my weight. If not, I’ll probably try a different diet. 

[HazelSkye]

||| DAY THIRTY ||| MOOD  |||

 

I can’t believe it! I made it a whole month with no sugar, no soy, cooked every day. 

Today we celebrated with lobster and steamed zucchini for dinner. It was delicious. Not sure what I’ll reintroduce tomorrow for legume day, but I am looking forward to it!