First Whole 30- Starting 10/2!

[Betsie_n]

Here I am, finally finished! I did my scale and measurement session...and..not much changed, but I felt that already, so I'm not getting too wound up about it. I'll keep working on things and hopefully figure out why my body is holding onto these pounds so tightly. 

I decided I should reintro chocolate first, lol. I know, not the way it's supposed to go, but I don't have a lot I want to add back in so I decided this is what I wanted first. I was going to wait until dessert tonight, but given what @mdraeger said about the sugar rush from ice cream potentially messing with sleep, I figured I should have it earlier, so it was dessert after a big salad for lunch. I had some of the HuKitchen bar that has been hidden in my pantry for weeks. I ate it slowly and enjoyed every bit. Then I sealed up with my vacuum sealer so I wouldn't get back into it too easily. I don't think I need to have it again soon. Otherwise, I'm going to remain compliant, except with the loosening up on the condiments and such that are so hard to manage with the sugar thing. Normal ketchup with my burger patty tonight will be nice  I'm planning on wine on the weekend - and I can't wait!

@mdraeger - how exciting that the dairy is going well so far. It seems so many people have issues with it, so if you're not one of those people, you're one of the lucky few! SO sorry to hear that you have a man cold at your house. Much worse than having your own cold, I know! More chicken soup, STAT!

Cheers! Betsie

[mdraeger]

@Betsie_n I think it's good to reintroduce the thing that you missed the most. And it sounds like it was completely worth it. I am very relieved at the dairy result – I didn't have issues when I last did the reintroductions a few years ago, but the fact that so many people have issues made me question my findings. I took a Cultural Anthropology course in college where the professor said that folks with Northern European ancestry tend to have fewer issues tolerating dairy. A big percentage of my background is Norwegian, so I've always assumed that had something to do with it. (my parents and siblings drink shocking amounts of milk to this day. I don't, but more out of personal preference vs. tolerance level.) I have ethical issues with commercially produced dairy, so I'll continue to limit my consumption along those guidelines. Enjoy your weekend wine! 

I'm blazing through that Robb Wolf book I mentioned and it's really interesting. He recommends a 30 day paleo reset (similar to the Whole 30 but minus the white potatoes and with recommendations for grams of carbs/proteins, etc.) and then in place of the reintroduction, has you do a period where you use a blood glucose monitor and test specific carbohydrates to see how they affect your blood glucose. It's a pretty rigorous sounding testing protocol, but it would be cool to have a clear guideline to see what foods you could work into your regular rotation and what you should generally avoid. I'm still a little unclear on a few points, so I want to do some more research on it, but I'm definitely considering trying it out. 

 

[Betsie_n]

Hi to anyone who is still lurking around here! 

I am doing ok with my post-W45. Still haven't had any wine - so that's 50 days!! OMG! The opportunity to have a glass just didn't present itself this weekend and I didn't want to open a whole bottle, so I'm just waiting it out. I tend to want it mostly when we eat out or when we socialize so I'm sure it'll happen this week with the holiday. I've also avoided grains and dairy, which I typically stay away from anyway. 

I did have some sugar and some nuts - it's so hard to be nut-free. I had some of the Simple Mills almond flour crackers late last week because I'm so missing the crunch of a cracker or chip thing. I had a fairly small amount, and I also had some sugar in the form of a chocolate coconut butter spread that includes sugar. I'm not sure which ingredient (or the combo) but I found myself very constipated by Saturday, so I stopped eating the crackers. However, while shopping yesterday (what a mine field the grocery store is during the week of Thanksgiving!) I broke down and got a Theo coconut dark choc treat. I noticed I have been slower to fall asleep the last few nights so I'm wondering if it isn't the sugar I've allowed in causing that. I typically go fall asleep pretty quick so it's been weird to lay there for awhile and I don't think I've been sleeping as deeply. Gotta back off that sugar!

Otherwise, I'm preparing for the holiday this week. My daughter is hosting and I'm bringing a few things. I was worried about what I could snack on while we cook that isn't nuts or cheese related, so I'm making deviled eggs and taking shrimp cocktail and an olive/veggie tray so I won't get too hungry waiting for the big show. I am making a paleo pumpkin pie that will have some almond flour in the crust, but uses honey instead of sugar, so I think it's as clean as I can get and ya gotta have pumpkin pie! I will also make the traditional bread rolls and I plan to have one, but no more than one!

@mdraeger - the Rob Wolf book sounds interesting. I've read a lot of his stuff online, but am not familiar with this book. I'll be interested in how it goes if you decide to try it out. I haven't taken time to try out the pulse test thing yet - probably will focus on that after the holiday. 

Hope everyone is well out there and are ready for a great holiday!

Betsie

[mdraeger]

@Betsie_n Very impressive on making it to day 50 without wine. (And you are so right about the minefield of grocery shopping the weekend before Thanksgiving. Oy vey!) I do want to try the blood testing, but I think I'm probably going to do it in January after all of the holiday craziness. I want to have at least two fully compliant weeks so that I can have clean results. December seems like a good month to try and cement some of the Food Freedom Forever process, so I'm going to take that opportunity.

I reintroduced gluten on Saturday which was interesting. It was really hard to think of gluten that I missed that didn't also involve dairy (pizza, lasagna, heck even butter on bread... ) but I tried to isolate gluten as much as I could. We went out for breakfast at one of my favorite local places and I split one of their delicious pecan sticky buns with my hubby – it was heaven and I enjoyed every bite. I was otherwise compliant except for a mimosa, which I know isn't ideal, but it was too hard to pass up. Then I ran a few errands and did the grocery shopping where I picked up a nice-looking pretzel out of the bakery case and some fresh pasta to pair with a complaint meat sauce and salad for dinner. (I only ate a couple of bites of the pretzel at lunch, it just wasn't that great.) The pasta tasted better, but honestly, not that much better than zoodles or spaghetti sauce.

My stomach was gurgling and unhappy all night and still didn't feel great the following. So, gluten is definitely going to be one of those things that I'm going to keep an eye on. I'm going to keep the next couple of days really compliant and then see how Thanksgiving goes. My menu is mostly compliant with the exception of a sweet potato recipe that has some dairy in it, and then gluten in the stuffing and my brother's pumpkin pie. This will give me a more real world example of when I might choose to indulge, so it will be helpful to see how it affects me. From there, I can look into making gluten-free substitutes. (In the past, I've had bad reactions to some of the gluten-free flour mixes, so I don't want to open that can of worms quite yet.)

It has been so interesting to see the differences in this go-round of W30. I don't feel as stressed out by the gluten reaction as I would have in the first one. (I do wonder if my desire not to have an issue made me overlook symptoms or if I've just changed my gut flora enough to have a different reaction now.) Honestly, even facing the gauntlet of holiday parties/Christimas with my in-laws and parents isn't that scary. (It helps to have the safety net of a January Whole30.) 

I hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to a wonderful holiday weekend!

M

[laurenmccracken]

Hi all- I'm still in CA, but my weekend away with my husband was AMAZING!! First day I stayed pretty well compliant... breakfast day two was too difficult! We were in a small dinky town, most restaurants were closed, and we went to the two that were open to look for something compliant... literally there was NOTHING!!!! I settled on spinach tomato feta croissant ... 

i was SO bummed that I couldn't get anything! 

For dinner, we went someplace with a group. We had no hand in choosing the restaurant. Imthe waitress was not at all accommodating of any changes to menu items and anything somewhat maybe compliant (paleo) would have been $35/entree. Too rich for my blood at this time. I had mostly roasted brussel sprouts with balsamic but also two slices of wood fired pizza. 

In essence, I said, "the hell with it" after my breakfast experience. We had a mini frige in our room, so I just bought cereal and ate it with almond milk in the AM and a Greek yogurt too--

if nothing I can find at a restaurant/bakery is going to be compliant, I might as well save the money and eat cereal at "home"...

I also was sick, and on my third round of antibiotics. Besides that... I had a wonderful time and today is a new day and I've been compliant thus far today. I have a plan for thanksgiving to stay compliant, and taking the spinach artichoke dip and a yam for myself. 

I feel more bloated than I have been feeling, but with my sinus infection continuing, I just feel headachy and yucky so I can't figure if it's food or me being sick. 

I am headed home on Friday, so if all else fails, on Saturday, I'm in my own house, my own kitchen and I can manage my food choices better. 

 

Gotta chase the kids at my moms house... I hope you're all well 

[halfpint_aggie]

Howdy y'all!  It's been a crazy-busy couple of weeks.  And my 4-year-old got strep throat, so that was fun.  Hopefully everyone can stay healthy for the next few days so we can make it through all our Thanksgiving feasts.  I was told to bring a dessert to MIL's family Thanksgiving, but I'm rebelling and taking a veggie instead (there are always 5,324 desserts & 2 veggies). 

Not much else to report over here, just wanted to hop on & say hi real quick.  Gotta get back to Lysol-ing the place now to make sure all the strep is gone.

[mdraeger]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

@laurenmccracken I'm so sorry to hear that you're having such a struggle finding reasonably priced compliant options, how frustrating! 

@halfpint_aggie I chuckled out loud at your rebellion. (And it's so true, there always ends up being more dessert.) My prediction, your veggie dish is going to get gobbled up in no time flat...

The hubby went to the store unattended yesterday to pick up our turkey and a few last-minute things and came home with a pie! It was a mini-pie, but still! I was so mad. (Especially since it's a fancy brand that I know is expensive... ) I should have just let him eat it, but ended up eating it "so it didn't go to waste" which was a huge bummer. Luckily, the gluten effect wasn't as bad as last time. But it still wasn't worth it and the whole thing just made me super annoyed. I'm tired of feeling like I have to be the grown-up all the time. Gah. 

Today has been better and I did some solid food prep to make tomorrow easier. We're going to do a Turkey Trot in the morning and then host my brother/sister-in-law for a low-key dinner. It should be fun. Hope everyone has a great holiday.

[Betsie_n]

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving (and survived the hurricane of food temptation and family drama that comes from such holidays)!

We had a good one! We traveled to my daughter's home and had an easy meal with just 7 of us - though we almost ate raw turkey because the timing included with their smoked turkey was about 3 hours wrong  I did pretty well staying away from the crap. I caved and did indulge in some nuts from the nut assortment bowl, but besides my dinner roll, I think I stayed on track on Thursday, except butter in potatoes and flour in gravy. My Paleo pumpkin pie hit my sweet spot for a treat! We ate out some, so I did my best but nothing horrendous was eaten. My daughter took me to a great local cafe Friday afternoon for lunch and their gluten free pasta is actually zoodles! I had a delicious seafood "pasta" plate and enjoyed some GF bread. I usually don't go for the GF breads because of other weird ingredients, but I thought it would be ok to splurge for the holiday weekend. SO. Good. My hubs and I ended up going back to there for breakfast on Saturday and he had his biscuits and gravy and I had a delightful egg veggie scramble with GF toast. YUM. 

The bad news was that our hotel room smelled a bit musty and then we came home with head colds. I wonder if there was a mold issue. I haven't had a full-blown cold in a year and a half, so I'm trying to stave this one off with all of my home remedies. I might be winning the war but still feel a bit icky. My Newark/NYC trip is in a week, so I must be well! 

Overall, I'm working at staying 98% compliant, especially during the week when I have total control over my food and environment. This time of the year, there's an event or two every weekend that will be challenging, but I plan to do my best to eat smart and and follow the FFF advice because I don't want to undo all the good I have done. In January I will go back to tackling the lingering gut issues 100%. 

Oh - a couple of good news points: First, my new mini Instant Pot arrived this week, so now I have both a 6qt and a 3qt, which I plan to use for my everyday veggies and side dishes. Love it! Second, I won a great Primal Kitchens giveaway on FB last week and got a whole box of their products for free! What a nice treat! 

I hope all is well with the rest of the group. I know that since we've all finished our official rounds, things will continue to be quieter and quieter here, but I have so appreciated knowing you all were out there during this leg of my health journey. I'll always be thankful to you! 

Cheers! 

Betsie

 

 

 

[mdraeger]

@Betsie_n I've been peeking into this thread from time to time and I'm so glad I'm not the only one. Congrats on the new InstantPot and the Primal Kitchens giveaway, how awesome. I'm a huge fan of my IP – such a game changer. I'm not quite ready for multiple sizes, but that day is coming... ;-) I hope your cold gets better soon and well before your trip.

I didn't stay quite as compliant as I wanted to over the holiday. Hubby and I did a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning and ended up with some "free" cupcakes. I'm learning that a huge challenge for me is eating things that are in the house so "they don't go to waste" Why I give a crap if some cupcakes that I didn't pay for get thrown out is anyone's guess, but it's something to work on. Other than the cupcakes, there were a few gluten and dairy containing things and too much wine. By Sunday, I felt so off the rails and far away from the W30 goodness that it was actually not that hard to get back on the wagon. I planned some easy compliant dinners for this week and am happy to be back on solid ground again. My plan is to be as compliant as possible at home and do the best I can at the various social engagements coming up. 

I also started a boot camp this week. It's been a while since I've done that kind of exercise, so it was definitely challenging and EVERYTHING is sore. But it's nice to start the day with a solid workout and it helps motivate the clean eating for sure. 

Hope everyone is staying on track and doing well!