Seeking a Calmer Mind in 2013

[ORBren]

I love your tromping through the mud excursion... so good for you to be out in the fresh air. Did you get any mud in your mouth? A little natural pro-/pre-biotic dosing? And that staring at the ocean time definitely goes on the thankfulness list!

[Callan]

Definitely - I gain some inspiration from you and your log to remind me to be thankful. I'm so lucky that I live right near the ocean (Massachusetts coast)! No mud in the mouth (un)fortunately.

Maybe next time! xD

[Callan]

Day 20

I wasn't aware that the Always Hungry All The Time stage occurred around Day 20, but here we are. I was up at 5am getting ready for work, and #1 on the priority list was a relaxed breakfast, to see if I could avoid the stress stomach pains. And, I did! With a scramble of swiss chard, onion, and a little bit of ground beef, topped with two fried eggs and sweet potato wedges on the side, I was ready for a long day.

Well, maybe not as ready as I thought. By 10:45, I was hungry and didn't know when my lunch break might be offered, so I hastily unwrapped a larabar, and knowing a few things:

1. A hard-boiled egg and some carrot sticks would be a better choice;
   
2. This is not an ideal “snackâ€
   
3. This food has the ability to awaken old (bad) habits in me
   

I stuffed it in my face. Fortunately, it did have the feared effect of the third item in that list on me. In fact, I didn't like it much. But, since I was at work in a stressful environment, my stomach promptly cramped up. Oops. To add insult to injury, about ten minutes later, I was offered my lunch break. So, I had leftover green curry over cauliflower rice.

Looking at it now, yeah, that probably wasn't enough food. I wasn't quite full, but carried on with my day. At around 3:30, when I got home, I defrosted three bora bora fireballs, crumbled them up, and stir-fried them with some frozen veggies, garlic, spices, and coconut aminos.

Still hungry. Had the unlikely snack of olives and water chestnuts.

At around 7pm, I was hungry AGAIN! This time I had two turkey dogs, two carrots, a small amount of walnuts and a handful of coconut flakes. Then I nibbled on coconut butter until I was ACTUALLY full. What's the deal?

This is all interesting and weird. This week, I hope to come up with some interesting (and filling – geez!) meals. Wait and see with week #4!

[ORBren]

Weird to be so hungry... but you stayed W30 so all is well.

[melbournegirl]

Both times I got ridiculously hungry on day 22 and it lasted for more than a week and I stacked on weight but then it came off again...go with the flow?

[Callan]

O_O all right! Good thing I don't care too much about how I weigh... although since I haven't been working out much, I have been feeling pretty "skinny-fat" lately...

[Callan]

Although my alarm went off at 6:30 this morning, I opted to sleep in until nearly 8:30 (unheard of for me) and this was a great decision. Thank goodness for days off! I seem to recall waking up feeling quite nauseated in the middle of the night, briefly, and going back to sleep. And guess what? Not a single one of today's meals resulted in stomach pain!

First off, leftover beef and veggie stir fry with cauliflower rice, coconut aminos, coconut flakes, sunflower seeds, and a tiny bit of that sardine stuff I made yesterday. I was determined to eat enough to be full!

…But alas, I didn't. So I heated up the last of my sweet potato wedges with a bit of ghee. After this, I was probably too full.

At 11:30, I was already ready for lunch, and waited until around noon to eat. I scrambled two eggs (but it's more of a weird misshapen omelet…) and braised some Brussels sprouts and tiny bits of steak. It was pretty great.

But… once again, the hunger stroke in full force around 3pm. I'd been obsessively hydrating with tea and water, but to no avail. And sitting around at home with my folks (including a sick 1st grader), I felt awkward cooking up yet another meal. So I ate: a few handfuls of coconut flakes, a few handfuls of walnuts, and a larabar. I know, it was a terrible snack, but I NEEDED to see if what I was missing to be full and satiated was sugary carbohydrates. And… it wasn't. The larabar did not fill me, but a spoonful of coconut butter did. Grumble. I sure hope I figure this new challenge out, because eating this much is NOT sustainable!

For dinner, my brother Max and I battered (coconut flour and spices + egg) and fried a whole bunch of pork chops, and ate ‘em with a side of lemony green beans. This was great! Definitely filled me up (phew).

Tomorrow (unless it's a snow day) I should be back to work, so I'm trying to pack up good filling meals for the day. And yet, I'm out of groceries and don't know if I'll make it to the store tomorrow! Oh dear… Well, I should be able to last on the proteins that are currently defrosting and my stash of frozen vegetables, but cauliflower and Brussels sprouts are gonna get old, fast.

Emergency backup stash:

• Canned salmon, tuna, and sardines
  
• Ground bison & beef
  
• Frozen broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts
  
• Spaghetti & acorn squash
  
• Canned tomatoes
  
• Bison bone broth (currently slow-cooking!)
  
• Canned pumpkin
  
• Fresh beets
  
• Onions
  

Oh, it's good to have that typed up. Now I feel like I actually have options. Pro-tip: Feeling stressed about an empty fridge? Inventory what you have in the pantry, freezer, and fridge, and chances are you have more than you thought.

[Aberrantatavia]

I do this at the beginning of my whole 30, in the first few days usually. I recall eating full meals about every 2 hours for 3 days. Whatever my body needed, it finally got it and then I was ok. So hopefully this will just last a couple of days and then you will be back on track, not that you are off track if you are being compliant!

PS I'm gearing up for a snow day tomorrow too....

[Callan]

So good to hear. Obviously this is a strange thing happening a little late in the game, but I'm not too worried. I can now differentiate between real hunger and craving, and this has been real hunger so I just went with it!

[melbournegirl]

I've got (already cooked) boiled eggs, steak, chicken curry, chicken vege soup, ground pork, vege soup, roast chicken and a stack of raw vegies in my fridge so I should be fine till the weekend! Wow didnt realise I had so much... still three whole30 meals a day soon uses it up.

[Callan]

Oops, forgot to log here yesterday. Here's a link to my blog post for day 22: http://calmmindkitchen.com/2013/01/23/whole30-day-22-back-to-normal/

As an addendum, I wound up eating a turkey dog and some handfuls of coconut flakes at like 10pm because I was hungry. Guh. Today I finally went grocery shopping, and bought organic chicken thighs. I hate the price, but I know I'm voting with my dollar so I'm doing my best... I've got Well Fed's Chocolate Chili in the crockpot now, and when I get home at 8 it will be a glorious thing.

[kshacklett]

Where have you been able to find compliant green olives? All the ones I checked at the grocery store had sugar in them I don't have a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods near me, but if you know the brand I could keep my eye out for them - I love love love olives.

[Callan]

Hmm, what was I eating...? Shoot, I ran out and recycled the jar already! I think they may have just been Goya, but I'm not 100% sure... At any rate, don't worry about not having a TJ's - I looked at their olives and most were filled with garbage too!

[kshacklett]

oh it didn't even occur to me to look in the spanish food section - the only compliant coconut milk at my grocery store is hidden away there (the organic stuff has carraggeenan, go figure). Thanks!

[Callan]

Good luck! And I don't think ALL the Goya olives were okay, but I did find some that were!

[Callan]

Just another day in Whole30 Land here… With a minor cold and a long work day, I kept this post short.

Breakfast: 6oz of steak strips over cauliflower rice, steamed broccoli, and half a fried yellow plantain. Coconut aminos, garlic and ginger powder. A bit strange, but fairly satisfying. Ah, and I had a bowl of blueberries topped with some cinnamon along with it. Fresh fruit, I missed you so!

Lunch: The last three bora bora fireballs from my freezer stash, with the last of my freezer tomato sauce. Kind of an awkward combination; would not recommend. Ignore the silly utensil I used to eat it (it's a spoon on the other side). I also had (not pictured) a tangerine, a few dried apricots, two carrots, and a few kalamata olives. Brought a thermos full of chai tea with coconut cream to sip on all day.

Dinner: Yesss finally! Chocolate chili, slow cooker version. It's very unlike me to follow recipes exactly, but I used all the ingredients as listed here. With 1/4 of an avocado and some cilantro, this is wonderful. Oh, and I microwaved a white sweet potato, topped it with a teaspoon of ghee, and served alongside some salad greens. Boy, I was stuffed!

[Callan]

I will post about day 24 tomorrow morning, but for now I would just like to leave a note-to-self:

Just because you realized that a little fruit isn't going to send you spiraling into a pit of craving cake and ice cream and candy bars, doesn't mean that three servings of fresh fruit and two servings of dried fruit is a good idea. Wow, I had no idea how hard this stuff is on my digestive system! I need to give away those dried apricots or something because this gas is not worth it!

[melbournegirl]

[Callan]

Day 24:

Sorry for the late post! I got lazy, and video games happened. Yesterday morning, I felt slightly embarrassed and self-conscious about my luxurious breakfasts. I mean, who the heck takes the time to make fried plantain chips, scrambled eggs with sautéed mushrooms, steak, and serve it on a bed of greens with tomato slices, avocado and cilantro… For themselves? Yep, I'm a weirdo. But, to be fair, it really only took 15 minutes to make…

That said, I may make some egg muffins to streamline my breakfasts a bit. This is a bit absurd.

For lunch, I had some meatballs filled with spinach over salad greens, two carrots, a few kalamata olives, a tangerine, some steamed broccoli, and a few dried apricots (I really gotta cut this out. My digestive system is not so happy).

I wound up having some coconut flakes as a snack, so I would not starve to death on the way home from work. For dinner I heated up some of that chocolate chili with frozen cauliflower, cilantro, and avocado. Can't get enough! Too bad it's a terrible photograph.

At any rate, I'm feeling pretty good but as you can see, the snacks are creeping back in. I'm contemplating a full-on sugar detox when this is all over, which seems far less daunting than before.

[Callan]

Aaaand Day 25:

This morning I attempted to have a more low-key breakfast, by heating up some fried pork cutlets and tossing them over some salad greens, and drizzling a but of olive oil on top.

But alas, it wasn't enough and by 10am I was still hungry! I think I need just a few starchy carbs to feel satisfied in the morning. So I fried half a plantain, served it up with some sad microwaved broccoli and a turkey dog. And, unfortunately, I succumbed to the mindless eating monster… A few unnecessary handfuls of coconut flakes. Oh well.

for lunch, I packed canned wild albacore tuna mixed with homemade mayonnaise, kalamata olives, carrots and tomato, and some cut green beans. Also a few dried apricots, which are almost sickeningly sweet.

I've had a hard time lately with portioning enough food for myself. What's the deal? Next week, I'll do better! I was still starving around 4, and had saved the green beans for such a situation, so I ate those with a larabar.

I have yet to eat dinner, but I know what it'll be: the last of the chocolate chili (minus a bowl a stashed away in the freezer for an emergency), 1/2-1 small sweet potato, and some greens or cauliflower. Awww, yeah.

Edit: Oh, and I haven't really mentioned this at all (here or otherwise) yet... but back in September or October I went off hormonal birth control (the pill) for the first time after using it for about a year. I got my period immediately after discontinuing it, but now it's been almost 4 months and I still haven't menstruated again. Does anyone have any tips on reinstating a healthy cycle? I just want my hormones to be "normal" again...

[Callan]

Grouping these two days together because I'm a slacker.

Day 26:

Breakfast: Baby's first frittata, featuring mushrooms, spinach, and onions. Mmm, eggs. I had this x2.

Which, admittedly, wasn't very much, so I chopped up a hot dog and ate it with some green beans an hour or two later. Like the LEGO background?

For a late, late lunch (as I was cooking up a storm to prepare a bit for the upcoming days) I ate a bowl of (er, very blurry, apparently) spaghetti squash in a sauce made of pumpkin puree and coconut milk with some chicken thighs. YUM! Recipe coming soon.

I planned to go to the gym so I packed a post-workout snack of another hot dog and some really amazing mashed white sweet potatoes (recipe coming too, I swear), but then my little brother asked if I wanted to play DDR and I was happy to oblige. Now, I used to be good enough at DDR that some songs could constitute a HIIT-type workout, but now I'm not as coordinated so it probably was not a full on workout. But, I ate this anyway.

And I had some broccoli. And probably some coconut flakes at some point. And a small clementine. Weekends are for snacking, I guess. :/

Dinner: Salad greens topped with steamed beet slices, 1/2 avocado, sardine filets (1/2 can), sunflower seeds, some olive oil and ACV. It was good… but after taking my supplements and heading off to bed, I found myself suffering from horrible I-can't-possibly-sleep-while-this-is-happening pains in my stomach. Why?! It was weird. Eventually I fell asleep but man… I dunno.

------------

Day 27:

Breakfast: Leftover frittata with fried plantains and avocado. This was at around 5:50am, and needed to hold me over indefinitely. And… it did! I had lunch almost 7 hours later!

Lunch: More avocado, beets, and leftover pumpkin spaghetti squash with chicken. But, I was legitimately still hungry after this so I ate a banana. Oh, and I drank coffee all morning. Bad idea.

When I got home from work, as a pre-workout snack, I had (not pictured) a reheated hamburger (3oz cooked) in about 1.5 cups of a gingery carrot-parsnip soup I made. I packed a very similar post-workout snack to day 26, and actually hauled my butt to the gym, and finally worked out. After returning home again, I cooked up some of US Wellness Meats' sugar-free bacon ends and then used the renderings to saute some kale and mushrooms. AWESOME! (I ate more bacon than is pictured here.)

Thoughts: I'm genuinely considering extending my Whole30 in lieu of recent discoveries (more soy-related non-compliance in supplements… yeesh. You'd think I'd learn after the first mistake…), as well as the fact that I feel like I need more healing. My digestive system seems to be throwing a bit of a fit lately, especially when I'm under stress, and I wonder if this is more to do with detoxification than I realized. I'm not quite sure what to do, yet.

[Callan]

Day 28 is posted here, sorry, can't easily paste the contents here now: http://calmmindkitchen.com/2013/01/29/whole30-day-28-satisfaction/

I ordered some digestive enzymes to see if it will help with my post-meal stomach pains. I'm starting to wonder if my body struggles to digest the amount of fat and protein I'm currently taking in. I continue to forget that a significant portion of my life was spent eating about 90% vegetarian, with lots of pasta, rice, and bread. I always ate lots of vegetables, but not nearly as much meat, eggs, or oil. I wouldn't be surprised if stress were a big factor, but this morning I had 3 eggs, a bit of bacon, a tablespoon of ghee, some bacon grease, kale, mushrooms, and some mashed sweet potato and OW! I felt sick for a while.

So, the enzymes should arrive Thursday, but I might not be able to try them until Friday... I think I'll stay Whole30 until Saturday or Sunday, at which point I may introduce dairy. This way, I'll have time to experiment with improving pre-reintro digestion. Exciting!

[Callan]

Well then.

Sorry, I've been a total slacker lately. Jeez, I barely remember what I've eaten. What I do know, however, is that it was all compliant! So, tomorrow I have the option of reintroducing dairy. I believe I will wait until Saturday, however, when I will be safe at home and able to really assess my reaction. But, what did I eat yesterday? Let's see…

Day 29

Breakfast: 3 eggs scrambled with kale and mushrooms, a tiny bit of bacon, mashed white sweet potatoes with a bit of ghee. Oh dear, I was SO FULL and my stomach was terribly displeased. I have come to believe that I'm struggling to digest this much fat, so I ordered some digestive enzymes. I will try those out tomorrow when they arrive, hopefully (little late in the game, huh?).

In the meantime, a bit of fruit seems to help, maybe?

Lunch: leftover plantain lasagna, salad greens, cilantro, avocado. Spoilers: this is what I have eaten – and will continue to eat – for lunch every darn day this week. And still, I would happily eat it for dinner!

Dinner: My brother Max roasted some pork so I had a bit of that with the green curry spaghetti squash I made the previous day. Not too shabby.

Then I went and played some DDR, and before bed I was hungry so I munched on sprouted sunflower seeds and coconut flakes. I guess there's a bad habit I have yet to defeat… Ah well. I will continue to work on it!

Day 30

This morning I decided to go work out at the gym at 6:30am. The bus was leaving in five minutes and I hadn't prepared pre- or post-WO fodder, so I… I packed a larabar. I know, I'm sorry! I had 1/3 of it pre-workout and 2/3 of it post… When I got home I put half a can of sardines over some salad greens, tossed on some beets and lemon juice and ate that. Don't know what happened to the photo…

After this, I decided to clear out the fridge, and noticed I had half a can of pumpkin left… What to do, what to do? I wondered about mixing it with eggs… Didn't sound bad for post-workout. Maybe a little SWYPO but why not? I mixed two eggs with the pumpkin, added some pumpkin pie-type spices, and a bit of chestnut flour, and nuked half of it. It was weird, I ate it, would not recommend. Ha!

Grosser than it looks!

Lunch was the same as yesterday, plus a citrus fruit and some raw onion with the avo to make guacamole. Yesss.

I had three carrots and some kalamata olives to hold me over until dinner…

Which was a makeshift slow-cooker beef stew. I placed a layer of beef on top of a layer of onions, portabella mushrooms, and parsnips, and then a layer of sweet potato over this, followed by a layer of cabbage. Added some broth, water, and tomato paste, a few garlic cloves and salt, and set it to cook. It was… okay. I ended up adding some frozen green beans to lighten it up, because it actually tasted too sweet for me!

So, I guess I'm technically done. Still processing what this really means.

[ORBren]

Oh Callan - finished in a rush, but that is how life is. I still have no real plan either, I figure that is the task for tomorrow. Congrats for finishing!!!

[Derval]

Well done Callan!