Pistachios are my friends?

[MarriannaD]

I’m Whole30 compliant with my food choices but not meal portions. It’s not easy to eat enough food to stay full so my meals last longer. I’ve been snacking on pistachios. And melon to feed my sweet tooth. I even made my own popsicles with apple sweetened cranberry juice. Hey, it’s lots better than all the sugar free popsicles I used to eat daily.

Suggestions, please. Also, please let me know if there’s a blog or something with menus. Is there a place where Whole30 members list their simple menus? I’m missing something but I’m unable to get this figured out on my own. Whole30 is the plan I chose for some medical issues. 

[ladyshanny]

Hi @MarriannaD - I'm going to run through the program recommendations for you as you are asking for suggestions.

First, those popsicles are absolutely not compliant. I understand it might be "better than before" but it's still not in keeping with the Whole30 program. Set those aside for 30 days. 

If you're struggling to eat enough at meals to keep you going for 4-5 hours, make sure you are adding enough fat. Prioritize protein, fat and veggies before fruits. Using fruit to quell a sweet tooth is going to leave you exactly where you were before Whole30 with any sort of sugar cravings. If you want to kill the sugar dragon, don't prop it up with fruits. Eat protein and fat if you have to eat or use some distraction techniques to avoid the cravings.

We would very much discourage a high use of any kind of nut. They are not the best fat profile, they're hard to stop eating once you start and they can cause pretty significant digestive distress. The recommendation within the program is to limit them.....we say about a closed handful every other day or so. Eating them all day long isn't where it's at.

Feel free to list out what you've been eating including portions, specific proteins/veggies/fats, fluids, meal timing etc. You can also list underlying medical issues, sleep habits and stress if you would like comprehensive feedback.

As for simple recipes, no, there's not really a place that people list those but meljoulwan.com has some excellent resources for easy cookups and recipes. You could start there.

Finally, I've moved this post to the troubleshooting area as that fits better.

[MarriannaD]

What I’ve been eating: chicken, eggs, ribeye steak, hamburger. I’ve tried a Palm size portion but I’m probably not eating that much. If I steam spinach, I actually drizzle olive oil on spinach. Otherwise, I don’t add extra fat unless I bake a potato and then I use ghee or a Primal Kitchen dressing. I mixed the Wholw Sisters dump ranch but have only dipped in it. Tastes good but it’s watery. I roast veggies that include squash, onions, sweet potatoes, white potatoes. I drizzle olive oil on the vegetables. I make “home fries” with red potatoes. These are precooked in the microwave and then fried in a little olive oil. I roast cauliflower and dip it in the Dump ranch. Sometimes I make carmelized onions to add to the potatoes. I might make more of these because they taste really great with potatoes. 

Fluids include hot or ice tea and water.

It’s hard not to eat before I go to sleep. Sometimes I’m hungry and if I don’t have a snack, I can’t fall asleep. That’s when I eat the nuts and popsicles and fruit. And I plan to make the popsicles with diluted tea the next time. It’s the ice crunch that I really like. 

Meal timing: breakfast is usually about 8:30–9. Lunch is often around 1:00–2. And supper is between 5:00–6. I usually go to sleep around 9 or a little earlier. 

I really don’t eat enough food. I haven’t made any meals with much spice yet. And food doesn’t taste so good that I can’t stop eating it. Except fruit. 

Sleep is usually 8+ hours. Medical conditions include high cholesterol and pre-diabetes. And I’m 73. I’m not real physically active because of weak back muscles and comprised lungs from blood clots a few years ago. I hope to start walking more daily even at a very moderate pace. I might have to go to the gym to use a treadmill because it’s pretty cold where I live.

I will check the website/Blog you gave me for meal ideas.

[ultrarunnergirl]

Here's some easy/quick things I do:

I always keep on hand:

·      EGGS

·      Aidells Chicken Apple Sausage

·      Baby carrots

·      Cucumber

·      Celery

 

Frozen veggies are the best time savers (broccoli and/or cauliflower is my fave – you can microwave it, then dollop on ghee or other fat)

 

Throwing together food without any/much cooking https://meljoulwan.com/2014/06/25/great-ingredients-recipe-required/

 

Make a bunch of food FAST https://meljoulwan.com/2017/12/29/easy-ways-master-meal-planning/

 

I highly recommend Well Fed cookbook. Very simple recipes (see the Hot Plates section) and Mel Joulwan does an amazing job of showing you how to spice things up with little effort. I loved all the new spices/flavors I learned about.

[Helen_]

HI @MarriannaD if I may be so bold to use a bit of though love...

Reading your two posts I think you are consuming way too much sugars to help your blood sugar calm down and tame your sugar dragon. You really have to stop eating those popsicles. As long as you do eat them, you are not following a Whole30 lifestyle and thus have not yet begun to count day one. 

It really sounds like your biggest challenge for your Whole30 is to tame you sugar dragon and the only way I believe you can do that is by cutting it off. I am talking from experience so here's what I would recommend you could do to get you through those first stages of withdrawal and on your food freedom road.

In General: follow the template as much as possible, adding fat and protein to as many veggies as you can handle. 

Week 1: Besides the named noncompliant whole30 foods also steer clear from all nuts, fruits and only eat starchy veggies with dinner (or, I would actually skip them for the first whole week). Concentrate on gradually upping the amount of food on your plate and don't stress about being hungry after two hours. Just eat a mini Whole30 meal in between your meals (try bone broth and a boiled egg, or raw veggies and avocado/homemade guacamole). Just try to add a little more to your plate the next meal and gradually you will find that eating enough to keep yourself going for 4-5 hours isn't hard anymore.

Week 2: Just keep going (for me it took about two full weeks to get to the point where I know how much I need to put on my plate to not have to eat mini meals in between), if you took out all starchy foods in the first week you could try to add a little bit of sweet potato to one of your diners and see how you are doing. If it fires up your sugar dragon, I would suggest leaving the sugary starches our even longer. For me, this was hard for two reasons, my stool wasn't the best, but that will clear up in time, and it means not doing too much. So try to hold off on the activities just yet. Also, I did eat raw carrots with my meals in the evening, I found those where enough and not too sugary.

Week 3, 4: just keep going, see how you are feeling, try another meal with some kind of starch, maybe keep to the squashes, pumpkins and tubers more than the sweet, red and white potatoes. 

This is just an example that has worked for me. I know fruits and nuts are off the plan because they would fire up my sugar dragon. I only sometimes add a little bit of sugarless almond milk or some fresh orange juice to my meals. This I started doing during week 3, and I found that was fine. But just in case I planned my meals so that the next couple of meals didn't contain any sugars or nuts that could fire up my sugar dragon.

Examples of meals I eat:

Breakfast: usually stir fried veggies and crackled sunny side up eggs (This I took from a recipe from nomnompaleo)
Lunch: Mostly leftover protein from last night with a big green salad (I especially like to steam broccoli and asparagus and mix them with leafy greens and change up the dressing to not get bored with it)
Diner: differs a lot. Most nights though I try to keep it simple, I add a bunch of veggies to one pot, add some fish or meat, stir it up and make it into a curry or stir fry dish

I like to put some sides on my plate, usually some pieces of raw carrot or mini tomatoes to keep it interesting. I can get kinda bored with my plate when it's just one stir fry meal. Also, cauliflower rice (raw, roasted, stir fried with veggies and spices)is amazing and sheetpan meals (sugarless bacon, Brussels sprouts and red onions or salmon, fennel and cherry tomatoes) are very easy and delicious. 

In short: I would strongly suggest starting over, and keeping away from any kind of SWYPO meals and sugars and nuts (because they seem to be your food with no breaks 'culprits') 

May I ask, do you have any of the whole30 books? I really find them to be very very helpful. I read the day by day book daily and log my progress, I read the Whole30 book before I started and am now reading the bits that are about certain days and keeping it on hand when introduction time is there. I have read It starts with food before I started to get my mindset in the right direction and have read food freedom and am planning of reading it again when introduction time is there and I need some help to let go of the training wheels. 

If not, maybe it's wise to invest in the Day by day book and also it starts with food and or the Whole30 book. It really helps me to start my days with a cup of tea, some cuddles with my kittycat and a view pages of the books. 

Hope it wasn't too confronting and I haven't said anything to upset you. I wish you health and happiness and send you all the luck and strength to get yourself on the right track! <3 


Little disclaimer: I am speaking from my own experience of years of whole30 paleo and off track living and my knowledge of what worked and did not work for me. This is your journey, so you always do you to find what works and doesn't work. Just keep going, you will get there.

[MarriannaD]

Thank you @Helen_. I ordered both the Day by Day and It Starts With Food (Kindle + audible). No, tough love doesn’t hurt my feelings. I guess I’ll start my Whole30 journey on Sunday, January 28. No, I’ll not gorge on sugar and dairy or wheat. But I’ll start with clean eating.