Starting over

[NikayaSmith]

I just failed my first attempt after three forced meals out. I thought I had done well by ordering salads at the first two, only to find out lunch meat is not allowed. So for the third meal out i ate whatever I wanted deciding to start again tomorrow and there will simply be no eating out for me for 30 days. Which I’m fine with. I’ll just need to find some excuses or something if I find myself in those situations again.

Anyway, some background. I cannot get the whole30 books right now. I have them on hold at the library but it’s projected about two months before I’ll get them. All I know about the program is the list of foods not to eat. THATS IT. So when referring to standard program things that are from any of the books I won’t understand them.

Before I started whole30 I thought I was a decent cook. Come to find out, I am not. Please don’t offer ghee as any part of your suggestions. I’ve destroyed 4 pounds of butter trying and I’ve not been able to find it. Speaking of can’t find... any sauces that don’t have bad ingredients, almond flour, coconut aminos, dates of any kind, coconut milk, or ghee. 

If I hadn’t had to eat out I think I would have made it but here are the problems I was facing: constant hunger, headaches (persistent but not bad), and severe constipation (four day with NOTHING).  Again, I was dealing with these things and would have persisted to finish anyway, but since I have to start over I thought I’d throw it out there. Particularly the obvious lack of fiber. I definitely need suggestions for how to get fiber.

I’m going grocery shopping tomorrow and starting again. Attempt 2 Day 1. 

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you thank you thank you all so much in advance. 

[slc_melissa]

Fiber=vegetables. Eat 2-3 cups of vegetables at every meal. Everything you need is on the website or forum, especially https://whole30.com/pdf-downloads/

The books are great, but its all here for free anyway. 

I’ve done multiple whole 30s without coconut aminos, bought sauces (except salsa), almond flour, or ghee. I’ve never purchased a date in my entire life and probably couldn’t identify one anyway.

i keep most meals easy combinations of foods, and I always keep frozen vegetables on hand. Plenty of breakfasts are 3 eggs cooked fresh and a bag of frozen vegetables cooked in the microwave.

chicken in a crockpot cover with canned tomatoes or made/purchased salsa. Shreds easy, goes on a lot of things.

make a load of meatballs (ground meat+spices), bake at 375 F for 25-30 min. On the other tray in your oven, roast vegetables like green beans, asparagus, or potatoes at the same time.

you should not be constantly hungry on the whole30. If you’re genuinely hungry, eat something! Preferably a meal composed of fat, protein, and veggies.

[ShannonM816]

Vegetables. You'll get fiber from vegetables. And occasionally fruit if you want it, but mostly vegetables. Leafy green vegetables, starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes or potatoes, winter squashes, zucchini, yellow squash, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, spinach, peppers, tomatoes, beets, carrots, parsnips, turnips, cucumbers, onions, mushrooms, snap peas, snow peas -- really, anything other than english peas or corn. They can be fresh or frozen or canned, you can steam them or roast them or stir fry them or eat them raw. Just eat lots of them.

Make all your meals match the meal template -- you can download that here:  https://whole30.com/pdf-downloads/  That means if you picture a big dinner plate, about 1/4 of it will be taken up with protein, maybe a little more, then you fill the plate with vegetables, and add one or two of the fat choices listed on the template. If eggs are your only protein, have as many whole eggs as you can hold in your hand, which is likely 3-4. If you make your meals look like this, you shouldn't be hungry. 

Make sure you drink lots of water -- aim for at least 1/2 oz per pound of body weight, so a 120 lb person needs at least 60 oz of water. This will help with constipation too.

Rather than buying sauces, you may have to make them. Don't panic, they don't have to be super difficult. 

Chimichurri is good on meat and vegetables:  http://meljoulwan.com/2014/07/02/chimichurri-aka-magic-sauce/

Here's a creamy Italian dressing that is good on salads:  http://meljoulwan.com/2011/01/25/tangy-goodness-creamy-italian-dressing/  (It does require mayo. If you have an immersion blender, that's the easiest way to make mayo:  https://thehealthyfoodie.com/fail-proof-home-made-paleo-mayo-whole30-compliant/ but if you don't, you can make it in a blender or food processor:  http://meljoulwan.com/2010/06/03/the-secret-to-homemade-mayo-patience/  or even by hand with a whisk:   https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/mayonnaise-241083)

In most recipes that use coconut aminos, they can just be left out. Until very recently, people in other countries had all kinds of trouble finding them, and that was what many of them did. Even here, near-ish to a big city, I had trouble finding them until recently, and they were expensive, so I mostly skipped them. You may have to add a little more salt when you taste the food, but that's okay. 

Almond flour is definitely not necessary. If you want to occasionally dredge chicken or fish in something, you can buy almonds or cashews or whatever kind of nuts you can find that are okay for Whole30 and run them through a blender or food processor until they're as small as you can get them (but do stir occasionally if you do it in a blender, or the stuff nearest the blades may turn into almond butter). It won't be as finely ground or even as the almond flour you could buy, but it would work just fine, and that's really the only thing you should need any kind of alternative flour for.

 

[NikayaSmith]

Thank you guys so much!! I’m learning every day. The template doesn’t work for me, so I’m sticking to meats and veggies. What is the carb curve? I know that’s in the book but I haven’t been able to find it on the website. Would carb-dense vegetables fix my lack of fiber problem? What about easily digestible protein? I’m not sure what that means either. I do pretty good on the water and usually get about 30 oz a day. I don’t think I’d be able to drink 100 oz no matter how hard I tried. But I will definitely try to drink more if it will help.

I don’t think I’m going to try making sauces because everything I’ve tried to cook so far has been disgusting. Remember, starting whole30 was a discovery of holy-crap-I-can’t-cook. Seriously. I tried making my favorite fried cabbage last week with oil instead of butter and it couldn’t been eaten it was so bad. This week’s goal is to find one standby vegetable that I can cook without butter that I can stand to eat. I miss eating vegetables and can’t wait to figure that part out.

My proteins are boiled eggs for breakfast and baked chicken for dinner because that’s what I’ve figured out so far. 

Are there any supplements allowed? 

Again. Thank you so much. I think I’m going to give roasting a veggie another try. What do you use to hold your meatballs together since we can’t use oats or grains?

[TryingOver]

I second the recommendation to roast vegetables. We eat roasted cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin or squash, etc. Cut the vegetables (about 1 in pieces, except asparagus which I leave long) and toss in oil, salt, pepper or other seasoning of your choice. Toss in a 350 to 375 degrees F oven and roast until fork tender and starting to brown (usually 40 mins). Roasting vegetables is now my go to for cooking vegetables.  

Also, if you aren't adding fat to your meals, that could explain why you were so hungry. Fat helps keep you satiated between meals. A closed handful of nuts, avocado or guacamole, or vinaigrette w/ olive oil will likely help a lot.  

[slc_melissa]

I don’t know what you mean by the carb curve or easily digestible protein?

the template is protein (meat), veggies, and fats in a range for you that keeps you full for 4-5 hours, what doesn’t work about the template for you?

sometimes I’ll put an egg into meatballs, but they actually stick together on their own just fine.

your lack of water, veggies, and fats would be huge contributors to your constipation problem.

you'd have to check the individual ingredients of any supplement you wanted to take for compliance.

do you like soups, stews, chilis? Easy to put a lot of veggies into those. And you get some extra liquid!

[MeadowLily]

"What is the carb curve? I know that’s in the book but I haven’t been able to find it on the website." 

Carb Curve was talked about in the years gone by, like 2012-ish.

Carb Curve? - Whole30 for athletes - Whole30

https://forum.whole30.com › The Whole30 Program › Whole30 for athletes

Jul 19, 2012 - 8 posts - ‎8 authors

I printed out the W9 ISWF meal planning guide and posted it on my fridge. I have a question about the recommendations for post work out meals, it says to add carbs based on " our Carb Curve" but I cannot find this referenced in the book or the website. Can someone point me in the right direction? Like 1.

What is the Carb Curve? - Whole30 Meal Planning - Whole30

https://forum.whole30.com › The Whole30 Program › Whole30 Meal Planning

May 24, 2014 - 6 posts - ‎5 authors

By SunnyKj, May 24, 2014 in Whole30 Meal Planning. ... The book's in the mail, but in the mean time--I've seen the 'carb curve' referenced on the meal planning template, but cannot find any other info on the web site. ... You'll find the carb curve graphic on p.244 in the book, as part of ...

[NikayaSmith]

42 minutes ago, slc_melissa said:

 

I don’t know what you mean by the carb curve or easily digestible protein

 

Those are the things on the template that i don’t understand. 

@MeadowLily thank you so much for the response. I am unable to get the books so page numbers don’t help me. But thank you so much. I’m still not sure what the carb curve is or what easily digestible protein is. 

I just eat eat meat and vegetables and ignore the rest of the template. Olive oil tastes so bad to me I can’t eat it at all or any food it touches. I don’t like the way it lays on the food instead of cooking off. I also don’t eat Olives. One handful of nuts is enough to destroy my macros for an entire day. I know I’m super inexperienced with foods and cooking but I just cannot tolerate the taste of olive oil or olives. So I’m doing meats and veggies and am cool with that. Since I never ate those other things I don’t miss them. 

I haven’t been able to find any broth that doesn’t have bad ingredients which is sad because soup is one of my favorite things. 

Im going to try roasting vegetables again tonight and hopefully that will work. I’m going to also try drinking more water. Hopefully that will straighten me out. 

[MeadowLily]

Just click on the links  above   you have a good grasp what it's about.  Are you trying to figure out your post-workout carb intake?  There are many threads for that. 

If you ever get the book, you'll see how to plot the point that determines the approximate amount of carbs to eat after each high intensity exercise routine.   Page 244,  see the Hartwig's advice.  They'll explain the smartest hormonal strategies and post work-out meals of protein.  But once again, you can just google for post workout meals on the website.

 

[NikayaSmith]

@MeadowLily thank you so much! I think I’m doing something wrong or perhaps it’s because I’m mobile. Someone said in another post that if you’re on mobile you can’t see certain things. THANKS YOU THOUGH!!!!!! <3

[MeadowLily]

You can't see links in signatures on a mobile.  If you can see links in Shannon's post up above, mine should work, too.   Maybe my links aren't showing up above either. Ahhh,   I am using a different device.   Alrighty then, I think you'll do just fine.   

Click on Carb Curve?  And What is Carb Curve?  links and it should take you right there, it works on my device.

 

 

[NikayaSmith]

Yes. I see the links in the post but they take me to the forum main page. That’s why I assumed I was doing something wrong. I’ll just wait on the books and stop being impatient  <3 Thanks!!

[SugarcubeOD]

On 03/02/2018 at 10:27 PM, NikayaSmith said:

Thank you guys so much!! I’m learning every day. The template doesn’t work for me, so I’m sticking to meats and veggies. What is the carb curve? I know that’s in the book but I haven’t been able to find it on the website. Would carb-dense vegetables fix my lack of fiber problem? What about easily digestible protein? I’m not sure what that means either. I do pretty good on the water and usually get about 30 oz a day. I don’t think I’d be able to drink 100 oz no matter how hard I tried. But I will definitely try to drink more if it will help.

I don’t think I’m going to try making sauces because everything I’ve tried to cook so far has been disgusting. Remember, starting whole30 was a discovery of holy-crap-I-can’t-cook. Seriously. I tried making my favorite fried cabbage last week with oil instead of butter and it couldn’t been eaten it was so bad. This week’s goal is to find one standby vegetable that I can cook without butter that I can stand to eat. I miss eating vegetables and can’t wait to figure that part out.

My proteins are boiled eggs for breakfast and baked chicken for dinner because that’s what I’ve figured out so far. 

Are there any supplements allowed? 

Again. Thank you so much. I think I’m going to give roasting a veggie another try. What do you use to hold your meatballs together since we can’t use oats or grains?

WHat do you mean by 'the template doesn't work for me'?  If you're sticking to veggies and protein, then all you have to do is add plated fat to your meals and you've got the template basically down.  Carb dense veggies are recommended to be a fist sized serving a day so you want to find other veggies that you can fill your plate with for the rest.

30 oz of water is not nearly enough unless you weigh 60 pounds.  How about thinking about these things that are barriers (water, cooking) as challenges instead of what you can't do?  Put that positive 'I"ll definitely try' thought ahead of any 'I don't think I can' thought - you might be surprised at how different the challenges seem.

You were also given resources on your other thread for blogs and bloggers that do step by step recipes with pictures at every step and easy to follow instructions - consider that you're not a bad cook, you're LEARNING to cook and then start embracing learning how to do it.

What are you eating for lunch?  You only list breakfast and dinner.  And what kind of supplements are you talking about? Vitamins or meal replacement?  If Vitamins, yes, they are allowed if you can find ones that don't have non compliant ingredients.  Meal replacements no and you won't find any that are compliant anyway.

Meatballs don't need oats or grains, just put the meat and seasonings together and then form into balls making sure to really give them a good squish.

@ladyshanny also gave you a good tip that you can order anything from Walmart online to be picked up in your local walmart store so you're not really at such a disadvantage... if you wanted to get ghee, go online and order it for the same price you'd pay in store if they carried it and then have it sent to the store.

[NikayaSmith]

Thanks so much!!!!!! I can’t figure out what carb dense veggies are.  Attached is what I get when I search. That’s why I asked, but I can wait on the book, I was just trying to get a jump on the wait. I was also asking because the fat part is what doesn’t work for me. I’m just eating  meat and veggies and I thought if I differed out the carb veggie part it would help. 

I thought I said I was definitely going to try drinking more water. I won’t be able to drink 100 oz (I weigh 200 pounds), but I can know I can try to drink more! I also meant to say I was going to try roasting a vegetable again tonight. Sometimes when I think I post they don’t show up, so it may have been one of those. 

The supplements I was hoping to take were fiber. I don’t trust my label reading skills yet so I’m just going to skip out on the supplements until I’m better at it. 

I’ll post pictures tonight if the veggie works! Excited to try. 

[MeadowLily]

https://balancedbites.com/PDFs/BOOK_EXTRAS/PracticalPaleo_GuidetoPaleoCarbs.pdf

Hopefully, this link shows up this time.

[SugarcubeOD]

59 minutes ago, NikayaSmith said:

Thanks so much!!!!!! I can’t figure out what carb dense veggies are.  Attached is what I get when I search. That’s why I asked, but I can wait on the book, I was just trying to get a jump on the wait. I was also asking because the fat part is what doesn’t work for me. I’m just eating  meat and veggies and I thought if I differed out the carb veggie part it would help. 

I thought I said I was definitely going to try drinking more water. I won’t be able to drink 100 oz (I weigh 200 pounds), but I can know I can try to drink more! I also meant to say I was going to try roasting a vegetable again tonight. Sometimes when I think I post they don’t show up, so it may have been one of those. 

The supplements I was hoping to take were fiber. I don’t trust my label reading skills yet so I’m just going to skip out on the supplements until I’m better at it. 

I’ll post pictures tonight if the veggie works! Excited to try. 

Can you explain what you mean by 'fat doesn't work for you'?  

If @MeadowLily's link doesn't work for you, starchy carbs are potato, winter squash, root veggies (beets, carrots, parsnips).  In your screen shot the 'people also ask' next question is 'what vegetables are high in carbohydrates'.  Sometimes you need to dig a little deeper when searching if you don't get an answer with the first thing you try.

[NikayaSmith]

Yes!!!!! Thank you!!!! There are seven things on there I’ve heard of (unless sweet potatoes and yams are the same thing which I thought they were). I’ll be buying a whole bunch of onion, beet, carrot, and white potatoes. 

Now that I know, I’ll by extra of those things. 

THANK YOU AGAIN!! Excited to

[slc_melissa]

Since you mentioned macros in an earlier post, whole30 is not a macro counting/ calorie counting program and it's not really recommended. The goal is to figure out what works for your body and not try to shoehorn it into some other set of parameters.

[kirbz]

I just wanted to point out that the fat you use to cook with isn't usually what they're talking about when they say you should have "plated fat" with every meal. They quite literally mean you should have fat that takes up space on your plate. So cooking fat doesn't count. So just because you don't like cooking with olive oil and you can't find ghee, are there other ways to enjoy fats? How do you feel about avocado? That's a great way to have fat with your meal and you can do lots of different things with it! Or coconut? 

Really, I think you're making this extra hard by not having fat. It's gonna be hard to stay full and definitely hard to feel energy without it! And don't worry about the macros. Really, try to throw everything you know about macros (and your scale) out the window for these 30 days! You're teaching your body to use fat differently so you need it! 

As a reminder, here are your options for fats:

• oils (1-2 thumb-sized portions)
• butters (ghee, coconut, nut) (1-2 thumb-sized portions)
• coconut (a heaping open handful)
• olives (1-2 heaping open handfuls)
• nuts or seeds (a closed handful)
• 1/2 - 1 full avocado
• 1/4 to 1/2 can of full-fat coconut milk

Best of luck! We're all still rooting for you. 

[NikayaSmith]

Thank you so much!!!!! I've never heard the term plated fat, so thank you!!!    I can probably add a big bag of nuts a week. That won't add up to a handful per meal, but I don't think I could afford more than that. The amount of fat scares the mortal crap out of me. That's why I've never eaten nuts. I don't feel comfortable with it now, but I'll give it a try. Maybe I can eat a handful a day as a snack when I get hungry between meals.

Restart has gone well so far..... about to have lunch now.

[SugarcubeOD]

7 minutes ago, NikayaSmith said:

Thank you so much!!!!! I've never heard the term plated fat, so thank you!!!    I can probably add a big bag of nuts a week. That won't add up to a handful per meal, but I don't think I could afford more than that. The amount of fat scares the mortal crap out of me. That's why I've never eaten nuts. I don't feel comfortable with it now, but I'll give it a try. Maybe I can eat a handful a day as a snack when I get hungry between meals.

Restart has gone well so far..... about to have lunch now.

Have you read any of the resources that are provided for the program?  You keep referring to the book but everything that you need to know is free on this forum, including the fact that nuts are meant to be limited (think a closed handful every other day at most, not a handful of nuts per meal every day).  Nuts are also one of the more expensive fats that you can get... I really encourage you to go back through both of the threads that you've gotten all this help on and re-read them.  Go through some other forum posts about snacking and nuts and fats and read what other people are talking about... All the information is there... things like 'plated fat' are explained almost every day on other threads... 

[kirbz]

If you really want to do this right, you should try to re-think your stance on fat. "Fat just doesn't work for me" is not really very well aligned with the Whole30. Fat is integral to this program. If you aren't eating some fat with every meal, you certainly aren't going to feel very great and you won't have optimal results. 

Why can't you order ghee online from Walmart and have it delivered to your local store? REALLY, JUST MAKE LIFE EASIER AND GO BUY SOME GHEE! If it's out of your price range, I'm tempted to just tell you that I'll buy you some and send it to you! Let me know if you'd take me up on that. Your life will be so much easier with ghee! And mayo! Have you figured out how to make mayo? 

So now that you have the list of fats, here's how I typically use them to add them to a meal (maybe a translation is helpful): 

• a big glob of ghee on a baked potato 
• a few tablespoons of oil-based dressing on a salad (I love olive oil, lemon, and pepper as a super simple dressing) 
• a heaping spoonful of mayo on a lettuce-wrapped burger 
• a heaping spoonful or two or three of mayo with some form of meatballs
• a 1/2 or full avocado on the side with pretty much any meal ever
• a couple of heaping spoonfuls of guacamole with pretty much any meal ever
• a simple curry or soup with coconut milk as a base

Really, I most often use ghee, olive oil, and avocado as my fats... 

[NikayaSmith]

1 hour ago, SugarcubeOD said:

Have you read any of the resources that are provided for the program?  You keep referring to the book but everything that you need to know is free on this forum, including the fact that nuts are meant to be limited (think a closed handful every other day at most, not a handful of nuts per meal every day).  Nuts are also one of the more expensive fats that you can get... I really encourage you to go back through both of the threads that you've gotten all this help on and re-read them.  Go through some other forum posts about snacking and nuts and fats and read what other people are talking about... All the information is there... things like 'plated fat' are explained almost every day on other threads... 

Thank you so much. Not having to eat nuts makes me feel so much better!!!!!! I don’t know what other resources are available for the program besides the books. I know the list of foods not to eat and the meal template. I’ve seen shopping lists but haven’t used them. Perhaps I should. I’ve followed links and read recipes. It’s like looking up a word in the dictionary that you don’t know. LOL. I don’t know what other resources to look up because I don’t know what else there is

I definitely won’t be adding the nuts then. That dang template gets me every time, i just don’t get it and every time I try I make a worse mistake LOL  THANK YOU for the heads up! I simply didn’t understand.

@kirbz thank you for the offer of ghee. I looked into having it shipped to Walmart but at the double the cost of twice as much butter and me not knowing if I’d even like it, I just couldn’t justify the expense.  I’ve started saving money this week to buy an emulsion blender so I can make mayo and sauces. So I’ll be making those in a few weeks! And I can’t wait. I don’t know where I’d use mayo since I’m not eating sandwiches, but everyone says it tastes so good. I wasn’t a big sauce eater before this so it will all be a new adventure. I’ve never tried an avocado by itself because I assume it tastes like guacamole. I’ve haven’t found coconut milk yet, but I’ve not given up looking!!

I truly believe 100% of my problems I’ve had have been due to me not understanding, not reluctance or dislike of the program. I’m totally on board. I appreciate everyone’s help. Today has been fine! 24 oz of water already!!! 

[SugarcubeOD]

10 minutes ago, NikayaSmith said:

Thank you so much. Not having to eat nuts makes me feel so much better!!!!!! I don’t know what other resources are available for the program besides the books. I know the list of foods not to eat and the meal template. I’ve seen shopping lists but haven’t used them. Perhaps I should. I’ve followed links and read recipes. It’s like looking up a word in the dictionary that you don’t know. LOL. I don’t know what other resources to look up because I don’t know what else there is

I definitely won’t be adding the nuts then. That dang template gets me every time, i just don’t get it and every time I try I make a worse mistake LOL  THANK YOU for the heads up! I simply didn’t understand.

@kirbz thank you for the offer of ghee. I looked into having it shipped to Walmart but at the double the cost of twice as much butter and me not knowing if I’d even like it, I just couldn’t justify the expense.  I’ve started saving money this week to buy an emulsion blender so I can make mayo and sauces. So I’ll be making those in a few weeks! And I can’t wait. I don’t know where I’d use mayo since I’m not eating sandwiches, but everyone says it tastes so good. I wasn’t a big sauce eater before this so it will all be a new adventure. I’ve never tried an avocado by itself because I assume it tastes like guacamole. I’ve haven’t found coconut milk yet, but I’ve not given up looking!!

I truly believe 100% of my problems I’ve had have been due to me not understanding, not reluctance or dislike of the program. I’m totally on board. I appreciate everyone’s help. Today has been fine! 24 oz of water already!!! 

http://whole30.com/downloads/whole30-meal-planning.pdf

http://whole30.com/2013/06/the-official-can-i-have-guide-to-the-whole30/

http://whole30.com/2013/08/revised-timeline/

http://whole30.com/downloads/official-whole30-program-rules.pdf

http://whole30.com/2015/01/rules-.recommendations/

http://whole30.com/pdf-downloads/

You're a smart woman... go look at the top of this page and you'll see all the headings for resources... You're not going to find everything you need in this one thread... like I said, go look at other people's threads with the same subjects that you want to know about because this forum has been around for almost 10 years... it's RIPE with information - put here on purpose for free so that anyone can do the program without needing the book.

Walmart sells coconut milk so did you look at Walmart for it? 

I just looked up on Walmart.com and they have ghee that is the same price per oz/g as butter.  

 

[NikayaSmith]

I did look at Walmart. What the heck???? I made a separate trip last weekend just to look for coconut milk and read labels in the dressing and spaghetti sauce aisles so I wouldn’t have to try to do it while grocery shopping. Granted, I didn’t find anything, but I DID dedicate specific time just for looking for whole30 foods.

Thank you for the links above. I hadn’t seen the page “Recommendations”. It left me with a lot of questions and things I still don’t understand, but makes me feel so much better about not liking olive oil since it’s not recommended anyway. Again, thank you. When I started I thought it was just don’t eat these things. I’m learning more every day. 

I’ll look up the ghee again. If I can find one for the cost of a box a butter I’ll cut out a box next week and order a thing of ghee. I’m sure I just looked wrong or something. Hopefully the kids will like it, too.  

Thank you for all your support! I’m off to search for new vegetable recipes!!