January Caffeine-Free Whole30!

[TrayS]

Day 21: Other than the stomachache, yesterday was fine.

Meal 1: Fried bananas, eggs sauteed with spinach and green onions, blackberries, coffee.

Meal 2: chili and sweet potato mash, iced tea.

Snack: orange and half an avocado.

Meal 3: mixed vegetable/chicken stir fry with a compliant orange-based marinade that my husband made.

I was kinda stressed over work stuff yesterday and I didn't go to bed until around 10, then only because I knew I was still rather wound up and was not going to get sleepy on my own. Did a few mins of yoga before going to bed, and managed to fall asleep rather quickly. Woke up a couple times during the night with disturbing dreams, woke up for good at 6 so not quite as much sleep as I would've liked, and I'm feeling that a bit this morning.

[TrayS]

For some reason I'm feeling defiant about logging today. Yesterday was fine as far as I can remember (maybe I should log each night instead?)

Meal 1: fried bananas and eggs, guessing I had some sort of veg too but can't remember for the life of me what it was. Coffee

Meal 2: leftover stir fry from night before

Meal 3: fish/butternut squash/egg/cilantro/onion/pepper baked in a muffin tin. Turned out kinda like crab cakes, though I wasn't sure what to expect. Browned them in some habanero olive oil and it was pretty good.

Went to sleep later than usual, close to 11, but slept well and woke up at 6:30 refreshed.

This AM, Meal 1: fried bananas/egg/tapioca w/ egg scrambled with spinach. Coffee

Meal 2: salad and more chili. And now my stomach hurts again. Maybe it's the tomatoes? Hmmm

[TrayS]

Yesterday before my evening yoga class I had some squash/coconut milk soup I made the night before, with a handful of walnuts thrown in and an apple. Then afterward I ate a few of my fish cakes from the night before. Didn't get tired until around 11, woke up for a bit at 4:30 then didn't wake up til after 7!

Today so far, Meal 1: friend bananas/blackberries/eggs, coffee.

[TrayS]

Ok so I kinda fell out of the logging habit, but I did make it to 30 days! Revisiting my goals from the first day, here's how it went:

1. Clear inflammation. I have minor autoimmune issues and was thinking I might try the AIP, but I am going for a solid 30 days following the regular protocol first, then go from there. Well, I certainly cleared out the bloat, dropped a few lbs (I can tell even though I haven't weighed yet), and felt decently energetic, slept very well and was pleasantly headache-free the last couple weeks. What did not clear this time around was my face/scalp redness, itching and hives. In fact today (Day 31 and everything I ate all day was compliant until the glass of wine I'm sipping, save a few drops of honey in some homemade honey mustard I had with lunch) has been a really bad day as far as the itching goes, my face looks red and feels raw and irritated, same with my eyes. *sigh*

2. Break caffeine addiction. This is already in progress, having had the stomach flu I haven't had any coffee in 48 hours and between the illness and caffeine withdrawal, I have a horrible headache! I think caffeine may be causing me some issues and my dependence on it is certainly not ideal, so it needs to go for Jan. BWAHAHAHAHAH back on the coffee like before. I don't even know if I'll attempt this again until and unless I get pregnant at some point. It's just not worth it otherwise.

3. Continue to break down the association between weekend/relaxation/fun and alcohol. This got much easier! I did not mope and whine (very much) this time around. I'm really pleased at how easy it was for me to go without alcohol this past month.

4. Make exercise a daily (instead of 3-4x weekly) activity, removing mileage goals to train for races and focusing on full-mind-body activities (yoga) combined with running, walking, hiking, and whatever else my body wants (not dictated by my "training schedule"). I did not get to daily but I have upped my yoga/walking and decreased my running, and it feels great. After years of attending a class here and there I'm now really starting to get into my practice, trying various types of classes and I love it!

5. Improve the quality of and reduce the impact of the food I eat. I joined a CSA and pick up the first box on Thursday (yay!) and want to buy some local meat. I will also plant a garden in Jan. Well I didn't get to the local meat yet or the garden, but we've been doing well on the CSA despite having bitten off a bit more than we can chew (I've resorted to making pesto and green juice with all the lettuce we continue to get). I didn't get to the garden, instead I decided to study for the PE exam in three months and there went my weekends, but it will be high on my list once that's done.

6. Reduce mental clutter by decluttering the house (it's not too bad now but could be better) and breaking the internet addiction by allowing myself only 1/2 hour in the morning to update my log and read the news, then during work I only can use it for work-related purposes. Also I am declaring Saturdays technology-free, and asking my husband to change my facebook password so I can't log on for the month! Well I didn't adhere to my internet rules entirely but my usage did go down quite a bit and I feel better for it. I also did not use facebook, I did log in twice just to see if I needed to untag myself from something someone tagged me in but signed right out without reading any status updates! It is mentally freeing not to be compulsively checking facebook throughout the day. So I think I'll keep those apps off my phone for the time being. Technology free Saturdays did not work out, though decreasing my usage overall I think I managed to avoid the computer/ipad a couple of weekend days without giving it a second thought!

So what now? Well now I give myself a couple weeks off to have a bit of wine and a couple of dinners out with my husband, but I default to Whole30-style eating now so I won't veer very far off course. Then I need to try the Autoimmune Protocol. I haven't decided for how long yet, I guess I'll start with 1-2 weeks and go from there!