Official 1/1/13 Start Group

[Run4fun]

OK, you have all inspired me to try to make mayo soon. I'll be making another batch of guacamole as soon as my avocados reach the right ripeness, and my bf made some raw cashew butter (which is pretty tasty)... I *need* to get more fat into my Whole 30. You spend your whole life trying to avoid fat, I am having a hard time getting used to adding it back in!!

I completely relate - when we started Paleo back in 2010, I really mentally struggled with adding fats. I'd followed Weight Watchers so many times over the years and would NEVER spend 4 points on an 1/8th of an avocado (or however many points were allowed). I get it now and am a big believer in the benefits of healthy fats. But it took a LOT to get my brain behind it.

[Paulie M]

This is my first Whole30. A friend of mine on Facebook was doing one several weeks ago, and when I looked into the website for Whole9, it just made so much sense to me. I am a type 1 diabetic, and since I started, my blood sugar readings have been near perfect. This Whole 9 plan is what I have been looking for, in terms of an approach to eating. I am an "unofficial" member of the 1/1/13 club, as I started the Whole30 that day, but that was actually my day 0.

[CupcakeNinja]

Hi everyone! I'm on Day 9 today too. Is anyone else still feeling really tired? I was dying for a latte this afternoon but I didn't give in.

I'm still really tired, too, although I'm also not sleeping well. But what's strange is that I do have more energy - I'm getting tons of stuff done at work that I'd been putting off for awhile, physical-labor stuff - but I could still lay down for a nap at any time. If I were allowed to. Which I'm not.

This is my first Whole30. A friend of mine on Facebook was doing one several weeks ago, and when I looked into the website for Whole9, it just made so much sense to me. I am a type 1 diabetic, and since I started, my blood sugar readings have been near perfect. This Whole 9 plan is what I have been looking for, in terms of an approach to eating. I am an "unofficial" member of the 1/1/13 club, as I started the Whole30 that day, but that was actually my day 0.

Welcome! My bf is type 1, too, and the only thing we've struggled with so far are a couple of catastrophic lows - he was at 42 one day! Although he only felt like mid-60s, and we're not sure if that's good or bad... could be misleading if we're out and he thinks he's only sort of low when he's really in a crisis. But that's only happened once or twice, and he's been treating with natural fruit roll-ups and lara bars when necessary, or fruit for more normal lows. Congrats on your success with the plan so far! We both wish you luck and can't wait to see how the rest of the journey goes!

[Hannah Zaretsky]

Oh, one thing to add. I just made my daughters and their friends peanut butter and Nutella graham crackers and I did not even lick the Nutella off my fingers. I'm a saint!

This is the hardest thing for me. I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old and I gave them Yogart for lunch today and boy did it look good! I was able to resist but right now Yogart sounds sooo good.

[Carolyn Koron Parise]

Hi everyone! I'm on Day 9 today too. Is anyone else still feeling really tired? I was dying for a latte this afternoon but I didn't give in.

I found if I have more healthy fat with my lunch I won't be as tired in the afternoon. Maybe pistachios with your lunch?

[torena]

Hi everyone! I'm on Day 9 today too. Is anyone else still feeling really tired? I was dying for a latte this afternoon but I didn't give in.

Yes, I am tired right now. I'm going to have a little bit of green tea to pep me up to make it through the rest of the day.

[torena]

I found if I have more healthy fat with my lunch I won't be as tired in the afternoon. Maybe pistachios with your lunch?

I like this idea! I'll give it a shot tomorrow. I don't have pistachios but I do have some macadamias.

[fittergirl]

Choices:

Eat something I really want but will take a while to prepare and cook or eat grilled chicken salad (boring) that just needs to be thrown together?

Answer: grilled chicken salad. Laziness wins today.

[Nila]

I continue to be impressed with your flexibility and creativity around these day-to-day obstacles! You're really shining in these real-world scenarios. (I'm over here in my cave, avoiding restaurants and all their dangerous, alluring off-plan food...)

Keep up the great work!

Thank you! I have no idea why this is working for me this time. Maybe it's the well-defined rules. Maybe it's the support. Maybe it's that I want to move those numbers and cool off this systemic inflammation. Maybe it's all of that.

[amylynn]

I see a lot of you are posting about how to prep ahead and are looking for good, simple recipes. i just received my copy of Well Fed in the mail yesterday and haven't been able to put it down!! The recipes are amazing and surprisingly simple to make. She also gives you a great plan of what to cook ahead for the week to make sure you're prepared with grab and go meals/snacks. I really recommend getting a copy if you can, I got mine on Amazon for around $17, totally worth it!

[helen]

Yes, I am tired right now. I'm going to have a little bit of green tea to pep me up to make it through the rest of the day.

Me, three. Actually, day 1 and 2 I felt really thirsty and had to pee a lot and was craving sugar but days 3-8 were great. Today, I don't feel hungry or cravings just very tired. I had an emotionally exhausting day yesterday which may be part of it. I am a person with boundless energy so being so tired it hard. Hoping tomorrow is better.

[helen]

I see a lot of you are posting about how to prep ahead and looking are looking forgood, simple recipes. i just received my copy of Well Fed in the mail yesterday and haven't been able to put it down!! The recipes are amazing and surprisingly simple to make. She also gives you a great plan of what to cook ahead for the week to make sure you're prepared with grab and go meals/snacks. I really recommend getting a copy if you can, I got mine on Amazon for around $17, totally worth it!

I am picking mine up tomorrow from the library. If I like it I will buy it. I like to preview books as we are on a limited budget

[Contessa]

^{I did experience a few headaches the first few days but now things just seem normal, except for that I am constipated! Sorry, gross I know but is anyone else having this issue?}

Not gross at all, just a good thing to notice as you're changing your diet.

I have two suggestions (and I may be out of my depth here, so I hope the group will talk back to me if I am out of line). First would be adding a bit more fat to your intake. I don't understand the science here—but I'm told this can be beneficial. Second suggestion would be increasing your intake of cooked leafy greens (for example, kale). My understanding is that cooked greens act as a gentle loofah to your gut and help with elimination.

I'd also try trimming nuts and dried fruit from your diet. Those seem to slow a lot of folks down. In addition, you might also experiment with trimming eggs, especially if you've been eating a lot more than your body is accustomed to. It sounds odd, but I think eggs can be irritating and "unproductive" to some.

I hope others will speak up here if they have other ideas.

[jtota]

Back in the game today! It's funny how we go through such mental shifts during this. I decided to spend some time reading the forums and the whole 9 blog and it's good to see that my experiences are not so unusual. I think the last few days I was actually going through a bit of food grief. I consider this the start of a life change and not just a 30 day "thing" so I've been thinking a lot about the idea of not baking anymore and not eating toast . Being able to read that these things are normal and expected really helps. NOw I am trying to just focus on each day and just make it to the next., And, gosh, my husband is all over my excuses. He's not doing the program full out but if I come up with a reason to give up he's all "what are you gonna do, count points?" "That's just dumb". He's knows I hate all things weight watchers.

Anyway, on a "lighter" note I spent all day and night yesterday peeing. Apparently I had some water to let go of and now I am 2.5lbs lighter. I know, that dang scale. I weighed one last time in the name of science and did all of measurements so i could right everything down. Now the scale is away. I shall pull out said numbers at the end of the 30 days.

Glad to see everyone is hanging in there. I agree Well Fed is amazing!!! So is the Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook. I almost feel i should start charging my husbands co-workers for food cause they keep eating our left-overs.

[NatPatBen]

I am picking mine up tomorrow from the library. If I like it I will buy it. I like to preview books as we are on a limited budget

You can read the 30 page sampler available at the author's blog (something about clothes that make the girl or clothes that fit the girl). I read the sampler then immediately bought the book (then immediately took it to FedEx to get it spiral bound since it fell apart... immediately).

[LJG]

So glad to see so many of us are still going strong on Day 9! I am still waiting for the amazing sleep to kick in for me. I have finally stopped getting up every hour to use the bathroom, but I have still been having very vivid dreams (not necessarily about food) and doing a lot of tossing and turning. I have seen a lot of posts about the well fed book so I am very interested in getting my hands on it. I have a few Paleo cookbooks and do use the recipes from the website a lot, but since I have read such positive feedback, I feel like I should give it a read The thing I am most proud of this go-round (this is my 2nd whole 30, the first one finished in October) is that I have yet to get on the scale. I did pre-weigh, took measurements, and took photos, but I have not weighed myself since. This is a huge accomplishment for me!

[jmarnold30]

Husband picked up filets today so I changed my menu!! Dinner tonight was Filet, Sauteed onions and mushrooms, Mashed Celery Root with Ghee and Fresh Parsley, Roasted carrots...oh so delicious!!

Another good thing to report. Besides getting my fasting blood sugar down below 100 every day (since day 6) after living for years with a fasting usually over 200, my fast pulse has also gone down. My pulse is usually always over 100 (even with meds), but for the last two days it is running at about 82. Seriously, I feel like I am going to surpass all of my expectations by doing this for me. My mind immediately wants to kick myself for not committing sooner, but I can't get caught up in that. Positive vibes only...

Jtota, so glad to see you back in the game! What an effort! Make your husband hide that scale!!!

I love my Well Fed cookbook. Mine did not fall apart, but I'm considering taking it apart and putting the pages in those protective sheets since I am constantly dropping stuff on the pages when I am cooking.

Welcome Paulie!

Adding fats completely freak me out as well. Avocado and olives are easy so I am sticking to that for now. Olive oil and some ghee too, ocassionally.

Wishing everyone a peaceful and deep sleep tonight. Keep on keeping on!

[Brian Wahl]

Hey all! I've been doing my first Whole30 with a friend - started on Jan 1. Looking forward to reading through this thread. Here's how my first week went down:

Cheating

My weakness has always been binging and cheating. I can get amped up about starting a new lifestyle like anybody, but I seem to give in to temptation quickly. Not cheating once in a week is actually pretty rare for me (and sad that I have such little willpower...).

Hunger

I've had a few occasions where I went a while without food - once for about 9 hours. I've eaten Paleo before, and what I experienced then is the same as now - the crazy hunger isn't really there. I more felt like I was just starting to shut down, and as soon as I ate, the energy came back.

Cooking

I haven't tried this many new recipes in one week in a long time. Some were great - others not so much. I do like to cook, but I'm not so great at it. That's going to have to change. Favorite foods eaten this week:

• Steak (Ribeye) and sweet potato
  
• Sausage and Sweet potato frittata
  
• Creamy Chicken Tomato Soup
  

Sleep

I've been getting up early to work out (doing Crossfit) in the mornings, which is totally opposite from my past sleeping habits. I'm having a hard time sleeping well. Going to bed on time is hard, and I've been pretty restless for at least a few of the past 7 nights.

Workouts

Back to doing Crossfit. I love Crossfit, but it's hard. I'm finally starting to feel like I'm getting back into shape. I just keep looking forward to getting better and better. Also - working out in the mornings is a shock to my body.

What I miss the most

Cravings haven't really been all that bad, but I really, really miss having cream and splenda in my coffee. Coffee with coconut milk isn't my favorite thing in the world - not at all.

I'd also love an all-out gorging at a good Mexican restaurant. Chips and salsa, fajitas, rice, beans, and ice cream. I'd love it, but I don't have to have it.

BTW - a bit about me. I'm 33, and I'm a worship leader in Durham, NC. I played football in college, and ever since I've tried to stay active, but I've gone up and down a lot. Hoping to get into the best shape of my life - even better than when I was playing football about 10 years ago.

[DVeep]

I'm so glad I joined this forum before I used up the Barnes & Noble gift cards I got for Christmas. *adds Well Fed to book list to buy*

We have one Paleo cookbook - Paleo Comfort Foods - and I made some butternut squash soup from that the other night... the recipe needs some tweaking (I found it too spicy, so want to cut back on the ginger and nutmeg), but was good. Last night I let my creative juices flow and (possibly invented a dish?) made a non-dairy/non-gluten Whole 30 version of chicken parmesan: I used spaghetti squash, my standby homemade tomato sauce (which was already compliant - I was so excited), then breaded some chicken breasts in egg and coconut flour and pan fried them in ghee, finishing them with a stint in the oven... it was delicious. The best part was: no recipe needed. And now I'm excited to think about what other recipes I already was making that are either compliant or could be made so with a few minor substitutions. Inspiring! (And it was good on the reheat - I just had leftovers for meal #2.)

This weekend I'm going heavy duty on the meal planning - as a lot of you have also said - I think that will make a huge difference. I'm going to make a big pot of chili on Sunday that can be used for meals throughout the week, as well. Getting excited about possibilities!

Happy Day 4, everyone!

Oh - and Jenn35 - my office had a sudden, tempting smell of buttery biscuits yesterday afternoon for about an hour. I don't know whose they were or where the smell came from (because I stayed strong and did not investigate), but I know how you feel abstaining from deliciousness!! Solidarity!

I also have WellFed and Paleo Comfort Foods. The biggest challenge for me was in having to read each recipe, like painting by numbers I couldn't just cook! Or, you know, I could make chocolate chip cookies without a recipe - memorized that Tollhouse bag by heart. So I can imagine how much harder for those of you who haven't already been doing some paleo cooking. I still feel overwhelmed getting all the cooking done on a weekend, but using that crockpot and freezing leftovers has been a life saver.

For PCF book, I have made the banana bread, and sausage, but haven't picked up the book in awhile. The bread is trigger food for me, as is any treat type food. So I try to focus on the good stuff. Making our own mayo, ketchup, and pink sauerkraut (easy). If you haven't tried to make your own sauerkraut yet, give it a try. I love this demonstration video and I bought his book Wild Fermentation. Sandor is a former businessman turned hippy. He reminds me of Kramer in Seinfeld in this video:

! I regularly make my own kraut (good probiotics for the gut) and love it with avocado.

[Contessa]

BTW - a bit about me. I'm 33, and I'm a worship leader in Durham, NC. I played football in college, and ever since I've tried to stay active, but I've gone up and down a lot. Hoping to get into the best shape of my life - even better than when I was playing football about 10 years ago.

Welcome Brian! Sounds like you are off to a strong start with a full 9 days of great work already behind you!

I am loving the combo of Crossfit and Whole30 —it seems to be a particularly potent pairing. Personally, I still haven't had any major Crossfit moments where I savagely lift 9,000 pounds over my head and then triumphantly drop the bar to the floor or whatever. BUT the workouts I've done (especially in this 2nd week) have felt really good. I've felt more capable and more excited about the workouts — and my endurance and recovery has been noticeably better.

I hope you took some 'before' photos before you started! Let us know how it goes!

[torena]

Not gross at all, just a good thing to notice as you're changing your diet.

I have two suggestions (and I may be out of my depth here, so I hope the group will talk back to me if I am out of line). First would be adding a bit more fat to your intake. I don't understand the science here—but I'm told this can be beneficial. Second suggestion would be increasing your intake of cooked leafy greens (for example, kale). My understanding is that cooked greens act as a gentle loofah to your gut and help with elimination.

I'd also try trimming nuts and dried fruit from your diet. Those seem to slow a lot of folks down. In addition, you might also experiment with trimming eggs, especially if you've been eating a lot more than your body is accustomed to. It sounds odd, but I think eggs can be irritating and "unproductive" to some.

I hope others will speak up here if they have other ideas.

I agree on the fat and green and the nuts/fruit. I have no experience, though, on the eggs.

[torena]

Back in the game today! It's funny how we go through such mental shifts during this. I decided to spend some time reading the forums and the whole 9 blog and it's good to see that my experiences are not so unusual. I think the last few days I was actually going through a bit of food grief. I consider this the start of a life change and not just a 30 day "thing" so I've been thinking a lot about the idea of not baking anymore and not eating toast . Being able to read that these things are normal and expected really helps. NOw I am trying to just focus on each day and just make it to the next., And, gosh, my husband is all over my excuses. He's not doing the program full out but if I come up with a reason to give up he's all "what are you gonna do, count points?" "That's just dumb". He's knows I hate all things weight watchers.

Anyway, on a "lighter" note I spent all day and night yesterday peeing. Apparently I had some water to let go of and now I am 2.5lbs lighter. I know, that dang scale. I weighed one last time in the name of science and did all of measurements so i could right everything down. Now the scale is away. I shall pull out said numbers at the end of the 30 days.

Glad to see everyone is hanging in there. I agree Well Fed is amazing!!! So is the Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook. I almost feel i should start charging my husbands co-workers for food cause they keep eating our left-overs.

I get that. Look, I have spent over a YEAR trying to get to this point. Give yourself some credit. You're making significant changes here.

I told my husband to hide my scale after someone here posted that they did it.

[torena]

Husband picked up filets today so I changed my menu!! Dinner tonight was Filet, Sauteed onions and mushrooms, Mashed Celery Root with Ghee and Fresh Parsley, Roasted carrots...oh so delicious!!

Another good thing to report. Besides getting my fasting blood sugar down below 100 every day (since day 6) after living for years with a fasting usually over 200, my fast pulse has also gone down. My pulse is usually always over 100 (even with meds), but for the last two days it is running at about 82. Seriously, I feel like I am going to surpass all of my expectations by doing this for me. My mind immediately wants to kick myself for not committing sooner, but I can't get caught up in that. Positive vibes only...

Jtota, so glad to see you back in the game! What an effort! Make your husband hide that scale!!!

I love my Well Fed cookbook. Mine did not fall apart, but I'm considering taking it apart and putting the pages in those protective sheets since I am constantly dropping stuff on the pages when I am cooking.

Welcome Paulie!

Adding fats completely freak me out as well. Avocado and olives are easy so I am sticking to that for now. Olive oil and some ghee too, ocassionally.

Wishing everyone a peaceful and deep sleep tonight. Keep on keeping on!

OMG!!! I didn't even think about my fast pulse until just now! I'm at 83! Every time I visit my endocrinologist we talk about it, I'm worried, because it was always between 100 and 105. A friend gave me an electronic copy of Well Fed last year and I really like it. I need to go back through it now that I'm 10 days in and I want to get a little more fancy with my cooking!

[Nila]

Cheating

My weakness has always been binging and cheating. I can get amped up about starting a new lifestyle like anybody, but I seem to give in to temptation quickly. Not cheating once in a week is actually pretty rare for me (and sad that I have such little willpower...).

Hi Brian. Nice update. I recently read a book called Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy Baumeister and John Tierney. I took away many messages but the biggest was to no beat myself up about willpower because it's not what we think. The book changed my perspective on my own will. It isn't a perfect book and that's okay. As with everything else, I take what works and leave the rest.

And since you gave a little about you...hi, I'm Nila (pronounced as if nylon without the last n, aka nsquared). I'm a 45-year old business owner, wife, and mother of two teens. I've never had a day of athleticism in my life, unless you count countless grueling hours on the practice field (and running around it repeatedly) for marching band in high school. I'm here per my doctor's suggestion as part of a plan to reduce ridiculously high systemic inflammation so I can live better, happier, longer.

[torena]

BTW - a bit about me. I'm 33, and I'm a worship leader in Durham, NC. I played football in college, and ever since I've tried to stay active, but I've gone up and down a lot. Hoping to get into the best shape of my life - even better than when I was playing football about 10 years ago.

Hi there and welcome! Glad you're getting into the swing of things. Crossfit was always super intense for me, too, and I can't imagine doing it first thing in the morning. I usually did one evening during the week and then a Saturday morning around 9am.