Official 1/1/13 Start Group

[Contessa]

Rambling: I'm a little surprised by how not-awesome my sleep has been, too. Day 8 and I'm still feeling a little run-down, a little under-resourced, a little irritable. Is this because of work-related insanity, or because of dietary changes? Perhaps both.

I find it interesting how often I am still thinking about sugary treats. If you offered me a candy bar right now, I'd turn it down and stay with the W30, but I still think about treats all the time. I think I have more "hooray-it's-time-for-sugar" cues than I have ever imagined!

I'm seeing that I've used any and every excuse in the universe for a sugary break from reality.

Now that I think of it, I feel like this week's work stress might be extra challenging because I don't have that "pressure release valve" candy right here in my desk drawer like I always have. With no sweet treat at hand to reward my lizard brain, I've been taking a lot of long walks at work this week when I have gotten stressed. That's the best "treat alternative" I've found so far.

[NatPatBen]

While I feel that this is a great way to eat, I will say that I'm VERY surprised by not having surges of energy and feelings of lightness.

About 6 months ago, I implemented several concepts in the book "Clean" by Dr Alejandro Junger:

12 hrs+ between dinner & breakfast

plenty of sleep

green smoothies (with brown rice protein powder for protein) for breakfast

big lunch

light dinner (usually soup)

no dairy/wheat/sugar/sugar substitutes/nightshades/caffeine (but you could eat quinoa & legumes)

no snacking unless hungry

Not even being super strict, I felt SO MUCH ENERGY it was almost scary. I thought I'd feel the same on the Whole30, but so far, 12 days in (started Dec 28), I don't. Quite disapointing and perplexing, as there is significant overlap. Plus, I've incorporated some strength training into the Whole30 that I didn't do back then. Maybe the energy surge will kick in later... (?).

[jtota]

torena,

I came home to my family eating pizza. I work 12 hours shifts as a nurse and often we don't get our breaks because we are so busy and frankly the staffing sucks. My last meal that day was around 1:00 so by 8pm I was starving and I was pissed off about some work issues (bad day, hours continually being cut, etc) and I just caved. I was tired, didn't want to cook, feeling overwhelmed and I just ate what was there. Back on track now but just not feeling it at the moment.Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

[jtota]

While I feel that this is a great way to eat, I will say that I'm VERY surprised by not having surges of energy and feelings of lightness.

About 6 months ago, I implemented several concepts in the book "Clean" by Dr Alejandro Junger:

12 hrs+ between dinner & breakfast

plenty of sleep

green smoothies (with brown rice protein powder for protein) for breakfast

big lunch

light dinner (usually soup)

no dairy/wheat/sugar/sugar substitutes/nightshades/caffeine (but you could eat quinoa & legumes)

no snacking unless hungry

Not even being super strict, I felt SO MUCH ENERGY it was almost scary. I thought I'd feel the same on the Whole30, but so far, 12 days in (started Dec 28), I don't. Quite disapointing and perplexing, as there is significant overlap. Plus, I've incorporated some strength training into the Whole30 that I didn't do back then. Maybe the energy surge will kick in later... (?).

This sounds a lot like what I was doing before on my vegan diet. However I also had oatmeal or quinoa at breakfast before my runs. Not sure if it's all the added animal protein that we have to get used to what . . . my energy is ok. I just agree that I don't feel "light" at the moment.

[christine19]

Day 8...my cheekbones have appeared and the double chin has disappeared. But the big news is that I no longer have any pain in my knees when I work out. Noticed it two days ago when I had to jump while doing a workout video, but thought I would test the knees jogging on a very mild January day today. No knee or joint pain...zero! I'm so happy! Food still going OK and I am awaiting the arrival on Thursday of the Whole 30 approved Pre-Made Paleo meals. I got the emergency pack and very curious to see what they look and tastes like! Glad to see everyone making progress!

[Nila]

I made it over a major hurdle today: The Business Luncheon. I arrived while everyone was eating. When a server brought me a meal, I politely declined to receive it. I ignored the dessert. And I sat back and focused on having a meaningful conversation with the person next to me. Yeah, I'm kind of proud of myself. I did this in spite of the fact that the meal I tried to make myself to eat before going was awful...like gagging awful. I think the ranch dressing I tried to incorporate as a flavor enhancer might have been past it's prime. Or the flavors just clashed. Whatever. I tossed it and headed off anyway, feeling still satisfied from my big beautiful morning meal. I'm feeling hungry now (3pm). I'll grab a bite (or 10) before heading off to my next round of errands and meetings.

[mdraeger]

Hi everyone,

My husband and I started on the 1st, but am just getting around to posting on the forum today. It has been soooooo good to read everyone's experiences. I feel exactly like ccraven62, a little rundown and find myself taking any work stress/hurdles much harder than normal. (And NatPatBen, I did the Clean diet as well and was expecting the same sort of energy spike at this point.) I've also been having hilariously odd food dreams. It's amazing what the brain comes up with, isn't it?

I'm surprised by much of an emotional shift this has been and it has been very helpful in seeing patterns in how/why I eat. I've been trying to focus on keeping a good amount of variety in our veggies and trying to keep the fruit in check. It has been great having my husband on the plan, I can't imagine how you folks do it with your families eating "normally", you are rockstars.

Thank you all for sharing your stories. It makes it so much easier to continue on this journey knowing I'm not the only one on this "crazy diet".

Michelle

[Contessa]

I made it over a major hurdle today: The Business Luncheon. I arrived while everyone was eating. When a server brought me a meal, I politely declined to receive it. I ignored the dessert. And I sat back and focused on having a meaningful conversation with the person next to me. Yeah, I'm kind of proud of myself.

Wow. I am super impressed with this! When everyone around you is grazing on whatever is being served, it can be incredibly difficult to "just say no." Really glad you are able to stop and feel proud of yourself and have that sense of accomplishment. This is a big deal. Well done.

[helen]

Made my first homemade mayo today and clarified some butter. Very satisfying and now we are having a creamy Italian dressing on our salad tonight!

[JenGK]

_{Day 8 and I'm feeling pretty good. I discovered ghee the other day, and I am in love. I was tasting a little to much coconut oil in some things, so it is nice to have an alternative. Can anyone recommend a good brand of coconut oil? I am using the Whole Foods brand right now. I also made my own mayo over the weekend and used it for homemade ranch. I had a lunch meeting today, where I confirmed in advance there would be salad, and brought my own dressing to use on it.}

[CupcakeNinja]

I finished my lunch (or "Meal 2") about an hour ago and I'm just feeling heavy. I've been taking the night before's leftovers with me to work to eat on my break, and I think it's too much food. Obviously I can cut back on portion size, but I wondered what the other office dwellers are eating - any tips?

[NatPatBen]

_{Day 8 and I'm feeling pretty good. I discovered ghee the other day, and I am in love. I was tasting a little to much coconut oil in some things, so it is nice to have an alternative. Can anyone recommend a good brand of coconut oil? I am using the Whole Foods brand right now. I also made my own mayo over the weekend and used it for homemade ranch. I had a lunch meeting today, where I confirmed in advance there would be salad, and brought my own dressing to use on it.}

I've used Nutiva cold pressed organic coconut oil for a while (~6 months). Just recently found that Trader Joe's brand is cheaper, so I bought a jar of that. The TJ brand has a stronger taste to me (not that I mind).

I finished my lunch (or "Meal 2") about an hour ago and I'm just feeling heavy. I've been taking the night before's leftovers with me to work to eat on my break, and I think it's too much food. Obviously I can cut back on portion size, but I wondered what the other office dwellers are eating - any tips?

Funny you ask that as I'm about to do some research about hunger levels. I eat breakfast when I get to work and often NEVER GET HUNGRY afterward. Right now it's almost 4:30pm where I am and I'm just eating lunch, not because I'm hungry but because I think I should.

For lunch, I'm having chipotle mango chicken (chicken breast cubed, red bell pepper, white onion, cilantro, lime, mango, chipotle pepper & various other seasonings) with a mixture of 3 types of greens (turnip, mustard, collard). I doubt I'll get hungry for dinner, which I try to finish no later than 8pm.

I'm thinking to try a smaller breakfast to see if I get hungry sooner. I told my husband years ago that something must be wrong with me because I'm never hungry and never full, whereas he can be ravenous and stuffed. I think my harmones are more out of whack than I even thought.

[Nila]

Oooo...just found what I'm going to call The Meat Store. (Others may say butcher shop.) Conveniently located on the way to my son's school, it has grass-fed, pastured, local everything. No sugar-free bacon. But, The Meat Store Guy gave me a free package of unprocessed pork side to try. I also walked out with a whole chicken (my son pointed out it has no head...or feet), some ground pork, a pork loin roast and other goodies. Oh, Sweet Carnivorous Heaven!

[CupcakeNinja]

Funny you ask that as I'm about to do some research about hunger levels. I eat breakfast when I get to work and often NEVER GET HUNGRY afterward. Right now it's almost 4:30pm where I am and I'm just eating lunch, not because I'm hungry but because I think I should.

I used to be starving by lunch time (pre-W30), and again around 3PM. Now I get mildly hungry at lunch time, and last night I think (hunger-wise) I could have totally gone without dinner/meal 3 and been perfectly happy. I need to cut back on portion size across the board, I think, as I nearly gagged on my delicious dinner last night... probably a sign I'm trying to eat too much when I'm gagging on delicious food!

[torena]

This is promising. Today I ate similarly to yesterday (didn't eat lunch until 3 because I wasn't hungry. AMAZING!). I worked in my kitchen all day reorganizing cabinets and cleaning out drawers. It's 6:00, and I'm not wiped, and I am getting ready to go to my workout for 2 hours.

[Christina Williams Routon]

Day 4.... and it's starting to become difficult. What feels hard is all the food prep! Holy cow. It is very time consuming. The idea that food should be *convenient* is as hard to shake as the trusty old sugar cravings.

Doing a once-every-few-days cook-a-thon (as described in Well Fed) has been truly helpful — but still. Wow. I feel like I am planning, shopping, chopping, sauteeing or cleaning up allllllll the time.

I felt the same way. I told my husband I was in Kitchen Jail. This also fell on the same days as the Kill All The Things part of the timeline, so that could have had something to do with my outburst. But he's been helping me as he's home during the day while I'm at work. He'll thaw something or brown the ground beef, chop vegetables, wash the dishes, so all I have to do is put stuff together.

[Christina Williams Routon]

When we started following Paleo, I had the same observation many of you have expressed (that it requires a great deal of prep). At this point, I'd say it requires significant prep no more than two or three times a week (approx. 1 1/2 hours) and the rest is minimal because our meal planning incorporates a great deal of leftovers that are either refrigerated or frozen. My initial curiosity to try lots of new recipes drove the need for a lot of prep....now I'm in a rhythm of using a lot of stand by Paleo recipes that I'm familar with, maybe changing the herbs and spices to keep things interesting and only branching out to try brand new things a couple of times a week, especially on weekends when I have more time.

I found myself falling into the try new recipes trap and was cooking and prepping stuff all the time, as well as spending money on more spices. But this week I think I've found a good middle road, we know what some favorites are, and we're sticking with simple recipes and will try others on weekends or after Whole 30.

[Christina Williams Routon]

The one thing that concerns me is how this is going to affect my relationship with my boyfriend, our absolute favorite thing in the world to do is to try new restaurants and new wines, and wine is out for now and the restaurants are looking like they are going to be more of a hassle than fun to go to now. Anyone have any suggestions?

I agree restaurants will be a hassle, but why not cook together? Choose a new recipe and instead of going out, stay in and cook together, use nice dishes and plate it the way a restaurant would. If you drink tea, add a compliant tea along with your dinner (watch for soy lecithin in the flavored teas). This way you have time together and a chance to really bond over something new.

[Christina Williams Routon]

I finished my lunch (or "Meal 2") about an hour ago and I'm just feeling heavy. I've been taking the night before's leftovers with me to work to eat on my break, and I think it's too much food. Obviously I can cut back on portion size, but I wondered what the other office dwellers are eating - any tips?

I take leftovers too, but if I don't finish them for whatever reason I pack them up and bring them home. Today I had leftover butternut squash soup and I finished it up with my dinner.

[Christina Williams Routon]

It's my day 8 and I'm feeling really good today. Not "on top of the world" good but a nice, steady good. I did have a Kill All the Things meltdown over the weekend when I felt all I did was cook and clean, cook and clean. I made venison burgers Friday night and it took two hours to cook the two pounds I'd thawed. I felt better after I finally ate. I ate two of them standing at the stove, then another one with my veggies during my "proper" dinner.

I'm still about 40-45# overweight and I don't crossfit either. I would love to try, but it's so expensive and I would not be able to do burpees, pull-ups, etc. But I did get out my dumbbells and started back with weight training yesterday, and that felt SOOOO good! I may not be able to change my legs (due to my lipedema) but I am going to work them anyway and have a good looking upper body for spring / summer.

I bought Well Fed before Christmas and got the PDF download special too. The book is AWESOME! I am in love with Jicama home fries. I've made them twice and I will be making them again next week. Chocolate chili is another favorite.

My son made brownies last night They smelled really, really good. I didn't even taste.

No weird dreams for me yet, but I slept through my alarm on Monday morning and was ten minutes late for work. But today I was asleep on time and up 45 minutes before the alarm went off. That's what I'm working on now - getting everything ready the night before and being in bed early enough to get 8 hours of sleep.

I'm not sure what I miss at this point - my Splenda or gluten-free pancakes or rice crust frozen pizza. I was already wheat free / sugar free for a couple of months, but was still using Splenda and eating Kroger Deluxe ice cream with Splenda along with Pamela's pancake mix on the weekends and the $8.99!! rice crust pizza on Friday nights.

I have an appointment at my endocrinologist on February 8. He's planning to run a full panel on me this time around to check my insulin resistance. I know he's going to happy with the results

You're all doing so well! Hubby has already fallen off the wagon. The headaches were making him crazy, he ate pizza at work, and it made him sick. Otherwise, he eats what I make for dinner and is helping me by browning meat, chopping veggies, etc. so I don't spend a lot of time cooking during the week. Our son is 19, so he's usually at work or with his girlfriend and he's been buying his own food so I'm not making special meals for different people.

I was hungry last week, but yesterday and today I felt fine. I caught myself in the kitchen last night looking for something to snack and I made myself leave the room and turn out the light.

You're all doing so well! We made it through the first week! Yay us!

What I've discovered my first week:

AWESOME foods - jicama home fries, scrambled eggs in coconut oil, roasted butternut squash. Yum!

I am stronger than I give myself credit.

It's only 30 days. I can do this!

[jmarnold30]

Sounds like everyone is doing well. I feel like it is getting a little easier. Probably because I am sleeping a little better. I haven't had the dreams, thank goodness, LOL. I was running low on fresh veggies, so I had to scavenge today. But, a trip to Krogers got me some more veggies and new things that I haven't tried yet...almond butter, celery root and parsnips. I enjoy following the recipes I am finding in my Well Fed cookbook and on Pinterest ( a bunch of new ones thanks to Melissa's FB post)!

My husband told me tonight that he was proud of me. I asked for what and he said my tenacity and sticking to what I planned. I think he really thought I was going to cave before now. Of course when I went to the store, he asked me to get him some fried chicken. I asked him when he was going to start eating healthy. Usually he eats what I cook, but he eats his own thing when at work unless he takes leftovers. He is fine with eating paleo or Whole 30 legal, but that doesn't stop him from eating other things too (non Whole 30 legal.) Thankfully, they didn't have fried chicken in the deli so I didn't have to drive home with the smell of fried foods in my car.

He also suggested we skip our date night tonight and wait until I have a little more time under my belt because he didn't want to sabotage my efforts. So that was good that I didn't have to try to figure out what I could eat at a restaurant. But, I was prepared. I read that thread on the board earlier tonight in preparation.

I feel good about my progress so far and I feel good about what I am learning about my body and how it reacts to food. I just feel good.

Everyone keep up the good work, stay focused. We got this!

[Ashley D Remiro]

I know I'm a little late in joining this conversation, but I've been Whole30 for the last 8 days! Yay!

This is my second Whole30, but I'm thinking of extedning it to a Whole60.

The main reason I decided to chime in today was because of my personal "Whole30 Timeline." If you're getting the Whole30 Daily, you know that most people are sluggish/extra sleepy in days 6 & 7. Not me!!! Today was that day! I could barely function at the gym tonight. Oh, and I just can't get enough sleep! I would sleep all day if I didn't have a job...

Double Oh, and the food dreams! Last Whole30 I had dreams about M&M's, Again with the M&M's. Last night, I had a dream that I was devouring cookies and ice cream. Knowing that I shouldn't be eating them, I was desparately trying to stop eating them. It was literally impossible. Then, I was trying to tell my Whole30 buddies that I just couldn't stop, but I knew they wouldn't believe me. The food dreams are always so funny.

Hopefully, I'll really join this conversation. Work has been busy lately, but I want to be a part of this community!

Good work everybody, keep it up!!!

[melbournegirl]

Just checking in, you guys are doing great. I am on day 20 of my second whole*. You reminded me how I also felt back in November when I started that any spare time was spent either cooking, prepping or shopping! Yesterday I cooked a quick mince for breakfast plus enough for a few days leftovers and baked a few serves of some chicken in a can of tomato sauce at the same time as making some sweet potato and pumpkin chips for WO snacks and also tried to make sun butter for the first time and I didnt even give it a thought.... for two reasons - I have got very efficient at putting these base meals together... and... it has just become part of my routine so it now feels normal. So hang in there, it will be better before you even realise!

[helen]

I feel really lucky that I had these first two weeks off of work (I go back next Tuesday but it will be a light week) as I have been cooking a lot too and figuring things out. The grill is our best friend right now and we have kind of mapped out a dinner plan. My concern is the last two weeks I will be teaching two long days (2-9 get home around 9:30). I don't have time to eat as I have classes/labs back to back and sometimes I barely have time to pee. I am going to eat Meal 2 at 1 pm and bring a mixed nut mix and quick snack veggies (snap peas and carrots) to try and eat between classes.

Does anyone have any better suggestions? I don't have a refrigerator to rely on. I don't want to eat a big meal when I get home. I hate that these 2 days will throw me off schedule so much. I don't like the taste of the yolk of boiled eggs (the whites are fine) or those would be a great fast protein. I have to scramble eggs or in quiches.

I want to continue the Paleo lifestyle (witht he occastional splurges). I feel better than I ever have energy wise.

[torena]

_{Day 8 and I'm feeling pretty good. I discovered ghee the other day, and I am in love. I was tasting a little to much coconut oil in some things, so it is nice to have an alternative. Can anyone recommend a good brand of coconut oil? I am using the Whole Foods brand right now. I also made my own mayo over the weekend and used it for homemade ranch. I had a lunch meeting today, where I confirmed in advance there would be salad, and brought my own dressing to use on it.}

I am hoping to make my own ghee this afternoon. Of course the recipe I want is on the Nom Nom Paleo page which I've been unable to access for nearly 24 hours now. Eek! When I buy from the store I usually get Nutiva coconut oil. I belong to a coop and we purchase coconut oil from Wilderness Family Naturals and/or Tropical Traditions and those are my favorites.