Ji's Journey (W30 #1 - Jan 2019)

[AR3825]

Your original post speaks to me on a personal level, because I am also bipolar, ADD, and highly allergic to grass which is actually relevant to most of the food allergies I have also. I love reading this log. I’ve done a whole 30 in the past, but I like reading through this log and Im glad your dad is on board with eating the new food you are cooking! I also like that your kid ate the turkey patty and liked it. 

[Jihanna]

20 Jan 2019 -- day 20

Meal 1 -- 9:45
leftover egg scramble from yesterday

Meal 2 -- 12:45
pot roast w/ veggies & braised greens

Meal 3 -- 17:30
2 turkey burgers, butternut home fries, homemade slaw

Today's been good. I've been productive, without feeling like I've been super-busy all day long, and I've felt healthy overall. I didn't, however, manage to write out notes throughout the day (like I usually do)... so this is going to be a super-short little wrap up.

My brain feels kind of jazzed. It's like it's bouncing around a bit in my head, similar to a caffeine rush but without actually having had anything caffeinated since this morning (and no food in hours, so I'm assuming it's not related to natural food sugars, either). It's not actually a fun feeling, either, because I can tell there's a headache brewing there, kind of centered behind my eyes and ears. While I dislike having to take anything before bed, I'm going to let Tylenol help me sleep so I'm not thrown completely off schedule and track because of overnight pain.

The kids are off school tomorrow, but the house will be insanely busy because of the rehearsals my mom's doing with kids from the nearby middle school. I probably need to see about taking a family day away from the house, get the kids out (and us, too)... scary concept... I haven't actually been away from the house for more than an hour or two since starting Whole30, so I need to make sure I'm mentally prepared for the possibility of winding up somewhere with food I can't eat.

Bed now. Last night it was impossible to sleep at a reasonable hour, despite getting tired early. I may yet lie awake for a while tonight due to the headache, but at least I'll be in bed and ready for sleep when it comes.

[AR3825]

I think there is a pdf that covers eating out. If you plan ahead about going to a restaurant even if you don’t actually go eat while out, it will help alleviate some of that stress about leaving the house. I felt that stress pretty hard as well when I had to go out of town on my first whole 30.

[Jihanna]

Thanks - I did see it, but this wouldn't be that type of "going out". I actually am not dreading that nearly so badly, since I know a few places we might end up which all have salad bars I could work to my needs. If we wind up somewhere with food tomorrow, though, it's most likely a fast food joint where my kids will be happy and I'll just be glad that I grabbed a salad before we left the house   I'm definitely going to be looking over the eating out PDF again before our next date night, though!

[Jihanna]

21 Jan 2019 -- day 21, last day of week 3!

Meal 1 -- 7:00
leftover turkey carrot hash
salad and slaw

Meal 2 -- 11:30
grilled chicken, fruit

Meal 3 -- 16:00
leftover pot roast, veggies, and greens

Meal 4 -- 19:30
big salad with boiled eggs and homemade dressing

The kids are out of school, but it didn't stop me from getting up at the normal time for a Monday. I knew I needed to get some eggs done, so popped those in the pressure cooker first thing. Due to not leaving to take anyone to school, though, I also ate breakfast earlier than usual. I'm waiting to see if that changes anything this morning, compared to the effects of eating an hour or two later.

We took the youngest out to run off some energy, and grabbed a bite to eat while out. I ordered some grilled chicken and later found out the marinade they used was not compliant... I should've triple-checked before eating it, but I'll remember that for next time (in fact, next time it'll be calling ahead of time to make sure there's something compliant or that they can do a special order so I can keep on track). Physically, I felt fine for about 30 minutes after eating, but since then I've had some twistiness to my stomach.

 

Around 4, I realized it'd actually been over 4 hours since eating, so grabbed leftovers from what I'd made for dinner last night. My stomach's not feeling as tight, but I'm bloated and a bit gassy; since everything else I've eaten has been entirely compliant (and I'm trying not to overdo it with cruciferous vegetables), I'm thinking the chicken is the culprit. It's got me interested to see what reintroduction looks like, and how different things affect me after being out of my system so long. (It's also got me even more decided on transitioning from reintro into paleo-ish.)

 

This afternoon's mess-up has definitely got me hurting, and it's made things strange in terms of hunger cues and whatnot. I did eat again around 7:30, because I was hungry at that time and I'm not able to see me making it until breakfast otherwise. I'm slowly feeling like there's less turmoil happening in my stomach itself, but it's still very uncomfortable. I stayed home from my weekly meeting as result, which tells me I need to make sure my reintro days are not days when I have anything important planned!

 

The husband and I have some work to do tomorrow -- household stuff, mostly, but also need to pick up a few things from the store and possibly go put out business flyers. We'll get to spend some time together, too, which will be nice... we're together often, but it's usually along with the girls and/or the family as a whole, so it's good when they're away and we can have alone time (even if some of that time's just spent reading or playing video games together, haha!).

I also need to make sure I call and schedule an appointment with the doctor for early February, partly for a regular checkup but partly to check blood levels and see how I've fared this month. This month's been all about the food, no supplements, so it will be good to see where the food supports me well and where I need to give it a helping hand.

I'm liable to be up a bit longer tonight, but I'm trying to be mindful about getting my log posted before I pass out, so I'm doing that now.

[Jihanna]

22 Jan 2019 -- day 22 (w4 d1)

Meal 1 -- 8:30
leftover turkey avocado burger, roasted butternut, and pot roast veggies

Meal 2 -- 12:30
custom stir fry bowl from Genghis Grill:
- proteins: chicken, beef, and steak
- seasonings: salt, pepper, ginger, garlic
- fillers: water chestnuts, white onion, spinach, bell pepper, pineapple, mandarin oranges
- "sauces": ginger water and garlic water
- "starch": plenty of cabbage
- specified "allergy" to soy, gluten, and corn

I drank an unsweetened iced tea (they brew it; nothing but tea and water) with fresh lemon

Meal 3 -- 18:00
meatballs, roasted broccoli, and mashed sweet potatoes
I also cooked steamed broccoli, but didn't eat any at dinner

Today's been something of a blur. A day with nothing planned suddenly became very busy, due to a friend needing our help with her car. In return for checking out her car's problem, taking her over to the auto parts store to get a few things to try to fix it, and then my husband working in the chill to get the issue resolved (at least enough to let her get to a better solution)... she offered to take us out to lunch, our choice of restaurant. So we chose Genghis Grill, where you can build a custom stir fry bowl, which is much easier than giving a customized order to a server.

Lunch was amazing, it's been quite a while since we've eaten over there and it was nice to have that opportunity with friends (especially since I do feel that my food choices would be limited at a number of the places where we typically enjoyed dining in the past).

We did more running around, then they rode with us to pick the youngest up from school. Since my friend was so generous with lunch, we invited them for dinner, so my whole day basically was taken up with company. That doesn't happen much for me! It was nice, though, because it gave her the chance to experience the cooking process and amazing food we've been having, and to see that it really doesn't have to have sugar and other "off limits" (for me) things for it to be good, and good for us. She seemed to enjoy helping with preparations, and said dinner was fantastic. Best of all, we had enough leftovers for me to make 2 full plates for my upcoming meals AND to put extras aside in the fridge for whoever else.

Tomorrow is looking like it might be nearly as busy as today, so hopefully I'll still have a chance for getting my meal planning done. While some of the weekly sales ads are available today, for some I've got to wait until tomorrow -- and my shopping day is Thursday! I definitely have to make time for that part, if I'm going to be prepared for the next week's cooking!

Last night, I was in bed by 11pm and felt like I'd gotten plenty of sleep by the time my 5:45 alarm buzzed this morning. My plan to is repeat that, and hopefully see even better results tomorrow!

[Jihanna]

Once again, missed posting this on the correct day.
==========

 

23 Jan 2019 -- day 23

Meal 1 -- 8:30
leftover meatloaf balls, roasted broccoli, mashed sweet potatoes

Meal 2 -- 13:00
Barberitos "burrito bowl" with no rice or beans
- protein: chicken and steak
- salad: iceberg, Romaine, and spinach
- toppings: green bell pepper, black olives, onion, pineapple salsa, cilantro, salt & pepper

Meal 3 -- 18:30
taco meat and spinced yellow caulirice

Today was another blur, and I really feel like I was just going (either mentally or physically, if not both) from the time I woke up. After taking youngest to school, I came home and browsed all of our local ads for the week so I could start putting together next week's meal plan (starting Thurs and running through Wed). I got a little of that done, before having to stop.

I spent some much-needed alone time with my husband, and then we split to do some work on computers (him to put together information for his business, and me to put together information to hopefully help a friend).

My friend was scammed a while back by one of those pop-up notices that your computer may be infected and to call whatever 800-number is there to have them help you. She didn't realize it was just a ploy to con her, and wound up paying these people over $200 while letting them have total access to her computer. When she mentioned it to us, we immediately told her what it was and to go to her bank to set up denial of charges (might not catch the first one, but would keep her from being charged anything after that). We also told her it would be best to disconnect it from internet. She did that, but when trying to log in and find some things her husband (who passed away over the summer) had saved on it, she wasn't able to log in.

Yesterday, we were with her while my husband worked on her car. We also had brought them to dinner at our house, and had her PC tower with us. My husband tried to hook it up to one of our spare monitors, but it wouldn't connect properly. After getting her home, he realized the hookup was exactly the same, but for whatever reason it just hadn't worked at our house. We were both tired and a little frustrated with the stiuation, and needed to get home to put our kids to bed, so I made plans for us to go back over today. Before doing that, I looked up how to bypass a login password on her operating system, and felt pretty confident that we'd be able to help.

Once there, I tried following the steps I'd gotten from online, but they wouldn't work. I did get in through the setup and managed to set an admin and system password, but that didn't allow me access to change the startup password these guys had put on there. I was in process of trying some way-around-the-back method of getting in, when they actually called her, while I was there! She put me on the phone with the guy and he said they had a server crash which corrupted the programs they'd put on, they were doing a free update for the customers who had paid for what they'd done previously, etc. I played along by saying I'd been locked out of the computer, and couldn't do anything until I could get back in. He actually walked me through putting in the startup password so I could get through to the desktop, and then practically begged me to click on the TeamViewer client despite me saying I had to go out the door immediately ("Just click the icon, ma'am, just once, then you can leave!"). It wouldn't have made a difference if I'd clicked it, since the computer's not connected to the internet, but I still just thanked him for his help and hung up. He's supposed to call her back today, and she's supposed to let her machine take the call.

I actually feel AWESOME, in that I not only conned the sammer (whoo!) but we also managed to prevent my friend from having to pay someone to slave up her hard drive to pull the information she needed (some of this was actually tax info, apparently). We did tell her that since there was more than pictures on there, she seriously needs to call the credit bureaus and freeze her credit while making sure that nothing's been opened up in her name (or anyone in her family).

She took us out to lunch again, as a thank you, this time to Barberitos (another place where you can fully customize your food). I had them check the allergy info and ingredients list on both the chicken and steak before ordering, so I could make sure the marinades were safe for me. The meat looked very lonely with the rice and beans (black and pinto) that I would've gotten usually, but once it turned into a salad, the container was stuffed full - and taste-wise, I once again didn't actually miss what I didn't have in there.

Dinner was back to being a family affair tonight. My parents are dealing with the loss of a friend, someone my mom's actually known for about 30 years, and they'll both be heading out of town this weekend to attend his funeral down in Florida. We'll meet up with them on Monday to get my Dad back home while Mom continues north-west to visit her parents in Alabama.

I started feeling like I was going to doze off around 9:30 tonight, so took some melatonin (to help make sure I'd go to sleep and stay asleep) and am heading to bed now, at 10;15.

[Jihanna]

24 Jan 2019 -- day 24

Meal 1 -- 8:30
leftover taco meat and yellow caulirice, steamed broccoli, mashed sweet potatoes

Meal 2 -- 16:00
leftover meatballs, broccoli, and sweet potato

Meal 3 -- none

The early night led to an early morning. I actually woke around 5:20, then stayed in bed until 5:40 before getting up to start my ice and coffee...

Now - Good morning, cinnamon coffee!
One of the ladies in my group-text mentioned cinnamon being the only way she can drink black coffee... I'd never considered that, so decided to try it this morning. It's pretty nice, even without anything else added in. It really is amazing how little I'm missing sugar, now that everything I eat and drink isn't full of it.

Busy, busy, busy. I had to finalize my meal plan and grocery list this morning, then fill out some paperwork, then try not to fall asleep (I was super tired at midday and had to choose between a nap and grocery shopping - so I chose to go get the food), followed by groceries... ran back in the door long enough to toss cold stuff in the fridge, then back out to pick the youngest up from school, then finally home and able to breathe for a few minutes.

With being so busy, I didn't really sit down to eat a good lunch. Instead, I wound up having some cross between late lunch and early dinner, I guess. It's now 6 hours later and I'm not at all hungry, so hopefully I won't wake up during the night. I'm not sure what's thrown me off today, but it's just not been at all typical in terms of hunger levels and food. Tomorrow, I'll make a real effort to stay within my usual rough schedule, again, because I can't fathom this being a good thing... I need a good schedule. Thinking back, the tiredness around noon was probably my body trying to say it wanted food, but it wasn't using my stomach to do it (my eyes just ddin't want to stay open, and that translates to me as sleepy, not hungry).

Speaking of sleepy... definitely about that time now.

[Jihanna]

26 Jan 2019 -- day 26

Meal 1 -- 9:30
eggs (a little scrambled, plus one boiled), chicken and apple sausage, sauteed bell peppers and onions, spinach
banana slices on the side

Meal 2 -- 13:00
leftover cabbage with apples and onions
sausage

Meal 3 -- 19:00
daikon noodle bowl with cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, beef, and eggs

10:39
I slept fine (a lot longer than I'd planned to) but woke with a headache. Obviously the medicine I took before bed last night did enough to let me sleep, but not enough to keep it away. I haven't taken anything yet this morning, and I'm trying to manage it with oils (will shower soon to see if it helps, also) before I take any more medicine.

21:37
I'm tired... it's been a long day... and I'm going to do the lazy thing and leave my dishes in the sink until tomorrow, because I'm just simply not up to doing them tonight. I did manage to keep the headache at bay for most of the day, but it's hurting again this evening and I'm feeling much bloating and gas from the amount of cruciferous stuff I've eaten in the last couple of days. As I'm moving forward in all this, and especially with reintroduction, it's going to be important to plan my meals in a way that doesn't stack the cruciferous stuff so closely together. I hate it, because I'm really a fan of broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower, but I probably need to limit it to one meal per day (and maybe even skip a day if the cruciferous bit was a large part of the meal).

I'm going to be heading to bed as soon as I can get my kids into theirs. With it being weekend, they're staying up later than usual, but I think I need sleep before midnight so it's about time for them to be done with wakefulness for today.

[Jihanna]

27 Jan 2019 -- day 27

Meal 1 -- 10:00
baked potato & sausage (not the best breakfast I've done, but it worked today)

Meal 2 -- 14:45
leftover daikon noodles (with beef and yummy veggies), and steamed broccoli

Meal 3 -- 19:30
baked potato, sausage, and a big salad

I've been doing much better today in terms of wakefulness throughout the day, and energy to do what's needed to get done. The downside is that the "what's needed to get done" wasn't actually a ton of physically demanding (even for me) stuff, so I'm hoping I can ease myself into the physical work I've got to manage this week.

Tomorrow will be interesting. My parents went out of town for the weekend, and mom will be heading over to her parents' house in Alabama tomorrow. So we're meeting them somewhere around halfway, a little off her route, to pick dad up and bring him home so she can finish the rest of her week-long trip and he can come home to work the rest of the week. We're meeting at a Cracker Barrel, with intention to eat there before coming back home, so I've done my homework and checked over their menu and allergen information... and I feel pretty confident that I'll manage a good meal that is compliant.

(I have a list of sides that should work, and will just have to consider what protein to get. It looks like their eggs aren't soy free, so I assume that means they use either a soy-containing oil or a spray with soy lecithin... so I've got to decide on asking for boiled eggs, or asking if steak can be prepared without soy. Either way, I'm looking at a side salad w/out dressing and a baked sweet potato w/out butter and sugar.)

Now I just have to get my kids to sleep, so I can sleep. Tomorrow's going to be a long day.

[Jihanna]

28 Jan 2019 -- day 28

Meal 1 -- 11:00
breakfast at Cracker Barrel -- fried eggs, fresh fruit, plain hash browns, tomato slices

Meal 2 -- 16:00
snack: Larabar (I'm trying to avoid these but I was starved and knew dinner was still hours off)

Meal 3 -- 18:30
lemon herb whole chicken (in the pressure cooker)
roasted acorn squash
sauteed onion, yellow squash, zucchini, and mushrooms

We drove out of town right after dropping Mia off at school today, to meet up with my parents for breakfast (and bring my dad home). I'd looked over the menu last night and was confident about what I'd get, then changed it once we were at the table because lunch wasn't ready when we first sat down (and then I didn't want to bother with worrying over the steak marinade). I asked a few questions and made some requests, and the waitress was sweet enough to run information between me and the cook. They wound up cooking my (totally plain) potatoes on tin foil so it didn't even touch the grill, and they made sure there was no dairy or soy involved with frying up my eggs. It tasted great, and was quite satisfying. I was just glad that she didn't seem at all put out by all of the questions and requests.

The drive home seemed longer, despite it taking the same amount of time. I slept for at least 45 minutes of it, and woke up desperately needing a restroom break! Thankfully, I hadn't needed to drive at all (which is good, because I don't trust myself driving my husband's truck!)

We got home just in time to breathe a few minutes before leaving to get the youngest from school again. I ran to Kroger to pick up a few things for her lunches (we were lower in stock than I realized on grocery day), and I did grab myself a Larabar to eat on the way home because my stomach was twisting up and I knew it was going to take at least an hour to get dinner ready (and expected closer to 2 before we'd eat).

For dinner, I decided to do the whole chicken I'd gotten. I was wary of trying to cook another one in the oven, because the last time I got so stressed over it not cooking like the recipe suggested it should... so this time, I removed the oven from the equation and tossed the thing in the pressure cooker. It turned out so tender, juicy, and delicious. Even my 14yo liked it, and it always makes me happy when she eats what I've cooked!

Now, I'm trying to get kids to bed so I can rest. It's been a long day and I'm thoroughly exhausted

[Jihanna]

29 Jan 2019 -- day 29

Meal 1 -- 8:00
leftover chicken, acorn squash, and skillet veggies from last night

Meal 2 -- 13:00
baked potato and boiled eggs

Meal 3 -- 18:00
turkey spaghetti sauce with chunky veges and pumpkin puree
spaghetti squash
green beans

I've come to a very serious realization, today. There is such a thing as "too much caffeine", and I now understand just how badly it was affecting me when I was drinking soda all the time (read: all. freaking. day. long. including at bedtime, ugh.). Thankfully, today it was due to coffee, just too much of it. I drank about twice as much as usual, in hopes it would keep me alert as the afternoon came toward me (I've been getting the midafternoon tiredness and didn't want to feel like I needed a nap today)... but I definitely will be limiting it to my usual 2-3 mugs daily after the way it hit me today (like a sledgehammer, for real).

That said, though, it also gave me a little insight into how I mentally justify the idea of caffeine. I know that a little is enough to help me function, but still felt the desire to do more. This coming weekend, I might try reducing coffee (or skipping it entirely) and see how that affects me. I don't want to chance it on a day when I need to be awake to get kids to school, though!

On an unrelated note, I'm really crampy today, about 6 days before I would expect to be... it's not pleasant, but it's not painful (yet), just makes me wonder if things will be happening sooner than usual. It could also be gas, of course, but I've been trying to watch intake of things I know tend to trigger that. Either way, I'm going to try to get to bed early tonight, and hope it doesn't blossom into full-on pains and prevent sleep.

And... I totally passed out before posting, so here we are next morning, gettin' that done!

[Aliem999]

12 hours ago, Jihanna said:

I've come to a very serious realization, today. There is such a thing as "too much caffeine", and I now understand just how badly it was affecting me when I was drinking soda all the time (read: all. freaking. day. long. including at bedtime, ugh.). Thankfully, today it was due to coffee, just too much of it. I drank about twice as much as usual, in hopes it would keep me alert as the afternoon came toward me (I've been getting the midafternoon tiredness and didn't want to feel like I needed a nap today)... but I definitely will be limiting it to my usual 2-3 mugs daily after the way it hit me today (like a sledgehammer, for real).

That said, though, it also gave me a little insight into how I mentally justify the idea of caffeine. I know that a little is enough to help me function, but still felt the desire to do more. This coming weekend, I might try reducing coffee (or skipping it entirely) and see how that affects me. I don't want to chance it on a day when I need to be awake to get kids to school, though!

Me too! I gave up consistent coffee about 2 years ago. Not for the Whole30. I had other reasons at the time. I was drinking about 4-6 cups a day. It was my "happy juice." I never felt buzzed or even energized after drinking coffee. I would just be "normal." I could literally drink a huge cup (think like 24 oz) of coffee and then go to bed. I did drink them black, so I did not think it was such a big deal. Boy was I wrong. I had only given up coffee once before and both time weeks of headaches and nausea ensued. 

Cut to months later. I had a coffee while out to eat at breakfast and wow. I felt the caffeine with just one cup of coffee. I do miss the taste. I love coffee. To this day I try not to drink coffee more than 2 days in a row (even decaf), because if I do, I am "hooked" again. No it won't be weeks of headaches. Maybe just one or two days. It is crazy how we can be addicted to something and not even notice it or be addicted to something and it is just socially acceptable (kinda like sugar.) Good luck skipping coffee! Hopefully your symptoms will not be too bad!

[Jihanna]

30 Jan 2019 -- day 30

Meal 1 -- 08:00
3 fried eggs with potatoes and a salad

Meal 2 -- 12:00
leftover chicken, acorn squash, and sauteed veggies

Meal 3 -- 18:30
turmeric chicken with stewed veggies (potato, carrot, onion, mushroom)

Today's been one of those days when I've had a lot to do, and I stayed pretty busy all day but somehow didn't get even half of the planned list finished. It's crazy. I think part of it is just that I'm excited for tomorrow, despite being behind with my meal and grocery planning for the coming week. I've also been doing more in the kitchen though, all the clean-up is on me, because my usual kitchen helper hasn't been feeling well so I've given her a pass for the past few days... it's catching up to me, but she's back to school tomorrow so should be back to her helper status as well.

Tonight will hopefully be another early night, but I also have several things I've got to get done still before I can sleep (like laundry and dishes). I'm seriously bloated and gassy, which could be food-related or it could be an evil PMS symptom. One of my support-text ladies suggested doing a food sensitivity test, so that's something we'll need to look into at some point, I think.

I'm posting, before I forget, and sleeping as soon as I can.

[Jihanna]

NSV acknowledgements

GREATER MOOD STABILITY! This is pretty amazing. I haven't dropped into depression at all this month, even at times when things happened (death of a family friend, etc.) that might have triggered a spiral in the past. The only time I worried about mania was that first day of tiger blood, when it honestly felt like I was soaring but without 'bad' factors I've come to recognize as roadsigns marking the way toward madness. That day was still a little scary for me, but since then any tiger blood has been drastically mellowed out in a way that I see it for what it is instead of fearing it for what it resembles. Either way, this month has been awesome in terms of mood.

MUCH BETTER SLEEP! I get to sleep faster, I sleep more soundly, and I wake up more refreshed. Granted, I'm still drinking coffee every morning... but it's without sugar or cream, and I don't intend to put either back in since I've learned that they're just not needed.

I ENJOY FOOD MORE! Okay, this one totally took me by surprise because I already loved food. And maybe it's more accurate to say that I've got a new-found love for truly GOOD food, enough so that this experience is going to be a turning point for me. I don't want to go back to all the stuff I'd been eating before this, despite the things I chose to include in my extended reintroduction.

I DON'T MISS BEANS! This one also took me totally by surprise. A month ago, one of my favorite lunches was a bowl of chickpeas (like, a whole can) tossed with lemon juice and spices. I'd sometimes throw them on top of an enormous salad instead, but I really could happily eat them by themselves. I also included at least one meal with beans every week, sometimes 2 or 3. Now? I don't even miss beans in dishes where I used to think they should be - like chili.

I LOVE TO COOK! Full disclosure, I already knew that I liked cooking. The difference here is that I liked putting a bunch of stuff in a crock pot and calling it done, or doing a meal but knowing I could get from start to finish (prep and all) in an hour and a half or less. Now I love to cook, and I'm often in the kitchen well ahead of the time we're planning to eat, just to make sure things are ready to go on time... but I don't mind it, because I'm enjoying it all, and I feel great when my family likes what I've made.

LOOSE PANTS! It's not every day, so there's definitely some bloating or other inflammation happening at times, but that's something I'll have to figure my way through over the next few months. The important part is that I have at least one pair of pants that have definitely gotten a little looser. Some days, I need a belt just to prevent them from falling off, so I'll take it as the victory it is regardless of what the scale says tomorrow morning.

I FEEL MORE MOTIVATED! Now that I'm actually feeling better overall, it's helping me feel more motivated to get up and do things that need to get done. It's a slow process, but I'm working on it. I've always been one of those people who procrastinates, so I have to work doubly hard to force myself to do things, but it's a little easier now than it was a month ago. I also feel more motivated to actually do things I know I need to do, like finally get a real exercise routine started (even just stretching or walking in the mornings, anything to get me moving more).

MINTS DO NOT OWN ME! My mouth gets dry easily, and drinking every time forces far more restroom trips than I'd care to count, so peppermints (or sometimes other hard candies) were a constant presence on my desk. I'd go through way too many, meaning I was getting sugar in a constant stream while drinking soda or sweet tea. It's truly scary to think of how much sugar was going in, even just from mints. That's changed, and I don't plan to go back to the old way. The new way is that I keep a cup of ice on my desk, then use ice to combat dry-mouth.

FRIENDS! I've gained some truly amazing friends through this process. I honestly think there were times when I would've given up if I'd been in this alone, so I can't thank them enough for being there for accountability as well as support and rejoicing.

I'll leave this at that for now, but wanted to make sure I logged some of the things that have come to mind so far that definitely won't be showing up on the scale in the morning.

[Jihanna]

31 Jan 2019 -- Reintro Day 1, added sugars

Meal 1 -- 8:00
leftover turkey spaghetti sauce, green beans, and chicken breast

Meal 2 -- 12:00
3 fried eggs and a baked potato, small salad

Meal 3 -- 18:30
skillet dinner (ground turkey, potatoes, onions, peppers)

I drank my morning coffee without sugar, because I know myself well enough to know that if I add any in... I won't likely stop. I'd already committed to continuing coffee black (or with just cinnamon), so that's not changing. I did add a small amount (a couple of drops, maybe 1/4 tsp) of honey to my hot tea. I'm otherwise using the same two tea bags I would normally have grabbed (today is 1 raspberry zinger and 1 black), so it's the same type of tea I have been drinking for the past month (just with honey today). This is also the most likely place for me to get an early morning shot of sugar, so thought it would be the best place to start.

The verdict on tea with honey -- probably not going to keep doing it. It tastes fine, not overly sweet, but it's not really that different from what I remember it being yesterday... which means it's added sugar without even having the benefit of making it taste better, much less adding anything nutrionally, so it can go. I may opt for it at times, but overall I don't see the need.

I also did a bad thing -- I drank a bit of soda, which I know has far more than just the added sugar, but I wanted to get a really clear idea of what it would do to me right at the start of reintroduction. It made me tired, it gave me a bit of a headache, and it honestly didn't even taste anywhere near as good as I remember it being. I'd rather do hot tea and ice water, honestly, so it looks like the soda addiction has definitely been broken. YAY!

I had originally planned to have a cup of hot tea tonight, but decided against it. I can try the immunity blend later, because I'm honestly just tired and want to sleep soon, not steep tea and then try to drink it before bed (which is likely to make me need to use the restroom 20 times before I can sleep, haha).

So the next two days I get to reset back away from the added sugar, before testing another food. Problem is, my cycle should be coming around soon, and I'm seriously thinking of staying totally compliant during that to see if it helps with my symptoms (my last one coincided with my W30 start, so that was basically a hell week)... that way, I'm not dealing with cycle junk and compounding it with potentially bad effects from foods I haven't eaten lately.

Sleep comes soon, I think, and I'm thankful for it. It's been a long day, and I've been kind of brain-foggy through most of it. I'm not sure if that's from the sugar, part of PMS, or just stress of having too much going on today. I'm definitely ready for sleep, whatever the reason.