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Whole30, Take Two


doubledee

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Hello all. Just thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Dee and today, May 13,  I'm starting my second Whole30. I did my first almost exactly a year ago, and I was very pleased with the results: I significantly reduced by A1C (my major objective--what prompted me to try Whole30 in the first place was that my blood sugar had crept into pre-diabetic range), lost some weight, and had a few ancillary benefits that I hadn't even expected like getting rid of some mild but persistent pain in my knees and ankles. For about 6 months after that Whole30 I continued to eat healthy and maintain my weight. In the last 5 months or so I slipped back into old eating habits, got busy and exercised less, and started putting weight back on, regaining 10 of the 15 pounds I'd lost (joint pain is back too). 

So I'm back on the wagon, hoping to reset my metabolism, restore healthy eating habits, lose some more weight ... and this time, I'm determined to find a sustainable post-Whole30 approach to eating and exercise that will keep me healthy long-term.  Keeping this log as a way to hold myself accountable, so here goes:

Day 1: woke up feeling like crap--hung over from several Mother's Day cocktails the night before. Giving up alcohol for a month sounds lovely right now!

Breakfast, sweet potato/kale hash and 2 fried eggs (should probably make it 3 next time)

Lunch: Peppers, onions, and tomatoes sauteed with chicken sausage (Applegate farm has several tasty varieties of compliant chicken sausage)

Dinner: Planning on chicken shwarma, cauliflower hummus and avocado

Exercise: None yet, but planning to head out for a walk as soon as there's a break in the rain on this dreary day.

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Hi Dee! I'm on day 3 of round 2 - I started on Jan 15 for round 1, got rid of my debilitating migraines, my oral allergy, had energy, got rid of joint pain and lost a bunch of weight. Finished officially late Feb, but stayed mostly compliant until I let wine, and eventually all the food slip back in about 3 weeks ago. Since then, Easter came and then I was overseas and now I'm back feeling TERRIBLE, all the issues back save for the weight (yet). Your meals look lovely!! 

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Hi Cat (if I may), glad to meet someone in a similar boat as myself! It sounds like we share a similar weakness--wine is what sank me I think these past few months. But here we are not drinking any for 30 days. Good for us!

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Day Two: A little sleepy today, but I don't blame the Whole30; one of my kids was having nightmares and kept waking me up during the night. Other than that, feeling good today--clear-headed, no crazy food cravings, and feeling satisfied with my meals. Although I did really want a glass of wine this evening.

Breakfast: Two fried eggs over hash made with sweet potatoes, chicken sausage, and kale.

Lunch: Chicken shwarma over arugula with cherry tomatoes and cauliflower hummus.

Dinner: Tuna salad and a bunch of roasted veggies (cauliflower, carrots, parsnips, asparagus).

Exercise: Managed to squeeze in two shorts walks, about 20 minutes each. Need to work in more exercise!

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Day Three: Feeling good. Enjoying my meals, not hungry, not tired... I was thinking this is easier the second time around. Then, I stopped at a drugstore after work to pick up a prescription for my daughter. Waiting for the prescription, I noticed the long rack of candy bars in front of the registers, and suddenly OMG--I wanted a Snickers like I have never wanted a food item before. Needed it. Was practically drooling over it. Totally out of nowhere, as I'm not really a candy person and very seldom (when not doing Whole30) would I buy something like that. Well, I made it out of the store without buying that delicious, nougat-y, chocolate-smothered bar of goodness, but damn! I'm not going to be cocky about how easy this is the 2nd time around anymore!

Breakfast: Three eggs scrambled with garlic and arugula. I'm getting tired of eggs already. Need to come up with other breakfasts!

Lunch: The last of my chicken shwarma with salad and cauliflower hummus.

Dinner: Hubby scored major points by making a heaping plate of delicious veggies and ground beef kebabs for me.

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I'm a big fan of non-breakfast food breakfasts! I just call it meal 1 and eat what I want. One of my favs is to dice up a bunch of roastable veggies (carrot, broccoli, cauli, mushrooms, asparagus, beetroot, celery, onion, celeriac, eggplant... the list goes on) toss them in olive oil and some herbs and spices and bake them with compliant sausage. You can make enough for the week, it reheats well and is delicious!

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10 hours ago, SchrodingersCat said:

I'm a big fan of non-breakfast food breakfasts! I just call it meal 1 and eat what I want. One of my favs is to dice up a bunch of roastable veggies (carrot, broccoli, cauli, mushrooms, asparagus, beetroot, celery, onion, celeriac, eggplant... the list goes on) toss them in olive oil and some herbs and spices and bake them with compliant sausage. You can make enough for the week, it reheats well and is delicious!

Yeah, I think I have to go in the non-breakfast food direction. I don't really like to--probably a psychological barrier based on habit--but since Whole30 knocks out many of the things I ordinarily eat for breakfast (bye-bye oatmeal) I'm stuck having eggs every day, and just four days in I'm already sick of them!

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Day 4. Feeling good. It's possible I didn't mess up my body quite as much these past few months as I thought, because I seem to be falling back into my Whole30 rhythm and fat-burning metabolism pretty quickly this second time around.

Breakfast: Sauteed kale with caramelized onions and fried eggs (yuck, definitely sick of egg breakfasts already).

Lunch: OMG deliciousness! I went out to lunch, which I was worried about, but then had an insanely good salad Nicoise with amazing fresh sushi-grade tuna, kalamata olives, purple potatoes, tons of good veggies and a hard-boiled egg (which, go figure, I found scrumptious at lunch time). I quizzed the restaurant about ingredients and verified that there was no sugar in the vinaigrette or the pickled jalapenos. I was worried about messing up at a restaurant but I think everything was kosher (so to speak). Salad picture attached because it was so darn good.

Dinner: Leftover beef kebabs and roasted veggies, topped with homemade mayo and a few dashes of hot sauce, plus a small salad.

Exercise: Walking. Not enough. Once my semester is done next week I am determined to work out more.

And now it's almost midnight and I must to bed. Good night, all!

IMG_4333.jpg

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On 5/15/2019 at 7:40 PM, doubledee said:

Day Three: Feeling good. Enjoying my meals, not hungry, not tired... I was thinking this is easier the second time around. Then, I stopped at a drugstore after work to pick up a prescription for my daughter. Waiting for the prescription, I noticed the long rack of candy bars in front of the registers, and suddenly OMG--I wanted a Snickers like I have never wanted a food item before. Needed it. Was practically drooling over it. Totally out of nowhere, as I'm not really a candy person and very seldom (when not doing Whole30) would I buy something like that. Well, I made it out of the store without buying that delicious, nougat-y, chocolate-smothered bar of goodness, but damn! I'm not going to be cocky about how easy this is the 2nd time around anymore!

Breakfast: Three eggs scrambled with garlic and arugula. I'm getting tired of eggs already. Need to come up with other breakfasts!

Lunch: The last of my chicken shwarma with salad and cauliflower hummus.

Dinner: Hubby scored major points by making a heaping plate of delicious veggies and ground beef kebabs for me.

For me, it was a Starbucks caramel macchiato that my ex girlfriend bought (I had passion fruit tea, unsweetened). I don’t even like them that much -I usually get an iced latte- but for like five days it was all I could think about.

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Day 5: Yikes. I was cruising along feeling pretty good and not thinking about Whole30 too much today and then right after dinner fatigue hit me like a truck loaded with a ton of bricks--possibly with another ton of bricks sitting on top of that. Not sure what happened, if my energy levels crashed from lack of carbs or what, but dang! Not the end of the day that I was expecting.

Breakfast: Awesome sweet potato hash, two eggs (bleh)

Lunch: Tuna salad made with homemade mayo, lots of veggies

Dinner: Taco salad. Pretty delicious even without the chips, cheese, and sour cream that the rest of my family enjoyed on theirs!

And good night!

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Day 6: Today's biggest challenge was scooping out ice cream to give to my kids and not even licking the spoon. These two small humans and their nutritional (and other) needs definitely complicate things! Aside from desperately craving a taste of ice cream for a while there I seem to be feeling good and chugging along pretty well toward the end of Week 1.

Breakfast: Sweet potato hash.

Lunch: Big tossed salad with beets for a bit of carb, a hard-boiled egg and a pile of grilled chicken.

Dinner: Taco salad leftovers. A few fumes from the proximity of the ice cream :)

Exercise: Walking. Hopscotch with my girls (don't mock--it's actually pretty good exercise!).

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18 hours ago, SchrodingersCat said:

I hear you, I just made butterscotch brownies for work tomorrow and even though I didn't want brownies, per se, the smell is killing me!!! 

The not licking the spoon thing is so hard; I hadn't realized until this past week just how often I usually lick a spoon or take a little taste of something while cooking or dishing up food for my family. The other day I accidentally put a small bite of white beans in my mouth--I literally spit it out and rinsed my mouth out with water before I had chewed or swallowed any, so I'm not counting it as noncompliant! I felt mildly crazy spitting out perfectly good and wholesome food, but I guess that's what the W30 rules require.

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Day 7: Yay, one week successfully down! I'll take the occasion to note something I'm proud of: I've been completely compliant not only with food but I also haven't stepped on a scale. Weighing myself was the one area I failed when I did W30 last time (I know the hardcore folks around here will say I didn't do W30 the last time, since I weighed myself a few times), and I've committed to staying off the scale this time around. While I find it a little hard to resist checking, I just realized today that I'm really enjoying not quantifying my weight, but instead just experiencing how my body feels eating this way.

Breakfast: baked sweet potato, broccoli slaw, homemade mayo. Didn't exactly feel like breakfast, but no eggs, so I was happy!

Lunch: Okay, bad, but I was busy working and didn't have lunch. Had some celery sticks with almond butter later as a snack.

Dinner: Dill-crusted salmon, potato-leek soup, salad.

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On 5/15/2019 at 9:40 PM, doubledee said:

Day Three: Feeling good. Enjoying my meals, not hungry, not tired... I was thinking this is easier the second time around. Then, I stopped at a drugstore after work to pick up a prescription for my daughter. Waiting for the prescription, I noticed the long rack of candy bars in front of the registers, and suddenly OMG--I wanted a Snickers like I have never wanted a food item before. Needed it. Was practically drooling over it. Totally out of nowhere, as I'm not really a candy person and very seldom (when not doing Whole30) would I buy something like that. Well, I made it out of the store without buying that delicious, nougat-y, chocolate-smothered bar of goodness, but damn! I'm not going to be cocky about how easy this is the 2nd time around anymore!

 

One of the Whole 30 books totally goes into cravings and says no matter how bad they are they leave in five minutes. I believe it was a study with smokers that Mellisa used for reference. I felt so empowered after that in just knowing it would leave!

The more I accept sugar is a drug the more I treat it that way and accept that I go through withdrawals. I once had been off sugar for two years and then had a single bite of a donut. They were still in the house that night because it was a family vacay and I remember lying awake thinking about them for so long and begging myself to stop thinking about them and eventually going out to the kitchen and eating the whole bag. It sucked but it showed me how powerful sugar is and that no longer how long I am away from it it is still addicting. A lot of scientific studies are proving its chemical composition is similar to cocaine and as addicting as heroine. 

You seem to have the cravings under control but if they ever get cray cray then green tea is amazing at kicking sugar cravings. It sparks different layers of the brain. I did not find that particular study but the link has a compiled study about the leaf juice and it always stops my cravings.

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Day 9: Feeling good! My insight for the day: We focus so much on what we DON'T eat on W30, but what we DO eat is equally important. Of course it's an elimination diet so we think a lot about what we can't have, but a big part of why I think this is so good for my body is that I'm eating way more vegetables than usual. That really struck me this morning as I had a big bowl of sauteed kale with other veggies for breakfast. I could practically feel the nutrients spreading through my system. When not doing W30, I rarely have veggies at breakfast--fruit yes, but except for the occasional omelet green veggies no--and at lunch maybe no more than a piece of lettuce and slice of tomato on a sandwich. I can really feel the difference eating so many more green, good foods. Have to stick with that after this round is over!

Breakfast: The aforementioned kale, sweet potatoes, red peppers, with a handful of pecans thrown in and topped with a poached egg

Lunch: Will be leftover steak (I splurged and bought a really good rib-eye last night), roasted asparagus, avocado

Dinner: Will be Dan Dan Noodles (zoodles for me, real noodles for the rest of the fam) from Mel Joulwan's Well Fed cookbook (which I love, btw)

Exercise: Making sure to walk for at least an hour today.

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Day 10: Cruising along pretty well. 1/3 of the way through already!

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with ground turkey, red peppers, garlic and ginger

Lunch: Forgot to pack lunch and was stuck with a rather sad salad topped with some grilled chicken. No salad dressings available that didn't include sugar, so I squeezed on some mustard packs to give things a bit of flavor. Thus, no fat at lunch, which might be why I totally crashed (energy-wise) midafternoon and needed a snack.

Snack: Celery sticks with almond butter.

Dinner: Made up for lame lunch with leftover Dan Dan Zoodles. They're really good!

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Day 11: Pants are feeling a bit looser. The frustrating thing about having a long way to go on weight loss is that I can be losing weight (I think) and feeling good in my body (definitely!), but every now and then I'm reminded that a random person looking at me is still just gonna think "she's fat." I certainly can't lose all the weight I want to (about 40 pounds) in one month, and I'm not trying to, but hoping this month will be a good jolt in the right direction. And most importantly, that I can remain on a sustainable path after Whole30 month is over.

Breakfast: Last of the delicious DanDan zoodles.

Lunch: Planning to do something with asparagus, tossed salad, and a can of salmon (either salmon salad or baked salmon cakes).

Dinner: Burgers (lettuce wrap for me, buns and cheese for the fam), roasted broccoli, might do a potato gratin inspired by Schrodinger'sCat's log.

Exercise: Pilates

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Day 14: Missed posting a couple of days, but they were compliant (food-wise) and involved lots of walking. It's been beautiful outside the last few days and I was taking advantage of it. Challenge for this weekend: Booze. Holiday weekend has meant several social occasions where I had to fend off offers of drinks, and it felt a big awkward doing so. Mostly not too hard to resist, but Thurs evening out with a group of friends at a bar that makes amazing-looking craft cocktails was a challenge. Powered through with my glass of water (with lemon!) and had a good time hanging out with friends anyway. But I do want to go back there once my Whole30 is over!

Breakfast: Sauteed mushrooms and chicken sausage over cauliflower rice.

Lunch: Curried chicken salad (made with yummy homemade mayo), mixed greens, strawberries.

Dinner: Arctic char, green cauliflower, grilled mushrooms.

Exercise: A good bit of walking (although didn't quite hit my daily goal of 10K steps today).

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Day 15: Halfway through! Some challenges here and there, but overall I'm cruising along pretty easily and feeling good. I think W30 is much less of a shock to my system than it was the first time around, a year ago. That time I skipped my period; this month it came right on schedule. Actually, I wouldn't have minded missing it again! but the fact I didn't makes me think my body is adjusting much more easily to the diet this time, which in turn makes me feel like I didn't screw things up too badly over the past few months when I wasn't eating/exercising well.

Breakfast: Leftover fish and cauliflower with a handful of kalamata olives.

Lunch: A few slices of (compliant) roast beef, a handful of cashews, and a big pile of cherries and watermelon. Not ideal as far as the meal template goes, but I was at my in-laws and it was the best I could do without making a fuss. I didn't want to discuss "being on a diet" with them!

Dinner: Delicious! Big fat sea scallops lightly sauteed with garlic and snow peas. With a few olives and nuts.

Exercise: Swimming.

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Day 16: The downward slope! Although it still does seem like a pretty long slope from where I'm sitting...

Breakfast: Couldn't bear to make breakfast (definitely the hardest meal for me) so I went out to a neighborhood cafe that has one Whole30 compliant dish: A breakfast "salad" featuring sautéed kale, butternut squash, and pecans topped with a poached egg.

Lunch: Leftover curried chicken salad with mixed greens, bell peppers, celery.

Dinner: Will do something with chicken breasts, sweet potatoes and broccoli.

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Day 17: Sleepy. Today I'm experiencing "tiger blood" only in the sense that tigers sleep all day long! although I didn't actually nap.

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, prosciutto, melon. Compliant, but not a good meal template meal! No veg.

Lunch: The last of my curried chicken salad, greens, asparagus, red pepper.

Dinner: Pan-fried steak, sweet potato, 1/2 avocado, asparagus and peppers. Yum!

Exercise: Nice long walk in the park.

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Day 18: My mother got some worrying health news today, so I'm anxious as she awaits the results of testing. Otherwise it was a good day, except for an insanely intense craving to try some of the corn bread I made for my kids. Even just some crumbs from the bottom of the pan! But I fought down the urge and it really did pass quickly, as I guess these cravings often do. Something to remember for post W30--give it a few minutes and let cravings pass.

Breakfast: Leftover steak, green peppers and onions, 1/2 avocado.

Lunch: Insanely delicious salad nicoise with fresh tuna and tons of veggies (including roasted sweet potatoes for some carbs)

Dinner: Chicken breast with a yummy faux peanut sauce (I mixed together almond butter, coconut aminos, and sesame oil with surprisingly tasty results), big salad.

Exercise: Another good walk. Over 12K steps both yesterday and today.

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