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Whole30, Take Two


doubledee

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Thanks, Cat! Still very worried about my mom--I made the mistake of Googling her symptoms last night and just managed to scare the crap out of myself. I'm also feeling some self-doubt creeping in as I move toward the downward stretch of my 30 days. For the first couple of weeks I felt like I was losing weight and clothes were fitting better, but now that progress seems to have stalled. I'm worried maybe I was just losing water weight rather than actual fat. We'll see. I'm looking forward to weighing myself and getting a more objective measure in about 12 days. Also trying to focus on things other than just weight, which is certainly not the only reason I'm doing this Whole30.

Day 19: 

Breakfast: Chicken sausage, scrambled eggs, onions, peppers, salsa.

Lunch: Will be tuna salad (although not as delicious as yesterday's as i just have canned fish!).

Dinner: Planning to make a turkey ragu and enjoy over zucchini noodles.

Exercise: I'll take my basketball to the park and shoot some hoops. Lovely day outside!

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Day 20: 2/3 of the way there! Literally all three of my meals today were leftovers from yesterday, so I won't bother listing them. I feel like I'm definitely in a cooking rut, but at least the food's all healthy. 

If anyone's reading, what's the most delicious Whole30-compliant food you've eaten recently? Would love to try something new and yummy to help bust me out of my food boredom for these last 10 days!

 

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Day 21: Toward the end of my 30 days, I'm embracing coconut aminos. I've been skeptical of this product because 1) It tastes a bit funky to me and 2) It's sweet enough that I questions its inclusion in the Whole30 program. However, since it's considered compliant I've decided to go for it to introduce some new flavors. With success, today!

Breakfast: Sweet potato hash (so much tastier when I take the time to grate the sweet potatoes and squeeze out excess moisture, as opposed to dicing), and chicken sausage--I discovered that Applegate Farms makes a chicken breakfast sausage with no added sugar, which makes me happy. And melon.

Lunch: Leftover turkey ragu and zucchini noodles and some sautéed spinach.

Dinner: Bulgogi beef (using those coconut aminos) in lettuce wraps, peas on the side. My children who generally can't stand lettuce (salad--YUCK) gleefully made "lettuce tacos" with the meat and rice I'd made for them, and this dinner was a hit all around.

Exercise: Another long walk in the part, Enjoying spring weather that makes it possible (and pleasant) to exercise outdoors.

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Day 22: Happy with the new flavors yesterday; now I'm doing them again and will probably get sick of them too after the repeat!

Breakfast: Liked yesterday's so much I did it again: sweet potato hash and chicken sausages.

Lunch: I'm about to make a salmon salad and do something cauliflower.

Dinner: Will be leftovers from yesterday--bulgogi beef, lettuce, peas.

Exercise: I'll be headed to the part again. Maybe jog a bit in addition to my usual walk.

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Day 23: Today was a good day, mostly for a reason having nothing to do with Whole30--we learned today that my mom does NOT have pancreatic cancer, which her doctor had suspected she had. She still has something going on with her pancreas and will need further testing to develop a treatment plan, but the worst case possibility is off the table.

I also ate and enjoyed delicious, healthy food today, got a very nice compliment, and am generally feeling good with one week to go in my W30.

Breakfast: Sweet potato hash, roasted cauliflower with tahini sauce, and 2 sunny side up eggs.

Lunch: Salmon, zoodles, roasted veggie sauce.

Dinner: Marinated and grilled chicken thighs, 1/2 avocado, roasted asparagus, caramelized onions and peppers, and a really delicious Romesco sauce on top of everything. Mine was sort of bastardized--I used walnuts rather than the traditional almonds, and skipped (obviously) the bread that is sometimes used to thicken it--but it was so tasty, pairs well with lots of different things, and is really healthy (nuts, roasted red peppers, olive oil and lemon juice--what's not to like?).

Exercise: The one downside to the day was that I had a sick kid at home, which meant not much chance for me to exercise.

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Day 24: Keeping on keeping on. Having forced myself to do some more ambitious cooking (roasting veggies rather than just sautéing, making yummy sauces) the past couple of days, I am enjoying my meals more and getting through some of the food boredom.

Breakfast: Sweet potato hash, roasted cauliflower with tahini sauce, two eggs.

Lunch: Grilled chicken thigh, roasted vegetables, Romesco sauce.

Dinner: Planning on burgers (in lettuce wrap for me); not sure yet what else.

Exercise: got a medium-ish walk in. Need to find time to squeeze in some more walking later. I fear that I'm eating TOO well these last couple of days and need to burn some calories!

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Day 25 (yesterday): Super tired. Probably because my younger daughter has an ear infection and has been waking up crying during the past two nights, but it's still frustrating to be dragging through my day when I should be at peak Whole30 high octane energy. On top of tiredness feeling bloated and heavy and afraid that I'm eating too much, although objectively I'm eating good food in what seems like reasonable quantities. Just a blah kind of day, I guess.

Breakfast: Sweet potato hash and 3 eggs

Lunch: Shrimp, roasted marinated veggies

Dinner: Ground beef/lamb kebabs (did these outside on the grill and they were delicious!), broccoli, cauliflower hummus

Snack: Prosciutto and melon and strawberries. I was at an event (my monthly book club) that usually means copious amounts of wine, cheese, and other unhealthy snacks, so I was pretty proud of myself for abstaining from all of that and sticking with compliant munchies, although I may have eaten a bit much of the prosciutto!

Day 26: Feeling better today. And my little one was only up once last night. I think the antibiotics are finally kicking it.

Breakfast: Last day of sweet potato hash! With cauliflower hummus.

Lunch: I'll have shrimp, roasted veggies, and finish up the romesco sauce I made the other day.

Dinner: Leftover kebabs. Need to stop by the market for some veggies.

Exercise: Kid is finally back at school, so I have some time to myself during the day and will go for a walk.

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Kids being sick is the worst. My daughter was sick for about a month like a month ago. Cold turned bronchitis, turned ear infection! I was sick on top of it so I was just drained! Only a few more days to go through! Also, what a relief about your mother. My grandmother died of pancreatic cancer and unfortunately it is one of the types of cancer that is treatable if caught early, but is often only found in the late stages. :(

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18 hours ago, Aliem999 said:

Kids being sick is the worst. My daughter was sick for about a month like a month ago. Cold turned bronchitis, turned ear infection! I was sick on top of it so I was just drained! Only a few more days to go through! Also, what a relief about your mother. My grandmother died of pancreatic cancer and unfortunately it is one of the types of cancer that is treatable if caught early, but is often only found in the late stages. :(

Thank you! Having a sick kid sucks but it's nothing dangerous and I know I can get through it and so can she; if my mother had turned out to have pancreatic cancer I don't know what i would have done.

My sick little one is going to pose a Whole30 challenge for me: Due to her recurring ear infections her doctor said she needs to see a specialist, so we're headed to the ENT on Monday. This doctor's office (which we've been to once before) is located right across the street from a Shake Shack, which my daughter remembers, and I've promised to take her there for lunch. It's a small treat that the poor little thing deserves after all her ear trouble, but it's not the place to be on Day 29!!! Shake Shack is famous for its insanely good milkshakes as well as burgers (with cheese and bacon and noncompliant sauce and yummy soft buns) and fries. Not sure what I'll eat as my daughter chows down on all this deliciousness!

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Day 27: Feeling better today, and got some groceries this morning with good foods to hopefully tide me through my last four days.

Brunch: 3-egg omelet with spinach, basil, and green onions, small beef/lamb kebab, cauliflower hummus

Dinner: Will be salmon, cauliflower rice, broccoli, and I'll make some sort of sauce to add some fat (maybe tartar sauce with homemade mayo)

Exercise: Just heading out now for a walk.

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Some of the yummy stuff I've been munching on lately...

This Thai-inspired chicken was pretty amazing. I'm linking my adapted version, but you should be able to get to the CookSmarts recipe from it. We just did ours differently in terms of how I prepared the marinade, the type of chicken, and how I cooked it... nothing big :D

This pork roast (another adaptation of a CookSmarts recipe) was a crowd-pleaser in my house.

I also like to roast onions and bell peppers (different colors, not just green), then use those to add flavor to homemade meat sauce, served over spaghetti squash.

Daikon noodles are amazing in just about any Asian dish, including soups. I've found that we don't even have to cook them... spiralize, salt, and then drain (after 20-30 minutes) before pouring the soup on top.

This hashbrown casserole is super-yummy. We skipped mixing the egg in at the end, but it turned out delicious and the family definitely didn't leave me with any leftovers, despite my plans for it.

Roasted broccoli. I seriously can't get enough of it, because it's SO GOOD. Roasted cauliflower can be great too, when there's good seasoning.

 


re: the doctor's office & Shake Shack, take a packed lunch. Seriously. Cubed roasted or grilled chicken, cubed roasted sweet potatoes, steamed or roasted broccoli (if you can handle it chilled, like I can), carrot and/or celery sticks, a little container of compliant dressing to dip stuff in, etc. I'd be looking for things that are easy to eat, don't have to be reheated for me to enjoy them, and fit the template (even for a mini-meal if you prefer to go smaller rather than full-sized meal). Having your own food is much easier than looking at the menu and praying, hoping that you can manage to get them to prepare something that would be compliant... unless you call ahead and make absolutely positive that it's possible. :) It's not a situation where you want to get there and find out you were wrong!

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19 hours ago, Jihanna said:

Some of the yummy stuff I've been munching on lately...

This Thai-inspired chicken was pretty amazing. I'm linking my adapted version, but you should be able to get to the CookSmarts recipe from it. We just did ours differently in terms of how I prepared the marinade, the type of chicken, and how I cooked it... nothing big :D

This pork roast (another adaptation of a CookSmarts recipe) was a crowd-pleaser in my house.

I also like to roast onions and bell peppers (different colors, not just green), then use those to add flavor to homemade meat sauce, served over spaghetti squash.

Daikon noodles are amazing in just about any Asian dish, including soups. I've found that we don't even have to cook them... spiralize, salt, and then drain (after 20-30 minutes) before pouring the soup on top.

This hashbrown casserole is super-yummy. We skipped mixing the egg in at the end, but it turned out delicious and the family definitely didn't leave me with any leftovers, despite my plans for it.

Roasted broccoli. I seriously can't get enough of it, because it's SO GOOD. Roasted cauliflower can be great too, when there's good seasoning.

 

Thanks so much for the food suggestions! I think I'll try the Thai-inspired chicken later this week.

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Day 28: As I'm an infrequent churchgoer, when I decided to go to church this morning I ran into a challenge that I hadn't really thought about--Communion!  I wasn't sure how to weigh sticking with W30 and declining the bread and wine vs the wellbeing of my immortal soul, but then I decided that it's the thought that counts as opposed to the physical ritual and I passed on the gluten and alcohol. So I'm still fully compliant, with just two days to go--woot woot!

Breakfast: Sweet potato and golden beet latkes. Compliant breakfast sausage (have I mentioned how much I love Applegate Farms for making a no-sugar-added breakfast sausage???).

Lunch: Salmon cakes with delicious homemade tartar sauce (this stuff is seriously good). A heaping pile of sautéed bok choy with coconut aminos (which I continue to find sketchy).

Dinner: Hubby made turkey burgers, which I enjoyed on a bed of lettuce, and roasted cauliflower. Fantastic local strawberries for dessert.

Exercise: A walk plus biking with my kids.

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I love, love, love that you were able to place your physical dietary limitations over the religious need to participate in Communion!

While I know this isn't the place for religious discussion, I just had to agree that what's in our hearts absolutely must weigh heavier than whether or not we take part in the rituals of the church. After all, there are food allergies and severe intolerance that could be an issue, and I wouldn't say a recovering alcoholic (like me) should ever drink wine, even in small amounts.

I've promised my youngest that we'll go to church this coming Sunday. We're non-denominational so I can't predict when Communion will occur, but I definitely won't be taking part for the duration of my W30 and possibly afterward. Ours uses juice not wine, at least, but I'll have to get past the point where I'm okay to start making exceptions to my only-slightly-flexible food rules after reintroduction... maybe I'll get creative.

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14 hours ago, doubledee said:

Day 28: As I'm an infrequent churchgoer, when I decided to go to church this morning I ran into a challenge that I hadn't really thought about--Communion!  I wasn't sure how to weigh sticking with W30 and declining the bread and wine vs the wellbeing of my immortal soul, but then I decided that it's the thought that counts as opposed to the physical ritual and I passed on the gluten and alcohol. So I'm still fully compliant, with just two days to go--woot woot!

 

Just to let you know, their official stance is that communion is fine. I took it last Sunday, though is you decide not to, that's also fine! Our church uses grape juice instead of wine though, for the exact reason Jihanna mentioned. I have already done a reintroduction in the past though so I know I don't really have any true food intolerances (though lots of sugar definitely makes me tired and affects my sleep)

 

 

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Thanks Jihanna and Aliem! I had no idea there was an official Whole30 stance on communion, but that's good to know for future reference (if I do another of these crazy 30 days!).

Day 29: Challenging lunch survived--I watched my younger daughter savor her Shake Shack cheeseburger and shake while eating (somewhat less blissfully, but it was still good!) my packed lunch. Whole30 has definitely not completely removed my taste for unhealthy foods--I really wanted that cheeseburger!--although I would say I don't get random cravings much. It's just when it's in my face and I can't have it that things like this give me problems.

Breakfast: Sausages and sautéed veggies with salsa.

Lunch: Salmon cakes with tartar sauce and bok choy.

Snack: Small handful of almonds.

Dinner: Will be chicken breast on a bed of baby spinach and curried coconut-pumpkin soup.

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1 hour ago, doubledee said:

Thanks Jihanna and Aliem! I had no idea there was an official Whole30 stance on communion, but that's good to know for future reference (if I do another of these crazy 30 days!).

No worries! I actually looked it up last Whole30 (somehow my previous other Whole30s I was either out of town or Communion Sunday just happened to be day 31). I actually looked it up after. However, I was going to let it slide for myself regardless of the rules, because it's important to me. I figured it seemed different than passing up on a slice of B-day cake or forgoing the stuffing, rolls, pie etc. for Thanksgiving (which I actually did one year).

Good for you staying strong at shake shack! I'm surprised a bun less, sauce less burger isn't compliant. Those slightly nicer burger places are my go to since burger tend to be (though not always) compliant. I am west coast so there are very few shake shacks but In N Out and Habit I know are good to go with modifications, though In N Out does not have a healthy fat option. I find that eating out here (though I am in Southern California, land of the health food) is not too bad. Most places (excluding fast food and places where things are brought in pre-prepped) can make you something and no one bats an eye (once again, SoCal where gluten-free was a massive trend and half the population has been vegan for at least a short time so I am guessing my requests were not the most unreasonable ones they have had)

It has been hard passing up on the cheese though! My daughter got a fully decked out slider on Sunday and I put some cheese on her eggs on Saturday morning and she spent the next 5 minutes yelling "Cheese! Cheese! Cheese! Cheese" (she is a toddler). She definitely takes after her mom. I grew up eating tons of cheese and butter!

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17 hours ago, Aliem999 said:

Good for you staying strong at shake shack! I'm surprised a bun less, sauce less burger isn't compliant. Those slightly nicer burger places are my go to since burger tend to be (though not always) compliant. I am west coast so there are very few shake shacks but In N Out and Habit I know are good to go with modifications, though In N Out does not have a healthy fat option. I find that eating out here (though I am in Southern California, land of the health food) is not too bad. Most places (excluding fast food and places where things are brought in pre-prepped) can make you something and no one bats an eye (once again, SoCal where gluten-free was a massive trend and half the population has been vegan for at least a short time so I am guessing my requests were not the most unreasonable ones they have had)

It has been hard passing up on the cheese though! My daughter got a fully decked out slider on Sunday and I put some cheese on her eggs on Saturday morning and she spent the next 5 minutes yelling "Cheese! Cheese! Cheese! Cheese" (she is a toddler). She definitely takes after her mom. I grew up eating tons of cheese and butter!

I suspect that a bunless, cheeseless, sauceless burger would have been compliant ... but it would also be sad! Shake Shack isn't the kind of burger place where it's all about a big premium meat patty. The patties are pretty thin, well-seasoned and well-cooked, certainly, but not in themselves remarkable. Some sort of crazy alchemy happens when the patty melds with the soft potato bun, special sauce and other toppings to create perfectly balanced deliciousness in every bite. Rather than some sort of bastardized patty on a bed of lettuce I figured it was better to stick with my salmon cakes and bok choy!

I'm with you on the cheese! I find that my desire for it has diminished over the past month, but the hard part is when I'm preparing it for my kids. The other day I made them cheeseburgers and had to fight myself not to nibble on the crispy bits of cheese that stuck to the pan after melting.

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Day 30: Last day of Whole30!!! I woke up this morning and could not for the life of me think of a single compliant thing that I wanted to eat for breakfast. Fortunately I'm working from home today, so there was no rush. I just sipped my coffee with unsweetened almond milk while my family ate bagels and cream cheese, got the the girls off to school, and by the time I got home had figured out something to eat. Breakfast is definitely my hardest meal, and will likely be my biggest challenge in staying complaint-ish going forward.

Breakfast: Three hard-boiled eggs and a bowl of leftover curried pumpkin/coconut soup (so easy and delicious!)

Lunch: I'm thinking I'll make tuna salad with lots of herbs and veggies and homemade mayo for my fat.

Dinner: Will be leftover chicken breast (I marinated it in the Thai-inspired sauce that Jihanna suggested--yummy!), basil, spinach, radishes, carrots, avocado.

Exercise: Walking has been my go-to, but I hurt my knee yesterday (nothing serious, I don't think, just stepped awkwardly and wrenched it and its a bit stiff/sore today) so may have to lay off today. Maybe I'll do pilates.

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That Thai-inspired sauce is awesome on salads, too... I might even make it occasionally just to have on hand as a dressing, and it's good enough without the honey (or fish sauce) that I totally plan to keep making it the compliant way even after I'm off Whole30 this time. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

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15 minutes ago, Jihanna said:

That Thai-inspired sauce is awesome on salads, too... I might even make it occasionally just to have on hand as a dressing, and it's good enough without the honey (or fish sauce) that I totally plan to keep making it the compliant way even after I'm off Whole30 this time. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Definitely no need for honey when using coconut aminos, which I find really sweet. I bet it would be even better made with soy sauce and honey--I'll have to try it that way when I'm ready to cheat a bit!

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1 hour ago, doubledee said:

I suspect that a bunless, cheeseless, sauceless burger would have been compliant ... but it would also be sad! Shake Shack isn't the kind of burger place where it's all about a big premium meat patty. The patties are pretty thin, well-seasoned and well-cooked, certainly, but not in themselves remarkable. Some sort of crazy alchemy happens when the patty melds with the soft potato bun, special sauce and other toppings to create perfectly balanced deliciousness in every bite. Rather than some sort of bastardized patty on a bed of lettuce I figured it was better to stick with my salmon cakes and bok choy!

I'm with you on the cheese! I find that my desire for it has diminished over the past month, but the hard part is when I'm preparing it for my kids. The other day I made them cheeseburgers and had to fight myself not to nibble on the crispy bits of cheese that stuck to the pan after melting.

That makes sense. I've never been to shake shack. There are a few around, but they are a pretty decent drive for us and there are a lot of premium burger (and milkshake) places here that are much closer. I just find it convenient because we go out to eat after church every week and there are only a few places we go regularly that I already know will work for me and/or have several options. I have traveled for work for a majority of one whole30 so I am pretty good at making things work at restaurants, but we also had a Whole Foods across the street from my client so it was very easy to load up on their salad/hot bar in the morning, which actually wound up being cheaper for the client than going out to breakfast, lunch and dinner. I was probably doing about half of my meals there! Salmon cakes and bok choy are probably much better for you anyway!

I agree. While the cheese has been less tempting, I know, because I have done introductions before that I am not sensitive to it so I have no plans on cutting it out permanently. Plus a good blue cheese on an otherwise compliant cobb salad.....drool. 

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4 hours ago, Aliem999 said:

P.S. Congrats on day 30! Are you continuing on or reintroductions or just doing your own thing after?

Thanks! I did W30 once before (a year ago) and did reintroductions then, so I don't feel like I need to do the full reintro thing again. My plan is to do a 2-day legume reintro tomorrow and Thurs as a way to doublecheck what I found last year--I don't think I have any negative reactions to legumes. Then comes my husband's birthday, and frankly proper reintro is going to fall by the wayside in favor of eating birthday cake and drinking champagne!

Going forward, and assuming the legume reintro goes well, I'm going to put beans and soy sauce and peanut butter back on the menu. I'm pretty convinced that for me anyway, they are part of a healthy diet. Otherwise, my aim is to continue with a largely Whole30+legumes diet most of the time, with occasional exceptions for things like my husband's birthday. I'll see how that goes. May add back in non-wheat grains semi-regularly as well. Of course the things I most want--dairy and wheat--are the things that are worst for me, but I'll do my best to keep them very occasional.

And wine. I'll have to decide what to do about wine.

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