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Anew in Arkansas (My first WHOLE30)


heb2014

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This is my first WHOLE30 and I just wanted a space where I can record some thoughts (whether anyone reads them or not)

 

My WHY:  I feel like crap. I live with constant brain fog that I blame on being a mother of two young children (5 y.o. and almost 2 y.o.) and that it's hit or miss if my almost 2 year old will sleep through the night. I pretend that  my sleep being interrupted is the reason I can't lose weight, but being honest, I eat like crap. It's the food and my lack of control around it. And my lack of motivation - about everything - work, exercise, eating smaller portions. To make things even worse, I've been sick for about two week's now (I have been to the doctor) and I feel even more foggy than normal...and I just feel off - heavy - not like "myself" (which I used to also blame on the "new normal" after becoming a mom, but it's worse now. I don't buy that any more - something else is going on). Yes I would love to lose some weight or reconfigure my body to be less giggly/more muscular...but this isn't about that. I feel like crap. 

 

A bunch of IF/THEN planning (from Whole30 Day by Day plus my own):

  • IF I am stuck at work late/in traffic/at the game, THEN I'll...have some snacks handy. Better stock my desk/bag/car.
  • (more realistic situation) IF I don't feel like cooking one night (even my "easy backup plan" meals, THEN I'll...ask my husband to help our or we'll go to Chipotle (or Newks or Slim Chickens might be easy with a little customization - like a salad with no cheese, croutons, and BYO dressing). I should also make a meal to keep in the freezer for quick use.
  • IF I'm at happy hour and offered a drink, Then I'll...say no thanks; I can deal. The bigger surprise would be that I go to a happy hour (ha!).
  • (the harder situation for me) IF I am invited to someone's house for dinner and offered something non-compliant, THEN I'll...say no thanks and be ready to explain why. A drink I can say no to, no problem; even desert I can say no to. A meal would be harder. I think my best bet is to bring a compliant dish to share so I know I could eat something...and then be prepared to explain why I am only eating what I brought.  
    • Ideas for dishes to bring: homemade baba ganoush or guacamole with veggies for dipping, salad and dressing, meatballs, chicken salad, fruit salad (probably not the best to just eat fruit)
  • IF there's nothing compliant at the party, THEN I'll...(realistically) probably shove my face full of non-compliant food; better plan to not stay long! There's always the option to eat before or after, but I know if I am there, I will be tempted, regardless of plans. I can probably hold out for a little while, and perhaps without a glass of wine, I could make it (yes, let's blame the alcohol for all the poor choices), but knowing myself, I would need to remove myself from the temptation, at least in this one situation (introvert, "needing" to fit in around people I don't know at a party)
  • IF my friends tease me about my "crazy diet", THEN I'll...find new friends. Just kidding - I just don't see this being a problem. Guess I should prepare in case I'm wrong.  I will tell them about how awful I've been feeling and that's it's just an experiment for 30 days that could help the rest of my life. I'll tell them I'll let them know how it goes when it's over.
  • IF the in-laws want to have us over for dinner and make something non-compliant, THEN I'll...likely eat as small a portion as I can get away with. If it's a side dish, dessert,  or accompaniment (like FIL's amazing homemade bread), I can manage to not eat it, but if it's something more like the whole meal, as an obliger and this being my in-laws, I'm in trouble. I think my best strategy in this case would be to offer to cook for them at our house (control freak much!).
  • IF we go to my parents' house for a weekend visit, THEN I'll...talk to them about how we're eating and ask to help with the meal planning/cooking (because my mom sends me the meal plan regardless). I know this is how I should be with my in-laws also, but realistically, it's just different. I should probably give it a try with them too though...
  • If a rep brings lunch for our office (as is the case from time to time), THEN I'll....find something compliant if given the option to chose my order; if not, then I'll bring a back up lunch and eat it if what they bring doesn't comply. The people at work know I'm doing this (yay for going public!) and I think they'll be supportive. 
  • IF my husband falls off the wagon, THEN I'll..continue on without him. My WHY isn't affected by him and he's really only doing this because I asked him.
  • (tougher situation) IF my husband falls off the wagon and is eating ALL THE THINGS (specifically late at night like he does now), THEN I'll...make some hot tea and have a piece of fruit at most. Or go to bed. This will only feel a little depressing if he's gone out and bought Nestle Drumsticks for him and the kids....but I think he'll be more supportive than that even if he doesn't complete the Whole30.
  • (another tough one) IF I don't start feeling any different or notice any changes, THEN I'll...likely need some outside motivation. Just knowing myself, I like to see results. 30 days really isn't that long, but if I read something in Day by Day that says "You should see improvements to your brain fog by now" and I haven't....it would make me want to eat all the things. If I still feel this "heavy" on Day 21...I'll need support. Perhaps I should plan to not wait until day 30 to evaluate my NSV, but purposefully run down the list on Day 10 and Day 20.
  • If I am stressed out about something, THEN I'll...go for a walk. If I don't have much time, I'll do some stretching and breathing...or maybe some squats. If I don't have much privacy, I'll go to the bathroom and do them.
  • And because it's September...IF I am craving a Pumpkin Spice Latte, THEN I'll...tough it out and plan to drink one first thing after reintroduction. Making a compliant version would be SWYPO for me...and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be as good as the sugar-laden, whipped cream topped version.
    • But just some random thoughts on SWYPO...why isn't riced cauliflower SWYPO? I mean it's sole purpose is to replace an off-limits food. Especially when you use it to make something like "fried rice" which I would say is extremely easy to over indulge. 

 

This brain dump got extremely long. Kudos (or apologies?) if you took the time to read it all.

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I think my kids were about five and six the first time I did a Whole30. It was such a rough time for me because I felt like crap, didn't get enough sleep, and ate terribly and felt terrible. It's a lousy space to be in!  You sound like you've got a good perspective of things and you sound READY! The in-law part is hard - really hard and I smiled at your plan to just cook at your house!

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Welcome aboard! I'm new to the Whole30 myself, halfway there and enjoying it so far, I'm hoping you have a great experience too.
Logging it is great imho, because it helps you think and evaluate your progress :)

Btw impressive if/then list.
I was lazy and made a mental list, and even that was way shorter that yours ^_^

If you have read the Whole30 book, I would certainly recommed the It Starts With Food - the why to everything gets explained there.

For example, SWYPO foods.
In my understanding, it's not so much about what replaces what (ingredients) but whether you are recreating something which you crave or simply discovering a new ingredient. Because of the mental associations we have for certain foods, and also the mechanisms they trigger.
So. Cauliflower rice.
If you use it to make a very salty, fatty and/or sweety meal, specially if you are trying to satisfy cravings about fried rice or something like that, would be a big no - because SWYPO!
But now that you are working with more restrictions than usual, maybe you want to learn how to incorporate new ingredients to your meals and how to make them more appealing. Then why not cauliflower? Well, maybe you don't love it. And what if we try to make it fancy? It's worth trying, isn't it? And definetely not against the spirit of the Whole30.
At least that's what I think.

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On 8/29/2019 at 4:24 PM, heb2014 said:

But just some random thoughts on SWYPO...why isn't riced cauliflower SWYPO? I mean it's sole purpose is to replace an off-limits food. Especially when you use it to make something like "fried rice" which I would say is extremely easy to over indulge. 

Here's how I see it, at least for my own experience --

SWYPO = indulgent
Even with healthy ingredients, if it feels/tastes indulgent then it's going to trigger a psychological connection to indulging... which generally means I'm catering to a craving rather than focusing on what my body actually needs. I have no problem with doing so under certain circumstances, but that's not during a Whole30 or a reset because it defeats the purpose.

The closest cauliflower rice could come to indulgent is if it's fried up and served under a compliant bulgogi. Even then, it'd be the bulgogi that's most likely to trigger the connection than the cauliflower.

We replace off-limits foods all the time. We pull strands of spaghetti squash or spiralize vegetables to simulate noodles, we roast up sliced of sweet potato to make "toast", we use nut milks in place of animal dairy ones, and so on. Replacing a food that's off-limits (whether because of Whole30 or any other reason) doesn't automatically make it indulgent/SWYPO, it just means you're going with an alternative ingredient.

Preparing and/or combining those alternative/compliant ingredients in certain ways will certainly be SWYPO, and SWYPO can vary from person to person because we all have different tastes (which means different indulgences and foods without brakes). Of course, the program does rule out certain preparations (like banana-egg pancakes) by default, but on others we just have to use our own experiences to guide decisions of what should and shouldn't be included in our personal resets.

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On 8/30/2019 at 9:19 PM, Jihanna said:

Preparing and/or combining those alternative/compliant ingredients in certain ways will certainly be SWYPO, and SWYPO can vary from person to person because we all have different tastes (which means different indulgences and foods without brakes). Of course, the program does rule out certain preparations (like banana-egg pancakes) by default, but on others we just have to use our own experiences to guide decisions of what should and shouldn't be included in our personal resets.

I guess that's why I mentioned that random thought earlier: for me personally, banana egg pancakes don't feel indulgent and it's not something that I would over eat on  (we've made them before this and I'm not a big pancake fan in general); but I would on something like cauliflower fried rice (so I won't be making it during my Whole30). So why specifically call out some items/preparations to be included in SWYPO and not let each individual determine it? I guess that's really what that random thought boiled down to.  Either way, I'm a rule follower so I won't be making banana pancakes or the other things specifically listed....or pumpkin spice lattes (which is what brought that random thought on).

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Day 1(September 1) Thoughts:

Yesterday went extremely well. There may be a time when I get tired of eggs, but my two egg omelet with spinach and spicy salsa was fantastic today. We had some friends over for lunch after church and had a bunch of fresh veggies and chicken salad (which was better than the chicken salad I normally make). We had some other friends over that evening and grilled salmon and chicken (to have some leftovers for today); my husband took the initiative to find a complaint marinade for the chicken and it was fantastic - probably the best chicken he's ever grilled.  I made a chimichurri sauce to go with the salmon and baba ganoush as an appetizer (which both turned out well). I learned that if you don't use foil when baking potatoes they turn out with a crisper skin (SO GOOD!).

Today was not a struggle at all; I know there will be times that are, but I'm glad we're off to a good start. 

Both sets of friends were very supportive. I didn't cook the kids separate food, and they ate plenty without complaint.

I totally laughed when reading Day by Day when she mentions thinking, "Who is going to do all of these dishes?"...because I definitely had a similar thought today, as I was washing dishes between one set of friends leaving our house and preparing for the others to come over. We cook all the time so it really shouldn't be any different (should it?); there were just more today because we had so many people over.

So I did it! Whole30 Day 1 is in the bag.

 

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40 minutes ago, heb2014 said:

banana egg pancakes don't feel indulgent and it's not something that I would over eat on  (we've made them before this and I'm not a big pancake fan in general); but I would on something like cauliflower fried rice (so I won't be making it during my Whole30).

I never ate pancakes and still don't like them so banana egg pancakes don't seem like SWYPO. This irritated me a lot on my first Whole30. Still does a little because I don't get why they are given that rule. I get it, but I don't get it. To me they seem completely different and there's no need for maple syrup. They're completely different. And, my kids like them and they make for a nice easy warm breakfast. Ah well. 

Your day yesterday sounded wonderful. It's pretty great to be able to Whole30 with friends and family and have it all just meld together without any big issues. The dishes though! We have gone through so many dishes this weekend with guests. It was far easier when we'd just order in or go out!!! I like this better though.

What did you do for your chicken salad that was better than your normal one?

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39 minutes ago, Emma said:

I never ate pancakes and still don't like them so banana egg pancakes don't seem like SWYPO. This irritated me a lot on my first Whole30. Still does a little because I don't get why they are given that rule. I get it, but I don't get it. To me they seem completely different and there's no need for maple syrup. They're completely different. And, my kids like them and they make for a nice easy warm breakfast. Ah well. 

It has much more to do with your mental triggers than to the gut-related issues that some food may cause.

Maybe you never had those, maybe you are well over them because you've done several rounds, but for some people they are as important - or more. I know they are for me, and the Whole30 is helping me to identify them and hopefully get rid of them.
That's the reason why I think it's a good rule, and a good thing to encourage to a new Whole30er. 

When you are enjoying your Food Freedom you are of course free to disregard such a limit if it does not make any difference to you!

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Day 2 (September 2 - Labor Day) Thoughts ...and a few about this morning:

Yesterday was another pretty good and easy day for the most part. We had tossed around a few ideas of what we wanted to do on Labor Day, but didn't make an real plans. My husband had to go help a friend with something in mid-morning, so the kids and I packed a picnic lunch went to the zoo. My husband joined us in time for lunch, which was a little snacky but compliant.  After that, we decided we'd hop in the car and drive to a place we had been wanting to go...in Memphis (two hours away). So we ran by the house, packed up a bunch of compliant snacks for the trip there and back so no one would get hangry, and went. We ended up eating dinner at a restaurant there that had limited choices, but I think we did pretty good; I had a salad, hold the croutons and cheese, add grilled shrimp, and no dressing (I asked for balsamic vinaigrette because that was the best option of the options, but when it came, I was convinced it had sugar in it, so I didn't use it); my husband had a steak with a potato and steamed broccoli (that likely had some butter on it). Snacked a bit more than we probably would have at home (because we were in the car with food), but felt better about it after reading Day 2 in Day by Day, where Melissa mentions it's a learning process of how much food/ how much fat/protein to eat at meals - so if you have to have a snack, have a snack. She makes sure to note "don't mindlessly graze" which I tried to make a point of; I even told my husband at one point "I can't decide if I'm still hungry or just not satisfied from dinner (I mean I ate my salad with no dressing!..but really there was not enough fat in my meal) or if I just wanted to try that Epic meat bar to see what it's like". (In the end, I waited about 30 minutes, drank some water, then ate the Epic bar...which I'd say was meh.) 

I was planning on grilling again last night, but since we decided to be a bit spontaneous, we didn't (luckily, we still have plenty of leftovers from Sunday for lunch and dinner today). I think the lesson to be learned here is that planning is essential, but having some flexibility is just as important. Sometimes things don't go as planned (whether on purpose - like a spontaneous trip - or not on purpose).

While we were in the car on the way home, I made the comment to my husband that so far, I didn't really have any negative side effects - no headache, I didn't feel drained, no stomach issues (other than a little mild cramping at one point). I didn't even nap yesterday (which I am in the habit of doing on the weekend - when my youngest naps, I take one too).  ....And then I hit the wall after we got the kids to bed. We were planning on staying up to wash the dishes we didn't get to Sunday night, but I could barely keep my eyes open. We managed to do it, but it was new level of tired...or at least a different tired. 

And when we finally got in to bed, I noticed my chin had some unusual bumps on it.

And then this morning I woke up with a (very mild) headache - not as bad as other mornings I've woken up with headaches, but there.

And I popped out of bed so fast I almost fell down because I was light headed; had to brace myself for 15 seconds while my head caught up to my body.

Feel a bit meh today so far, but had a good breakfast, packed up a healthy lunch and just-in-case snacks for work, and am making it better than most days prior to starting this.

Day 2 - I did it!

 

 

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On 9/2/2019 at 10:44 AM, Emma said:

What did you do for your chicken salad that was better than your normal one?

The recipe I used for this one was really similar to the non-complaint one I make (from Pioneer Woman) with celery, grapes, and nuts - except the compliant one had red wine vinegar and tahini as the dressing...and I added a little complaint mayo even though the recipe didn't call for it.

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Sounds like you successfully navigated the first two days!  Totally hear you on the "planning is essential, but so is flexibility" mindset.  I'm also feeling sort of wonky on figuring out how much food is "enough" and how much is too much... I feel like I'm  eating a LOT of food, but i have to remind myself that I'm trying to fit all my nutrition into 3 hearty meals a day.  It's a learning curve for sure.

 

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I totally get the reason for the SWYPO and I think it will have to be applied slightly differently from person to person. If you're recreating non-Whole30 food I'm not sure you're learning everything that's here to learn. Its the difference in loving something new and being disappointed for a month by something that fails to mimic an old favorite. Someone already mentioned that in this thread. I'm definitely too new to give others advice, but I've been failing to recreate things I shouldn't eat for about 40 years. I finally stepped away from that particular disappointment.

I love using riced cauliflower. The different ways it can taste are limitless and it adds to the plate so that meals are visually appealing. The thing is that when I use cauliflower, I'm just eating cauliflower. I'm not trying to get it to pretend to be rice or mashed potatoes. The convenience is the big seller for me. Off-roading, I am the queen of microwave dinners. (A practice I hope to change on Whole30.) That's the biggest adjustment for me. I have to cook. I know fresh is better than frozen, but I can buy a big sack of riced cauliflower (the only ingredient) in steamable bags at Sam's and I can add a serving of it to something I actually cooked. Practically effortlessly. The meal looks bigger, the cauliflower adds texture, its a real go-to for me.

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  • Moderators
1 minute ago, Danna W said:

I know fresh is better than frozen, 

Vegetables are vegetables. As long as you're eating them, whole30 doesn't care what form they came in. You can use fresh or frozen or even canned, or pickled or fermented, as long as you eat lots of vegetables. Just check your ingredients and make sure there's no non-whole30 stuff added.

There are some compliant microwave dinners available from Walmart, their Great Value brand. I haven't tried them, but I hear they're okay. While we certainly encourage you to cook, there's nothing wrong with keeping a few dinners like that on hand for days when you're too tired to cook, or when that recipe that sounded simple turns out to be a three hour ordeal and you really need to eat right now.

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1 minute ago, ShannonM816 said:

There are some compliant microwave dinners available from Walmart, their Great Value brand.

I've got some of these in my freezer and since we're eating leftovers for dinner tonight, I'll probably be eating one for lunch tomorrow.  Stay tuned for a review :-) 

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1 minute ago, ShannonM816 said:

Vegetables are vegetables. As long as you're eating them, whole30 doesn't care what form they came in. You can use fresh or frozen or even canned, or pickled or fermented, as long as you eat lots of vegetables. Just check your ingredients and make sure there's no non-whole30 stuff added.

There are some compliant microwave dinners available from Walmart, their Great Value brand. I haven't tried them, but I hear they're okay. While we certainly encourage you to cook, there's nothing wrong with keeping a few dinners like that on hand for days when you're too tired to cook, or when that recipe that sounded simple turns out to be a three hour ordeal and you really need to eat right now.

Thank you. I ate a couple of the Great Value dinners yesterday when I had a raging sinus headache. They're good and they work for adding more servings of vegetables into their good sauces and seasonings. They probably kept me from failing on Day 2. lol

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Also some studies point that frozen vegetables are actually quite good, compared to fresh veggies which have been harvested a few days ago.
Fresh-from-the-earth veggies are the best, but if they are harvested wherever, travel some miles to your local market and are for sale there one or two days, plus you store them two days more in your kitchen before you eat them... well, they are not that fresh anymore.
Unless you grow your own vegetables it's likely there is not such a big difference after all.

But if by "fresh ones are better" you meant "tastier" I would certainly agree!

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Day 3 (September 3) recap:

Thank goodness for leftovers because I did not have the energy yesterday. I debated on drinking reheated black coffee at work at 3pm (black coffee = desperation in my book...I at least have to have some almond milk in it) but did not, After dinner (which we were able to eat at least 30 minutes earlier since we had leftovers), my husband took the kids out to swing while I cut up a watermelon...which took me forever. I think I stared at it for five minutes, debating how sad the kids would be if I didn't cut it up before deciding to get the knife and actually do it (don't worry - there were no accidents). At one point during the evening, I felt like I had drunk two glasses of wine - I had that same buzzed, relaxed feeling; thought that was odd and wanted to note it.

A couple NSV to note:

Yesterday I noticed my wedding rings were easy to put on - meaning my fingers were not swollen. It was hit or miss before, sometimes so much that I would only wear my wedding band without the engagement ring.

My husband commented that my face looked slimmer;  I am sure I was bloated and not drinking enough water before.

 

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Day 4 (September 4)

Lots of things went well yesterday. i remembered a dream I had upon waking (though it was kind of a crazy one). There were pastries at work (including savory ones with eggs and sausage that are my favorite and I rarely eat) and I DID NOT EAT ONE! The Great Value frozen meal I had for lunch was good; I wouldn't want to eat  them the whole time, but they're a good option to keep handy. We have something to go to this evening, so I cooked sloppy joes and sweet potatoes before bed to eat quickly before we go tonight. And the biggest victory was still cooking dinner after having to unexpectedly take my daughter to the doctor late in the afternoon. This is a prime example of a time I would have looked at my husband and said "It's late; I don't feel like cooking - Let's go grab something" and he would have said "sounds good". Instead, we had about 45 minutes before I could get her in to see the doctor after I picked her up, so we went home and while she slept on the couch, I prepped veggies to be roasted and sliced a pork loin to be pan fried; everything was ready to cook when we got home later than expected. 

I keep forgetting to bring a water bottle to work so I have to refill my tiny water cup 1,000 times a day (#annoying)

I sort of laughed at the KATT in the book...until I felt it (see the comment above about the water bottle). I really noticed it after I had washed ALL.THE.DISHES. (or at least those we don't put in the dishwasher - which was still quite a bit), then my husband ate a almond covered banana...and put the dish in the sink rather than STRAIGHT INTO THE DISHWASHER. I acknowledged it right away as KATT, had a little chuckle, and let it go. Then later when he asked me how my day was, I went on a complete rant about something that had happened at work (which I was frustrated with at the time it happened, but not to the extent I ranted about).

And forgot my water bottle again today....#$&%*& tiny water cups...

In all seriousness though, the last 4 days have gone better than expected. Again, I think there's something to be said about lots of planning, but allowing for flexibility.

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Thoughts about Days 5, 6, 7, and 8

Since I'm on my computer pretty much all day for work, I like to be on it as little as possible (or not at all) on the weekends. But I've found it helpful to put my thoughts here and value the feedback as well as reading how other's Whole30's are going, so here's to catching up!

The last 4 days just felt like more of the same - keep on keeping on. The tiredness has seemed to pass, as well as the crankiness for the most part (not quite for my husband though...). I haven't really had any cravings since starting this (though I've seen a couple of items I had dreamy thoughts about...) and my motivation is still high. The food has been great, and I'm not tired of eggs yet (I think it  helps not eating the same meals the rest of the time - lots of variety with lunches and dinners make it easier to have the same breakfast every morning).

Friday, after work, the kids I went to visit my parents; hubs had to work Saturday so we stayed the night and and came back after dinner on Saturday. I was a little worried that he would lose motivation, since he's mainly doing this because I pulled him in to it, but he didn't. He even went to a dive to watch a football game with a friend-couple Friday night and only had water. He said they were interested in learning about what we were doing, but after a few beers, one of the friends kept trying to get him to have a beer, but he didn't.

So prepping before going to my parents' was super helpful (hooray for If/Then Planning!). My mom welcomed the input for meal planning and it made it so much easier for me. Their house is always full of food we rarely buy as treats "for the grandkids" so not having to avoid temptation at mealtime gave my will power a break. My parents were totally on board with preparing things so that I could eat them (and didn't get annoyed when I double checked labels after they had). We had taco salads Friday night, hamburgers (with a lettuce bun for me) for lunch, and grilled chicken and veggies for dinner. I even managed to drink my coffee black AND cook bacon for everyone else that I couldn't eat Saturday morning (read the label - sugar, corn syrup, nitrates, words I can't pronounce...do I really want my kids eating this stuff?)

Mini rant: why do we even need sugar and corn syrup in BACON? And BREAKFAST SAUSAGE? And LUNCH MEAT?  Aren't these items supposed to be "savory" anyway - not sweet? I know - sugar tastes good and it's about the bottom line - sell sell sell...but I'm sort of angry about this now. It's like the food industry as a whole decided to put it in to everything to make things "taste better" and get everyone addicted to it (yes - I was naive and didn't read labels for ingredients before this - just calories). Or versions of the regular items that pretend to be better; like Avocado Oil Mayo: there are tons of versions out there...but many still contain a blend of oils...and corn syrup. Or "no sugar added" ketchup....that contains sucralose instead (I know there are compliant versions of all of the stuff I mentioned out there - it's just frustrating that when you see your favorite brand has something that might be a better option, and then it really isn't).   Hubs and I talked about not going back to the "regular" versions of a lot of items (I mean I'm sure that's the point but we haven't put a lot of thought in to Food Freedom yet...we're just now starting to think about Reintroduction). 

Anyway, Sunday morning, back at home, I finally had my compliant bacon. And I didn't miss the sugar at all.

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1 hour ago, heb2014 said:

Mini rant: why do we even need sugar and corn syrup in BACON? And BREAKFAST SAUSAGE? And LUNCH MEAT? 

Sugar is an extremely common preservative.  It's actually a quite traditional one, along with salt, oil and vinegar. It's also a very affordable one.
And it's very palatable. Because not everybody likes vinegar, and not everybody likes oily preserves. But salty and sugary are appealing to the general public.

In the last decades artificial preservatives got really bad press so they rather use "natural" ones such as sugar and salt, and write a huge label in their product saying "NO PRESERVATIVES" - implying it's nearly homemade and/or healthier than other similar items.
Also for savory food, sweet taste is often counteracted with an acid (vinegar, citric acid) which also works as a preservative.

Most people will run away from preservatives and eat happily the oh-so-natural sugar+salt combo.
It's similar to what happens with "light" versions of food. Oh, yeah, you are not eating mayo because it has so much fat, you'd rather eat some sugar-'n-salt-filled nutrient-void dressing which has much less calories. Tsk.

There is a lot of missinformation, and administrations have little interest in providing a reliable information to the general public I'm afraid.

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4 minutes ago, Amura said:

Sugar is an extremely common preservative.  It's actually a quite traditional one, along with salt, oil and vinegar. It's also a very affordable one.
And it's very palatable. Because not everybody likes vinegar, and not everybody likes oily preserves. But salty and sugary are appealing to the general public.

In the last decades artificial preservatives got really bad press so they rather use "natural" ones such as sugar and salt, and write a huge label in their product saying "NO PRESERVATIVES" - implying it's nearly homemade and/or healthier than other similar items.
Also for savory food, sweet taste is often counteracted with an acid (vinegar, citric acid) which also works as a preservative.

Most people will run away from preservatives and eat happily the oh-so-natural sugar+salt combo.
It's similar to what happens with "light" versions of food. Oh, yeah, you are not eating mayo because it has so much fat, you'd rather eat some sugar-'n-salt-filled nutrient-void dressing which has much less calories. Tsk.

There is a lot of missinformation, and administrations have little interest in providing a reliable information to the general public I'm afraid.

Ok - this makes complete sense. Thanks!

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After my 2nd round, I decided I wasn't going to buy mayo anymore. I never used much of the store-bought stuff anyway, but I much prefer what I make at home... and it's honestly cheaper that way, to boot. There are a few other things I prefer to make at home still, too, just to keep at least some of the sugars and extra salts out of my continuing diet. :) And I totally get the frustration, looking through package after package of bacon and such, trying to find one that works! I finally started using Garrett Valley bacon when I ever need it, and since that's about $6 at Sprouts (for 8 slices), I wait until it's on sale (usually half price) to buy 2-3 packages. I only use it as a savory additive to fried cauli-rice, cabbage, or braised greens, so one package goes a lot further than it would if we were eating slices of it with breakfast.

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Thoughts on Days 9 -15

Well - I've stayed complaint but didn't get around to logging here. It hasn't been very exciting - not too many challenges and no major breakthroughs (but some things I will share below); I was really busy at work last week and since I sit in front of the computer most days, I don't get on it at home (or as little as possible) so no logging. I even fell a few days behind on reading/responding in the Day by Day book, but caught up last night. And I'm pretty sure if my day numbers didn't match the actual date, I wouldn't know what day I'm on...

More of the same.  Good meals; no cravings. Have not reached the point where I can get up without hitting the snooze button (5 times this morning...but I did stay up a lot later than I should, trying to finish something before today). Husband goes back and forth between loving this and being cranky about it; he's very active for work and after catching up in the book, I'm thinking he probably falls in to that "needs a few more carbs" category discussed on Day 12; I also think he's getting sick - a head cold seems to be making it's rounds at our house, and you know, man flu is a thing. I feel like I'd probably be feeling super fantastic (maybe even no-snooze-button fantastic) if I wasn't battling the crud, but I at least feel "normal".

A few things to note:

One night, after dinner, the four of us ended up sitting in the kitchen floor, talking about our day and almost eating an entire bag of grapes. Our two year old helped himself to the bag of grapes in the fridge as we were putting up leftovers. I guess this is proof our taste buds are changing because those grapes tasted like the BEST.THING.EVER. I didn't eat more than a handful, but the rest of my family (husband included) devoured them.

Our kids were invited to a birthday party yesterday afternoon. There was pizza and cupcakes. My kids loved it; my husband and I drank water. It helped that the food portion of the party was very short and the majority of the time was spent (prior to eating) in a gymnastics center. My two year old had never eaten pizza that wasn't cut up, so I had to TOUCH THE PIZZA to help him. Oh man, it smelled good. I said I haven't had any cravings, meaning nothing has really popped in to my head that I have missed and wanted to eat, but that doesn't mean I didn't have a daydream about shoving my face full of pizza. 

Backing up a little, my daughter asked if we could go for ice cream Friday evening. This isn't something we do very often...like once every other month or so. We could have just said "no" but we did need to run to my husband's work for an even that he was prepping for on Saturday and our favorite ice cream shop just happens to be a couple blocks away. My husband and I discussed it: I said that I could go and have a coffee and be fine (even if I had to feed ice cream to our two year old so he didn't get it all over EVERYTHING); my husband said he would be eating a dairy/soy/gluten free (but loaded with sugar) ice cream they have. We talked about why sugar is included in the Whole30 and how this might affect him. I ultimately left the decision up to him. We went. They ate ice cream; I drank coffee (and avoided licking my fingers where my son's ice cream dripped on me - #winning). I know this paragraph has all sorts of poor choices and things that could have been done differently, but in the end, we each have to make our own decisions. My husband has been looking at this experiment as "let's clean up the food we eat" - pretty much skipping the 30 days and moving in to a Food Freedom mindset. That's his choice and he has the ability to do that; I'm not going to nag him about it nor monitor every item of food he eats: we discussed it and he made a conscious decision to have one scoop. He already knows what foods he has issues with and he's never needed to "diet" a day in his life (not only that he doesn't need to lose weight but really meaning that he has a much healthier relationship with food than I do). This is my Whole30 and his choices don't have to determine mine.

That was day 13 for us, so I guess he made it past the statistical hump of Days 11 and 12 before indulging; he went back to eating compliantly Saturday and Sunday.

And on another note, I went to the grocery store three times last week. THREE TIMES! This wouldn't be noteworthy if I had been buying items for a few days with the intent of going 3 times, but no, I fully expected to have gotten everything for the week in the first trip. I guess I'm having a hard time judging amount of food we will need to eat (especially husband - active for work) and how far the leftovers will go (or won't go, in our case). I spent a little over twice our normal weekly grocery budget, and I'm a little frustrated with that fact. This week, even though I had already planned meals, I'm going through what I can make from our freezer instead, trying to spend as little as possible.

 

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After my hitting the snooze button 5 times yesterday, this morning was equally as hard, as I turned off the alarm clock, intending to get out of bed...but I'm going to lay here one more minute....waking up 30 minutes later when my husband's alarm went off. It's got me thinking a lot about "Tiger Blood"...and how timely. Today's reading (Day 17) and the Whole30 email that just showed up in my inbox both talk about Tiger Blood...and managing expectations. I was really hoping it would be like a flipping switch - where I wake up one morning with boundless energy, but maybe I need to manage my expectations a little. I've NEVER been a high energy person and I have ALWAYS hit the snooze button. There was a time before kids when I did like getting up early and having a little more time in the morning (or even now, just to have 20 minutes of quiet time to myself), but I'm pretty sure I still hit snooze a couple of times even then. Maybe I'll always hit the snooze button and I should get rid of that measure of success.

Here's what I am noticing: my brain fog is getting somewhat better, my mood is better, and I do feel better (even if I still run out of steam at 7pm). My rings are easier to take off, my face looks slimmer, and my belly looks less bloated. We have eaten great food and I don't feel deprived. I've exercised a couple of times (and signed up for a TMAC Fitness free trial to take me through the rest of the Whole30 and see how it goes). And I'm extremely motivated to "spring clean" the entire house. (it feels like "nesting" again....)

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On 9/16/2019 at 1:10 PM, heb2014 said:

My husband has been looking at this experiment as "let's clean up the food we eat" - pretty much skipping the 30 days and moving in to a Food Freedom mindset. That's his choice and he has the ability to do that; I'm not going to nag him about it nor monitor every item of food he eats: we discussed it and he made a conscious decision to have one scoop. He already knows what foods he has issues with and he's never needed to "diet" a day in his life (not only that he doesn't need to lose weight but really meaning that he has a much healthier relationship with food than I do). This is my Whole30 and his choices don't have to determine mine.

How enlightening! You're absolutely right - his choices don't dictate yours.  I get so angry with my husband for sticking with the SAD diet.  But he makes his own choices.  It really only impacts me when we go out to dinner, and even then, I still get to make my own choices.  Here's to doing our own Whole30s!

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