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w30Virgo Round 3 January 2020


w30virgo

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Okay, back again.

Day 11 Meals

M1 - Went out to breakfast at Dor-Stop, a diner in Dormont. This place was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, and I was going to get "Guy's Plate" which is basically a hash with hot Italian sausage and peppers, but I had a stomachache on the way over, so I just got poached eggs with potatoes o'brien and sausage.

We went shopping with my parents to the market neighborhood in Pittsburgh, the Strip District, after breakfast, and I got some groceries that I'll outline below.

M2 - Finally, a home-cooked meal! I had a small bowl of leftover Chocolate Chili with cauliflower rice, delicata squash, and 1/2 avocado.

M3 - This one was delicious. Earlier last week, I was poaching a chicken breast to make BLT chicken salad with, and the pack had 3 breasts in it. I asked Dave if he wanted me to make the other two for him to eat, and he said yes. Well, Sunday rolled around and he hadn't eaten them. I decided to use them for an easy dinner - Buffalo Chicken Dip (https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/buffalo-chicken-dip-paleo-whole30/). I was going to make oven-baked fries (Dave's request) and have raw veggies with it, but then I saw the recommendation in the recipe to eat it with a baked potato, so we did that with roasted broccoli. So good!

We were talking with some friends about Superbowl plans, and we decided to host at our place. I figure it will be good motivation to deep clean our apartment, and I'll be able to make some more healthy snacks, since we'll be just finished with Whole30 on Superbowl Sunday. I made that Buffalo Chicken Dip last year, and it was a big hit. I think that I'm going to make potato skins topped with it this year. I've been brainstorming the menu - thinking I'll reintro dairy that day, even though it's out of order. It'll be the thing I'd miss the most. Would love to hear any recommendations if anyone has them!

Here's what I'm thinking:

Buffalo Chicken Dip stuffed Potato Skins

Grain Free Sausage Balls from the Defined Dish (http://www.thedefineddish.com/gluten-free-sausage-balls/) - haven't made these before

Three cold dips with Siete chips, potato chips, plantain chips, and raw veggies:

Tahini Onion Dip (https://www.everylastbite.com/2016/01/05/tahini-onion-dip/) - Made this for last Superbowl, it was a big hit

Guacamole

Spinach Dip (https://www.mysuburbankitchen.com/healthier-spinach-dip-paleo/)

Deviled Eggs - I like the recipe in Chrissy Teigen's Cravings - glad that it's easy to find compliant Sriracha now

I might make a Paleo dessert for it as well, we'll see if the mood strikes.

Anyway, here's my meals today:

Day 12 Meals

M1: Breakfast Burrito Casserole with Avocado - I didn't get to make the slaw I was going to for breakfasts this week yet, so I got hungry quicker than usual. 

M2: Leftover Buffalo Chicken Dip over ~1 c roasted broccoli and ~1 c roasted cauliflower rice/delicata squash mix from when I made chili on Thursday with 7 olives. - I was going to have 10 olives, but realized I was full at 7 and just put the other 3 away. This is a big deal for me, to stop eating when I'm full rather than just mindlessly clearing my plate.

M3: Hibachi Chicken over Cauliflower Rice

I'll update with our groceries from the Strip tomorrow.

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Good Morning!

Everything's going well so far today. I was amazed at how much I got done yesterday, both around the house and with work. Go me!

Sleep: Going well. I'm still waking up a bit groggy most days, until I have my first cup of coffee. But, I've been sleeping well through the night.

Skin: Good - it's brighter, and my pores are staying small, but I'm still getting pimples - this time on my cheeks. I've been getting better with my skincare, both in the morning and at night, so hopefully that helps.

Digestion: Okay. Not great, but seeing intermittent improvement.

Energy: Very good, sustained throughout the day until bed last night.

Day 13 Meals

M1: Breakfast Burrito Casserole with Mexican Slaw. - yum! This was tasty, though maybe a bit spicy for so early in the morning. It feels good to eat more veggies in the morning.

M2: Leftover Hibachi Chicken from last night - This was amazing! The Magic Mustard sauce is so good, I think I want to make some chicken tenders with it.

M3: Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Peppers with Avocado Salad and roasted butternut zig zags. - This reminds me, I need to take out some more bacon to defrost before I leave for work.

Here's a review of our grocery shopping in the Strip District on Sunday:

Reyna Foods (Mexican grocery store)

2 12 oz packages compliant chorizo - $12.50 - used this for the breakfast casserole - I love chorizo!

2 serrano chiles - $0.35 - used these for the slaw

Total: $12.85

 

Pennsylvania Macaroni Company (Italian grocery store)

Raw cashews - $9.55 - going to use these to make Cashew Crema on No Crumbs Left's Red Pepper Soup - they were difficult to find in the bulk food section of the store, but I got them eventually

Sundried Tomato Stuffed Olives - $6.47 - more olives!

4 Red bell peppers - $3.54 - for the Red Pepper Soup I mentioned above

Orange bell pepper - $0.97 - I realized that I would probably need to double the breakfast casserole recipe for us this week, so needed another bell pepper.

Green onions - $1.29

Spinach - $2.99

Total - $24.81

$389 for the month so far.

 

 

 

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Good Morning!

Not much to report today:

Sleep: Very good. I woke up before my alarm today, but just laid with my eyes closed until it went off. I fell asleep well last night, too.

Skin: Same pimples as I brought up before, but the other improvements are still good.

Digestion: It's okay. Not great, but okay.

Energy: Really good! Sustained throughout the day, no lulls. I went into the office yesterday, and was feeling a bit distractable, but otherwise fine.

I do want to talk a bit about my mood. I tend towards depression, especially in the winter, and can also get very anxious. I've done a lot of work over the past several years to get these tendencies under better control, so that I'm not consumed by them. I take daily walks outside, I journal, I have a light therapy lamp, and I try to avoid alcohol when I'm feeling down or anxious. It's been much better this year than in previous years, so I haven't been as concerned. I do want to note that yesterday afternoon, I started to feel quite depressed. The feeling went away by this morning, but I was a bit more short and impatient than usual last night. I think part of why I started feeling down was being in the office - I've worked in the same office, in various roles, for 5 years, and I was not in as good of a place with managing my anxiety/depression in the past - I think being there brought up some bad memories. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to move past it with being in the office more in the coming months. 

Anyway, here are my meals for today:

M1: Breakfast Burrito Casserole with Mexican Slaw

M2: Leftover cauli rice and delicata squash with hibachi chicken & veggies.

M3: Chicken Zucchini Poppers with roasted brussels sprouts and warm potato salad

Tonight, we might go to trivia with my boyfriend's brothers at a brewery. It should be fun. One of his college roommates is also going to be in town this weekend - it'll be nice to see him. Those weekends are normally full of drinking, but I feel fine with being sober. I'm looking forward to not doing anything embarrassing, and being hangover-free!

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On 1/14/2020 at 7:25 AM, w30virgo said:

M2: Leftover Hibachi Chicken from last night - This was amazing! The Magic Mustard sauce is so good, I think I want to make some chicken tenders with it.

Where did you find this recipe? If online would you mind sharing a link?

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Day 15 - halfway there! It really hasn't felt that difficult, which is great. Dave's talking about doing another Whole30 already. I'm inclined to join him - some extra time couldn't hurt my efforts to try to heal my digestion and improve my skin. Although, I've seen great NSVs already, so maybe those two will improve a lot in the next couple weeks.

We went to trivia with Dave's brothers and a couple of our friends last night. We had a really fun time! Our friends were eating homemade pasta with garlic bread that was available at the brewery we went to. It looked so good, but I didn't really feel a temptation to break my Whole30 - same with the beers everyone was drinking. The brewery is in an old movie theater, and the brewery side was actually closed for trivia, so my friends were just drinking beers from the movie theater bar. I wasn't that excited by them. I love drinking at breweries, and trying new kinds or places, but just drinking a random beer just to do it doesn't really excite me. My relationship with alcohol has evolved so much since I started doing Whole30s three years ago, and I'm happy to see that it's continuing to change.

I'll post with my meals a little later.

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Here's a run-down of my areas for improvement:

Sleep: Good - I went to bed later than usual last night - fell asleep around 11:15 - due to trivia. I slept well, though I was having weird dreams before I woke up this morning. I can't remember what they were about.

Skin: My chin acne isn't really going away, or getting worse. It's just...there. My skin has also been a bit burn-ey. I'm going to take a bit of a break from my zit cream, to see if it helps with the burn-ey sensation. The chin acne...I'm not sure about. I know it's hormonal, so I'm not sure if it will get better with my change in diet. I'm going to get a salicylic acid face wash to use, since I read that will help the benzoyl peroxide (in my zit cream) penetrate. 

Digestion: Okay, but not where I want it to be. I'm still getting fairly frequent indigestion, gas, and diarrhea. I bought some digestive enzymes today, and am going to see how they help. I'll keep tracking my digestion for the next month, and if I don't see improvements, I'm going to add in a high-quality probiotic as well.

Energy: Good! Even with less sleep last night, I feel good. I struggled a bit with focus and motivation yesterday afternoon, but nowhere near the afternoon sleepy/dragging feeling I was getting pre-Whole30. I woke up fairly easily this morning, too, which is great.

I'll update with my meals a little later.

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So yesterday for dinner we ended up having the Warm Potato Salad & roasted brussels sprouts, but the zucchini I was going to use for the poppers was bad, so I made a double batch of these Ultimate Meal Prep Meatballs: https://therealfoodrds.com/meal-prep-meatballs/. They ended up not being done in time for us to eat them before trivia, so we just had a no protein dinner. By around 9:30 PM I was getting really hungry - should have brought a Chomps stick or Epic bar with me. I ate 1 1/2 meatballs when we came home, cold.

Here are my meals for today, Day 15

M1: Breakfast Burrito Casserole with Mexican Coleslaw - we made it through the casserole we made Sunday, so I mixed up a new one this morning. It was delicious fresh.

M2: 6 meatballs (recipe above), with some leftover Awesome Sauce mixed with Dijon mustard, and leftover Avocado Salad - the meatballs are so good heated up! I love how flexible the recipe is - will definitely make again.

M3: Cilantro Lime Chicken Wings (https://www.realfoodwithdana.com/chili-lime-chicken-wings-whole30/) with oven baked potato wedges and Mexican slaw (http://www.thedefineddish.com/whole-30-mexican-coleslaw/)

We're going to a movie right after work today, so we'll be having a bit of a late dinner.

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Day 16! Everything's going well.

I woke up easily again this morning. My boyfriend normally sets up the coffee pot to brew and be ready when I wake up in the morning (he sleeps later than me), and he forgot to do it last night. Normally, when this happens, I'm in a terrible mood since I can't have coffee first thing. This morning, I really didn't care at all. I just made the coffee and drank a glass of water while I did my morning routine (reading, journaling, breakfast, etc.) It feels good to have a more consistent good mood, and higher energy.

The movie theater we went to last night is a revival house in our neighborhood, attached to a beer store, that has hundreds of varieties of beer available. They have a fairly large non-alcoholic selection, and we looked at the options to see whether there was anything we could treat ourselves to. We found the Lagunitas Hop Refreshers - a non-alcoholic, unsweetened drink made with hops. I checked the ingredients and did some googling to make sure it would be compliant (hops are considered a flower, not a grain, and brewer's yeast is okay because we can have nutritional yeast). We really liked it - it's almost like an IPA flavored seltzer. If you like beer, I would recommend it. I'm planning to get it after our Whole30 to have in situations where I don't really feel like drinking, but want something more special than water. For me, it feels a bit too much like a beer substitute to have regularly during Whole30, but it was a nice treat for the movie. 

Also, in the movie, I ate some of the snacks I brought - a Chicken/Sriracha Epic bar and a single serve pack of olives.

I didn't end up getting around to marinating the chicken wings for dinner, so we decided to go to dinner after the movie, at a local BBQ restaurant, Smoke. We got pulled pork and brisket, with potato salad and a mixed greens salad to share. It was really good. Again, it was easy for me to stop eating when I was full, even though everything was really good. They have the best queso at this restaurant, so it was a little sad to see it going out to other tables, knowing we couldn't have it. But it was a good thought experiment - how would I handle this in my food freedom? I love the notion of deciding moment-to-moment, from Food Freedom Forever, like I'm not going to plan to go off the rails, but if I'm in a situation and decide in the moment that something is worth it, I'll savor it and move on without guilt. Now I just have to get myself to practice it - definitely easier said than done.

Today's meal plan:

M1: Breakfast Burrito Casserole with Mexican slaw

M2: 6 meatballs with dijon sauce & avocado salad

M3: Chili Lime Wings with potato wedges and slaw

We might go to a Mac Miller listening party this weekend - either tonight or tomorrow. He just released a posthumous album, and they're hosting big listening parties for it in LA, New York, and Pittsburgh. I think it'll be fun, but packed, and I'm sure we'll have to wait awhile, so we just have to decide if it's worth it, especially because it's pretty cold in Pittsburgh right now.

We also planned to have one of my friends over for dinner at some point this weekend. Last year, when I was doing Whole30, I had her over for dinner and made Stuffed Baked Potatoes from No Crumbs Left (https://nocrumbsleft.net/2019/01/28/whole30-stuffed-baked-potatoes/). She requested I make it again, so that's what we're doing. We haven't decided which day yet - Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. So one of those days I'll be making that.

Then Dave's college roommate will be in town, so I'm not sure what exactly we'll do with him. 

I thought this weekend would be relaxing, with lots of downtime, but it's looking like it will actually be pretty busy!

I'm going to get my veggie and meal prep planned for next week, and post it on here a little later.

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Day 17, 18, 19, 20

Another great Whole30 morning. Mornings are my favorite part of the day, and they're even better now that I'm not groggy, congested, and headache-y when I wake up. A quick recap of this weekend:

Friday night: My boyfriend's college roommate was in town over the weekend, so we decided to get grocery shopping done Friday night. We went to Aldi & Whole Foods. I'll review what we got later today. We ended up getting Chipotle pick-up for dinner - I had the new carne asada, and it was really good! The restaurant didn't give us guac on either of our bowls, though, which was really disappointing. Luckily, we had a ripe avocado at home, so we just shared that.

Saturday: I just stayed home all day, cleaning, cooking, and reading. I don't know why, but I was in a bad mood on Saturday, and just didn't feel up to going out. The weather was gross in Pittsburgh - just above freezing with a cold rain. I take a 45 minute walk everyday, and this was the first day in probably 3 months that I didn't take at least some walk. I went out side for about three minutes and just turned around and came back. I did 45 minutes on the elliptical we have in our basement, instead, which was good. Pre-Whole30, I would have just used the weather to sit on the couch all day. I was pretty productive on Saturday, though, and I made carnitas in our Instant Pot, using this recipe (https://www.thewholesmiths.com/easy-instant-pot-whole30-carnitas/) - It was so easy, and they were so good! We have a ton of leftovers from it that will be good for this week and to freeze.

Day 17 Meals

M1: 2 pieces breakfast burrito casserole & slaw

M2: Red Pepper Soup (https://nocrumbsleft.net/2019/09/28/red-pepper-soup/) with 6 meal prep meatballs - This soup was really good. I think I'll make a double batch of it next time.

M3: Carnitas (recipe above) with White BBQ Sauce (https://cookprimalgourmet.com/alabama-white-bbq-sauce-whole30) and Chipotle Sweet Potato Salad (https://therealfoodrds.com/warm-chipotle-lime-sweet-potato-salad/) - All of this was delicious

I'll update with the rest of my log for the weekend, today, and my review of my grocery shopping tomorrow.

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Sunday: Again, didn't do too much Sunday. One of my friends came over in the afternoon to hang out, but besides that I just hung around the house, doing chores. I was able to take a walk, and was in higher spirits.

Day 18 Meals

M1: 1 piece breakfast burrito casserole, slaw, olives

M2: 6 Chili Lime Wings (I had planned to make them Friday for dinner), homemade ranch  (I use the Basic Ranch recipe from this page: https://whole30.com/mayo-ghee-sauces/), leftover Red Pepper Soup

M3: Carnitas with White BBQ and sweet potato salad

Monday: We got a lot of cleaning done today, since we were having people over for dinner. I went to an author lecture, Carmen Maria Machado, with two of my friends, and had them over for dinner beforehand. I made the Stuffed Baked Potatoes I talked about last week, with this Roasted Brussels Sprout Salad recipe (https://www.wholesomelicious.com/roasted-brussels-sprouts-salad-with-mustard-basil-vinaigrette/) - The potatoes were as good as I remembered, but the salad was really great and easy to make. I'll definitely make it again. The lecture was good, and very interesting - it lasted until around 8:45 - after my bedtime! So I ended up going to bed later than normal, and was a bit tired this morning. I wasn't really groggy though - clearheaded, but tired. I'm drinking my second cup of coffee now, with a little coconut milk mixed in.

Day 19 Meals

M1: Made a hash out of leftover baked potato, brussels sprouts, & carnitas - topped it with White BBQ and a fried egg

M2: Leftovers of the same hash with ranch and Frank's.

M3: Stuffed Baked Potato & Brussels Salad

Lots of potatoes yesterday - I really didn't feel that different eating that many carbs, but I usually like to have different vegetables during the day. I definitely feel my best eating a large variety of different veggies.

Tuesday (today): Woke up a bit late, at around 6:40 AM. I don't feel bad about giving myself some extra sleep. It's my first day back at work, and it's going well. I've already completed some more complex tasks that I had put off last week. I'm feeling good today. Later this evening, I'm planning to go to an organizing meeting for Bernie Sanders, but I'm not totally sure if I'm going to make it. I'll see how I feel a bit later - I'm trying to get my boyfriend to go with me. I have a complex dinner planned, that I really should have made Sunday, which is kind of holding me back.

Day 20 Meals

M1: About 1 c leftover Brussels salad with some marinated onions, 2 fried eggs, and 2 crisped slices of prosciutto

M2: Probably leftover carnitas with sweet potato salad

M3: Greek Meatballs with Tzatziki (https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/paleo-greek-meatballs-with-tzatziki-sauce-whole30-keto/), Greek Potatoes (http://www.thedefineddish.com/greek-style-potatoes/), & Greek Green Beans (http://www.thedefineddish.com/greek-style-green-beans-fasolakia/)

This is getting long, so I'm going to make a separate post with our grocery shopping review.

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I can't find my grocery receipts so I can't post everything I got, but we spent $198 between Aldi and Whole Foods. $587 for the month so far on groceries. We also went out for meals we paid for ourselves for the first time last week as well - $45 at Smoke on Thursday, and $23 at Chipotle on Friday. Dave went out for dinner with his college roommate on Saturday - he probably spent around $15 there. So we're looking at $83 on going out to eat so far. That's way down from a normal month.

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Day 21

Good morning! Here's a rundown of NSV areas:

Sleep: Still good - sleeping pretty much solidly through the night. Vivid dreams.

Skin: I think my chin acne is...maybe...healing?! We'll see, but it feels less "angry" and there doesn't seem to be more developing. Otherwise good - after taking a break from benzoyl peroxide my skin doesn't feel as tight and dry, either.

Digestion: A bit better, maybe. I got digestive enzymes last week and have been taking them daily, along with the fish oil I take normally.

Energy: Good - I'm able to sustain focus throughout the day, and I the afternoon slump is long gone.

 

It's hard to believe we're only 9 days from the end of our Whole30. Last night, I didn't end up having time to make the greek potatoes for dinner, so we just had the meatballs and green beans - yum! After dinner, I had a banana with cashew butter and coconut flakes with a limonello La Croix - the limoncello flavor is so good! 

 

Meals:

M1: 3 scrambled eggs with marinated onions, 2 slices crisped prosciutto, & olives and artichoke hearts - we don't have much in the way of veggies ready to go for breakfast, so this'll have to do.

M2: Either Tuna Salad stuffed bell peppers if I get it together to make them, or leftover meatballs w tzatziki and green beans.

M3: Burger Deluxe Stuffed Baked Potatoes (http://meljoulwan.com/2019/01/15/burger-deluxe-potato/) with roasted broccoli

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Day 22

Yesterday, I was very focused and productive during the first half of the day, but later in the afternoon I hit a wall. I got ravenously hungry around 3:30 - okay, makes sense, I had lunch at around 11:30 - leftover greek meatballs and green beans. I snacked - I got cashew butter and bananas last weekend as a treat - one of my favorite Whole30 snacks is a banana with cashew butter and coconut flakes. I had this, was still hungry. Checked with myself - would I eat plain chicken breast and steamed broccoli? Yes, I thought. So I had another snack - 4 slices of prosciutto with more olives and artichoke hearts. After this, I was overly full and sluggish. I blame the banana sweet snack for this feeling - I won't have it as an afternoon snack again. Anyway, I was exhausted and miserable in the afternoon, and the idea of cooking dinner was extremely daunting. Dave cooked for us - he hasn't cooked much this Whole30, and I was grateful that he was willing to cook last night. He's not really a recipe follower, so the stuffed potatoes weren't the prettiest thing, but they were tasty. And he didn't make the roasted broccoli, he heated up some spinach artichoke dip I made over the weekend, and cut me up some celery to dip in it. Not the most vegetable heavy meal, but it was compliant and we had something, so that's all that matters.

We were supposed to go to trivia with some friends last night, but cooking was taking longer than expected, and we weren't really feeling it, so we didn't go. We have a big weekend planned - we're going out Friday night, like after 9 PM going out, to a pop punk karaoke night at a local bar. I'm actually excited to go sober - I think it will be really fun. I just have to keep myself awake that late, LOL. So, we're planning to go to Costco tonight, to restock our freezer and get some household goods we're low on. Then, tomorrow, we'll be ready to let our hair down a little bit.

I woke up feeling pretty good this morning. I've been having extremely vivid dreams lately, that I almost feel are interfering with my sleep. They're not nightmares, just very vivid, and I always want to see where they're going before I wake up, so I've been hitting snooze on my alarm more than I'd like.

I'll update a little later with my meals for the day.

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Review of NSV areas:

Sleep: Good, issues with dreams as reviewed in last post.

Skin: Same as last update.

Digestion: Still not great.

Energy/Focus: Really good in the morning yesterday - need to be mindful of afternoon snacks - if I need one between lunch and dinner, that's fine, but should be focused on protein, fat, non-starchy/sugary veg. NO sweet replacements at that time.

 

Meals for Day 22:

M1: 1 sm russet potato cooked with 1/8 onion and Primal Palate Breakfast Blend Seasoning, 1 1/2 slices bacon, 2 fried eggs

M2: Leftovers or tuna salad bell peppers

M3: Damn Fine Chicken (https://nomnompaleo.com/post/4207543396/damn-fine-chicken) with Ginger Scallion Sauce (https://whole30.com/best-of-dips-sauces/) and roasted broccoli & delicata

Should be an easy dinner, if I can get myself to make the marinade this morning. If not, we'll have the broccoli & delicata squash with some compliant chicken sausage that I found at Aldi.

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Well I am excited that we are down to 7 more days.  I am still deciding what to introduce first - I feel that if i have  glass of wine, this would be a cop out..So I am thinking of introducing either rice or beans.  I know I have lost weight, and I can't lose anymore. I am home sick with a cold, due to sick co-workers. I have found that if lose too much weight i am more likely to get sick, so i am trying really hard to eat a lot!  I am still compliant, but i have to say meat doesn't sound that great.  I will have to switch to fish etc.

Has anyone else found they are more likely to get sick doing this program? I don't blame the program, I am just trying to eat enough.  My areas to concentrate on is more just more food - I follow the fat, protein, veggie model.

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Day 23

Having a really good morning today. For the first time in at least a week, I woke up with my 6:05 AM alarm. I definitely felt like I could sleep longer, but I was awake and ready to go for my day within about 10 minutes of waking. I had a very productive morning with my extra time, which felt great.

We went to Costco last night, as we were running out of a lot of household goods. I'll put up a post with the grocery portion of our shopping a little later. We ended up getting home late - around 6:45, and still needed to have dinner. We ended up having the chicken with roasted broccoli and potatoes, which I seasoned with Primal Palate Adobo seasoning, and some dijon mayo. I was really proud of myself for coming home and cooking dinner, rather than eating out.

Tonight, we're going to pop punk karaoke with a group of our friends. I'm really looking forward to it. I think we've been pretty good with going out and being social during our Whole30 - definitely better than previous rounds I've done. But, I'm feeling a little bad about how I kind of hermited myself away last weekend, and am glad that we'll be starting our weekend with something fun. 

Otherwise, things are going well. I wish that my digestion and skin would improve a bit more quickly - I'm sure I could see further improvements if I extended my Whole30, but I'm just not really in a position to do so right now. I might do another one soon after - We have the superbowl, some plans involving drinking the following weekend, then are going away for Valentine's weekend, but I could conceivably start again after that, and see what kind of improvements I can get. We'll see how things go.

Day 23 Meals

M1: 2 fried eggs with 2 slices bacon, and blistered cherry tomatoes over spring mix, with No Crumbs Left marinated onions and oil

M2: Leftovers - Maybe leftover burger filling and green beans, or leftover chicken.

M3: Buffalo Chicken Salad with Oven Baked Fries - https://whole30.com/a-whole30-fourth-of-july-2/

I'll update a bit later with our Costco review and our meal plan for next week.

 

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Okay, here's our Costco food shopping:

4 dozen cage free eggs - $6.98

Doritos - $4.99 (Dave got these for the Superbowl since we'll be done with Whole30, they're food so I'm including them in our spending tracking)

Potato Chips - $4.79 (For the Superbowl)

Avocado Oil - $18.89

Aidell's Chicken Apple Sausage - $13.99

Teton Waters Ranch Mini Hot Dogs - $13.79 (Dave requested pigs in blankets for the Superbowl, and I found a Paleo recipe to try out)

Ground beef - $19.99

2 organic whole chickens - $17.45

Amylu Breakfast Sausage - $11.99 (We've bought the maple version of this brand at Costco before, but this kind is actually compliant!)

Simple Mills Almond Crackers - $8.99 (For the Superbowl)

Organic Dried Oregano - $3.99

Kerrygold Unsalted Butter - $12.99

Mixed Nut Butter - $7.99 (Excited to try this - it's compliant, with a mix of cashew and almond butter. I love cashew butter, but the little jar of 365 brand cashew butter we got at Whole Foods last week was $9!)

Fresh broccoli florets - $5.49

Organic boneless skinless chicken breast - $20.71

Grape Tomatoes - $5.99

Sweet Kale Salad - $5.99 (I'm going to use some of the salad mix to make egg roll in a bowl tomorrow. Will probably saute up the rest for an extra veggie to have on hand next week.

1 lb prosciutto - $9.99 (Throughout the week I ate an entire package that we got at Aldi last week, and Dave was sad that he didn't get any, so we got this. I figure we can use some of it for our meat & cheese plate for the Superbowl)

Baby romaine - $4.49

Spring Mix - $4.49

Brussels Sprouts - $4.49

5 lb lemons - $7.99

Total: $216.45

$803 so far for the month on groceries - I know that a lot of this will carry into next month but it still feels like a lot. I have to go to the Strip District to get some extra veggies and dried chives for the week, but that shouldn't add much.

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Here's our meal plan for the next few days:

Saturday – Quick Thick Meat Sauce & Oven Fries (https://cravingsbychrissyteigen.com/cravings/quick-thick-meat-sauce-spicy-oven-fries/ without the Parm, obviously) w Caesar Salad (http://www.thedefineddish.com/whole-30-caesar-salad-dressing/)

Sunday – Egg Roll in a Bowl (https://realsimplegood.com/egg-roll-in-a-bowl/) w Sweet Potato Chowder (https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-vegan-sweet-potato-chowder-234109)

Monday – Veggie, Slow Cooker Dijon Thyme Chicken Legs (https://therealfoodrds.com/slow-cooker-dijon-thyme-chicken-legs/) & Sweet Potatoes w Tahini Butter (https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/sweet-potatoes-with-tahini-butter sub ghee for butter)

Tuesday – Veggies dipped in Sweet Potato Cashew Dip (https://nomnompaleo.com/post/156278901808/sweet-potato-and-cashew-dip-from-tess-masters) w Burgers & Clean Thousand Island Sauce (https://littlebitsof.com/2016/08/clean-thousand-island-sauce/)

We'll figure out what to have the rest of the week as we go and see what leftovers we have.

Breakfast: Sweet Potato Quiche (https://realsimplegood.com/sweet-potato-quiche-dairy-free-gf/) - I had planned to make this last week, but didn't get around to it.

Lunch: I'm going to make myself a smorgasbord of stuff, below. Dave will have leftovers, as he doesn't like tuna, hard boiled eggs, or cucumbers :rolleyes:

Gaby's Cucumber Salad (https://cookieandkate.com/best-cucumber-salad-recipe/)

Saucy Chili Garlic Cucumber Noodles (https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-saucy-chili-garlic-cucumber-noodles-259061)

Tuna Salad Stuffed Bell Peppers (https://whole30.com/best-whole30-recipes-no-forks/)

Dill Sauerkraut Deviled Eggs (https://whole30.com/july-4-2017/)

Then for a fun mocktail tomorrow I'm going to make myself these Coconut Mojitos (https://cookathomemom.com/coconut-mojito-mocktail/)

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Day 24, 25, 26

Good morning! Can't believe how close we are to 30 days. I've decided that I'm actually going to do a Whole31, since I'm planning to reintro cheese on Superbowl Sunday.

I've been feeling really good this weekend into this week. I'll do a little recap below:

Friday night: We had the Buffalo Chicken Salad for dinner - I tried to make Whole Sisters Dump Ranch, and really struggled to get it to emulsify. I normally use the Basic Ranch recipe that can be found on this site, so I think I'm going to keep using it. Otherwise, it was good. We went to pop punk karaoke with our friends at a local bar and had so much fun! I couldn't get to sleep until around 3:30 AM though, even though we left the bar around 1. I made the mistake of having a cold brew at like 9:30 PM (I just wanted something that wasn't water, and thought it was funny that the bar had it) so I'm not surprised that I had trouble sleeping. Otherwise, we had a really great time. I honestly didn't mind being sober for the most part - it was one of the first times that I went out so late, to a real bar, sober. I couldn't believe how many people I saw who were really, really drunk - it was concerning. When I asked my boyfriend if that was normal (he regularly will have alcohol free months, and continue to go out with all of our friends, where I tend to isolate myself during Whole30s or other times that I don't drink), he said it was, that there were always plenty of people who were too drunk out at bars that late. Really eye-opening for me. Anyway, we drove to the bar (another benefit of sobriety - saving on Ubers, and I spent $0 at the bar after my cover), and drove one of our friends home. That was a much better experience than being drunk and carsick in a stranger's car.

Saturday: I was only able to sleep in until 7:30. Felt a bit rough when I woke up - tired, obviously, with a sore throat from yelling and an ear ringing from the loud music. But, blessedly, no hangover. I had a slow, gentle morning, and when Dave woke up around 9:30 (he always sleeps late on weekends), he made us a quick breakfast, and we decided to go out to run some errands. If we had been drinking the night before, this never would have happened. We would have laid around the house all day, and probably ordered delivery food, spending more money and making ourselves feel worse. I'm chalking this up as a major NSV - something that really didn't happen in other rounds, either.  It's great to see how much I can learn and grow with each round. So, anyway, we went out to the suburbs to go to the mall and do some Christmas returns and exchanges. I treated myself to some new makeup at Sephora - I really didn't feel like I should be spending money, but we saved so much Friday night that I didn't beat myself up over getting a treat. We got Starbucks - nitro cold brew, while we were out. After we got home for our errands I got ready to go out again, to an organizing meeting for Bernie Sanders. That was...interesting...and when I came home Dave had made dinner. I had a really early night for the weekend, turning in around 8:30 PM.

I'll write about Sunday and this morning a bit later.

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Sunday: Woke up with no alarm at 6:02 AM. This is great, since I've been struggling to wake up before 6:30 AM this Whole30 round. I'm definitely a morning person, and when I have more time in the mornings I have such better days. I had a slow morning again, and watched some Netflix. I have had almost no desire to watch TV during this Whole30 - I'm more motivated to do chores around the house after dinner, and don't feel the normal after work slump that I had before. On weekends, we've been doing activities or chores. I have read 4 books so far this month, though. I only read 10 books total in 2019, so I'm very pleased with the trade of Netflix for reading. I enjoyed my time watching Netflix yesterday, though. Did chores around the house and got breakfast prepped for the week. I also realized on Sunday that I had successfully gone a full week of doing my nighttime skincare every night. I've been working on building healthy habits since my birthday in September, and have a pretty great morning routine established (reading, journaling, breakfast, short walk), but have been struggling with getting a nighttime routine going. Getting nighttime skincare to be a habit is going to be my foundation, and I'm going to start working on getting the dishes done and counters wipe down each night as my next step. This feels...gargantuan to me. My boyfriend and I have not been great at getting our dishes done historically, so this is going to be a really big change. But, I'm invested in it - as we continue to eat healthy, we'll keep cooking more, and having a clean kitchen makes cooking so much easier. I'm starting with just 5 minutes of cleaning after dinner, and will add on from there as it becomes a habit.

Monday: Woke up with my alarm, easily, at 6:05 AM. Good morning - I've been quite effective at work so far today - just led a meeting that I feel really good about. No plans for this evening, but we're in the process of getting our apartment clean for our Superbowl party Sunday, so I have cleaning the bathroom on my to-do list.

Meals for this weekend and today:

Day 24

M1 - Banana, three scrambled eggs, 4 Amylu sausages, ketchup - no fat, but I was at a total block with getting myself breakfast, so Dave cooked and we had this around 10 AM.

M2 -  Ground beef with taco seasoning on baby romaine leaves with salsa, baked oven fries dipped in dijon mayo, and roasted broccoli - Dave cooked again - I had a meeting at three, and didn't bring a snack so we ate early, around 4:45 when I got home.

Had a nitro cold brew at Starbucks

Day 25

M1 - Leftover taco meat & broccoli mixed with 2 scrambled eggs, topped with leftover green goddess and salsa

M2 - 2 pesto chicken sausages with olives/artichoke hearts, about 2 c leftover greek green beans

M3 - Quick Thick Meat Sauce with Spicy Oven Fries from Chrissy Teigen's website, Defined Dish Caesar dressing on romaine with cherry tomatoes and No Crumbs Left marinated onions

Had an almond milk cortado at a local coffee shop - I think there may have been something noncompliant, or that I didn't agree with, in this.

Day 26

M1 - Real Simple Good Sweet Potato Quiche (This is SO delicious, highly recommend) with spring mix, cherry tomatoes, marinated onions, and Caesar dressing, banana (the bananas are about to get brown so I'm trying to eat them up)

M2 - ~1 c cauli rice, leftover meat sauce, banana with cashew butter and coconut flakes 

M3 - Egg Roll in a Bowl with Sweet Potato Chowder

 

Areas for improvement

Sleep - Good, with the exception of Friday night. Lesson learned - don't drink cold brew at 9 PM. I was impressed with how well I was able to bounce back, though.

Digestion - Not great. It was getting a bit better, but after the cortado yesterday things have been off.

Skin - I used a sleep mask on Friday and I think gave me a couple zits, but my chin acne is looking better. It's not healed yet, but I think it might be finally on the mend.

Energy - Great! I felt good everyday this weekend. My mood has been consistent, and my anxiety is way down.

 

We also went to a local grocery chain, Giant Eagle, on Saturday to get a couple things that weren't at Costco.

Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Flour - $5.29 - got this to use in the Defined Dish sausage balls for the Superbowl

2 cans coconut milk - $3.98

2 avocados - $3

Kale - $2.99

Garlic powder - $3.99

1 lb garlic bulbs - $3.99

Green onions - $1.50

Dried chives - $5.99

Cinnamon Rolls - $2.50 - Dave got this because he's craving them for when we're done with Whole30 (cue eye roll)

Fresh dill - $2.99

Broth - $4.99

Cranberry Lime Polar Seltzer - $3.34

Total: $45 - $848 so far this month

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Day 27

Feeling okay this morning. Yesterday afternoon I hit a real slump and took a mid-afternoon nap, something I never do. I didn't get anything done after work, and my boyfriend made dinner. This was not an uncommon occurrence pre-Whole30, especially in the winter, but I haven't really felt that way since we started. I'm feeling better this morning, so we'll see how the day goes.

M1: Sweet Potato Quiche with Caesar Salad

M2: Leftovers or Tuna Salad Stuffed Mini Bell Peppers

M3: Out to dinner. - We're meeting a friend for dinner at a local restaurant, Gaucho. It's an Argentinian steakhouse that's very easy to make compliant. Since we're planning to have more beef later in the week, I'll probably get chicken or fish for a little change. I'm think that shrimp might be tasty.

That's all I really have to report for today.

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Day 28

Almost forgot to post today. I'm feeling in much higher spirits, more my Whole30 norm, than I was yesterday and Monday. I'm almost out of bananas - which I think were contributing to my slump - and I'll avoid them in the future and stick to berries or maybe apples when I feel like fruit. 

Yesterday, I ended up having leftovers for lunch - the last of the meat sauce from Sunday with cauli rice and Caesar dressing. Weird mix, but ok. We went to a late dinner with our friend, so I had a banana with nut butter in the late afternoon to hold me over. Dinner was delicious, as always at Gaucho. I got a huge salad with mushrooms, fennel, potatoes, avocado, and other yummy veggies topped with red snapper, and we shared a side of grilled cauliflower and smashed butternut squash. It was $54 for the two of us. $137 on going out to eat so far this month.

Meals for today:

M1: Last of the sweet potato quiche with Caesar Salad

M2: Leftover Buffalo chicken salad with a hardboiled egg from Friday - I tried to emulsify the Ranch dressing again and I'm still having problems. It was pretty thick when I took it out of the fridge, so maybe it's just supposed to me like that. I don't know.

M3: Slow Cooker Dijon Thyme Chicken Legs (https://therealfoodrds.com/chili-rosemary-roasted-nuts/) with Roasted Broccoli and Sweet Potatoes w Tahini "Butter" (https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/sweet-potatoes-with-tahini-butter - using ghee instead of butter)

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