Nila's Whole60

[Nila]

Day 8, part I

Sleep: 7.5 hours. I think I went to bed too late. I just couldn't sleep past 8:15 this morning. I feel fine so far.

Eaten, so far:

1. Scramble - about a teaspoon of coconut oil, mushrooms, jalapeño, tomato, a spinkling of leftover chorizo, 5 eggs (too many?), half an avocado
   

Someone wanted to share.

[Nila]

Day 8, Part II

Eaten:

1. Soup that I cobbled together from chicken stock, coconut milk, onion, yam, baby bok choy, jalapeño, cilantro, roasted chicken, coconut oil (to sauté vegetables), green curry paste [pictured]
   
2. Stir fry - coconut oil, chicken breast, onion, garlic, green pepper, broccoli; topped with Sunshine Sauce that I started before realizing I didn't have Sunbutter though I swore I did...so I used pistachios. Silliness.
   

I had a thing for the orange bowl today.

After dinner, I had the urge for dessert. I was no where near hungry. I just wanted something else. I just walked away from the kitchen and busied myself with something else. I got over it. Victory.

I worked today - and took my son to get cleats for lacrosse. And did laundry. Nothing exciting.

[Nila]

I finally took the time to watch the TedX video. Thanks, Terez.

Here's what was most compelling about Dr. Wahls' talk, for me: She has MS and had reached the point where she could only get around her house with the help of 2 canes and had to be in a reclining chair. No upright sitting like I'm doing now. At that point she changed her diet to what you describe - the 9 cups of vegetables divided as you listed, grass-fed meat, organ meat and seaweed - and within 3 months she could walk with 1 cane between exam rooms. At 4 months she could walk throughout the hospital with no cane. At 5 months, she got on a bike for the first time in a decade and took a ride around the block. At 9 months she did an 18-mile bike ride.

That's remarkable.

My lesson is that I may not see evidence of the healing I need until 3 months (or whatever my body's timeline is) after starting and staying with, as my doctor put it, "strict paleo." And that healing will be a progression based on diligence -- and not stinking feeling sorry for myself because I "can't" eat chocolate covered grahams or buttermilk biscuits with sausage gravy. I have to keep in front of me that I'm making the "little" choices about food for the much larger choice for optimal longevity.

The lesson for all of us is to take charge of our own health. Research. Ask question. Push the envelope.

I like that you're having vegetables with Meal 1. That's something I see a lot of people skipping.

On the autoimmune, I don't know if you've looked at Terry Wahls's research. She is healing her own multiple sclerosis, and doing clinical trials of this way of eating with other autoimmune diseases.

I don't have autoimmune issues but I'm following her protocol anyway. Which is basically the Paleo diet but wtih 3 cups each of:

• Greens (such as kale, not salad greens)
  
• 'Sulfur' vegetables (cruciferous and others such as asparagus)
  
• 'Deeply colored' vegetables and fruit (those that are colored all the way through, so yes for carrots but no for turnips)
  

That's 9+ cups of vegetables a day.

Her TED talk is good and I found some written interviews with her to be helpful. But her other recorded material (webinars) are really hard to sit through (she could use some coaching on presenting).

She doesn't mention this in the TED talk but in some other interviews she says she tried the Paleo diet and it didn't make a difference until she tweaked the vegetables. Those quantities of those types of vegetables, along with the rest of the Paleo protocol, gave her vitamins and minerals through natural sources.

She had used supplements to treat herself and thought they weren't doing anything until she stopped taking them. She suddenly lost a lot of energy, which told her that supplements were doing some good -- but they were only slowing her decline, they weren't reversing it. When she had the idea to get her nutrients from food rather than from supplements, is when things turned around for her.

Anyway. Here's the video clip. It sure all looks Whole30 compliant to me.

Hm. Can't see how to show the video. But here's the URL if you want to watch her TED talk:

[Nila]

Day 9

Sleep: 7.5 hours...Not ideal. I just couldn't sleep. It was very warm in our bedrooms for some reason.

Eaten:

1. Scramble - 3 eggs, home-seasoned sausage, kale, cilantro, mushrooms, jalapeño with a touch of coconut oil; topped with 1/2 avocado and Cholula [pictured]
   
2. Barnyard stew (chicken breast, compliant bacon, grass-fed stew beef, sweet potato, marinara), warm cherries with coconut milk
   
3. Banana lightly sautéed in coconut butter with cinnamon
   
4. Chicken breast with Serrano ham and dijon mustard, roasted carrots and turnips (coconut oil), wilted baby kale (coconut oil and chicken stock) [pictured, before and after the oven]
   

It was a work at the desk (home office) day. I am continuing to research and build a presentation for next week. I'm sure I'm taking way too long and still kicking myself for agreeing to do it. I didn't feel terribly anxious about it today though. That's the good news.

Since I was at home, I took the time to cook good food, focusing on the vegetables for morning and evening meals. In the morning, I also made a breakfast casserole. This time, though, I used a whole bag of frozen spinach instead of a shredded sweet potato. That was my plan for getting more green stuff in the morning. I can always have a sweet potato on the side, if I feel I need it.

I have found myself shunning ghee. I don't know exactly why. Maybe I'm temporarily burned out on it. We'll see. I've been eyeballing Tom's butter chicken recipe so I suspect I'll come around.

Today is the Tibetan New Year, the year of the water snake. Happy Losar! Apparently in Tibetan tradition, today's meals would be all vegetarian. Clearly it is not a tradition I followed. I'll spend some extra time in meditation instead. Trade offs, right? Tashi Delek!

[Nila]

Day 10

Sleep: 7.5 hours. Getting to be a nasty habit. I was set for an earlier bedtime but then my 23andMe report came in and I was sucked in to my genotype. According to 23andMe I am 2.8% Neanderthal. That puts me in the 83rd percentile among their database. Yay me!

Eaten:

1. 4 eggs scrambled, 1/2 avocado

2. Banana, T coconut butter

3. Barnyard stew, green beans with olive oil

4. 2 Brazil nuts, teaspoon coconut butter (in the car, on the go)

5. Roasted carrots and turnips (c oil), red leaf lettuce and pistachio salad with avocado dressing, leftover Serrano/Dijon chicken roll, 2 baked chicken tenders

My breakfast was late and not substantial so I got hungry early and then couldn't seem to regulate as well for the rest of the day.

I think my evening meals are generally too big. I eat per the template but feel still full when I to bed. I don't like feeling quite so full when I go to sleep. It makes me restless and pushes out bed time. I'm not going to change anything until I have a few more days to observe my behavior (am I really eating to template?) and correlations. I'm not stressing over it either.

[30Canandaigua]

Hey Lady! Looks like you're doing great!!! Starting my second whole30 on the 15th... Hopefully I can/will STICK TO THE TEMPLATE I like that you are posting pix, I just might need to get off my ars and do the same.

[Nila]

Hey Lady! Looks like you're doing great!!! Starting my second whole30 on the 15th... Hopefully I can/will STICK TO THE TEMPLATE I like that you are posting pix, I just might need to get off my ars and do the same.

Cool. So we can have some overlapping WholeNess.

As for the pix, it took me a long stinking time to figure out a system for it. I'm a Mac. The technical side of this forum appears to a PC. My big complaint is that I need a new camera. It's tough to get good shots. Granted, I'm using an iPhone 4. But my husband's does a better job with the exact same image. My lens cover is scratchy. My phone has been way more beat up than his. See what I'm trying to do here? I'm talking myself into an iPhone 5. Sigh. ANYWAY...it's kind of fun to try to get decent shots of food. It brings out the art school student in me.

[Nila]

Day 11, part I

I'm not sure if I'll post tonight. And I'm quite sure I won't remember the details if I don't. So, I'll post about the day so far.

Sleep: 7.25 hours. Not going in the right direction here. I keep finding ways to stay up late. And yet the alarm goes off at the same time. The thing is, I feel okay. I know I'd feel better if I had more sleep. Hence...I'm stepping away from the computer before dinner and not coming back.

Eaten, so far:

1. Breakfast casserole - eggs, breakfast sausage (my recipe), giant package of frozen chopped spinach, onion powder, salt, pepper; topped with avocado dressing
   
2. Stir fry - seasoned ground pork, a red bell pepper, a jalapeño, a baby bok choy (seems wrong to eat a baby), diced jicama, teaspoon of coconut oil, a couple tablespoons or so of sunshine sauce (made with ground pistachios instead of Sunbutter), chicken stock, sea salt
   

Breakfast casserole - a side view

Stir fry

When cooking just for myself especially, I've finding myself with vegetables and adding the meat. The result has been a whole new level of color -- and a quickly emptying vegetable bin. Bringing together different vegetables for a variety of tastes and textures is just plain fun. My stir fry a bit ago was a virtual symphony for the senses. Crunchy sweet jicama. Sultry red bell pepper. Sharp jalapeño. Mellow bok choy. The pork, a palm's worth, was merely an accent note.

That stir fry illustrates why I can't preplan everything. I need this creativity. I so enjoy these meals (when I hit a good combination). And while they're wonderful to me, I can see how no other soul would read about them on a menu and say oh yeah, I'll have that. This is why restaurants have lost their luster for me. Unless I go to the finest progressive restaurants -- and the budget isn't there for that right now -- the experience ends up being blah. A plain dry-grilled chicken breast with a green salad, no dressing. Or something like that. I can't get my whatever-you-call-it-stir-fry-thing outside of my own kitchen.

Right now my vegetable drawer contains some cilantro, a head of cauliflower, a jalapeño, an orange bell pepper, and three carrots. That looks about right for dinner for the four of us. I'm sure I can whip something up with that and maybe some fruit in the drawer below. It's a good thing Green B.E.A.N. delivery is making a stop here today. Got to refill that drawer.

[Nila]

Day 11, part II

Eaten:

3. Czech meatballs per Well Fed, except half beef and half pork; mashed cauliflower per Well Fed (no chives); warmed cherries with coconut milk

I felt fine at the time, but again I feel like I may have overdone it. It's 3 hours later and my belly is feeling full.

And now it is time to zzzzzz.

[Contessa]

Been thinking about those Czech meatballs! Was paging through Well Fed last night and those just jumped out at me. They look pretty delicious.

Just wanted to thank you for the updates here. I stop by to stalk pretty regularly, and find your write-ups inspiring! Lots of good meal ideas hanging out here.

[Run4fun]

That stir fry is illustrates why I can't preplan everything. I need this creativity. I so enjoy these meals (when I hit a good combination). And while they're wonderful to me, I can see how no other soul would read about them on a menu and say oh yeah, I'll have that. This is why restaurants have lost their luster for me. Unless I go to the finest progressive restaurants -- and the budget isn't there for that right now -- the experience ends up being blah. A plain dry-grilled chicken breast with a green salad, no dressing. Or something like that. I can't get my whatever-you-call-it-stir-fry-thing outside of my own kitchen.

Well, if you decide to open Nila's Kitchen to the public, I'd make the drive! Your menus sound awesome to me!

[Sarah Snyder]

I love that your doctor is recommending you try diet to address your health concerns! Wish more docs did that!

[Nila]

Day 12

Sleep: 8 hours

Eaten:

1. Omelet with jalapeño, tomatoes and mushroom; chicken sausage; avocado

2. Salad - mixed vegetables, 1/2 egg, raisins, sunflower seeds, chicken breast, olive oil, vinegar

3. Leftover meatballs; egg/banana pancakes

4. Meatloaf, cauliflower rice, broccoli

Pancakes are not a food that has ever excited me. In fact, way back when I ate wheat, I could hardly eat them because they made me ill. What I ate today was fritter/pancake/whatever. I don't see it as paleofied food anymore than mashed cauliflower. I realize that may be different for others.

Being Valentine's Day, I made my meatloaf in a heart shape. Awww.

[30Canandaigua]

What did you do with the other half of the egg?!

I feel the same way about pancakes. My husband can pound down a tall stack whereas I'd rather chug the syrup

[Nila]

What did you do with the other half of the egg?!

I feel the same way about pancakes. My husband can pound down a tall stack whereas I'd rather chug the syrup

The other half of the egg was given to some other restaurant patron. The nerve!

[30Canandaigua]

The other half of the egg was given to some other restaurant patron. The nerve!

Was it the dwarf salad special? Half an egg. A dude made that salad for sure... LOL

[Nila]

Day 13 (posting a day late)

Um...do I remember at this point?

Sleep: 8 hours

Eaten:

1. Broccoli, cabbage, burger patty, mustard
   
2. Banana, pistachios
   
3. Leftover meatloaf, leftover broccoli, teaspoon of olive oil
   

Not 100% convinced I got that all right. It was an odd day.

[Nila]

Day 14

Sleep: 9.25 hours

Eaten:

1. Breakfast casserole - egg, sausage, spinach
   
2. Deli turkey (shopping at Whole Foods)
   
3. Leftover meatloaf, banana
   
4. Chipotle chicken thigh, roast pork shoulder, lettuce, guacamole
   

I haven't had much success getting vegetables in the last night or today. We have an out of town visitor and an overnight party of 4 boys celebrating a 15th birthday. I'm not going to feel badly about the vegetable thing because I'm celebrating the other side of the interrupting to the norm: I made 48 cupcakes and attended to the annual cupcake sculpture event where 3 open tubs of frosting and a ton of various candy were sitting in clear view. There has been a bowl of potato chips (my nemesis) sitting out for 9 hours. I not so much as licked a finger. I did have a few ever so slight twinges of wah, wah, poor me. And I'm feeling okay that I didn't have any chips or frosting or M&Ms. I didn't even feel the need to sub with fruit. I'd bought blueberries just in case.

I'm starting to catch up on my sleep. I hope to get another solid 9 hours tonight. It appears I should be heading to bed soon if I want that to happen.

[Nila]

Was it the dwarf salad special? Half an egg. A dude made that salad for sure... LOL

All I know is that I went home and ate again. Seriously. A green salad with an anemic chicken breast and half an egg does not make a meal.

[30Canandaigua]

NILA! What's shakin? Hope all is well <3

[Nila]

NILA! What's shakin? Hope all is well <3

Here! Still compliant. I just haven't been posting. Busy schedule, lots of attention on projects and presentations. Keeping the spare time spare...and using what I have to not be glued to my electronics. Thanks for checking in!

How are you?

[30Canandaigua]

How are you?

Fantastic, glad to see you're still kickin! I have 9 of my husbands buddies coming over to 'camp out' this weekend.... So, I will most likely be GLUED to my electronics... Or cooking like a banshee. I envy the term 'spare time'. Although I can sleep for 12 hours straight, which kills said term. LOL

[Nila]

Fantastic, glad to see you're still kickin! I have 9 of my husbands buddies coming over to 'camp out' this weekend.... So, I will most likely be GLUED to my electronics... Or cooking like a banshee. I envy the term 'spare time'. Although I can sleep for 12 hours straight, which kills said term. LOL

At first I thought 9 husbands! Wow! It makes a guys' "camp out" sound so much better.

[Nila]

I will admit I'm feeling challenged.

I'm bored with the food, frustrated with cooking what seems like all the time and not being able to get something compliant when I'm on the go. I know I can cook ahead (I actually don't like reheated meat, truth be told...kind of grosses me out) and carry food with me. All those things. I'm just not able to get myself there right now.

There are other contributing circumstances...

• In my work, I'm being pulled in many directions and starting to feel a touch overwhelmed. I probably need some time off, even a day, from constant obligations.
  
• I did public speaking yesterday and have another in a month. That makes me crazy. It hits my insecurities and fears.
  
• I'm also in that week before my period which, while much better than before, is when my mood swings and my mind turns to sweet things.
  
• Furthermore, it's mid/late-February, a time when I historically get a bit winter-bluesy. It used to be awful. The last few years haven't been so bad. But that downward slope could still be there a little. Maybe I'm there. Maybe I'm not. It could be the other stuff doing it to me.
  
• And, oh yeah, I had to switch from my beloved doctor to another in his practice. The original doctor is only accessible if I am a concierge patient. With our big change in income, I was not able to renew my membership. Last week I had to see the new doctor briefly for an issue...okay, a UTI for which I had to take an antibiotic (natural methods were not working) - also not a great mood enhancer. She had looked at my total file long enough to say this, with worried eyes, when the appointment ended: "please come back really soon. I want to talk to you. You have serious issues. I think you have hardening of the arteries and we need to do something about it as soon as possible." Oy. Now a new doctor has to learn me and try to save me. I appreciate that, don't get me wrong. It's just tough since I was in a groove with the other doctor, the one who sent me to ISWF and a "strict paleo" diet to begin with. Both, by the way, are functional medicine practitioners. I'm sure New Doc means well. It's still a blow to the ego.
  

It's a rather nasty convergence. Maybe that's why I haven't been posting. Maybe it's an act of rebellion or some way to take my attention off of this whole health thing so I'm not being obsessive about this one area. Maybe I don't want to be found out. On the not-speculative side, I do want to get the hell away from my computer a bit. That's legitimate.

And oh, I ate white potato two days in a row - a handful of fries (in duck fat) Wednesday and just a single baby potato yesterday. So, I kind of stretched it when I said I was compliant. Sorry gang. In both cases, I was caught unprepared with no control over the food. The first was a business lunch at a place that had no salad or compliant vegetables. It was a foodie place, so I thought it would be okay. But all they had on the menu that was even close was a lamb/beef burger, that they insisted on serving medium rare, with fries. I thought I was going to die eating the burger, like I was eating a lamb straight. I could almost hear it bleating. The fries kept me from, well, barfing. Yep, excuses all. The second potato incident was at the luncheon where I was speaking. I was not ready for the event, food wise, so I ate the chicken they served and plucked out a couple of green beans that didn't get coated with cream sauce...and then there was the baby potato. I stopped myself at one.

I weighed myself yesterday. I don't know why really. I just did. I saw what I wanted to see. I put the scale back in storage afterward.

I've eaten pretty well. I could maybe use a little more balance in my meals. Last night I had a huge bunch of baby bok choy steam sautéed with coconut aminos and nothing else. I couldn't get myself to eat meat. And then tonight I had the tastiest damned baked chicken thighs and a hard cooked eggs. On average, the two meals were to the template, but I'm thinking that's not the idea.

Here's the thing. I'm still going to love myself. While I probably put a stop to my Whole30 in the strictest sense, I have done the best I can to take care of myself. Neither of those potato incidents threw me off the wagon. I've had plenty of opportunity to eat all manner of sugar/dairy/grains/legumes but I haven't done it. Heck, my birthday was on the 2nd and I didn't eat a grain of sugar. My son's birthday was this past weekend and I served up a host of non-compliant food without licking a finger. Moreover, I didn't want to have a grain of sugar or lick my fingers.

I am practicing yoga and sitting in meditation nightly. My time in both is gradually increasing. My flexibility is improving. My joints are feeling better. My skin has been blemish free for a month now. And in spite of how this post probably reads, I'm generally very happy day to day. These are big wins.

I'm now considering whether I keep counting days of a WholeAnything or if I move to a post Whole30 log. I welcome thoughts on this question.

If you've read this thing, thank you for committing the time. I truly appreciate it.

[30Canandaigua]

I liked your post because it really resembles a place I am in...

First I must say that if I had to do public speaking I would have a melt down of epic proportions. I envy anyone who can stand up in front of their peers and not pee their pants, pass out, vomit or all three (that's me!) Feeling insecure is normal; the fact that you can accomplish the task is awesome!

Last week was my cycle week, and I straight up told my husband that I might return home without my job. He gave me a sideways glance like a deer in headlights and asked when my period was over. Nuff said.

Your new doctor is lucky she didn't get punched in the throat. IMHO.

A few white potatoes. Meh. You've already completed a W30. At this point you're giving your body more time to heal. I personally would take some time to reflect, relax & then continue with this adventure, or a different one. I said somewhere else that I am planning on doing 2-3 W30 back to back with a week or two off in between. My thought process is that I have been eating poorly for decades, and I can't really expect myself to change my behavior and heal in only 30 days. But over the course of several months, with time inbetween for reflection, I feel that I will be able to create the sustainable change in my life that is needed for me to heal my body... and slay my party animal dragon. At the end of my first W30 I was super excited to get on the "green" side of the fence. I ate chocolate, drank martinis, and felt like shit. I needed that to remind myself of where the grass really is greener, and what my long term goals really are. I needed to feel 'free', and re-group. I only go into this rant because I can relate to how you're feeling, and I don't think you should beat yourself up over 2 potatoes. Or not following the template. Yes I know, the template is the program. But you are human. Period. You are obviously listening to your body, and know in your heart that you have made positive sustainable changes. Where you post, if you choose to, is up to you I think you're doing amazing.

xoxo Lindsey

P.s. I am endlessly laughing at your lunch bleating... and dry heaved a few times.