From Whole30 to Whole45, or even Whole60!

[Gaileo]

Hey all! Yesterday was my day 30 but for various reasons I decided (last night!) to continue for the Whole45. Mainly I realized that 30 days was probably not enough to clear out all the terrible crap I've been consuming, slay my dragons, and fix my digestive distress. I've also been fighting some sort of cold/flu thing for the last week, I think, which has made it really hard for me to tell what sort of improvements I might be experiencing. So, onward, and hopefully upward!

I tend to write wayyy too much, so sorry about that in advance.

Continuing was a tough decision, mainly because I've been getting myself really hyped up for my day 31 glass of wine- I know from reading these forums that a lot of you can relate to that

My story, as briefly as possible:

I have always been very tense & stressed. I've had trichotillomania (compulsive hair pulling) since I was about 9 years old, diagnosed with depression & anxiety in middle school, diagnoses changed to bipolar II in high school. Meds and/or terrible diet started to cause some digestive distress, which just got worse and worse. Stopped taking the meds and learned various ways to even out my emotions, including eating all kinds of terrible, terrible crap. Mostly sugar, wheat, simple carbs. For instance: a big ol bowl of white rice. Or an entire sleeve of saltine crackers. Fruit snacks. Cheez-its. Red vines. Bread. Often I would not eat very much of my dinner, and then fill up on "food" like that. I'm sure now that it was a bigger factor in my poor digestion that the meds were. I was never able to communicate to my doctor how much pain and distress I was in, and since I am skinny and my blood-work was always fine, I was continually deemed "healthy" and sent home. And now I have no medical insurance, and I can no longer ignore the pain and exhaustion and oh yeah, the acne (which I never even had as a teenager and has become worse and worse in the last couple of years), and weird hand rash which seemed to be spreading rapidly.

So, Whole30. My sister has been doing the AI protocol from Practical Paleo since last November, I think, and she is feeling amazing. One of my other friends did a Whole30 in December and posted about it on facebook all the time, and I researched it and knew it was for me. I can't do "moderation" so I decided to dive in after a couple of weeks prep. My start date was February 11th. I was sort of doing the AI & IBS/IBD protocols, but nuts & seeds kept sneaking in, either as spices or just as whole handfuls of nuts (they would be in the cupboard for my boyfriend, since he was doing Whole30 with me and doesn't like avocado, my usual stand-alone source of fat).

With no eggs, nightshades, ghee, coffee, uncooked veggies, unpeeled fruit, citrus, and most spices, I am starting to get sort of bored with the food I've been eating. It's been a little hard trying to be a part of this community when every is always waxing poetic about homemade mayonnaise, citrus everything, & eggs galore. It seems like all the make-ahead recipes for one-dish easy grab meals rely on eggs for shape and protein.

So I've eaten a lot of ground meat, steak, chicken, canned & fresh fish, leafy greens, tons of different veggies including ones I've never even seen before and very small amounts of fruit. My sugar dragon is huge, guys. But I've also realized I have so many dragons. Sugar dragon, coffee dragon, big-pile-of-boring-food dragon (mashed fauxtatoes & cauliflower rice, I'm looking at you ), late night snack dragon. I really feel like I defeated my coffee/caffeine dragon finally, and I am really close with the late-night snacking. But I still crave sugary sweets. A lot. Which is part of why I've decided to do at least 45 days.

Since my boyfriend isn't doing this with me anymore, I want to keep myself accountable. I'm going to crack down on sneaky seeds and stop buying nuts. Try to stop thinking about the things I will "get to" eat when this is over, and just concentrate on cooking and eating delicious food. I'd also like to work on keeping stress down, maybe with a simple yoga routine & some meditation. If anyone can point me in the direction of beginner's versions of those things, that would be great.

If anyone made it this far, thanks for reading. I would love some advice for make-ahead meals that fit the AI & IBS/IBD protocols. And now, on to the log.

Day 31

Slept in until about 10:30 today. Heavenly. Boyfriend and roommate out doing things. Decided I would head to the zoo after breakfast and enjoy myself solo.

Meal 1 - 2 palms worth shredded chicken thighs over a bed of all the leftover veggies in fridge (carrots, kale, cauliflower mash, broccoli), 1/2 avo

Meal 2 - 2 burger patties with a huge pile of lettuce, about 1 apples' worth apple slices no skin (the best thing I could come up with at the zoo. It was pretty amazing, actually. Maybe just because I didn't have to cook it myself... )

Meal 3 - 3/4 lb ground beef with herbs, scallions, and garlic. Wilted spinach, pickles, whole avo

I've just had my Natural Calm while typing this up, and now it's bed time. If I don't get called in to work tomorrow, it will be a cook/prep day for the upcoming week.

[Kirsteen]

Gaileo you've really had a lot to contend with and I applaud you for wanting to continue til you feel better. I was ill during my first W30 so made it a W60 instead, like you I wanted to have a run of days of not being ill so I could tell exactly how my body was responding. I've no advice regarding the AI protocol, I've never done it but I have been toying with the idea of doing a AI W30 and realise it will bring added difficulties (sorry I'm one of those that's gloated about learning to make mayo ) i have realised that a lot of my meals would be ok though. I tend to have a lot of what Well Fed calls plate meals. I make a batch of chicken, a slow cooked brisket and loads of ground beef and then freeze them in individual portions (well plus leftovers for breakfast). I make a couple of batches off different greens and roasted veg and cook several sweet potatoes. I keep these in the fridge and then, at mealtimes just throw things into the skillet to heat up. Anyway, I'm looking forward to following this log to see what others come up with. Good luck.

[Gaileo]

Thanks so much Kirsteen! And I don't really feel any animosity toward anyone about mayo gloating, just wanted to get that off my chest and this seemed as good a place as any. I realized one of the hardest things about AI protocol is giving up so many spices that come from seeds and are so delicious. I love caraway, cumin, and mustard, in particular.

I was granted the day off today so I decided to head to the store, or should I say stores, after meal 1. Got all sorts of stuff and headed home prepared for a big cook-off. Had meal 2, cooked for hours, ate some of it as meal 3. I took this list with me to the kitchen: http://www.thepaleomom.com/2012/07/spices-on-autoimmune-protocol.html and put all of the spices I can use onto one shelf. I also mixed up a few custom blends. That will make things a lot easier.

Meal 1 - ground beef on wilted spinach & cabbage, leftover roasted kabocha

Meal 2 - can of tuna mixed with avocado, side of wilted greens

Meal 3 - meatballs, yam, greens again, cooked this way: http://nomnompaleo.com/post/2953673557/fridge-staple-trader-joes-southern-greens

The greens were really delicious. The crazy thing is I bought that exact bag of greens from TJ's today (Southern greens blend), and then I decided to search nomnompaleo for the term "greens" for some ideas on how to cook it, and I found that recipe.

[Gaileo]

Forgot to mention I had a big bite of raw sauerkraut with my dinner.

[Gaileo]

Day 33 (yesterday)

Meal 1 - can of salmon, 1/2 avo, arugula, sweet potato

Meal 2 - can of tuna, couple bites sweet potato, 1/2 avo, roasted carrots, balsamic

Post work - couple turkey meatballs, sweet potato

Meal 3 - turkey meatballs, sweet potato & apricot puree, carrots, bite of sauerkraut

Day 34

Meal 1 - can of tuna, 1/2 avo, sweet potato, sauteed greens & carrots

Meal 2 - can of tuna, 1/2 avo, greens & carrots, balsamic vinaigrette, butternut squash puree

Meal 3 - beef stew with carrots, onion, and turnips, another bite of sauerkraut

Definitely got hit with this flu I have been fighting off. Had to walk home from work yesterday when I was already exhausted, and I think my body was just finally like "OK here you go!" Fever, dizziness, aches, runny nose, the works. Spent a couple hours last night shivering uncontrollably when I should have been sleeping. Started my period at about the same time and it has been a really rough couple of days, hence the repetitive menu and tons of cans of fish. I am feeling a bit better today and my appetite has somehow been OK this whole time, so I have continued eating normally for the most part.

[Gaileo]

Yikes, I've done it now!

I decided I wanted to make some paleo treats for my boyfriend and coworkers for Valentine's day, so I got a bag of cashews and some crazy expensive chocolate chips, check out the ingredient list: Evaporated cane juice, natural chocolate liquor (non-alcoholic), non-dairy cocoa butter. And when I was mixing things up, I accidentally licked honey off my finger. OMG, it was so sweet D: Then I ate a couple chocolate chips, not accidentally. They tasted so good, I almost cried. But then I was able to stop eating them and continue making the treats. This is basically a miracle, and I think I have made a lot of progress on defeating my sugar dragons.

So I guess that was nearly a Whole34, but I'm actually gonna keep it up for a while still. I'm pretty sure the only thing technically off limits was sugar and I really kept it to a minimum. I'm feeling pretty proud of myself.