Any dutchies around here?

[Asla]

Just curious if there are any active dutchies on whole30, so maybe we can give eachother some support, tips on whole30 compliant food in the netherlands, where to eat and stuff like that.

Iemand?

[Carlaccini]

I am a Canadian dutchie (Born from dutch parents). I have seen a few dutchies floating around here on the forum. I have been to many a good restaurant in Nederland (when visiting family) but I'm afraid they wouldn't be compliant.....

I'm still coming to terms with saying goodbye to cheese..... :*(

[Asla]

Nice to see a semi-dutchy. I'm not missing cheese to much (yet), strangely enough, as soon as I stopped eating it, I found it smelling very nasty... I miss the versatility in cooking with it, though. You could make almost anything better with cheese added to it.

I don't look forward to not eating out for a while :-( I decided it would be too hard for me to keep to my plans and well, don't have the money for it anyway, so it's kinda a good thing also.

[Carlaccini]

There are days that I really do miss it. But most days I don't. Where abouts do you live? (I have family sprinkled throughout Nederland) so my geography isn't too bad.

Yes eating out is difficult - I don't think it really matters where we are. I am actually looking against a family function that is coming up next weekend there will be a lot of pressure to eat - but nothing will be compliant.

I have always thought restaurants to be a bit more healthier in Nederland than here in NA. It could be just me, or simply the restaurants that we went to with family. I know we eat out for convenience a lot more often here in Canada and the US, whereas in Holland I've noted it easily is an entire evening/ socializing/ entertaining thing. Which I find to be Echte Gezellig (spelling? not to sure)

[Asla]

I'm from the east, Arnhem. But it's a small country, so I could visit any of your family-members in under two hours, haha.

Going our for dinner here indeed is thought of more as a special occasion, rather than just eating your dinner elsewhere. Our culture still resolves more around eating at home with your family and here it's not as common to just eat take-out/take-away every night.

If that is 'gezellig' really depends on who you spend your meals with, haha

Eating out might be better, but that's because we have less chain-restaurantswith junkfood to choose from. So more 'real restaurants', but they are also more expensive. (another reason for the cheapy dutchies to eat more meals at home and treat eating out as something special)

Well, for now: ne restaurants for me. I do go out for a nice cup of tea every now & then.

I have a family weekend next week and already dreading it... It'll be just halfway of my Whole30 and I'm afraid I won't have hit the 'halleluja' feeling by then, so it's going to be hard... Already said I would cook and luckily they agreed to that :-)

[Carlaccini]

I know Arnhem quite well. I had family living there at one point. Actually Enschede to be more exact. Actually my mom is from the east side too. Small town - Dedemsvaart. Closer to Zwolle. But not far away.

Haha - you can move the people but you can't move what is ingrained in them..... I can relate to your "cheapy dutchies" comment on so many levels.....

Yes there are so many "real restaurants" in Nederland. I always was impressed by that. I was also impressed by uit de muur eeten as well. Have a soft spot for croquetten.....

I live in Montreal. I find it is much more european here than the rest of Canada. (Unlike you it will take me 4.5 days to drive to visit family in Vancouver) There are less chain "junk food" restaurants and more "eat good real food" places. You can go to a little hole in the wall restaurant and eat really good food there. We have a tendency of staying at home to eat anyways but it is always nice to go out.

How are you feeling today? What day are you on? I am on day 5 today. (3rd whole 30). First week is always the hardest. Week two is better. But I am anxious about next weekend as well. It is my boyfriends family (he's canadian born italian) and they serve a ton of food always (and all of it is non-compliant) So I will either have to eat prior to going or bring something along that I can eat.

[Asla]

Hahaha, what is far or not differences a lot, between our countries. I remeber meeting an American (okay, not canada, but close enough in culture) on the airplane, telling me he travelled to and from work for hours each day. I myself want to be somewhere in half an hour or else it's far away...

I haven't visited Montreal, but I've been to Toronto, which was very nice. I found it to be pretty European, compared to American cities. Bit like Berlin, but better, because you don't speak German :-)

We ate out a lot there, it was great, lots of healthy (or reasonably healthy at least, if you consider paleo healthy) options and a lot to do and see. Best memory is grabbing a musical at the last moment for a small price. It was so much fun! If Canada was closer, I'd surely come back some time... maybe later, when our mini-me gets something out of it.

I'm on my first whole30, and I just had my first week. I was already busy for a month with lessening bread, potatoes and sugar, so I didn't have a really big change in what I eat, just slightly more strict in the rules. I was suprised to find that I still ate so much suger, hidden in things I thought was healthy.

Today I got the mail about the common traps and that was kind of dissapointing, because I did recognise some items on that list. Too much nuts and still feeding the sugar dragon evey now & then with dried fruits and coconutcubes. And snacking in between meals, I'm so used to my 'between breakfast and lunch' and my '4 o clock' that I get mentally hungry around those times. I suppose I'll need to get those 'bad habits' out. I'm planning on keep doing Whole30 for a bit longer, for the results, because these slight off-tracks aren't really big cheats, but they are influencing the results I hope to get.

What I found so funny was that I indeed started to have food-dreams! Because I didn't have the headaches and things like that, I was thinking I'd also be spared of the other withdrawal effects, but I was wrong. I had to smile about it when I woke up this morning.

Since you are doing your 3rd whole30: How did your in between periods go? Did you get completely off track, or did you just experiment a little and decide that completely Whole30 is your best option?

[Carlaccini]

Yep. I work for a Toronto based company so when I am required to work in Toronto (I stay with my mom) it is an hour and half drive for me to work. Of course my mom lives north of Toronto but traffic is what makes it so long.

Yes of course it would make total sense when your little one is bigger. First time I came to Holland I was 8 and I have only vague memories from that trip. My brother remembers more as he was older. Never been to Berlin so I am not able to fairly compare really. Other than the lack of speaking German.

Prior to my first 30 I had started to cut back on dairy and sugar as I had started to make connections on some of the evil things my diet was doing to me. Besides the being overweight part. I started drinking almond milk and only using honey and maple syrup to sweeten things. I figured the more natural the sugar the less harmful it was. I started to do a lot better than I had been doing. Then happened upon the book and then decided from there. I was going to get better.

I would say that some of our worst Whole 30 choices (ie: nuts and raisins) are still 100% better than some of the other choices I used to make. So I refuse to stress myself out on these things if I go a bit overboard with them. I just simply go to bed and say - I will be better tomorrow. Raisins and nuts won't kill me.

A good way to get yourself out of the 4 o'clock 'slump' is to have a nice natural sweet tea. I have found that Rooibos is a good one, and I have found a lovely gingerbread flavoured one (that happens to be compliant - surprised me). If that isn't enough I will rely on a handful of carrots and nuts to pull me through.

I was the same way! I did not have any carb flu, but I did have some dreams - which were really bizare. In my dream I accidentally ate some rice and then freaked out and then went off the deep end and eating all sorts of non-compliant foods. I woke up scared thinking I really messed things up. . I also had the day where I wanted to kill all things. This time it has been milder.

In between my whole 30's I would say I stayed mostly Paleo with a few complete offroading excusions such as Christmas, and random parties with friends. During the week I will try to stay as compliant as possible, weekends are usually more relaxed. I have discovered some "worth it" indulgences - beer, wine, dark chocolate, homemade cookies/baked goods/MIL lasangna, a pastry from the coffee shop in my work building (they are made in house and truly delicious. Plus my reaction to them is minimal - maybe it's the butter) But I do really need to limit my exposure to dairy. Butter is the only one that doesn't give me a truly hard time. Gluten is a meh reaction - but I feel better with it not being in my diet so I just limit my exposure to it.

I honestly feel my optimal best when I am whole30ing it. I'm easier to get along with too! So my choice is to try to stay as close to the guildelines as possible but not to lose hope when I am not able to or "Decide to live a little" as my friends call it.