Jen's Post W30 Log

[pjena]

I can't use wine as an excuse for the chocolate I ate last night.  At least it was dark chocolate, right?  But, it really wasn't THAT good.  I just wanted SOMETHING.  I need to get back to the place where I just don't think about it.  I'm reinforcing to myself that I should do another W30 soon.  October sounds like a good idea.  Plus, I'm now getting another cold sore.  So, after going 99 days without on W30 or close to it, I'm now back to every 2-3 weeks.  Again, need a W30.  I'm going to stick as close as I can except when out (and not have dessert) until then. 

 

On a good note, I stopped at the farmer's market and bought beets, spag squash, a pumpkin, cucumbers, green beans and a red cabbage.  Now I have to figure out what to do with it all!  Plus, I get my box Thursday.  I'm going to turn into a vegetable.

 

Monday plan:

M1 - fried eggs, kale, celery, AB, CM coffee

M2 - out - ended up with spring rolls and chicken curry soup - rice noodles but no gluten or dairy, so pretty good.  And delicious!

M3 - l/o spring roll, green beans, honeycrisp apple, AB

snack - too many cookies

[Physibeth]

I'm going to do a W20 starting Nov 1st through when I leave to visit family in NH from Thanksgiving and probably a W14 to recover when I get back if you want to have a partner in crime for your next strict Whole Whatever. I want to go into that week as clean as I can so I don't have to stress/stress out my mom while I'm there.

 

Do we really need an excuse for Chocolate? (I jest...kind of...) 

[pjena]

I'll take a partner in crime!  I'm sure I'll need the support to stick with it.

[Physibeth]

Are you planning to do October-Thanksgiving or do you just want to start with me? Or start 10 days before me?

[pjena]

I still have to figure it out.  I'm thinking Oct 1-Thanksgiving.  My issue is that I have two planned girls' weekends - one in October and one in November.  I have to wrap my brain around whether or not I'm willing to be on W30 for them.  I could do a W13 Sep 29-Oct 11, take a break, do a W27 Oct 13-Nov 8 and then a W17 Nov 11-27. Or, I could call it a W58minus3. Or, I could just suck it up and do a W58.  I just don't know yet.  I know I'm not starting until the 29th at the earliest, so I have a little time to figure it out.

[Emma]

Those are a lot of possibilities you're throwing around!  

 

We're heading to Mexico for a week at the end of the month and I'm sure we'll flounder a bit after that.  I'd be keen on hopping right back into another Whole30 but my husband isn't.  And admittedly, I know I'll be just as happy to go out to eat and drink beer and do all those things that steer me down the wrong path.  Figuring out a healthy balance sure isn't easy.  I might just try to join in on a WholeSomethingOrOther with you all!

 

Your farmer's market box sounds wonderful. 

[pjena]

I got into the cookies last night.  We had leftovers from the state fair in the freezer and I found them when I was getting out tonight's dinner to thaw.  I ate a bunch.  Unlike the chocolate, they were delicious and wonderful and worth it - at least the first one was.  I can't say that the rest were worth being mad at myself.  Anyway, moving on.  All this talk/thinking on a Wsomething has me ready to throw out the rest of this month and I don't want to do that.  I have a week until my anniversary.  If I can just rein it in until then, I know I can feel good that day.  I have plans between now and then that prevent me from making it a W7, but I can still focus on making each decision the best decision.  So,  today will be a W1.  I will take one day/decision at a time and try to make the best decision I can. 

 

M1 - zucchini, AB, kale, eggs, CM coffee

M2 - something from the freezer.  pretty sure it's chicken and caul rice.  honeycrisp apple and AB on the side

M3 - crockpot sourkraut, cabbage, kohlrabi, sausage, salad

 

I promised my 9yo that we could make zucchini bread tonight.  The neighbor gave him a zucchini and her recipe.  So, I will do that, but I will not eat any of it.  My helper can lick the bowl.

[Physibeth]

Stay strong Jen! One day at a time is definitely the ticket. One meal at a time. Each food item has to be pre-cursored with "Is it special, is it worth it." Maybe you need to put a sticky on the cookies with something like "One cookie is special and worth it but more than one is not" whatever it takes to jog the memory. 

 

Mmmmm zucchini bread. 

[Emma]

Oh that's a hard one!  I know that after we travel I'll be inclined to live it up, but I guess the thing to try for is to live it up in moderation.  That "is it special and is it worth it" question is rather a good one.  I've never asked myself that.  I do know that last year when I was counting calories I'd see something and I'd say out loud to myself, "Back Away.  Just Back Away" as if I was somebody in some action packed movie.  Then in a burst I'd grab the mixing bowl and pour water in it so that I couldn't eat it.  Those were some powerful moments!  I don't know if I'd be so tough anymore.  Cookies in the freezer can be a dangerous thing!  

 

You will feel better indeed if you eat well this week.  A semi W7 seems like a nice way to lead up to an anniversary.  At least for me I'd be thankful to not have the bloating.

 

Honeycrisp apples are THE best.  They cost us three bucks each so we don't have them too often.

[pjena]

I managed to get through baking zucchini bread just fine.  I did try a small corner this morning because my son wanted me to.  It was pretty good.  Super sweet.  Kind of like cake.  No wonder he made me get the recipe from his friend's mom!   Of course mine isn't as good (according to him).  It was tough to cobble together enough flour and sugar.  I just don't have much in the house.  I ended up using some white flour, some white wheat and some wheat just to get enough.  And for sugar, I had to sub in some brown sugar because I didn't have enough white.  Funny how a pantry changes after 6 months of avoiding baked goods!  I'm sure the wheat flour and brown sugar changed it a little bit. My baking powder might be old, too.  Oh well.  He's happy.

 

Today will not be a W anything, but I'll do my best with what I've got and WILL NOT have any dessert at either the lunch restaurant or at home.

 

M1 - beet greens, eggs, celery, AB, CM coffee, grapes

M2 - out to an Indian restaurant.  will do my best.

M3 - l/o sausage and sourkraut, salad

[Physibeth]

I gave away almost all my non-W30 stuff when I cleaned out my pantry during pre-packing. I think what I have left is a jar of steal cut oats and a jar of spelt flour. I'm glad your little guy is happy. Don't eat anymore of it!

[pjena]

Nope - no more zucchini cake for me!  We put one loaf in the freezer to bring to my mom's this weekend to share and the other will be the 9yo's snacks for a while.  Even though it's full of sugar, it's nice to have a homemade snack every once in a while.  He kind of lives on granola bars and squeeze packets of apple sauce.  Although he loves zoodles and kombucha and sourkraut, he also wants to look like the other kids at school.  He's a little sensitive about his allergies and being different. 

[Physibeth]

Did you mention you were toying with getting Against All Grains? I think that the recipes in that book would go far in providing foods that don't make him look that different and would be good for his allergies. There is a whole "kid food" section in fact. But lots of alternative baking recipes.

[pjena]

Yeah - I have that book from the library and am trying a few of the recipes before deciding if I want to buy it.  I need his foods to be dairy and egg free, though, but not necessarily wheat free.  I'm pretty good at making any recipe vegan.    That makes Paleo recipes a little tricky.  I just have to keep experimenting.  I did order some blanched almond flour off Amazon to try a couple of AAG recipes.  I used almond meal in the banana bread, which might have been why the kids didn't really dig it.  Hopefully, it comes soon so I can try a recipe or two before I have to take the book back.

[Physibeth]

Yeah - I have that book from the library and am trying a few of the recipes before deciding if I want to buy it.  I need his foods to be dairy and egg free, though, but not necessarily wheat free.  I'm pretty good at making any recipe vegan.    That makes Paleo recipes a little tricky.  I just have to keep experimenting.  I did order some blanched almond flour off Amazon to try a couple of AAG recipes.  I used almond meal in the banana bread, which might have been why the kids didn't really dig it.  Hopefully, it comes soon so I can try a recipe or two before I have to take the book back.

 

Egg free is the real trick I suppose. I've not read of a great substitute yet but if I come across an article I will let you know. You might want to post on her facebook wall and see if she has any egg sub suggestions. Poor little guy, I can't imagine not being able to eat eggs. I found blanched almond flour at my natural grocery (I'm sure it is cheaper off Amazon) and used it for the chocolate chip cookies and they were great. 

[pjena]

I did ok at the restaurant. I had one wedge of naan (piping hot right out of the oven - worth it) and otherwise focused on the meats and skipped the rice, potatoes, chickpeas and lentils.  Also skipped the desserts.  The only veggies were some cucumbers and tomatoes and some sort of creamed spinach that was very good. I have no idea what was in the sauces.  I'm ok with that.  I'm super full, though.  I hate buffets for that reason - it's hard to know how much to eat.  I'm thinking dinner will be a salad with tuna and avocado.  Sausage and sourkraut sounds way too heavy right now.  We'll see.  For sure no dessert or zucchini cake.

[Emma]

Resisting the naan - that's rough stuff.  I don't think I'd have done so well at all!

I have a friend who is allergic to chicken eggs and she just posted on facebook that she can eat duck eggs without a problem.   I googled it and I guess there are some who are able to have the duck eggs.  Any chance your kid can?  Would sure make baking easier.

[Physibeth]

Great job at the restaurant Jen!

 

Interesting about the duck eggs. How bad a reaction does he have? Something you can try safely?

[pjena]

That is interesting about the duck eggs. Unfortunately (but really fortunately) his reactions aren't severe or immediate so it would be pretty hard to test.  He gets stomach and esophogus inflamation that causes stomach aches, coughing and acid reflux.  It builds up over time.  The only thing that usually causes an immediate reaction is milk/icecream/cheese which at the least causes tummy upset / at the worst vomiting.  It's good in that he can have the occasional cupcake and not worry about reactions.  It's bad because it's hard to always say no when there isn't an immediate reaction, yet I know that if we are too lax, it won't be long before he's up all night coughing.  It would be easier if he just broke out in hives within a few minutes of eating a bad food like I did as a child.  But then, he is a more difficult child than I was and doesn't generally do things the easy way.   His technical diagnosis is eosinophilic esophagitis, which is caused by food allergies and the doctor called asthma in the esophogus.  I'm happy to know this because for years we tried treating GERD and the treatments never worked.  Now, we use enzymes and probiotics, avoid to the best of our ability the foods that he is allergic to and do periodic treatments with asthma medications (he swallows it rather than inhales it).

 

So, I made a decision and am going to post it here before I change my mind.  I'm doing a W7 starting at dinner last night and ending at dinner on my anniversary.  That means no wine or s'mores at my mom's this weekend.  I am posting it here to hopefully keep me from caving.  I need more than one or two days in a row to start to feel a little better about myself (it's more mental than physical, but still worth doing for me).  I don't really want to get into food related conversations so I will just blame my allergies and drink tea to sooth my throat instead.  I am not going to try to do better anymore.  As Yoda says: Do or do not; There is no try!

 

Today:

M1 - celery, AB, eggs, kohlrabi greens, CM coffee

M2 - salad with smoked trout and veg, apple & AB (local honeycrisp apples are always worth it because they are delicous and aren't around for long)

M3 - hm tomato soup, avocado, some sort of protein

 

Wish me luck!

[Physibeth]

No luck needed, you got the skills and you can totally do this! Go Jen Go!

[Emma]

WooHoo pjena - you can totally do it - and you will feel better.  It was your words to me that got me committing to that Day One back when I was hedging.  You will feel better and probably a lot better in just a couple days as the cravings go away.

 

What a drag about your kid, but I understand.  I have a form of asthma where my lungs fill with a thick viscous fluid and I cough and cough to no avail.  Viruses are the thing that tip me over the edge and then I react to almost every single food out there with violent coughing and asthma for weeks.  It's debilitating.  But now I don't - at all!   I think this last virus is my fourth cold since starting that first Whole30 and I'm eating clean foods and I'm not falling into the asthma overreactions.  It is SO freeing.  I do wish there was a single food, but I'm really realizing it's just the layers of exposure to the non clean foods.   You and your kid have really done an amazing amount of problem solving.  It's got to be frustrating for you, but you are so far ahead of the normal knowledge about foods and bodies.   

 

Smiling - I love your Yoda quote!  Enjoy your weekend.

[Physibeth]

Thought you might try this recipe with your egg-free little man: http://civilizedcavemancooking.com/grain-free-goodies/apple-mug-muffin-in-2-minutes/

 

There is an egg version and a no egg version. Looks like he is using chia and flax seeds in water as the egg substitute. Wonder if that always works in baking.

[pjena]

Thanks for the recipe, Bethany!  I will have to try that one.

 

I did it!  I made it through a dinner/bonfire gathering at my moms with no wine or s'mores.  It was so tempting, but I was determined.  It helped that I slept HORRIBLY Friday night so I really wanted to sleep well Saturday night and I know even one glass of wine makes that not happen.  The wine was terribly tempting.  All the adults were drinking a delicious looking red.  So sad.  But, I slept great and felt much better today than I would have if I'd indulged.  The rest of my W7 should be smooth sailing.

 

Saturday:

M1 - kale, eggs, celery, AB, CM coffee

M2 - salad with beets, veg, tuna, avocado

snack - tons of veggies - skipped the dips and chips! 

M3 - chicken, big salad, avocado

 

Sunday:

M1 - kale, eggs, banana, AB, CM coffee, fruit

snack - larabar (on the road longer than planned)

M2 - salad with beets, eggs, celery, AB

M3 - crockpot pepper steak, salad, avocado

[Emma]

Kudos to you!  

I have to tell you that I started really thinking about how nice a beer would be tonight when friend's come over for a birthday dinner, but then I reminded myself that I was trying to Whole30 and then I thought about wine and started figuring out that it would be okay, but THEN I remembered what you said about wine and knew I didn't want to mess with my sleep.  So thank you!!!!

[pjena]

Glad I could help.   My problem is that I don't WANT to never have wine.  I really like the taste and the ritual (not sure that is the word I want) of a glass of wine with friends or at a special occasion.  I just hate what it does to my sleep.  Anyway, it was worth skipping this time.

 

The crockpot pepper steak worked great and the sirloin steaks that were inedible according to my husband were plenty chewable, so yay!  Our farmer will be happy that we don't have to return all of the sirloin steaks we got from him.  We are returning the t-bones, though. He is bummed by it, but I figure he should know if a customer isn't happy with his product and I'm hoping he'll swap us some steaks from a better cow so that my husband can see that it's not all grass fed cows that are bad.  We'll see.  We get a whole pig and a bunch of chickens from him every year, as do my parents and brothers, so he wants to work with us.

 

Tonight is a scout potluck.  Nothing there tempts me.  I will bring a big salad to share and my own version with tuna and avocado and be perfectly happy.  I really hate scouts.  I'd much rather watch a soccer game than go to a scout meeting, but it means a lot to my husband, so I just keep my mouth shut and go when I have to.  Tonight, the big one has the Boy Scout potluck and is getting some sort of advancement while the little one has a Cub Scout den meeting, so I have to go to the potluck.  Lucky me!  Sigh. 

 

Day 4:

M1 - celery, AB, eggs, kale, CM coffee

M2 - l/o pepper steak, salad with beets, avocado

M3 - salad with beets, avocado, tuna