Log of 1000 Truths

[AaronD]

Thanks again everybody. I've tried adding some more fat yesterday and today. Let's see how I do. This is for yesterday, day 4:

breakfast

3 eggs w/ peppers and onions

3 cups of coffee w/ coconut oil

mixed berries and some grapes

lunch (very small and quick since i was very busy at work)

salad w/ grilled chicken, oil and vinegar

2 hard boiled eggs before my run

dinner (first time eating out)

beef satay (about 4 pieces of beef)

steamed beef and vegatables (no sauce)

handful of macademias as a night time snack

[percypat]

Looks good Aaron! How have you been feeling these past couple of days? Any differences?

[percypat]

Oh, and congrats on navigating a meal out. I haven't done that yet. Perth is so stupidly expensive for eating out though, so it's not like we decide to do it much.

[AaronD]

So I fell to temptation tonight, I couldn't do it. I can't do the eating out thing. Plus I skipped lunch due to doing work around my parents house. I was so freaking hungry at lunch, I tried to force down a salad and some chicken but it was absolutely nauseating. I had bread and pasta at dinner and ate like I've never eaten before. Been so freaking hungry! I'm pretty sure I can't do this.

[Physibeth]

You can do this if you want to. Dust yourself off and get back on the horse. A big key to success is planning. When I know I'm going to be away from home during a meal I make sure I have an option either with me or that I can go out to.

I guess the real question is do you want to succeed at this? What are your reasons for doing a Whole30? Are those reasons important enough to be strong and resist temptations?

As far as eating out goes I think we have to let go a little bit of our need to be perfect to be successful at eating out. There are a bunch of good posts on eating out on Whole30 on the Whole9 blog.

[Jtandi]

I think you can do this!!! I really really think you need more fat. you need to think about all those things you weren't "allowing" yourself to eat when you were eating low fat/high carb. you need to find the food that you LOVE, that makes you not WANT to go back to eating pasta. I know this sounds crazy, and if someone told me this 6 months ago I would've told them they were crazy. but it's true. eat fat! enjoy it! it will fill you up and it tastes SO yummy!

I read your list of what you're eating and, quite frankly, it looks a little bland. I would not do this if I was eating salad with chicken breast on it. with a little olive oil and vinegar. I do this because I eat food that is fricking awesome tasting. when I rolled into work today with my huge plate of 4 eggs with sweet potato hash and bacon no one said "poor you, that diet food looks...dry".

that being said, it's a lot of work. A LOT. but once you find your rhythm it's easy. Physibeth is right - 99.9% of this is planning.

[JJB]

You can totally do this. It doesn't have to be a perfect 30 days from the start. A lot of people have to start over multiple times. Or you can just do the best you can and know that you might not get the full benefit of 30 days of clean eating, but you're doing better than when you were eating the standard American diet.

You shouldn't be hungry all the time. Every breakfast you have posted has been light on fat. Add some olives or nuts, or mix it up and have some fatty steak or hamburger. Even if you go crazy and overeat at a meal, it's not the end of the world... just try to make it compliant food. You can even do 4 meals a day if you need to. After awhile you might be ready for 3. I'm sure that bread and pasta tasted great and filled you up, but there are hundreds of paleo recipes that will do the same thing for you without compromising your health. Well Fed has some great recipes in it. I would also recommend www.paleomg.com. I've found many fantastic recipes there that I make reguarly. You can also just google "paleo crock pot" for more easy recipes.

Don't give up!

[percypat]

So I will totally sound like a copycat but ... You CAN do it Aaron! So you slipped up ... so what? I bet you learnt something in the process. That knowledge will help you in your decisions going forward. I hope you will try again.

[AaronD]

It's very hard for me to prepare food ahead of time. I work very early in the morning and usually don't get home until 6-7 and at that point I don't feel like doing anything. Breakfast and lunch are the hardest, because I can make dinner if I want. I have no time for breakfast and I don't want to eat cold eggs, so I usually buy it at the work cafeteria. I have no time to be making lunch in the morning either, so throwing together a salad for the week or buying one at work is the easiest. Yes, I could probably make a large dinner and bring some for lunch, but I don't want to spend my evening at home cooking for the next day. And dining out, man it's tough. The thai place I did stay compliant at looked at me like I had 3 heads when I asked for steamed beef and vegetables. Like it was the most complicated thing on the menu to make.

Everything I find that could be compliant in the store has some sort of sugar. Bacon, all has sugar. Beef jerky? All has sugar. Sausage. Sugar. List goes on. Yes it's a lot of work and is beginning to feel like work I just don't have time for. I need a personal assistant just to diet!

When a diet has become more stressful than my career there is an issue..

[Jtandi]

agreed. sounds like now is not the time for a whole30, maybe it's time for switching to paleo (which is much less stressful). whatever you decide I wish you the best on your journey!

[Susan W]

Aaron, Jess is probably right. Maybe now is not the time. I do want to mention one thing..a slow cooker is your friend. I have 2 and yesterday, I cooked 2 racks of babybacks (8 hours of unattended cooking) and Nomnoms chicken with gravy (5 hours of unattended cooking).

Maybe you could do a personal version that will work for you. There is a paleo in steps floating around somewhere. Maybe that would help you.

[30Canandaigua]

The cooking thing does take a lot of time... My husband does not grasp why I cook for twenty people, but he certainly does not complain about having a meal to eat 3 times a day for about a week. I usually pick a day and spend about 2-3 hours in the kitchen. An example of one of my "cook ups" for two adults is: roast two pork loins; grill 10 chicken breasts; make chicken stock & pull chicken for salads; cut up and steam a few cups each of broccoli, carrots, sprouts, squash, cauliflower; hard boil and peel a dozen eggs; make my own (sugar free) pork and beef sausage & cook off into patties/ as mince or both; dice up a container of onions, celery, shallot for quick cooking during the week; crock pot with a pork butt for carnitas; cook and peel 1lb shrimp; 8x11 casserole of sweet potatoes, coconut milk, dates & cinnamon w/ chopped mixed nuts, 8x11 casserole of egg bake w/ mushrooms, peppers, greens & some of the mince.

Granted- I have 3 twenty piece sets of pyrex and I usually use all of it, but it makes jamming something into my mouth NOW that much easier I usually put together about 6 "to go" containers with different combinations of items to take to work... as well as 4-5 small containers with breakfast items, so I just have to throw it in the microwave--- or just eat it cold in the car. Preperation is so important! Good luck

[Physibeth]

I really think you need to embrace the idea of leftovers. It will make cooking a lot easier. I always make full recipes (even when just cooking for myself) and then eat/freeze the leftovers. Even if you prepare yourself dinner every night and make 2 servings that is lunch for the next day. I did my 30 day intro to Paleo using a meal plan from Practical Paleo which was about 98% Whole30 compliant and really helped me because I only had to do the prep work and shopping not the actual planning. Maybe that would help you.

[AaronD]

Yeah I don't think now is a good time to try and do this, I just don't have the time or desire to be cooking or prepping every night. It's just too time consuming. I am going to try and implement the paleo/Whole30 ideal of eating without putting the stress on myself of having to eat that way and see how that works out. There was way too much pressure on me to keep my meals compliant and I would make myself hungrier and hungrier waiting to access a meal that was compliant.

Thanks for all the help everyone, I will keep you updated.

[calee]

Aaron, I do hope you come back. Today is Day 12 for me and for the first time I feel amazing today. I want this for you too.

I leave for work at 6:45. I take both breakfast and lunch to the office. Like others, I cook over the weekend. When I'm putting away dinner, I make two containers, one breakfast, One lunch. I don't eat eggs so they all look the same.

The planning gets easier, and if you try again, I bet it gets easier or you too.

Good luck and good health, regardless of how your journey looks. We each get to decide!

[AmyB]

Aaron, I hope you try again when the time is right for you. Maybe you'll find some W30 recipes that you love, and can incorporate them into your life as you go. I hope you get the Well Fed cookbook - it's one of my favorites. I think I've said this before, but maybe try not to think of your meals as "leftovers," but rather just food you've prepared ahead of time. There's no way I could do this every day if I didn't cook and portion several days' worth of food at a time.

Good health to you!