Whole 30 – Day 21

I am unbelievably happy to be home and eating my own food.  My stomach is so messed up from the few restaurant meals that I ate away from home.  It’s amazing that even when you eat something that sounds and looks like it “should” be okay that it’s still not.  I didn’t realize it would be so difficult to eat away from home and the foods I know are safe.  I didn’t expect to have a bad experience either.  I’ve always thought I’ve been able to eat anything and everything I wanted.

Breakfast

I went to a diner near my hotel because I thought it’d be safer than the complementary breakfast, and it probably was.  I ordered a southwest scramble which I thought was going to be okay until it arrived covered in cheese.  I scraped off as much as I could but I’m sure I still ate some of it.  I was really shocked to see how much I ate…or rather how much I didn’t eat.  I am an eater.  I love food.  So I really couldn’t believe how much food I had left after I felt full.  I kept thinking I was eating so much food here at home but maybe not nearly as much as I thought.  Before Whole30 I would have finished almost all of this, if not all of it.

Lunch

I forgot to take a picture.  We went someone called the FireSide Grill, a burger place.  I ordered a cold steak salad with salsa instead of dressing.  I have no idea what it was in this that messed me up (again) but there was something my stomach didn’t like in it.  The steak was really good and tender though.

Dinner

Yay!  Real good food!  Seriously happy to eat stuff I know and that I know exactly what’s in it and that it won’t give me an upset stomach.  Crack slaw, poached eggs, and I topped it all with some ranch dressing.  I also at a persimmon.

I’m still bummed about screwing up, even though it really was beyond my control.  I could have used this as an excuse to really screw up and I didn’t.  The entire time I was in training I was inundated with sweet muffins, cinnamon rolls with tons of icing, and the most delicious looking chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever seen in my life.  I wanted one of those cookies so bad, but I didn’t have one, no even a crumb.

I can’t wait for my stomach to start feeling normal again.  Hopefully it won’t take too long.  I’m also getting excited about the results of my medical labs coming back in just a few days.  It’ll be nice to (hopefully) have some more answers than I do now.

Whole30 – Day 20

This may be my most uneventful post so far, and for that I’m sorry but I’m not sorry. Today was filled with knowledge. I spent most of the day sitting in a classroom listening to someone speak. It was good and informative but not an active day. I guess they can’t all be. Totally worth it though. 

Breakfast

I ate some kalua pig, cauliflower rice, avocado, and a persimmon. Those little orange fruits are really growing on me!

  

Lunch

I ate at Chipotle! So good. Salad with chicken, grilled vegetables, salsa, and avocado. 

  

Dinner 

I’m totally bummed about dinner. I feel like I must have eaten some non-compliant foods but I chose the best and only thing I thought would be okay from the Olive Garden menu, the garlic rosemary chicken. I even substituted the Parmesan mashed potatoes for vegetables and asked for no butter, but my stomach is all gurgly, and feels bloated almost instantly. What an eye opener. Really bummed but I’m moving forward. Technically I should start over with day 1 tomorrow but I’m not going to do that. I’m going to do over 30 days so I’m just going to keep going. I will finish the rest of this 30 days and keep going!  I was so disappointed I didn’t take a picture.  

Whole30 – Day 19

My days are running together lately.  I’m switching from a graveyard schedule to a days schedule, but only for a few days.  So, yesterday (day 18) actually ran into day 19 since I stayed up for 24 hours straight in an attempt to be able to switch around.  All it seems to have done is make me really tired so I’m not sure I accomplished my goal.  I managed to sleep maybe 6 hours.  Today is going to be rough, that’s about all I can say….especially since I’m writing this at about 3:30 AM.  Such a horrid hour no matter which side of it you’re on.  No wonder my body is confused and not working right.

I only managed to eat one meal yesterday but that’s all I was hungry for and had time for.

Meal 1

Cauliflower rice, brussels sprouts, kalua pig, and mayo.  All mixed together it was really good.  I’m starting to like this “kitchen sink” thing.  Throw it together and eat it!

The next few days are going to be quite challenging for me.  Not just because of temptations but because I’m going to be eating meals out rather than having access to my own food.  Sounds dangerous.  I’m bringing my bag of raw almonds and probably an apple or two because then at least I’ll have something to eat if I need it.  Even though it won’t be the correct amounts of proteins and fats etc, at least it’s compliant.  Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

So true Leslie Chan….I did not die!

Whole30 – Day 18

Wow!  I can’t believe this 30 days is nearly 2/3rds of the way done already.  It feels both long and short all at the same time.

I’m not sure what the deal is but today I really wanted anything sweet.  I bought a bag (Costco size bag) of candy for the trick-or-treaters and it’s sitting in the same cabinet as my Starbuck’s Via coffee.  It literally hasn’t bothered me until today.  I thought this was supposed to get easier, not harder?  Not that it’s hard exactly, I just feel like I’m craving things more lately, like a glass of wine.  Damn that sounds good.  But here I am writing my blog, without chocolate in my hand, and drinking some herbal cinnamon apple tea.  Oh well, what are you going to do?

Breakfast

More of the same and I’m still not tired of it.  Two poached eggs on top of crack slaw and spinach.  Possibly the world’s most perfect breakfast!

Lunch

Lunch was kalua pig and cauliflower rice with mayo mixed in after it was heated.  I finally remembered to slice up my fennel and I ate that raw and also had a still not ripe persimmon.  I seriously need to find out if there’s a way to make these ripen faster because I’m dying to try a really ripe one (they are supposed to be super sweet) but I think I’m going to eat them all before they even hit the ripe stage.  I sprinkled cinnamon on top and it’s good.  I like them either way, with or without cinnamon.  One of the blogs I read said that they thought these tasted like Christmas.  Hmmm, I’m sure not feeling that at all.  But I guess different people can have different idea of what Christmas tastes like.

Dinner

I got really creative for dinner tonight.  Any by creative I mean I threw things in a blow and stirred it all together and hoped for the best.  Actually it was pretty good.  I’m going to call it “kitchen sink”, because if it would have fit I probably would have added it to the bowl too.  I added spaghetti squash, coach slaw, ranch dressing, and lots of Frank’s Red Hot sauce and mixed it up.  It was like buffalo chicken wings….but not chicken wings.

I went for a long walk again after work today…in the rain.  I ended up soaked by the time I got home but it was still nice and relaxing to be outdoors.  I’m currently listening to the audiobook of Wild, by Cheryl Strayed.  It’s a factual account from a woman (Cheryl) who walked the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) by herself.  I’ve been dying to hike the PCT, or even parts of it, for about 15 years now.  I’m currently in no shape for it…but then again neither was Cheryl when she started out.  It’s something I’d still love to do, but I would certainly do more research than she did before setting off.  Personally I love to hike.  I never get to do it very often which is a total bummer.  I love being in nature and I think it would be a beyond amazing experience.  I guess I’ll have to put it on my bucket list.

Whole30 – Day 17

I had something weird happen to me today.  No matter how much water I drank my mouth was so dry…like the desert dry.  I was going to the bathroom non-stop so I know my body was hydrated enough.  I tried looking it up online to see if I could figure out the problem and I came up with two possibilities, although I don’t know if either one is right.  One theory is that I’m in “ketosis”, which I only know means not enough carbs, or lack of carbs, something like that.  And, I eat vegetables all day long and they have carbs.  It’s true though, I haven’t been doing the sweet potatoes and maybe that’s part of the problem.  The second theory is that my electrolytes may be out of whack.  I could buy into either theory but I don’t know, maybe it’s both.  I plan on mentioning it to my doctor if it doesn’t go away soon though.

Breakfast

Breakfast was the same old same old.  I feel like I don’t even need to post a description anymore since you all know what it is.  But there is the off-chance that one of you is a new reader today and you have no idea what I’m talking about so I’ll still explain.  Crack slaw, spinach, and poached eggs!  My favorite breakfast ever!

Lunch

Lunch was nice and easy today.  I ate a large serving of zoodles topped with spaghetti sauce and a side of brussels sprouts smothered, and I mean smothered in home made ranch dressing.  This version of my ranch came out so much better than the last time I made it.  I remembered to buy paprika the last time I went shopping and had omitted it the first time.  Who knew paprika would make such a big difference?  Not me.  It’s good either way but it does resemble store bought ranch more-so now.

Dinner

Dinner was kalua pig, green beans, and egg salad.  I also ate an apple, which I did not take a picture of, in hopes that it would help the dry mouth thing if it really is lack of carbs.  In reading Whole30 they mention not to eat fruit with every meal but maybe I’m really not incorporating enough fruit.  Or maybe I’m just overthinking this whole thing.

And, just because I was dying to know, I took some half way point progress photos.  I guess technically they are slightly over half way but close enough.  I now regret having taken my beginning photos in a two piece swim suit because now I have to take my follow-up photos in the same attire.  I hadn’t thought much about sharing these with the world, but I will for the sake of showing you that even though there is only a little progress, it’s still progress dammit!  So please be kind.  I know I’m not the best looking person you will ever see in a two piece but I’m also far from the worst looking too.

I can really see a difference in my mid-section (front and back) and in my thighs.  I see a difference in my face too, it looks less puffy.  But, my eyes have darker circles under them and I just look so damn tired.  I felt really tired when I woke up today too.  Really I can’t believe there is this much change just with eating differently, no processed foods, no sugar, no alcohol, no beans/legumes, and no grains.  I have eaten way more fat than I have ever eaten in my life in the last 17 days and yet you can see my body is smaller.  I guess that whole sugar makes you fat not fat makes you fat thing really has some validity to it after all.

Whole30 – Day 16

I was having one of those days today.  I just felt like I wasn’t seeing any major changes and was feeling pretty down and frustrated by it.  I mean, I can tell my stomach has gone down some but there’s still plenty of padding and a stubborn pooch I’ll probably have all my life because i remember even having it as a pretty skinny little kid.  I know my sleep has gotten better even though I wake up tired.  This is really pretty miraculous because I used to take a natural sleep aid (usually Natural Calm magnesium).  But, I just want amazing, miraculous, results you know?

But then after my mini-panic attack about how I was getting nowhere fast I realized I’ve been at this a whopping two weeks.  Even if I were placed on medications you don’t often start seeing results from that for weeks or maybe even months.  And, two weeks is really short when you consider I’ve managed to build these health problems through approximately the last 1,872 weeks.  So yeah, two weeks is barely the blink of an eye when you consider my entire life of unhealthy eating, unhealthy relationships with food, using food/alcohol as a reward, crazy diets with no fats and not nearly enough calories.  You get my point?  Even though Whole30 may never “cure” any of my issues completely I do think it’ll help in the long run but it surely won’t turn things completely around in two weeks.  And lets face it, there are no miracles but there is hard work and I’m sure as hell putting it in.

So yeah, I guess I need to learn a little patience….not my strong suit if you know me.  But here I am with 16 days under my slightly smaller belt!  I’m just going to keep trusting the process.

Breakfast

Breakfast is what it has become often for me lately because I like it so much.  I like it because it tastes good and because it leave me full through several hours at work and hunger is one less thing I need to worry about.  Crack slaw, spinach, and two poached eggs with an avocado.

Lunch

I tried out my compliant store bought spaghetti sauce on top of some spaghetti squash “noodles” and had two closed fist serving size of almonds.  I was bummed with I could only find raw almonds that were compliant but I actually enjoyed them.  I guess this Whole30 thing must be changing my tastebuds up some.  I never hated them raw but I never really liked them before.

Dinner

Oh my god!  Remember me mentioning the kalua pig and how easy it was to make?  Well, not only is it stupidly easy but it’s also so delicious!  I added 9 cloves of garlic instead of the recommended 5 and every bite was garlicy goodness.  I put some cauliflower rice and brussels sprouts in the bottom of my bowl, topped it with the kalua pig and then added some mayo on top and mixed it all together!  It was to die for!

So remember I mentioned about putting in the hard work?  Well, I’m still not feeling the crazy energy they said will (maybe, probably, some day) happen but I’m not near as tired as when I first started.  Now it’s time to get physical, which I know is only going to promote all the results I’m looking for.  Today after work I took my two chihuahua puppies on about a three mile walk.  It’s not crazy exercise but I’m working my way up.  And, it’s sure as hell beats doing nothing at all, plus my pups really enjoyed it.

I got my 10,000 Fitbit steps today!

Whole30 – Day 15

Woohoo!  I’m officially past the half way point.  I can’t believe I haven’t eaten added sugars in 15 days.  That’s pretty crazy when you figure the average American eats 30-60 teaspoons of sugar a day.  That’s 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar every single day which adds up to 150-170 pounds a year!  Wow.  I have no doubt I was in that category before starting this, that is if you include fake sugars in that total.

I’m not going to bore you today with meal pictures but I am going to share my weekly meal prep pictures.  Like I mentioned yesterday, I don’t know if it’s laziness or smartness but I took a lot less time preparing my meals this week.  I may end up paying for it by not having as flavorful of food that I have been but I just needed a little bit of a break.  It still took 4-5 hours to cook everything so it’s not like it wasn’t still effort.

Before we get into food I have to share my newest discovery with you.  I say it’s new to me but it certainly isn’t new. All those women decades ago sure knew what they were doing when they wore aprons to cook.  I bought myself an apron (mostly because I decided to cook beets and they will stain anything that even comes close to them).  But, it was awesome.  I didn’t get dirty or wet, and when I needed to dry my hands after washing them for the millionth time I had a towel right there.  So easy.  Look close, there’s an apron but no heels or cute skirt/dress.  Give me a break, it was 1am, lol.

Okay, here it is!  Here’s what I’m going to be eating this week.  From left to right top to bottom: kalua pig, spaghetti sauce with ground beef (yes I found store bought that only had good and organic ingredients with no sugar added, it’s spendy but worth it), crack slaw (of course), zoodles (zucchini noodles), roasted garlic, spaghetti squash, both red and golden roasted beets (aren’t they gorgeous?), roasted brussels sprouts, and cauliflower rice.  I also made more mayo and ranch dressing but didn’t take photos since you already know what they look like.

Oh, and do you know what this is?  It’s fennel!  It’s one of my favorite vegetables but I never remember to buy it.  I bought one just to eat raw.  It’s so good!  It tastes like black licorice so if you’re into that sort of thing you should really give this vegetable a shot.

I must have halloween on my mind because when I was cutting the beets I noticed this….

You can’t tell me that doesn’t look like a rat tail, haha.  No excuse not to eat the beets though.  They are really good roasted.  I still haven’t decided if they are worth the mess or not yet though.

This week is going to be real interesting for me.  I’ll be having approximately six consecutive meals away from home.  I just hope I can find food that I’ll be able to eat and that I won’t be starving the entire time.  Here’s to week three!

Whole30 – Day 14

I’m running so far behind today but that’s okay since it’s my weekend!  I’ve been staying awake during the night (my normal work hours) and last night I spent more of the night asleep on the floor next to my dogs cuddled up by the fire than I did awake and productive.  And you know what?  That’s totally alright by me.  I did only get four hours of sleep the day before since I had things to get up and do so I was tired, but Whole30 stresses to take naps and rest as much as possible while your body adjusts.  I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not good at this.  I never have time for naps and I don’t always get enough sleep due to work schedules and other appointments I have to get in.  So I listened to my body and slept.

I managed to get my shopping done this morning for my weekly cooking session tonight.  I don’t know if I’m getting lazier as time goes on or if it’s that I’m getting smarter?  Maybe a bit of both.  I currently have a three ingredient kalua pig in my crockpot.  Hopefully it tastes great because it couldn’t be easier.  In case you’re interested in the recipe it’s at Nom Nom Paleo – Slow Cooker Kalua Pig  I can’t attest to it being delicious yet but I have faith in Nom Nom Paleo.

Breakfast

I’m finishing up my food for the week with a bit more leftovers than I had the week before.  Either I ate less or I made more.  Could be either one for sure.  Breakfast was crack slaw and two poached eggs and a sliced fuji apple with almond butter!  So yummy!

Lunch

I guess I must have forgotten to take a picture of my lunch today and I don’t even remember what I had.  Weird.  I couldn’t even say for sure I actually ate lunch.  Maybe I was abducted?

Dinner

I do know what I had for dinner since it was minutes ago, lol.  I warmed up some of the spinach and tomato frittata and the green beans with mushrooms.  I also decided to try a fruit I had only had once before in my life, and HATED at the time.  But I like to give things a second chance.  I picked up some Fuju persimmons.  I didn’t know until I looked it up online but there are two type of persimmons, a sweet one and an astringent one.  I must have tried the astringent one the first time because it dried my mouth out like I had stuffed it full of cotton.  Luckily these Fuju persimmons are sweet even when they aren’t fully ripe, which mine are not yet.  So I sliced it up and gave it a try.  You know what?  It’s pretty damn good!  These are supposed to be bursting with vitamins and other healthy stuff so that’s a bonus too.  One blog I read said to sprinkle cinnamon on them and that fits into my Whole30 so I think I’ll give that a try next time.

I learned the hard way today that Costco is not a good place to be when you are hungry.  They were giving away samples (full fun-size packs) of halloween candy today!  What the hell?  Of course that’s the day I go.  It looked so good too.  On top of that I actually bought halloween candy for the trick-or-treaters since I won’t have a chance to otherwise.  It’ll be my first year in years handing out candy and also my first year ever not eating any (not even one piece) of halloween candy.  I’m actually kinda sad about that one.

I picked up some other fun stuff on my shopping excursion too.  I purchased a Misto, or something like that.  You fill it with your choice of oil and it sprays the oil without added chemicals.  I also bought a different spiralizer so I can make zucchini noodles (zoodles) easier.  I already had a hand-held one but it was a pain in the ass to use.  I’m looking forward to using my new gadgets and making some new foods tonight!

Whole30 – Day 13

Well thank god my non-superstition worked out because I woke up feeling much better today than day 12.  I still wasn’t in the mood for too much BS (but who ever really is), but I didn’t cry or even feel like it so I call it a win.

It’s finally my weekend and I’m heading to bed ASAP.  I have a get-together planned for what would normally be my mid-sleep.  Luckily I can come back home and sleep more.  Man I love weekends!

Breakfast

I decided to start my day off right with one of my absolute favorites so far.  Wilted spinach mixed into some crack slaw, topped with two poached eggs.  So good!  And a side of green olives, you know why!  I really am going to make some more sauces for next week for a little variety.  I’d love to hear how you all get your fats in at each meal.  If you have any tips or favorites let me know.

Lunch

I had a stuffed acorn squash, green beans and mushrooms, and some raw celery and almond butter.  Very satisfying!

Dinner

I was going to skip dinner.  I know, totally not in the rule book but I wanted to get to bed.  I noticed I was hungry when I walked in the door so I made the quickest thing I could find and I’m sure I’ll sleep better not having a rumbly, hungry stomach.  I had the spinach and tomato frittata, roasted brussels sprouts, and topped it with a dollop of mayo.  It may sound weird but I’m telling you what, homemade mayo tastes so different than store bought and it works really nice as a sauce especially on hot foods because it kinda melts into everything.  On top of that it works!

I’m not even kidding when I say I think I’ve eaten more vegetables in the past 13 days than I have in my entire life.  I might be slightly exaggerating about the whole life thing but I bet it’s close.  I even like vegetables but I just never took the time to prepare them much in the past.  I mostly ate salads because they were easy.

I still find this process to be mostly easy as long as I’m doing the food prep on the weekends.  I’ve said it before but it’s worth repeating, I would have failed at this long ago if I would have had to cook every meal at the time I was getting ready to eat it.  My schedule just does not allow for that.  I have to think that in this day and age there are more people in my situation than not, and if doing something like the Whole30 doesn’t seem attainable to you because of time then pre-cooking everything is a great option.  I haven’t found anything to taste less good for being stored in the refrigerator….except maybe the roasted brussels sprouts.  They lose their crunch but are still good reheated.

The truth of the matter is, just like that old saying,

If there’s a will there’s a way!

Make it work people!

Whole30 – Day 12

Day 12 hit me like a ton of bricks.  I thought I had this Whole30 down.  Thought people who were just ready to throw in the towel and quit didn’t have enough will-power…until day 12.

I woke up this morning (or evening since that’s my morning) just feeling horrible.  Not physically horrible but so easily irritated.  Then I got upset, and then all I wanted to do was cry.  I am not a cryer.  I don’t cry often, I hate crying.  And, I don’t often get the urge to just cry for no reason.  And cry I did.  But I managed to pull myself together, get my butt to work, and have a successful night.  I felt slightly off all night though and I hate that.

I did a little Whole30 forum reading and found out this is pretty common.  I even found some people who had the exact same descriptions of how they were feeling on both days 11 and 12 so I guess I’m not that abnormal.  I also read that eating more sweet potatoes (or other starchy foods) when you feel like this can help your body cope with the changes it’s going through.  I know I mentioned before a lot of my issues are hormone related…so maybe my body is actually producing hormones now?  I don’t know, that’s only a theory.  A lot of people said it’s part of the detox from sugars, and that’s probably it exactly.  Here I thought I could make it through this unscathed.

The good news is that I didn’t cheat.  I didn’t even have the urge to cheat, I just couldn’t understand why I was feeling the way I did.  Lame.

Breakfast

Breakfast was spinach mixed with what I had leftover of the stuffing of the acorn squash which consisted of ground turkey, celery, onion, and diced apples.   I scrambled this all together with three eggs and had some olives to go with it.  So delicious, even though I was still teary-eyed when I ate it.

Lunch

For lunch I decided to mix a bunch of stuff together.  I added some cauliflower rice, crack slaw, and roasted brussels sprouts into my lunch container.  Once I heated it all up I added in some mayo then mixed it all together.  It makes a nice creamy sauce, really good!

Dinner

I forgot I had a leftover sweet potato (or is it a yam?) from last week so I “baked” that in the microwave hoping that the extra starchy foods will help improve my mood.  I did cut down from a lot of sweet potatoes last week to zero this week, completely unintentionally.  I also had a bowl of thai chicken soup with cauliflower rice added and topped with a squeeze of fresh lime and an avocado.  This soup is amazing!

I guess my positive spin on the day is that I didn’t kill anyone, I’m still alive, and I didn’t eat any non-compliant foods!  Life and Whole30 go on!

I’m ready for a better day 13!  Because I’m not superstitious 😉