I can't believe I've completed 8 weeks already. Here's the thing about Whole 30 - you need to plan. You need to prep ahead of time. You need some go-to recipes that don't take a ton of time to prep.
My first round of Whole 30, I was spending hours and hours each week prepping and cooking. It was exhausting! I had to search and find a whole new set of recipes to use. All of them were new to me and it took some time to figure out what was worth it and what wasn't. Now I have a nice little collection of recipes on Pinterest that I go back to over and over again.
I also have some simple methods of cooking veggies that make the process far simpler. There is nothing better than roasted sweet or regular potatoes - a little olive oil, salt, pepper, broil. In about 30 minutes, you have the most divine side dish. My other go-to is just a simple veggie steam. It keeps so much of the nutrients in the veggies and it works for so many different kinds - broccoli, green beans, artichokes.
I keep lunches simple and take leftover or make some tuna salad - make your own mayonnaise! It's easy and yummy! Then I make a version of this casserole that lasts me most of the week for breakfasts.
Whole 30 is doable for a long stretch. You just can't let your brain win the addiction battle. I definitely eyeball much of my son's food, like the honey Greek yogurt he had in his lunch today, but I just tell myself it's against the rules. I'm okay as long as I plan. It's the times I don't plan that trip me up. The moral of the story? Plan, plan, plan!
Showing posts with label whole 30. Show all posts
Showing posts with label whole 30. Show all posts
Monday, September 26, 2016
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Week 7
I am soooooo tired. I have been so exhausted the last two weeks, I couldn't gather my wits to post last week. Most nights I've been falling asleep on the couch.
I'm kind of caught in a vicious cycle with energy and lack of movement. We're still in the middle of an epic forest fire. With back burns and new spots cropping up, the smoke has been horrific. While I have been mostly symptom free for almost 10 years, my asthma has reared its ugly head. I find myself wheezing and struggling for air, not to mention dealing with the croupy cough. The idea of moving too far, inhaling more smoke, and fighting for breath has left me fairly sedentary for the past few weeks. It's catching up to me. I think I almost feel worse for lack of movement. But history has taught me that pushing my limits with my current symptoms will only land me in Urgent Care on a breathing treatment - still one of the most frightening things I've ever experienced.
It all just makes me want to sleep. That and the late nights I've had the past couple of weeks.
But...my food is still on point. We actually went to a birthday party last weekend where they served donuts rather than cake. Ouch. Donuts are my kryptonite. Not only did I eat beforehand since I couldn't be sure there would be anything compliant - which there wasn't- I said no to the donut. They did smell amazing, though. Mmmm...donuts.
I had a similar experience Sunday at a family event. I passed up on the fast food everyone else was having and ate when we got home. It definitely was a winning weekend. Now my goal is my butt moving. I just need the darn fire and smoke to stop.
I'm kind of caught in a vicious cycle with energy and lack of movement. We're still in the middle of an epic forest fire. With back burns and new spots cropping up, the smoke has been horrific. While I have been mostly symptom free for almost 10 years, my asthma has reared its ugly head. I find myself wheezing and struggling for air, not to mention dealing with the croupy cough. The idea of moving too far, inhaling more smoke, and fighting for breath has left me fairly sedentary for the past few weeks. It's catching up to me. I think I almost feel worse for lack of movement. But history has taught me that pushing my limits with my current symptoms will only land me in Urgent Care on a breathing treatment - still one of the most frightening things I've ever experienced.
It all just makes me want to sleep. That and the late nights I've had the past couple of weeks.
But...my food is still on point. We actually went to a birthday party last weekend where they served donuts rather than cake. Ouch. Donuts are my kryptonite. Not only did I eat beforehand since I couldn't be sure there would be anything compliant - which there wasn't- I said no to the donut. They did smell amazing, though. Mmmm...donuts.
I had a similar experience Sunday at a family event. I passed up on the fast food everyone else was having and ate when we got home. It definitely was a winning weekend. Now my goal is my butt moving. I just need the darn fire and smoke to stop.
Monday, August 15, 2016
Bring On The Mental Focus
Week 2
Ah, the headaches finally subsided. I dealt with some fatigue during the middle of the week and indulged in a fabulous nap. By the end of the week, the lovely mental focus had returned.
I commented to my husband Saturday night, that I really just need to stick with Whole 30 forever, because my mental clarity is apparent. I feel the change as such an obvious difference that I can't believe how often I operate in a fog. It's crazy. I can organize my thoughts. I can set goals and achieve them. Only two weeks in and I already feel so much better.
We moved into our new house back in May. I have been promising myself since mid-June that I would square everything away and get it all unpacked before the end of the summer, when I go back to work. Well I go back on Monday. Right. Here is my living room today.
I have attempted over and over again to tackle this disaster. I would dig into a box and get distracted or discouraged. Never mind, I'll read instead. Or play on my tablet. Or check Facebook. BAH.
Last week I finally dug out our office, forced my husband to make some decisions, sorted through every box in that room and made decisions about where things should go, finally made a million doctors and dentist appointments I've been putting off, and posted a ton of stuff for sale on Facebook. Oh, and plowed through about 500 pages of the 5th Outlander book. BOOM.
I'm only sorry I waited all summer to start the healing. Maybe this little record will help me in the future.
One other side note, I am realizing that many of my other symptoms are fading - the itchy arm, the achy toe. I did tweak my back, though, so joint pain is still hanging in there. Looking forward to more improvements, maybe a little weight loss, and more improvement to my mental state.
Ah, the headaches finally subsided. I dealt with some fatigue during the middle of the week and indulged in a fabulous nap. By the end of the week, the lovely mental focus had returned.
I commented to my husband Saturday night, that I really just need to stick with Whole 30 forever, because my mental clarity is apparent. I feel the change as such an obvious difference that I can't believe how often I operate in a fog. It's crazy. I can organize my thoughts. I can set goals and achieve them. Only two weeks in and I already feel so much better.
We moved into our new house back in May. I have been promising myself since mid-June that I would square everything away and get it all unpacked before the end of the summer, when I go back to work. Well I go back on Monday. Right. Here is my living room today.
I have attempted over and over again to tackle this disaster. I would dig into a box and get distracted or discouraged. Never mind, I'll read instead. Or play on my tablet. Or check Facebook. BAH.
Last week I finally dug out our office, forced my husband to make some decisions, sorted through every box in that room and made decisions about where things should go, finally made a million doctors and dentist appointments I've been putting off, and posted a ton of stuff for sale on Facebook. Oh, and plowed through about 500 pages of the 5th Outlander book. BOOM.
I'm only sorry I waited all summer to start the healing. Maybe this little record will help me in the future.
One other side note, I am realizing that many of my other symptoms are fading - the itchy arm, the achy toe. I did tweak my back, though, so joint pain is still hanging in there. Looking forward to more improvements, maybe a little weight loss, and more improvement to my mental state.
Monday, August 8, 2016
Whole 30 Week 1
Oh me oh my oh.
I've done two official rounds of Whole 30. I've quit eating every kind of sugar twice and given up coffee multiple times. I've experience the withdrawal migraines. I'm not sure if my memory of those migraine pains have faded with time, but this week was BRU-TAL.
Days 1 and 2 were by far the worst. I really experienced the meaning of a skull splitting headache. Right in the frontal lobe. And to add insult to injury, I agreed to attend a pizza birthday party with my son on day 2. That was a definite what was I thinking moment. I will say, in my defense, it was a Tuesday. Who thinks a pizza place will be insane on a Tuesday? The place was crammed to the walls with about a million kids. At least that's what it felt like. Big pat on the back to me, though, for saying no to the yummiest looking pizza ever (read - dripping with cheese).
By day 3 I was starting to feel a little bit better. I didn't wake up with one of the skull splitters. I did find myself struggling with my go-to breakfast casserole (sweet potatoes, ground pork, green beans, and egg). It seemed way too salty and I really had to force myself to eat enough both days 3 and 4. I figured out by day 4 that it had gone bad thanks to some intestinal disturbance. At this point I was really having a hard time staying full. I started looking for some ideas on Pinterest for high protein snack ideas. I decided to just keep it simple and stick to plain protein. I discovered some compliant lunch meat at Safeway - super delicious! Now if the medium grade headaches both days would have stayed away, I would have really appreciated it!
Days 5, 6, and 7 were what mostly what I expected. The headaches continued to decrease, but hung in there longer than I have experienced in the past. We're dealing with a wild fire close to our house which is causing pretty dense smoke to settle in our area overnight. I'm thinking that might be contributing to the headaches. Fridays are called "Pizza Friday" in our house, because I realized years ago that I am just not up for cooking on Friday nights. My son and husband still had their pizza, but I opted for left-overs. We even went out to eat on Sunday night where, of course, I had to hound the waiter about ingredients. Thankfully, he was kind enough to take a picture of the ingredients to their Cajun seasoning. Surprisingly, it was all herbs! That meant I had a fantastic piece of salmon with great seasoning.
I look forward to the coming week. I'm hoping the headaches will finally subside. I plan to keep an eye on that fire, to make sure it doesn't creep any closer to our home. And since I'm less than two weeks away from starting my first day back to work teaching, I want to try to focus on finally getting our house unpacked.
I've done two official rounds of Whole 30. I've quit eating every kind of sugar twice and given up coffee multiple times. I've experience the withdrawal migraines. I'm not sure if my memory of those migraine pains have faded with time, but this week was BRU-TAL.
Days 1 and 2 were by far the worst. I really experienced the meaning of a skull splitting headache. Right in the frontal lobe. And to add insult to injury, I agreed to attend a pizza birthday party with my son on day 2. That was a definite what was I thinking moment. I will say, in my defense, it was a Tuesday. Who thinks a pizza place will be insane on a Tuesday? The place was crammed to the walls with about a million kids. At least that's what it felt like. Big pat on the back to me, though, for saying no to the yummiest looking pizza ever (read - dripping with cheese).
By day 3 I was starting to feel a little bit better. I didn't wake up with one of the skull splitters. I did find myself struggling with my go-to breakfast casserole (sweet potatoes, ground pork, green beans, and egg). It seemed way too salty and I really had to force myself to eat enough both days 3 and 4. I figured out by day 4 that it had gone bad thanks to some intestinal disturbance. At this point I was really having a hard time staying full. I started looking for some ideas on Pinterest for high protein snack ideas. I decided to just keep it simple and stick to plain protein. I discovered some compliant lunch meat at Safeway - super delicious! Now if the medium grade headaches both days would have stayed away, I would have really appreciated it!
Days 5, 6, and 7 were what mostly what I expected. The headaches continued to decrease, but hung in there longer than I have experienced in the past. We're dealing with a wild fire close to our house which is causing pretty dense smoke to settle in our area overnight. I'm thinking that might be contributing to the headaches. Fridays are called "Pizza Friday" in our house, because I realized years ago that I am just not up for cooking on Friday nights. My son and husband still had their pizza, but I opted for left-overs. We even went out to eat on Sunday night where, of course, I had to hound the waiter about ingredients. Thankfully, he was kind enough to take a picture of the ingredients to their Cajun seasoning. Surprisingly, it was all herbs! That meant I had a fantastic piece of salmon with great seasoning.
I look forward to the coming week. I'm hoping the headaches will finally subside. I plan to keep an eye on that fire, to make sure it doesn't creep any closer to our home. And since I'm less than two weeks away from starting my first day back to work teaching, I want to try to focus on finally getting our house unpacked.
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Whole 365 - Why?
Yup, you read that right, Whole 365.
For those of you who have never heard of Whole 30, it is an amazing food discovery program. Notice I say program and not diet. The premise of the program is there are many, many items we eat on a daily basis that are not really food, even though the manufacturers out there would like to argue otherwise. We eat things that are either what some like to call "Frankenfoods", things that contain some real food elements and some man made elements or they are completely man made altogether. The Whole 30 program argues that our bodies are just not meant to process those kinds of "foods" and by consuming such items, we do damage in multiple ways to our bodies, that run the gamut from mental to physical issues. Whole 30 challenges you to eliminate all such evil "foods", in addition to foods that are known to cause issues or allergies for many people, like wheat, for 30 days. This is to give your body a chance to heal and function properly. For more information, check out whole30.com.
I have done two full rounds of the Whole 30 program, plus some shorter stints, with amazing results. Needless to say, when you cut out garbage, you will lose weight. My own loss was ten pounds over 30 days. I also dropped two pants sizes after that first round. But as the creators of the program will tell you, weight loss is not the goal, it's just a nifty side effect. For me, I think the most significant benefit of the program was the improvement in my overall mental health. Prior to my first round in January 2015, I was short-tempered and cranky. ALL. THE. TIME. Everyone annoyed me constantly and I would snap at people (mostly my poor husband) with little to no provocation. I was also constantly fatigued, often falling asleep on the couch as early as 8 p.m. each night. About two weeks into my first round I found that stress hardly affected me anymore. I often joked that I had found my Zen place. My energy level increased, as well. I found myself needing less sleep and thriving on the sleep I did get. I felt ready to face any challenge and rarely felt overwhelmed by the needs and requests of others.
In addition to the significant mental improvements, I found a decrease in a variety of small physical complaints I had been facing for some time. For example, for a few months prior to my first Whole 30, I experienced a frequent mild ache in one of my big toes (not gout). It didn't impair my activity in any way - I was still able to run several miles with no issues. It was just there and noticeable. About three weeks into that first round, I realized it was gone. No fanfare, just gone. There was the patch of itchy skin on my forearm. Gone after Whole 30. Lower back pain - significantly reduced after Whole 30.
If you can't tell by now, I am a big believer in the Whole 30 program. I have never felt as good as I did when eating real food and eliminating garbage from my diet. BUT (there's always a BUT, right?). I faced some struggles post-Whole 30. 1) The reintroduction phase didn't work well for me. The program encourages you to reintroduce individual food groups you previously eliminated from your diet like wheat and dairy. While I followed the program as suggested, I feel like there should be more time in between each food reintroduction. The program suggests three days between each food. I think, for me, a week or two might be more realistic. 2) I didn't tame what the program calls the "Sugar Dragon". I didn't binge on fruits initially, but I did treat my banana and almond butter as a dessert, which is a big no no on the program. I then started OD-ing on dried fruit, another big no no. 3) I have some heavy duty food related issues going on. My feeling is that I have some pretty addictive behavior when it comes to food. After my second round of Whole 30, I knew I wanted to take an extended break from Whole 30, eat some foods way off-program, and enjoy some events that are hard to stay on-program with. I tried to moderate my food choices and mostly stick to a Whole 30 type diet, but I quickly found myself demonstrating what I believe is addictive behavior - mostly hiding the crap I was eating from people around me. This last one is a big one. It's made me begin to think I might need some therapy to help with my mental health in this area. I haven't decided on that yet, but I do feel that an extended round of Whole 30 and food deprogramming might be a big help, too.
That's where the Whole 365 comes in. I have a lot of hopes for a whole year of Whole 30 eating. The first being as a mentioned above, a reprogramming of my food habits and attitude towards food. Of course, I'm hoping for the weight loss, too. At 5'8", I'm far too close to 200 pounds to be healthy or comfortable in my skin. I look forward to the extended time period of mental clarity and stability. I hope the combined weight loss and other health improvements will help my husband and I finally have the second child we have been trying for for years. Recently, through blood tests, I discovered that I am not absorbing vitamin B12 correctly. Think that might be related to digestive health? I do. I also have to guess that there may be other strange little health issues I have lived with for a long time that will clear up as my body has an extended time to heal.
So here is my plan....on August 1st, I will embark on ONE YEAR of eating according to the Whole 30 program. That means no wheat, no dairy, no legumes, no grains, no sugar for one year. Oh, and just for good measure, I'm eliminating caffeine, too (read: Monday will suck big time). Come with me. Help me stay accountable. I will officially start with my related posts on August 1st and continue with updates every Monday for the following year. I will put it all out there for you, weight, measurements, pics and all. Wish me luck!
For those of you who have never heard of Whole 30, it is an amazing food discovery program. Notice I say program and not diet. The premise of the program is there are many, many items we eat on a daily basis that are not really food, even though the manufacturers out there would like to argue otherwise. We eat things that are either what some like to call "Frankenfoods", things that contain some real food elements and some man made elements or they are completely man made altogether. The Whole 30 program argues that our bodies are just not meant to process those kinds of "foods" and by consuming such items, we do damage in multiple ways to our bodies, that run the gamut from mental to physical issues. Whole 30 challenges you to eliminate all such evil "foods", in addition to foods that are known to cause issues or allergies for many people, like wheat, for 30 days. This is to give your body a chance to heal and function properly. For more information, check out whole30.com.
I have done two full rounds of the Whole 30 program, plus some shorter stints, with amazing results. Needless to say, when you cut out garbage, you will lose weight. My own loss was ten pounds over 30 days. I also dropped two pants sizes after that first round. But as the creators of the program will tell you, weight loss is not the goal, it's just a nifty side effect. For me, I think the most significant benefit of the program was the improvement in my overall mental health. Prior to my first round in January 2015, I was short-tempered and cranky. ALL. THE. TIME. Everyone annoyed me constantly and I would snap at people (mostly my poor husband) with little to no provocation. I was also constantly fatigued, often falling asleep on the couch as early as 8 p.m. each night. About two weeks into my first round I found that stress hardly affected me anymore. I often joked that I had found my Zen place. My energy level increased, as well. I found myself needing less sleep and thriving on the sleep I did get. I felt ready to face any challenge and rarely felt overwhelmed by the needs and requests of others.
In addition to the significant mental improvements, I found a decrease in a variety of small physical complaints I had been facing for some time. For example, for a few months prior to my first Whole 30, I experienced a frequent mild ache in one of my big toes (not gout). It didn't impair my activity in any way - I was still able to run several miles with no issues. It was just there and noticeable. About three weeks into that first round, I realized it was gone. No fanfare, just gone. There was the patch of itchy skin on my forearm. Gone after Whole 30. Lower back pain - significantly reduced after Whole 30.
If you can't tell by now, I am a big believer in the Whole 30 program. I have never felt as good as I did when eating real food and eliminating garbage from my diet. BUT (there's always a BUT, right?). I faced some struggles post-Whole 30. 1) The reintroduction phase didn't work well for me. The program encourages you to reintroduce individual food groups you previously eliminated from your diet like wheat and dairy. While I followed the program as suggested, I feel like there should be more time in between each food reintroduction. The program suggests three days between each food. I think, for me, a week or two might be more realistic. 2) I didn't tame what the program calls the "Sugar Dragon". I didn't binge on fruits initially, but I did treat my banana and almond butter as a dessert, which is a big no no on the program. I then started OD-ing on dried fruit, another big no no. 3) I have some heavy duty food related issues going on. My feeling is that I have some pretty addictive behavior when it comes to food. After my second round of Whole 30, I knew I wanted to take an extended break from Whole 30, eat some foods way off-program, and enjoy some events that are hard to stay on-program with. I tried to moderate my food choices and mostly stick to a Whole 30 type diet, but I quickly found myself demonstrating what I believe is addictive behavior - mostly hiding the crap I was eating from people around me. This last one is a big one. It's made me begin to think I might need some therapy to help with my mental health in this area. I haven't decided on that yet, but I do feel that an extended round of Whole 30 and food deprogramming might be a big help, too.
That's where the Whole 365 comes in. I have a lot of hopes for a whole year of Whole 30 eating. The first being as a mentioned above, a reprogramming of my food habits and attitude towards food. Of course, I'm hoping for the weight loss, too. At 5'8", I'm far too close to 200 pounds to be healthy or comfortable in my skin. I look forward to the extended time period of mental clarity and stability. I hope the combined weight loss and other health improvements will help my husband and I finally have the second child we have been trying for for years. Recently, through blood tests, I discovered that I am not absorbing vitamin B12 correctly. Think that might be related to digestive health? I do. I also have to guess that there may be other strange little health issues I have lived with for a long time that will clear up as my body has an extended time to heal.
So here is my plan....on August 1st, I will embark on ONE YEAR of eating according to the Whole 30 program. That means no wheat, no dairy, no legumes, no grains, no sugar for one year. Oh, and just for good measure, I'm eliminating caffeine, too (read: Monday will suck big time). Come with me. Help me stay accountable. I will officially start with my related posts on August 1st and continue with updates every Monday for the following year. I will put it all out there for you, weight, measurements, pics and all. Wish me luck!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)