Whole30 - Day 14-16

The halfway point has been reached...running downhill from here on out.  And it feels...good.

I am still frustrated that my palate is not changing as rapidly as I would like.  I also still feel that my caloric intake is pretty low since I am eating white meat, fruits, and nuts primarily.   But overall, I feel better.  My energy levels are up.  I am happy with this adventure.

This week, since I no longer feel so tired, I started back up at the gym.  I haven't been in a few months and it felt great to get back in there and take care of myself.  I always feel so accomplished after the gym.  Also, I am running a 5K in mid March soooooo...should probably get some track time in.  Not so I can go fast...just so I don't collapse in a heap halfway through and have to watch Grandpas pass me by.

Something else I really like so far has been the recipes in the Whole30 book.  I have made many of the dinners and sauces, and they are all great!  Even my kids like them.  This is a big thing I will carry over after our 30 days.  We will be having homemade BBQ sauce and spaghetti sauce and ketchup and ranch.  These sauces are pretty much how I am eating my veggies.  Way better, no sugar...win win! 

So now we are just counting down to Ash Wednesday,  when I can start introducing things back in my diet.  Dairy is first, because I miss mozzarella.  Pray for me that my body still likes it! 

Whole30- Day 9-13

Toughest days by far.  According to the official timeline of what to expect, days 10 and 11 are usually the days when people quit.  I see how this would be true.

I am discouraged by how little vegetables I am liking.  I am trying them, but my palate is still not cooperating.  I know that without a high veggie intake, I am skewing my results a bit and making this more a fruit and white meat diet...which was not my intent.  But I also didn't intend on force feeding myself veg all day.  In hindsight, I should have spent some time leading up to this trying different veggie dishes every night until I found some I liked...and THEN started my 30 days.  It might have gone smoother in this mid section.

Even with that, I am still determined to finish it out strong.  We have discovered many useful things to take forward from this already and I am sure more will follow.  Another amazing benefit to this is the effect it has had on our kids.  They have not only eaten the whole30 dinners, but raved about them.  They loved the BBQ chicken and I will never tell them that BBQ sauce is made from sweet potato!  But I won't buy store bought anymore, I will make our own.  Same with mayo and ranch dressing.  Jack likes them both more than store bought.  This journey is definitely changing our family's kitchen habits for the better.

Something we are playing with this week is the food dehydrator that Jack got me for my birthday, such a perfectly timed present!  We are experimenting with fruits and veggies to make dried 'chips' to have with homemade salsa.  We also have some jerky marinading and waiting to go in...hope it turns out good! 

So, in short...rough few days...still don't like veggies, wish I did...carrying on and trying new things...almost halfway there!!

Whole30 - Day 8

Today was my birthday.  Whatever possessed me to do Whole30 on my birthday?  No cake, no ice cream, no adult beverages, no rich decadent...anything. 

Except...

I have a super smart, super sweet husband with skills.  Jack made me a huge turkey dinner with an organic whole turkey we finally found that did not have added sugar.  He also made roasted garlic  potatoes and hardboiled eggs.  Everyone sang happy birthday to me while a candle burned in the top of an egg!  And my gift was a dehydrator, so I can make more good for me things, and a giant bag of almonds.  Everything was so nice and totally in keeping with our healthy eating adventure.  I am the luckiest girl to have such a supportive partner in all of my adventures.    So even without cake, I am feeling very blessed and very resolute. 

Tomorrow, we dehydrate 100 things...

Whole30 - Day 6 & 7

Woohoo!  One week down!  Only 3 more to go...

Day 6 and 7 were harder than the first five all together.  It was our first weekend eating this way, and our weekends are waaaaaay less structured than our weekdays.   Cooking every meal just does not happen.  Next weekend I will need to have proteins stocked in the fridge ready to eat because Jack and I both felt run down by Sunday night from not getting enough filling food to eat. 

We also had our first Sunday lunch at McDonald's to get through.  My family has always gone there after church on Sundays.  The kids all play, adults catch up...it is a giant play date for all ages.  Not something we are willing to give up.  So Jack and I had water and apples from there, plus I brought cashews for myself and a Lara bar for Jack.  Then we ate more substantial food at home later.  It would have worked better if we ate a solid breakfast, but we had both grabbed fruit in the middle of getting all the kids ready for church.  I definitely see Sundays as being our most challenging days. 

We also had a birthday party at night - with cake AND ice cream AND pop AND pizza!!   Ugh.  Pizza and baked goods are my nemesis.   This was the only real moment where I felt like I was missing out so far.  But I am determined and held strong.  Jack and I are both heading into week two strong.

Healthwise, week one was more than I expected.  My guts felt better within 24 hours and have steadily improved since then.  I have entered a stage of whole30 where your healing guts start kicking out all the guck, so that has my stomach a little worked up - but that is a normal part of the whole30 timeline.  My energy is not awesome yet, but it is leveling out a bit.  I am falling asleep easier, which has always been a problem for me.  All in all, I am pretty happy with my results so far.

Bring on week 2!

Whole30- Day 5

If almonds and cashews are better for me than breadsticks and Milky Ways...then I am way healthier today compared to five days ago.  Also, on a related note, I am going to spend $100 on nuts this month.  No judgement.

Day 5 is the first day I ventured out into the world at mealtime.  I took a bag of cashews and a bottle of water with me and planned to have actual lunch at home around two.  This did work, but the temptation to cheat on Busia's M&Ms and cookies was - by far - the hardest time I have had sticking to my plan.  Every Friday, that is what the babies and I do...we go to Busia's and eat M&Ms and cookies while we visit.  Sitting on the couch with water and nuts did not feel the same.  However....

I survived.  I didn't cheat.  I came home and put my chicken breast in the oven and had lunch like a good girl.  And now I am pulling together my shopping list and heading to the store to hunt for ingredients for next week.  It feels good to be planning out week two, it feels like real progress.

I am still getting small headaches every day around two or so....right around the time I normally would eat all my junk food and sugar.  My brain is trying to trick me into sugar...not happening brain!  Too smart for you!  Unless there is sugar in ibuprofen...then you win.

Getting ready for day six.....

Whole30 - Day 4

Day 4...only 26 more to go. 

Oddly enough, I do not miss many things I thought I would.  Coke already doesn't sound good.  I am not missing fast food or pizza very much.  I don't miss dairy at all.  The only thing I really have craved is chocolate.

More than the food choices themselves, it is the food prep that is difficult.   It takes a ton of planning to keep enough compliant food prepped for Brent and I (and food for 5 kids) so that we don't reach for something we shouldn't.   Prepping fresh ingredients is more work and it holds for less time than store bought.  So every other day it seems like I am spending an afternoon in the kitchen planning and prepping.  And the day I don't spend in the kitchen, I am running to the grocery store.    BUT...I think this part will get easier.  I think my system will streamline as we figure out what works and what doesnt. 

It doesn't help that I am tired and don't feel like cooking.  Letting go off my precious carbs and Baby Girl teething all night have combined to create a very tired Mama.  I am anxiously awaiting the day where they say all your energy comes back - bring it on!

Whole30 - Day 3

I am not going to be a perfect Whole30-er.  I am eating way more fruits than vegetables.  I am drinking V8 juice instead of just using it to cook.  I am snacking on cashews and clementines.  All technically legal, but not quite as it is meant to go.

For me, this is how I get through this first week.  It is such an abrupt and different change in diet for me that it is unrealistic to expect that my taste buds are going to immediately love vegetables.   And juggling five kids schedules means meals are not always where I need them to be. 

Day 3 is all about recognizing that I can not overhaul my entire relationship with food overnight - this is a process.  Every day I will do the beat I can and we will see how that ends up 27 days from now!

Whole30 - Day 2

Today feels better.  At least it is starting off better.  Baby Girl is still in the throes of teething hell, but she was asleep by one a.m. last night and only woke up once between then and eight o'clock this morning. 

I had breakfast (that I liked) and feel much more capable of carrying on with my day.  Yesterday, that never happened.   Yesterday, I felt the most insane suck of energy.  I pretty much spent the day moving from one piece of furniture to the other.  Jack was great, he picked up most of my slack and ran that dishwasher like a champ.  I am so glad to have a partner in this.

Yup, Jack is doing Whole30 with me.  He had a better first day, I think mainly because he really likes almost all these foods.  With all the prep we did, he probably ate better yesterday than normal days.  Also, he slept the night before, soooo.... We both did notice snack cravings after dinner - that is our normal relax and snack time.  We will need to find a new after dinner routine, I think!

I have to say that I am surprised that I can notice changes after 24 hours.  There was a big difference in how I fell asleep and how I woke up compared to a day where I ate a bunch of sugar.  I also have really noticed the difference in how my guts felt.  I have a crabby gallbladder and random gut unease (thus my whole30 motivation); and in a normal day have many times where I feel bloated, vaguely nauseous, and uncomfortable.   Yesterday felt like an even keel...steady all day long.  I imagine the jumping sugar levels played havoc with me and I am pretty motivated that 24 hours on this has already improved on that.

The other thing that stands out is how important planning was in this adventure.   Yesterday did NOT go as planned.  If I would not have had options ready to go, I totally would've cheated.  I needed my back up plan and was so glad I had it.  So yes, Whole30 is completely reinforcing my theory that everything works better when I plan it ;) 

Thanks for all the messages and encouragement - it really helps to share and hear back from people.  Kinda feels like an extra person in my adventure.   Me, Jack, and all my social media cheerleaders!  Ok, time to tackle Day 2...and my laundry room...back tomorrow!

Whole30 - Day 1

Day one has not started well. 

It should have.  I read and studied and researched.  I read three hundred ingredients lists on the back of grocery store packages.  I shook my fist at the heavens and cursed at the grocery gods as I found meat after meat after meat labeled...sugar, sugar, dextrose, sugar.  No wonder we all love meat so much, it is laced with sugar so we think it tastes more like candy.  Somewhere there is a very rich, very smart...but very bad...man responsible for this.  I overcame this and found acceptable ground turkey, chicken breast, and prosciutto.

I gathered up my fruits and vegetables.   It took me forever to check out because nothing in my cart had bar codes, I had to look up everything.  I came home and organized my cupboards and my fridge, I made LABELS. 

Last night we ordered pizza and I only ate 2 pieces.  I patted myself on the back, drank a caffeine free Coke, and thought how ready I was.  I talked to Jack about how excited I was and how it felt good to be starting.  Then I went to bed.

Baby Girl...did not.

Baby Girl is teething.  Baby Girl wanted to be cuddled inside my skin.  Until she didn't.  She wanted nothing to do with Daddy.  Until he went downstairs.  Then she shrieked like he had taken one of her limbs with him.  She fell asleep in an exhausted heap, only to wake ten minutes later when I exhaled too loudly.  We played this fun game til about 3 am.  Then we switched to every hour until we were up for good at 8.

I felt exhausted.  And thankful that I had spent time yesterday making turkey breakfast patties for my kickoff meal this morning.  They smelled so good and I was so geeked and ready to take on the day...and they were NOT good.  Soooo disappointing.  But I choked one down, ate some fruit, took my multivitamin,  and drank a few ounces of my emergency back up V8 juice that I did not think I would need quite so fast.  

Meanwhile, Baby Boy cried that his milk was in the turtle cup...that he wanted real pants not jammie pants...that I could not produce his special firetruck shirt that he does not even own...and that sister touched his foot.  Baby Girl screamed over the dog lying on her blanket...not being allowed to use Mama's toothpaste...having a banana instead of my V8...and pretty much everything else. 

The universe is not with me but I will prevail...stay tuned...