Whole30 Take 2 - Day 3

I'm beginning to realize that one of my major motivators for getting healthier is to be able to back up my mouth when I get to talking about proper fitness and nutrition. I overhear the most ridiculous theories throughout my days in the office that I want to stand up and say, "that's terrible for you" or "that's just not at all true," but who will take me seriously as the butterball shaped lady wagging her underarm flaps around exclaiming things like "you can't outrun your fork," "saturated fat is NOT bad for you," and "grown people don't need milk"?

I have news for all you skinny people... or at least those of you who have had very little trouble being skinny most of your lives... Us chubby chicks know more about diet and fitness than you. I have been doing research and trying every diet/fitness plan/pill under the sun. Point is, you can know a thing or two about nutrition whether or not your thighs jiggle when you walk.

Meal 1:

Turkey, Onion & Dried Cherry Rumble

Monkey Salad

Meal 2:

Chicken Lettuce Wraps (shredded chicken, chopped grapes, almond butter, onion sooooo good!)

Meal 3:

Braised Beef w/Mashed Sweet Potato & Green Beans

Since meals 1 and 2 will be pretty much the same week by week; I'm really glad I went with more variety with my dinners this time. 

Also, Happy Halloween ya'll!!!

Whole30 Take 2 - Day 1

Good Evening!

Today begins my second round of the Whole30.

This time:
1. I have read "It Starts With Food" in it's entirety.
2. I am eating three meals a day, rather than two (skipped breakfast last time)
3. I added one day (because Thanksgiving is two days after the 30th day)
4. I (think) I have a Whole30 work buddy starting next week.
5. I am blogging everyday and taking photos of each meal, but I'm not sure yet if I am going to annoy my Facebook friends/family with a daily "look at me, look at ME!" post.
6. I am limiting dried fruit and my fruit and nut bars (Larabars) because the book taught me that the brain doesn't know the difference between healthy sweet and processed, white sugar, garbage sweet.
7. I'm going to add supplements. I wasn't prepared for this one to start today, but I didn't want to delay getting this party started, so I'll add them in later. (Fish Oil, Magnesium Citrate, Vitamin D3, digestive enzymes)
8. I'm going to try not drinking anything while eating. I didn't know this was bad for digestion... Though I don't really have a problem with things working the way they should, I do wonder how much better I could feel if I wasn't watering down my digestive acids and whatnot.

So, these things in mind, I embark on another 30 (plus one) days of whole, clean eating...
Go? Yes, GO!

Meal One:

Roast Beef, Peppers & Onion Scramble

Monkey Salad

Black coffee (after eating, of course)

Meal Two:
Salt & Pepper Chicken with Spiced Mashed Cauliflower

I forgot the pic, but it was all brown and mushy anyway. :)

Meal Three:

I did not succeed in eating according to plan last night. Perhaps the first day of a woman's monthly... uh... cycle... is not the best day to give up salty and sweet?
I was going to have Chicken Soup with Onions & Carrots and a small tossed salad with red wine vinegar and oil dressing. I actually had a Wendy's cheeseburger, French fries, and a Frosty.

How could I take a picture? I don't want to document my SHAME! J/k. I don't feel too icky physically and I don't feel bad emotionally either. So I caved? Now it's a Whole30 after all!

I'm hopeful that the intensity of the detox effects won't be as severe this time around, since I just had the hardcore awful migraine, mood swings, lethargy, and overall malaise to the max during the first half last time... Also hope the chocolatey goodness of the Frosty with fries dipped in won't add to the effects too badly. Cramps are bad enough! :)

Whole30 Take 2 - Day 2

Meal 1:

Let me tell you something about omelets... or is it something about lettuce?

Either way, it is a magical combination that most wouldn't think would be delicious, but it IS!

I saw a recipe for a BLT omelet and decided to put one together myself.

I had gotten Whole30 approved bacon from U.S. Wellness Meats and made my mayonnaise from scratch the night before (using light olive oil, of course). The result was this lovely right here:

BLT Omelet

As usual, I had my fruit and nuts when I got to work:

Orange and Hazelnuts

Meal 2:

Beef Stew w/Mashed Cauliflower

Meal 3:

Chocolate Chili topped with Avocado, Onion and Olives

The workday was long and tiresome. Afterward I went to my grandma's to help her with some paperwork. Coming home to a nice hot bowl of chili was a perfect way to wind down.

Whole30 Take 2 - Day 1 Again

2nd attempt at Day 1 was a success!

Meal 1:

Chicken & Salsa Frittata

Pears & Almond Slivers

Meal 2:

Asian Chicken Salad w/cashews, golden raisins, green onion, and carrots & a super good homemade apple cider vinaigrette.

Meal 3:

Shish Tawook Carry Out - House Salad w/Chicken

Work was crappy and the stress, combined with a huge headache and cramps, made me want candy and chips so bad!!! I didn't cave in though... I made it!

On to Day 2!!!

Getting Fired Up!

Do you want to know how many times I said "I wish I hadn't eaten that?" during my first Whole30?
ZERO!
Do you want to know how many times I have said it during my month off?
Oh my gord, I don't even know...
Of course, something like this wasn't really noticeable to me before; since I didn't know that feeling like a pile of crud after eating was not normal... or, actually was a problem... like, the root of all my ills...

I got off track way too fast when I finished with the reintroduction protocol. I have been asked why I'm doing this again, and that is the big reason why... Like I have said before, the weight loss is wonderful, but it is the secondary purpose for eating clean. Not getting heartburn, gas, headaches, bloating, mood swings, and inflamed tissue that aggravates my back problems are my priority number one.

During dairy... I got a super phlegmy throat and... well... a lady doesn't speak of such things.


During gluten grains, I learned I get a euphoric kind of high feeling and then a sudden desire to sleep and the inevitable crash within hours of eating the stuff.


During non-gluten grains... The most noticeable effect was that I bloated up like the stay-puft marshmallow man and my socks made grooves in my ankles.


During legumes... well, I never made it to legumes... I ate a bag of chips and lost it instead... and by lost it, I mean that literally



I'm attributing the success of sticking with  the Paleo life, during my first Whole30, to the countdown and accountability of the time frame...

Yeah, I might need to keep re-upping to a new set every time. Yeah, I might do a Whole30 every month... Whatever it takes to break this roller coaster is what I have to do.

I am hopeful for a day where one piece of cake won't undo my new attitude toward food. I know it will happen, no matter how long I have to stick to a Whole way of eating.

Whole Again

I've decided to go hardcore Paleo again for 31 days leading up to Thanksgiving starting on Monday October 28th. I honestly feel like I shouldn't have stopped, I wasn't ready yet. My brain was not reprogrammed enough. I ate McDonald's ya'll... McDonald's!

Also, I like the countdown and accountability I had when I was blogging my journey through my first Whole 30 about a month ago and would like to get the momentum going again with another burst of clean eating energy right before the holiday chow fest begins.

I picked 31 days this time because I like starting things on Mondays, and I might as well keep it going one extra day since Day 30 would be the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

I finally finished reading It Starts with Food and realized I missed a few things like skipping Balsamic vinegar because of the nitrates (duh!), snacking should be rare; if at all, dried fruit could be as bad as candy in terms of "brain wants sweet, brain gets sweet" scenarios, and that Dallas & Melissa Hartwig say breakfast is a must. I'll try it your way Hartwigs!

I got a bunch of new recipes for this round from sites like Nom Nom Paleo, The Clothes Make the Girl, and Stupid Easy Paleo.

I also stole a wondrous recipe for this treat called Monkey Salad from Good Cheap Eats. The BEST mid-morning, "ohmygodicannotwaitforlunchoriamgoingtoeatmyhand" snack in the entire world. It's a fact!

So, from now until Monday I will be shopping, prepping, cooking, and freezing as many whole, clean, delicious meals as I can so I am ready to go! Also, this time, I've got coconut flakes, coconut butter, coconut oil, MORE ghee, sugar free grass fed bacon and lard to cook with so I am super stoked to try out the new flavors.

The plan is in place. The menu is set. I've got the tools and know how to use them so bring it on October 28th. I'm ready for ya!

FYI, I'm not spending the time before this to go hog wild and indulge bad habits. I don't want that monster headache to happen again. I'm just kind of doing my best to stick to the good things I know with the occasional lame excuse for Frito's... There's no excuse for Frito's... :)

This post is so linkeriffic because last time I got a lot of requests for info. Now you can click the link and be in the know!

Just to Remember

Just for my own benefit, it is hard to stay on track right now. I want to eat constantly and lack of olanning last week made getting back in the game this week that much harder. I need fruit! Two weeks off Whole30 and I forgot how to shop, jk.

I didn't do legume days yet... Because I thought testing potato chips would be more fun... Thanks to either the oil the chips were fried in or something wonky in the nitrate free hotdogs I had with them, I lost my dinner. I will try legumes out on Thursday.

That's it. Just needed to write it to see if seeing my struggling time in text will help kick my butt back in gear.

Whole Plus Gluten Free

I gotta say, I never thought this would be the case. I never saw this coming. 

Yesterday I had 3 servings of grains not containing gluten. Rice with breakfast, more rice with lunch, and corn with dinner... It was awful! I noticeably swelled up. Ankles turned into cankles and my jelly roll was an inner tube. I also felt groggy and lethargic and just plain kuh-kuh...

I thought rice would be the least aggravating of all of these groups, but it has been the worst thus far. 

Saturday is legume day and I, honestly, fear the reaction I may have. Ah well, soon the trials will be over and I will be free to decide if and when I will choose to indulge. My plan is, not very often.

I was feeling so good and just melting away. I wish I had skipped this part and just kept on going to Whole60, 90, 120, infinity... 

I'll post one more Whole30 related post on Saturday night. Then it'd back to random musings and the occasional health update. :)

If you often feel puffy, try cutting out rice. You could be super glad you did! 

Whole Plus Gluten

No need to explain how I feel the day after I ate grains containing gluten for the first time in over a month. Actually my body feels fine. I seem to have snapped right back into optimal efficiency. I did feel a bit yucky last night; a little lethargic and crabby. This morning I woke up feeling physically fine, but craving more. Perhaps this is because I ate a bit more than three servings in the form of a biscuit, pretzels, and pita bread. Either way, I can identify gluten containing foods as a trigger if not an aggitator. Triggering over consumption is just as dangerous a health risk as intestinal problems so I will have to limit gluten grains to the very rare occasions like birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries. "Someone Brought Donuts Day" does not count as a holiday. :)

Whole Plus Dairy

Today was Dairy Day.

For those not familiar with the "reintroduction protocol":

Thanks to Paige, I get the gist that...

I maintain my Whole30 compliance and add three servings of dairy today and return to eating as I have for the Whole30 while documenting how I feel over the next three days then...

I maintain my Whole30 compliance and add three servings of grain containing gluten and return to eating as I have for the Whole30 while documenting how I feel over the following three days then...

I maintain my Whole30 compliance and add three servings of grain not containing gluten and return to eating as I have for the Whole30 while documenting how I feel over the following three days then...

I maintain my Whole30 compliance and add three servings of beans/legumes and  return to eating as I have for the Whole30 while documenting how I feel over the following three days then...

Then I am free to balance eating whole and clean with the occasional holiday overload or birthday pizza party without falling back into a bad habit ritual always giving my body time between the very occasional indulgence to heal and reset. 

That said:

I had creamer in my coffee today and felt jittery and weird

I ate a Chipotle chicken salad with pico, sour cream, cheese and guacamole for lunch and got phlegmy and a bit bloaty:

I ate a Greek Salad with Ranch dressing for dinner. More phlegmy, more bloaty

I'll check in again in a few days when it's time for bread! :)

Whole Life

It's the dawn of a new life for me. I am changed mentally and physically.

How much have I changed physically?

Oh, just 16.6 Lbs & 7.5 Inches!!!

Mentally, I'm not obsessed with old cravings. I don't lose control and eat more than I planned of anything. I can smell French fries and not freak out that I "can't have" them. I haven't missed ranch dressing yet, though I will probably have some tonight. Weight loss aside, this challenge has broken my bad food habits and has completely rewired my hunger trigger system. I can't express enough how grateful I am for finding out about this (thanks again Paige!) and for the book that explains the mechanics of it all, "It Starts With Food..."

If you're thinking of doing this, do it! Do it now! Don't hold off on never having to say "I try so hard to eat right, but I can't lose weight" or "I'm always tired" or "I'm not even hungry but I ate a whole bag of ___"

Now!!! :)

I am going to document my process of evaluating how certain foods effect me, even if for my own recollection, over the course of the next couple weeks. This will only be every few days or so, rather than eatery stinkin' day!

Today is Dairy. 

I will post the details later. :)