Reintroduction - Week 1 (and then some)

Day 1 - Celebrated my successful completion and the return of my dear friend to Anchorage with some red wine.  Just a couple glasses, enough to give me a feel for it without going overboard.

Day 2 (and this is where I screwed up) -  Experienced some stomach issues, which I think had more to do with the sugar in the wine than the alcohol itself.  And yet I still drank some rum and sparkling water with natural coconut flavoring.  Again not enough to get anywhere near even tipsy, and later felt the same stomach issues.  Since I honestly have never had digestional issues from mild drinking before, I am attributing this to the sudden inclusion of sugar and alcohol into my now clean system.  And since I stupidly rushed things, I'm not entirely sure how day 3 should have gone.

Day 3 - Now I understand why there's a 2 day period between reintroduction.  I was trying to fast-track the fast track, and never had had issues with alcohol before, so I figured jumping right into legume would be fine.  It was not.  I ended up just having a slathering of peanut butter on an apple, and felt that same stomach sick from the days prior.  And I don't know if it was the sugar, residual alcohol, or peanuts themselves that caused it.  My guess once again is sugar, and I regret not getting a natural peanut butter to try with, or just having some black beans or something.  Next round I'll do better.

Day 4 - back to whole eating, which has actually become my comfort zone.  Stomach still in flux.

Day 5 - Whole eating, stomach feeling better, still a little sketchy.  Ready to vow off sugar forever.

Day 6 - Reintroduced tortilla chips (non-gluten grains).  Stomach felt good, and continued to feel good throughout the day.  A successful reintroduction!  The only problem was they were delicious and I wanted to keep eating them.  Portion control is my next demon to wrangle.

Day 7 - All's well!

Day 8 - So far so good.  My challenge today will be two-fold; I'm making treats for a baby's birthday party tomorrow, and attending an adult birthday party tonight.  This will be my first time making something that I'm not allowed to taste-test, so I'll be fighting instinct a lot.  Navigating the party and explaining why I'm not eating much or drinking anything will also be a challenge, but one I'm a bit more used to now.


These last few days are really important for me to get right.  Dairy will be reintroduced tomorrow (Day 9), and was one of my suspected culprits in digestional issues, so I'm really interested in how I'll react.  Gluten comes in the 13th, but I'm nervous about that as the 14th I will be on a plane for hours and hours, which is no fun with a bubbly stomach, so I may hold off on it until I land in Curacao.  Or maybe do a muffin early in the morning on the 13th and nothing else the rest of the day and gauge how I feel, and hope any unpleasantness has passed by the time I get to the airport the next evening.

Overall I'm really pleased with my Whole 30 results.  I lost 15 pounds, feel strong, feel capable, and definitely can see myself doing this at least once or twice a year.  My next goal is to start and complete Couch to 5k, so maybe I'll keep the blog going for that.  It's been good to keep my thoughts and progress organized and accessible.  I dig it.

Day 30!!!

The question people most often ask when I tell them I'm doing Whole 30 (and subsequently explain what Whole 30 is all about) is 'How do you feel?'   And the answer honestly and truly is "Powerful."  Not just physically, but mentally.  I have completely proven to myself that I always have a choice in the foods I eat, and no craving is stronger than my willpower.  That I can go 30 days without sugar or grains and feel all the better for it.  That, yeah, sometimes it's hard, but in the end it's about how my choices affect my quality of life.

Plus I climbed a fricken mountain.  

So yeah, I'm going to go with 'powerful'. 

Tomorrow starts phase 1 of Reintroduction.  As I said earlier, a huge part of why I wanted to do this was to give my stomach lining a chance to heal, and then weed out what foods had been making me sick.  

I've prepped for this by rereading portions of Whole 30, making a calendar, and dedicating a journal to keep my food-body evaluations in:

Again, the idea is to reintroduce triggers and possible inflammatory foods one at a time to see which ones are causing which problems.  So I'll introduce, then go back on Whole 30 level eating for two days as I play science experiment on myself and evaluate my bodily reactions to them.  Sounds like a blast!  This will essentially take me up to the day I arrive in Curacao, so hopefully at that point I will have a solid understanding of foods and their affects on me, and thusly have a safe and digestionally friendly vacation with mah ladies. 

And on this Day 30 I do want to give a HUGE shoutout to all my cheerleaders!  You guys are amazing, thank you for helping me be strong and supporting my endeavors, and know that if and when you want to take on the challenge I am SO there for you!!!  Love you all!!

Day 26 - so close!

Nearing the end!  It both feels like so long and no time at all, which I think is kind of the point.  At the beginning 30 days seemed so daunting, and now, 26 days in, I still kind of feel like day one was just last week.

This week has proved extra challenging however, due to the house guests I've been hosting.  I want to show them the best of Alaska, which includes certain eateries (Mooses Tooth Pizza, Arctic Roadrunner burgers, Glacier Brewhouse everything, to name a few), but not being able to fully participate is wearing on me, especially being so close to the end.  I feel like I'm in deprivation station right now.

To combat all that I'm trying to focus on how I feel.  Overall I feel pretty good, but I never got the energy boost everyone talked about.  Like, I have energy (climbed a mountain today and did a 5k (walking/dancing/goofing) on Saturday), but most other Whole 30 accounts wrote about their boundless energy, and I still kind of want to take a nap after big activities.  Which probably means I need to keep doing them and build up my endurance.

Back to food, I've realized I may need to cut out the dried fruit for this last week.  I've been using it as a snacking crutch, and I know I've been overdoing it (lots of natural sugars and carbs included too).

My other big go-to is the canned pink salmon I get at Costco.  The salmon patties are pretty much my favorite thing and so easy to make (and TASTY!  And transportable!  And...).  I'm hoping to branch out more, at least during my reintroduction phase were I should have time to myself again to properly prep food.

And finally, here's a picture to share with you all:


Again, not totally Whole 30 based, but proof that change CAN happen, one day at a time.  I'm already excited about my 2017 Color Run, and hope to actually be running more of it!

Day 20

Ho snap, I have made THE BEST curry sauce ever.  I seem to have forgotten how much I love curry, and combining it with coconut was like a dream come true.



I am very excited to use the sauce on shrimp as well, and maybe some cauliflower rice.  It is crazy delicious.

Feeling pretty good overall, though I don't think I've seen the energy boost yet.  Today I actually feel the opposite, but I also didn't get my best sleep last night (due in part by cooking too late (but coconut curry chicken!!)) and got a semi-deep tissue massage today, so I'll allow it.

I also put pork in the crockpot for pulled pork sweet potato sliders, so hopefully those will turn out and be as good as everyone has said they are.

Planning on traveling to Denali National Park tomorrow, which will be another exercise in preparing and packing my own food, and making sure it's trail ready.  Unfortunately most of what I've made this week needs reheating, so I'll have to dig a little bit and get creative this evening to make sure I'm good to go in the morning.

10 more days!

Day 18 - Food Fatigue

I'm a little bummed I haven't really felt the "flipped switch" week 3 was reported to give me.  I can most probably attribute this to the fact that I was eating really poorly prior to starting, so cleanup is likely taking a little bit longer.  But for the most part cravings are totally in check, and I'm trying to push myself to work out more.  

I've totally hit food fatigue though; I'm tired of the food I'm eating and I'm tired of making all my food.  Especially as I am still learning and there's a lot of trial and error going on, and I still have to eat the error when all is said and done.  

But nevertheless, we forge on.  I think this week I'm going to try my hand at making romanesco sauce (for real this time!) so I can make the shrimp in romanesco sauce with zoodles, and some coconut curry chicken, because I love all three of those ingredients so fingers crossed it will be a winner.  I also need to try the chicken soup I made the first week now that I have the correct jalapeños.  

Today also starts my 2 weeks of visitors, which will take me right to the end of my Whole 30.  Like literally, the minute after I take Chris to the airport I can have red wine.  And I might. I just might.  But that's still 12 days away and there's a lot to navigate until then.  But I'm pretty sure I can do it.  

Day 14 - two weeks!!

I am kind of ridiculously proud of today.  Got up early and went to the gym with a friend, then walked home (the long way, 4 miles) stopping off at Fred Meyer's to grab a Lara bar as a post-workout protein boost (and so I could make it the 4 miles without passing out from hunger as I woke up about 10 minutes before I was picked up).  Once home I had leftover salmon cakes and eggs with some avocado and tomato slices - crazy good.  Ran some errands and did cauliflower rice and some meatballs with coconut aminos for lunch, and started a pot roast for dinner.  

This is where I have to interject and say how much I love my friends.  We were celebrating a 35th birthday tonight, and instead of going out for dinner or drinks, we met up and had a little picnic dinner on the beach, where I could bring my own food and drink and not feel so out of place.  I know eventually I'll have to face the realities of restaurant eatings, but I figure the less I have to worry about that, the better.  The worst part was that I could smell the red wine and I wanted it so much, but stuck with my sparkling water.  Cause I'm a trooper like that. 

I've also been rereading portions of the book, and need to take a closer look on how I'm eating my fruit.  It says I'm not supposed to eat it alone, or as a snack (probably mostly because snacking should be cut out completely to give my body proper time to digest), but it doesn't always fit into my meal.  So I'm going to try playing around with that (I bought a bunch of berries and want to make use of them before they go bad (and I've already frozen a ton of blueberries)).

I need to make something with my ground beef tomorrow, as I forgot I'd pulled it out a couple days ago when I thought I was making burgers.  Maybe I still will, I'm intrigued with using sweet potatoes or egglplant as buns.  We'll see how that goes!!

Halfway point tomorrow!

Day 13

Day 13, two days away from the halfway point, and hopefully the last days of Misery Lane.  I've been continuing to have weird cramping issues, and am still not sure if it's a particular food doing it, or just a part of the gut-healing.  Poultry has never caused me issues before but it is a commonality in the meals I've had on the days of stomach pains, so I think I'm going to cut them out for a few days. The rest of the week I plan on focusing on seafood.  

I bought the 6 pack of canned salmon at Costco, and it has been more of a lifesaver than I had anticipated.  I can slap some homemade mayo into it and make a super tasty spread (which I've had with just spinach to a surprisingly satisfying end), and today I made salmon patties with it (that included sweet potatoes, scallions, and a number of spices including dill which I am quickly finding out I LOVE).  I may need to venture out and find Whole 30 compliant pickles so I can make the tartar sauce that should accompany said patties, cause man, that would be good.  I have scallops, shrimp, and some form of fish (I want to say tilapia?) waiting in the wings.  Hopefully I can do them justice and make them edible.  

Body wise, I feel like my face is looking slimmer, and I'm feeling more energized, but still want to sleep in all morning.  But that could be because I'm up all hours of the night scrolling around on the internet.  I should enact a no-screens after 10 policy and see if that helps.  Spoiler alert, it totally would but I don't know if I'm strong enough.  Maybe I'll try it for a week and see how it improves me.  Loving this whole "use myself as a science experiment" thing I have going on.  Good times!

And finally, a quick comparison shot of me, Jan 17 2015 (new house!) and me today.  I'll take a better one later but for now this'll work.  This obviously isn't all Whole 30 progress, but more a display of why I'm doing Whole 30.  I've made a lot of progress and I want to keep moving forward.  I'm hoping this month will give me the tools and the cognizance to understand food better and consistently make better choices in the future.   

Days 11 - 12

Slumpy slump slump.  Cooking is getting tiresome and not being able to eat things unless I have complete control over what's going into it is getting a little old.  I miss restaurants.  And wine.

But I've also notice my face slimming a bit, and I think my eyes are brighter.  Sleep schedule is still wonky but that has more to do with the midnight sun and my addiction to reading everything on the internet and night blogging, apparently.  All in all I still know this will be hugely positive for me, and I'm just hoping I can make it through the reintroduction phase correctly and decipher what it is that's making me sick.

Speaking of, I still get cramps sometimes after a few meals, so I need to start taking a closer look at what I'm eating, when, and make that correlation if I can.  I should get a food diary for that explicit purpose.  Not a bad idea.

Tomorrow I'm making salmon cakes.  I'm pretty excited as canned salmon has been a surprise godsend in this venture, I've been putting it with eggs, on spinach, and I'm excited to attempt to cook with it tomorrow.  Fingers crossed it's good.  I need a win to keep my momentum going.

Day 10

These days are predicted to be the slump - the newness of the program has worn off, the idea of cooking all my food for the next 20 days is weighing on me, and I have yet to really feel the positives everyone tells me about.  Knowing this feeling will pass and the best is yet to come will keep me going, but yeah, I'm feeling that slump.

Right now I just kind of don't want to do anything.  My to-do list keeps growing, but I keep not doing any of it (not totally true, I made egg muffins this morning and put up my hands-free screen door).  Also I'm not sure if it's more program results, period issues, or just something I recently ate, but my stomach is rallying against me.  I might try putting the possible perpetrators (looking at you, meatballs) aside and evaluating how I feel the rest of the day/tomorrow.

I'm planning on scheduling a haircut and facial for my mid-program reward.  Trying to figure out non-food rewards is a little tricky, since that's such a go-to, and definitely a habit that needs to be broken.  A cupcake that's going to make me feel bad for hours afterward is NOT a reward, no matter how good it is for that four minute span.  I somehow have to etch that into my brain so it's a constant.
And I need to get up, go to the bank (if it's still open... what are Saturday hours?), go the store to get capers (which I just had to Google) so I can make chicken cacciatore.  Hopefully it turns out and I have a meal for a couple days.  I should make that soup again too, now that I have proper jalapeños.  And once I find the recipe again.

... And now I'm back from the store and $70 later have decided that I am DONE shopping for at least a week; if a recipe calls for something I don't have I am looking up another recipe.

Day 8 - 1 Week Down!!!

I think with all the travel, diet change, and period my body is having a hard time keeping up, and today was just a crash-out day.  I made my scrambled eggs this morning, and then pretty much grazed on fruit and nuts the rest of the day, not having the get-up-and-go to go shopping for more sustainable food.

I eventually did go shopping, but when I got home was too tired and hungry to make anything with it, and then I remembered I had a can of salmon and my homemade mayo, and ended up making a quick salmon spread and eating that with basically handfuls of spinach.  Not my classiest of meals to date, but it seemed to do the trick.  

And I was ready to settle in for the night and just menu out the rest of the week when I got a text asking if I wanted to go to the gym.  Of course I didn't want to go to the gym, it was 7:40 pm and I was already exhausted from shopping and making my friend come over and fix the dishwasher (aka, having him show me where the plug had come loose from the outlet) and then taking him to the airport... so of course I said yes.  The less I want to do something, the more I probably need to do it.  And I'm glad I did; I feel tired, but at least now I feel like I've earned it.     

Tomorrow I'm going to get back in the kitchen and make some turkey and pork meatballs and check out some of the fish recipes I've bookmarked, and maybe make a sauce or two.  Also I need to see what kind of beverages I can have, cause as much as I like water, I have to mix it up a little every now and then.  

Week 1 is COMPLETE!!!

Day 7 - Home again!

Woo!  Made it the whole conference without slipping up or eating off plan!  All the work preparing food really paid off, and honestly it was so good most of the time I didn't even miss what I wasn't getting to eat.

The other cool thing that happened was the ripple effect.  At least two people told me directly that I had inspired them to start their own Whole 30, and a couple others were interested in checking out the book and hearing what the program was.  I had a lot more support than I had anticipated going in, and it's so cool that someone who was a stranger a couple days ago became a huge cheerleader.  It really helped to bolster my commitment to seeing these 30 days through.

Tomorrow I head back into kitchen to make some more bases so I can then create more elaborate meals.  I'm getting excited to see how much my cooking skills will improve throughout the month, and what culinary masterpieces I might stumble upon.  I had made this amazing dish for my conference breakfasts, and finished it off at the airport tonight after our plane was delayed for an hour, and I'm happy to say it was just as good cold as it was warmed up :)  Definitely something I'll make again.

Day 6 - Kodiak

I'm kind of surprised how low my cravings have been.  Everyone at the conference had pizza for lunch, and normally I throw all caution to the wind when it comes to pizza, but it wasn't even a struggle to only eat what I had brought with me.  This is doubly confusing as I'm on my period and normally cravings are OUT OF CONTROL, but this time around it's more like I just don't want anything.  Really weird.

I'm also in the 'just get me to a bed' phase, and thought I had powered through as I woke up okay and the morning went well but by 2 pm I was yawning into my circuits and didn't realize HOW tired I was until my group went to the lounge stairs to wait for the rest of the conference attendees and I lied down and almost immediately shut my eyes and sunk into the platform.

The biggest negative right now is that food and drinking is used for socialization and networking, and while I know I can be at a bar and not drink, it's also hard to do so when you WANT to drink, and literally the only thing stopping you is your own resolve.  So for me it's best to just avoid the temptation all together.  The fact that I feel physically ill as well thanks to my monthly nightmare helps ease the guilt in not palling around with my new conference buddies.

Heading back home tomorrow, and back to the kitchen Thursday!

Day 5 - Kodiak

Day 5 is Kill All the Things, and it was really tested this morning.  But I'm happy to report everyone survived the first day of the Make and Play conference, even if the keynote did go a little long and spark my need to kill (those birds like to chirp).  But listening to music, hanging out with a friend, and creating paper circuitry marvels helped get me back to good.

So grateful I had my lunch packed and ready to go, along with some snacks, as when 12:00 rolled around I was greeted by the smells of KFC, and even the salad was pre-cheesed, so there would have been literally nothing for me to eat.  But I prevailed, and was then available to take my gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian friend to Safeway to get herself some food (where I picked up some figs (and to my sisters, I DO want the figs~)).  

The group all went to get Thai for dinner, and while I'm kind of bummed to miss out on the socialization, it's also nice to be able to unwind by myself in a quiet house.  

Day 4 - Kodiak

Traveled to Kodiak today for a 3 day conference.  Delighted to find I am staying at the Cranky Crow B&B, it's super adorable and has a free-use kitchen so I can store and reheat all my pre-made food with ease.  I also have my super cute Froggy lunchbox to take to the conference with me.


Since I was first to the B&B I got first pick of rooms, so of course I snagged the Captain's Quarters: queen bed with thermostat control and my own TV.  Noice.

So far cravings have been in check.  I've been pretty satisfied with the food I've made, and it wasn't hard to say no to the cookie on the airplane and get water instead of a diet coke.  Tuesday night we're having a mystery dinner gathering, which may be harder to work around, but my resolve is pretty strong.  I didn't bring a picnic basket full of eats for nothing~

EDIT: After getting settled and being immobile for a couple glorious hours I got my rear in gear and explored Kodiak.  2.5 hours and 6 miles later I'd taken my step count from 1,500 to 14,325 and learned a lot about Kodiak and the bear population.  It was awesome.

Day 2 & 3

Yesterday (Day 2) was another blur of shopping and cooking, with guest chef and Whole 30 veteran Jody teaching me the finer points of making ghee and mayonnaise.  I'm excited to play around more with mayo flavors, and now have the basics for creating sauces.  I feel so rustic!


  

I know the middle picture looks like a urine sample, but I assure you it's ghee, the liquid gold made by boiling all the milk proteins and water out of butter.  Or at least that's my understanding.




I spent most of today creating meals for the next 3-4 days as I'll be at a conference in Kodiak, and can't count on communal meals to suit my needs (nor would I expect them to).  So I wanted to make sure I had no excuses to go off plan.  I've got a small jar of ghee, packets of almond butter, lara bars, nuts and dried fruit, apples, blackberries, carrots, cauliflower mash, walnut crusted pork, spaghetti squash, meatballs, noodled zucchini, stuffed peppers, and a brunch bake with egg, ground beef, and layers of veggies.  That should get me to Thursday, yeah?



I'm also right on schedule with body and brain reactions to the food-change, following the timeline like clockwork.  So it should be fun as I enter a conference/workshop with a 'kill all the things' mindset.  Hopefully no blood will be shed.

Day 1 continued

So I made it through the day, and realized it is imperative to plan ahead.  I have the good fortune of being on break so I do have the time to devote an entire day to shopping for all the stuff I didn't realize I would need (like nuts, an immersion blender, a veggie spiraler...), and still manage to stay on plan.  I almost went to bed without a real dinner, after having an apple with some almond butter, but knew I'd wake up hangry and regret it, so I heated up the ground turkey I'd used for lunch, spiraled some zucchini, and made a quick meal out of it.  That more than anything gave me a boost of confidence that I can do this.  

Here comes day 2!

Day 1 - Stats

Woke up at 7:30 and actually made myself get up.  I know I need some sort of schedule to keep myself in check, and having a semi-appropriate wake up time is key.

Weighed myself - 242 - and this is the last time I will weigh myself for the duration of Whole 30.  It will be hard to turn that off, and I should probably tuck the scale away so I don't mindlessly get on next Thursday (my WW weigh in day).

Have not taken body measurements but I might.  Again, for me the endgoal here is not weightloss, though I am 98% sure that will be a result.  I want to feel good. I want to have a better relationship with food, and a better understanding of how it works with my body.  I'm sure I will lose some pounds and probably a couple inches off my waist, and that is awesome and definitely desirable, but I already knew how to do that.  This is really the next step to optimal health, and if the rules say to stay away from the scale, that's what I'm going to do.

I'm currently attempting to plan my meals for the rest of the week, which includes being away for 4 days.  I am already a bit anxious about this, as the book stated that those days can be really hard anyway, and I can't imagine how being away from home and learning new things will impact my progress.

I'm also just anxious in general about the amount of cooking that is necessary - not only am I not a great cook, but I genuinely don't like it.  It's not in my wheelhouse of enjoyable activities.  I'd much rather read, write, take a walk, and right now I'm feeling overwhelmed by the amount of kitchen time I'm going to have to spend in order to make this work.  Not to mention time spent shopping.  This is where having a personal chef, or even a partner who likes to cook, would come in really handy.

Okay, time to get back to it.  Plan the rest of this week (plus a day for when I get back), draw up a shopping list from that, get what I need, then start prepping what I can to make the rest of the week go a bit smoother.

Day -1

It's on.  I'm committing to the Whole 30 lifestyle.  For the next 30 days I will be eating what I cook, saying no to alcohol 😩, and readjusting my relationship with food.   

I felt pretty confident after making it Facebook Official and hitting the stores.  Then I started talking to people and realized I am SO not prepared, but I made my commitment and I'm going to stick with it.  I have the VERY fortunate advantage of being currently jobless AND living in a place with many stores, so if I need a thing I can get it.  Don't have cheesecloth to make your homemade ghee?  No problem, hit up one of these stores within a 12 mile radius and get back at it!  There's literally nothing else I am required to do for these next few days besides learn how to take care of myself and take my friend to the airport.  

Then will come the true challenge.  

June 5-8 I will be traveling for a conference.  There will be catered meals. And snacks.  And evening drinks.  And I will have to exercise my powers of self-control and self-motivation and stick with the plan.  My goal is to spend the next few days learning how to cook, and go into the conference with pre-made meals.  And leave the conference with a lot of knowledge, new network connections, and a happy gut.

So yeah, it's going to be tough.  And maybe I'm not nearly as prepared as I probably should be.  But this is a learning experience, and one I know I can do again and again, and be better at it and better for it each time.  

I can do this.