Week 4 Reflections

Thanks to Amanda for organizing this linkup!

The finish line is in sight! I’m not going to lie, I’m looking forward to being able to introduce a wider variety of foods into my diet. I’ve been eating pretty well this past month but I’m happy that I’ll be able to eat things without poring over the ingredients. I still plan on keeping most of my meals paleo approved, but I think it will be nice on my early workdays to be able to quickly eat some yogurt and fruit before I go into work (the quickest breakfast I came up with on the whole30 was tuna and salad or fruit, but tuna is not the easiest thing to eat at 5:30 am IMO).

I’m going to be paying close attention to how I feel. If I introduce yogurt and feel crummy, I’ll take that as a sign that I have a problem with dairy and cut that out of my diet. I think yogurt is the logical place to start with reintroducing dairy since it’s low in lactose and has probiotics which should help with digestibility.

As far as grains go, I’m going to start with naturally gluten free grains and see how I feel before introducing anything else. If it turns out that I only have to avoid gluten, then I’ll be pretty happy since that seems to be pretty manageable to me (there has been an explosion of gluten free options with increasing numbers of people going gluten free in recent years)

My thoughts on the whole30 experience? I’m glad I did it. This showed me that I’m stronger than food cravings. I think I will continue to use the willpower I developed on the program to allow myself to indulge without going completely off the rails. I think there’s more than one way to be healthy and I think I can be healthy without being 100% paleo. Did my body composition improve as much as I hoped? No, so I think that to meet that goal, I’d have to become stricter with my calories and macronutrients. I’m not sure if that’s worth the trade off. Did whole30 clear my skin? Not completely. Did whole30 fix my stomach issues? I think things have definitely improved, but I’m still not at 100%.

Whole30 Week 3 Reflections

Thanks to Amanda for organizing this linkup every week!

The third week has been going along very seamlessly. My cravings have not been overwhelming so far. I think I may have increased my fruit intake this week, so that probably has killed any sweet cravings. I’ve definitely been eating more this week, so that’s been pretty good for that too.

This weekend, I put kombucha in a wineglass (#sofreakingclassy) and drank that when I had movie nights with my girlfriends. No wine, no problem :). One of my friends was even inspired to do the same. Sometimes I think people worry that adopting healthier habits will be off-putting to their friends, but it’s not always the case. As long as you present what you’re doing in the right way, nobody will feel pressured to do what you’re doing or judged if they choose to not make the healthier choice.

I think that keeping busy is helping with my cravings, too. I’ve been steadily increasing the amount of clients that I have, so I’ve been working more hours which makes me too busy to think about food too much. I also started taking an art class, so that is one night a week where I’m busy working with my hands (not mindlessly snacking in front of the TV). Also, I find art really relaxing. It helps me unwind from a stressful day. I think I might need to create more on the days when I don’t have class 🙂 My art teacher and I got into a discussion about diet- she tries to eat macrobiotically when she can (certain foods are high yin and high yang, so you should try to eat in a way that is ultimately neutral between the yin and yang). From a macrobiotic perspective, my current diet is heavy in the yang with the eggs and meat (or was it the yin?) and sugar and milk are highly yin, so that could be why I’m craving milk chocolate. I don’t really buy into that, but it’s sort of interesting to think about.

My stomach is still handling this change very well. I think this points to me having removed something from my pre-whole30 diet that didn’t agree with me. I’m going to monitor my symptoms when I start reintroducing foods on the 31st of this month. I’m pretty excited to be able to eat chocolate again soon. It’s one of my favorite foods, and at the risk of being judged by the “healthy living” community, I very much prefer the sweet, creamy deliciousness of milk chocolate to the bitter, deeper, and more complex flavors of dark chocolate (I enjoy some dark chocolate, but I haven’t been missing that as much as the milk chocolate). I’m also looking forward to being able to add oatmeal and greek yogurt back into the mix. I think when I’m adding in grains, I’m going to try to stick to gluten free grains and then maybe progress to gluten containing grains to see if that is my issue. I’m also going to try to stick to lower lactose forms of dairy when adding that back in, to see if that makes a difference in how I feel. If I notice any symptoms, I’ll stop eating a suspected food and then see if my symptoms go away.

Visual progress: I think I might be seeing a hint more definition in person, but it probably isn’t noticeable to anyone but me. At the very least, I’m pretty happy that I managed to increase my food intake without adding any noticeable fat. In fact, I measured my body fat at the gym over the weekend and it has decreased by a couple of percentage points since I started working at the gym in mid-December! (I used the bioelectrical impedance scales which have a large margin of error, but the margin of error should be similar for both of my weigh-ins) I think if I want to decrease my body fat further, that will involve some tightening up of my diet. I’m not sure if it makes sense since my current state is pretty easily maintained with just making healthy choices, regular exercise, and exercising some discipline.

Progress?

Whole30 Reflections on Week 2- Thinking Out Loud

Thanks to Amanda for organizing this linkup! It’s so much fun!

Week 2 of the Whole30 has been much more difficult for me than the first week. I’m at the halfway point of this experiment, but I can’t quite see the finish line. I’m doing my best to stick with it for the whole month. I’m missing the energy rush that I had the first week 😦

This Saturday was tough. I went to Foxwoods (a casino) with my boyfriend and his brothers. They allow smoking there (which I didn’t know). So it smelled terrible the whole time. We went out to eat and I had to send back the garden salad because it came with cheese (it was too crumbly to pick out- I thought that most garden salads are just like romaine with carrots and maybe a cucumber or tomato or two?). I felt bad about it because I usually go out of my way to not be that person. I also had a bunless burger (it was super greasy which was sort of gross, but I had to make do with what was available). I saw a bunch of desserts go by that 1) I couldn’t eat and 2) looked delicious. I highly do not recommend going out to eat on the Whole30, if you can avoid it. If you must go out to eat, you should pick a restaurant that has healthier fare so you’re not watching nachos and brownies go by you every 5 seconds. I had to watch a comedian who was only kinda funny without drinking, but I have to say the not drinking aspect of this excursion was the least challenging part. We stayed out late (we didn’t get home until almost 1 am).

I overate on Sunday and Monday (all Whole30 approved foods), but I think that may have stalled any sort of body composition changes I was hoping to see. I’m thinking that this may have been due to lack of sleep on Saturday night, generally feeling deprived, and eating food with poorer quality ingredients than I’m used to on Sunday. I’m thinking that getting more defined abs won’t come solely by doing the Whole30. Once I’m done with this experiment, I am planning to pay a little bit more attention to macros and see if manipulating those can get me the results that I want.

Week 2- Lack of progress picture

 

I’m also foreseeing a major challenge coming up. My best friend broke up with her boyfriend of over four years. She wants to go out dancing and I think it will be difficult to not drink in that scenario (I know from previous experience that I don’t really like night clubs as much sober- I like to have a glass of wine at least to distract me from the pain of wearing high heels and the annoyance of getting drinks spilled on me). I also wouldn’t want her to drink alone. I obviously will go, because our friendship is more important than any sort of diet. I guess the challenge is- do I go sober and have a less fun time or do I let myself have a glass of red wine (antioxidants?)? I know the official Whole30 answer would be “NO ALCOHOL IS ALLOWED“, but alcohol is something I have already mastered moderation with (I generally only drink 1-2 times per month when I’m not on Whole30). This also may not come up as an issue since we don’t have firm plans. I was just thinking out loud 🙂

As far as other changes that I was hoping to see, I can notice one positive change. (I’m going to overshare a little bit, so if that bothers you, do not read the rest of this paragraph) My digestion has improved dramatically! . The only time I had major issues on Whole30 was the day I roasted a bunch of beets, which are high in FODMAPs. I’m trying to figure out if FODMAPs are an issue for me, because when I look at the list of approved foods, I see bananas (which cause me the WORST discomfort, pain, digestive distress, etc.) and I see apples on the high FODMAPs list (which don’t cause me problems). I think it’s really going to come down to trial and error and figuring out what things do and do not work for me.

Tuesday and Wednesday were easier as far as making good choices with food. I think it helped that on Wednesday I was out of the house more than usual (I worked and I started taking a nighttime art class- which is so relaxing). I think the increase in calories from Sunday and Monday may have been what I needed to recommit to this challenge. (I’m still looking forward to it being done, because I miss chocolate A LOT).

My Week 1 recap can be found here

Do you have any tips for making Whole30 easier? Or for mastering FODMAPs?

Reflections on Week 1 of the Whole30

Thanks to Amanda for organizing this linkup! Today my thoughts are more of a review of the first week of the Whole30

1. The Good: I like that I am eating less processed foods (I have developed a little bit of a Lärabar habit because it’s easy to keep a bunch of bars in my gym bag for when I’m starving at work- but they contain good ingredients so I don’t feel too concerned about it). There are some things I don’t miss much at all (wine & protein shakes), For the most part this plan has been pretty easy to sustain due to the fat and protein content of the foods that are eating. Yesterday when I came into work I was feeling invigorated and bouncing off the walls (and I don’t think I had any more coffee than usual). My coworkers were shocked! They kept asking me why I was in such a good mood and energized. I think this diet is starting to balance me chemically and give me more pep in my step. Maybe it’s the “tiger blood” that they mention? Just starting a few days early?

I woke up this morning with my stomach looking super flat (sorry I didn’t snap a picture!) and was inspired to weigh myself (which I know is against program rules, but curiosity got the better of me) and I was down a couple of pounds. This might just be because the diet is lower in carbohydrates than my usual fare (carbohydrates are stored as glycogen in the body which is stored with 3-4 parts of water– so consuming less carbohydrates means that you are storing less water, but you haven’t necessarily lost any “real” weight). Also, I think I’m starting to get some insight into my digestive issues and identifying certain foods as triggers for problems (but most days have been without incident- like 5 out of 7).

2. The Bad: I was almost late for work one day because of the prep time required for breakfast (prior to the Whole30 on my early morning shifts, I would just eat some yogurt and a piece of fruit before heading in, but most of the Whole30 approved options require more prep). I hardboiled 6 eggs that night so that I could have them with some salad for the next 2 days.

Quick Whole30 Breakfast of 3 eggs and Spring Mix Topped with Sauerkraut

I also had dreams of chocolate and I’ve been craving grains (I miss oatmeal!). I miss the convenience of yogurt (and the calcium). I’ve been struggling to consume an appropriate amount of calcium even though I’ve been eating greens at every meal. I only ate sardines once (they are an awesome source of calcium even if I don’t exactly love the taste) but that day I had sufficient calcium. I don’t want to have to rely on a supplement, so I think I’ll be forcing down sardines on a more regular basis and/or trying to figure out how to love eating 15 cups of spinach per day.

I realized that I have been eating almond butter mixed with raw, shredded coconut & cinnamon in a similar way to how I was eating chocolate before. It’s so good! I think I will have to cut it out for the rest of the Whole30 because I’ve been using it as a crutch and I need to rehabilitate my relationship with food. I need to get into the habit of having days where I don’t have a “treat” after dinner (plus I can reintroduce all the treats in February- but hopefully with more moderation).

My Go-to Whole30 “Dessert”- It’s Been Real…But You Have to Go 😦

3.  Overall: I have come close to saying “screw it” a couple of times (since I don’t think I was unhealthy before), but I have stayed strong and I’m really glad that I did. I’m already seeing some positive effects( (with my energy and stomach issues), so I think it will be worth it to stick it out for the full 30 days. I don’t know that I will be able to sustain paleo style eating forever, but I am looking forward to ridding myself of my sweet tooth and reliance on “quick” foods (like protein shakes).