Whole30- Day 2

Today, I woke up a bit late and ended up with 20 minutes to get ready to head to work.

Thanks to that and lack of planning, I had to grab a bowl of fruit and didn’t eat until after I got home.

I ended up only having 1 meal and 2 peices of fruit today but I’m still feeling full. I made a large meal of fried potatoes, onions, peppers, tomatoes and ground beef.

I cooked the whole roll of ground beef and hard boiled a full dozen eggs. Last night, I made a batch of unsweet iced tea so I would have something to drink other than water or coffee. The tea gave me my caffeine fix since I didn’t have time to grab a coffee.

The day has been slow and fast. My day at work went by extremely slow but my day after work sped by. During week 2, I’m planning on cutting fruit for a week to cut all sugar out of my diet. I have my breakfast and lunch planned and am thankfully off work on Monday.

Smoking progress- I reset my quit date. I am trying to pace quitting, wanting to still do it but not wanting to do too much all at once and end up failing everything. I am cutting way back.

Day 1- Whole30

Things are going well. I’m planning on making some iced unsweet tea when I get home because I’m craving tea and love unsweet

I’m not craving anything outside of unsweet tea and it’s allowed, so its all good. I did get to feeling very hungry but my lunch break was late.

I’m planning on going grocery shopping today after work so ill be able to get what I need.

I’m working up to quitting smoking so I don’t end up failing everything

So far- mood- fine

Cravings- none

Symptoms- brain fog and time standing still

Completed my first day of grocery shopping

It killed my budget but I hope it lasts through the majority of 2-3 weeks.

The meat alone should. Im not feeling great nor bad. Wanting tea and that’s it.

Today is my technical last day but my food has been compliant

I was wrong before. I keep thinking there are only 30 days in the month.

Today, I ate bacon and eggs for breakfast and have a lunch of a plain baked potato, salmon and kale with no butter.

I’m still unsure if ill allow myself one last time indulgence or am going to just start today. Im thinking starting today.

Tomorrow is my cigarette quit day, I have work then a day of making candles and editing my book planned after to keep my hands and mind busy.

Today is the day before I start Whole30

Technically, its still 7-29, but once I wake up it will be the day before.

I’m getting myself used to unsweetened tea already (I already liked it.)

I’m not feeling nervous, even though I’m going to try to go without tobacco as well. (I’m creating a 30 day no nicotine challenge for myself as well)

I’ll be posting daily updates and working on focusing on other things.

Last week, I gave up Facebook. I now have no way to access it to unset it up for deletion so next month, I’ll be focused on learning new recipes I’ll post on here, writing and learning pottery/sewing clothing.

I’m going to try to switch things up to spend the time i would smoke

Tomorrow I’ll post up my before pics and weight.

Work With Me

I am willing to do sponsored, paid and collaborations.

If anyone has a product that relates to my site, a book they wrote in the self help, fantasy, horror or supernatural genres, cookbooks or if anyone wants to swap posts message my site for details or pricing

Book Review: The Whole30 Day by Day

The Whole30 Day by Day is a journal. It’s best to buy than check out so you can write in the book.

It gives you a day by day on what to expect, possible symptoms and gives you a place to write encouraging thoughts as well as record your feelings, cravings and thoughts.

It’s a very helpful guide that helps track cravings and helps you get through the challenge easier- because it warns you how you will possibly feel, you can get an action plan started and continue on the journey.

What I learned from my first 20 days of Whole30

I’m on day 21, so I only have 9 days left.

I honestly am not feeling extreme changes but as motivation yesterday when I was losing motivation and found I lost around 10lbs so far.

Due to the insane changes in the weather, my Osteo was acting up and I have slacked on cardio but made sure I got a lot of other types of exercise in.

I am feeling a little better, never felt the “tiger blood” energy surge but little by little I am starting to feel a bit better.

I’m hoping my last week will feel better than I have been feeling.

Through week 1

Throughout week 1, when you’re supposed to go through withdrawal, but I never did. I was excited and felt better my first week than any other weeks. I had some cravings but they were manageable and I also went long periods without actually being hungry.

Since I am still able to have my plain, black coffee every morning that has saved me throughout

Week 2

Throughout week 2, I had nights I’d be out as soon as my head hit the pillow and other nights I felt like I’d be awake all night. Some days I had tons of energy and others where I felt I could sleep all day and still be exhausted. I am down 10lbs and down about 2 sizes, though.

Week 3

During week 3, I started feeling annoyed. I am not feeling the extreme benefits so many people said they felt and thanks to that I had a few days that i considered giving up, but since i am so close i started taking it day by day.

I’m now on the first day of week 4 and seeing the light at the edge of the tunnel.

I have found some healthy and filling breakfasts I can make fast and learned what to do to get rid of mindless snacking.

I’m learning how to listen to my body when it’s actually hungry and how to handle when I’m feeling bored instead of snacking.

Mindless snacking has been my downfall through the years. I’ll get bored, stressed or tired and start eating sugar.

I’m trying to relearn eating. Changing from eating out of boredom or stress and find new ways to handle.

Going so long without sugar is also making vegetables and other foods sweeter.

I’m now going into my last week so I’ll see how I feel from here on but the Whole30 has been a major change from how I have been eating.

Life during the first week of the Whole30

I’ve been studying up on the Whole30 for a few years. I’ve had it recommended and read a lot about it for autoimmunity and inflammation.

Three years ago, I was diagnosed with Hashimotos when I had to have half my thyroid taken out. I’ve been medicated but my meds have had to be adjusted every few months. I was also diagnosed with a mix of IBS and Non-Celiac Gluten Intolerance and have been on a strict gluten free, low dairy diet. I found myself craving and eating chocolate way more than I need so I decided to quit studying the Whole30 and the day after Easter, I made myself start.

Rules of Whole30

No sugar, unless it’s fruit in moderation, no sugar is allowed at all.
No legumes- I tend to gravitate towards soy due to eating gluten and dairy free foods primarily but I have heard a lot of bad about soy and thyroid. This is a change I’ve been wanting to make for a while and I can live without beans or peas.
No Grains- slightly less difficult than giving up soy but not so much. Since ridding my diet of the majority of grains I was eating, I’ve been having trouble finding a good gluten free bread. Baked sweets are the hardest for me personally but bread itself isn’t hard at all.
No dairy- aside from chocolate (which covers 2-3 categories here), it’s not an issue. I ate very low dairy to begin with and chocolate was the reason I couldn’t fully give up dairy.
No alcohol- this is a nonissue. When I do drink, I only have drank 1-2 times in the past couple years and last time closed my throat up, so I’m pretty much over it. The last 7 or 8 years, every time I attempted to drink, it would cramp my whole body up and I would be hurting until I finished drinking enough for a buzz so it’s not worth the calories (or hangovers)
No stepping on a scale- I don’t do this too often but now, I’m wanting to just because I was told not to…
Don’t sub normal deserts or baked goods with compliant remakes- Ok, this one is understandable but… paleo cookies are just as good as regular…

How I’m doing so far

My end goal is to try to stick to a Paleo majority diet when I finish. I also am hoping to lose some weight. I lost 50lbs within a few months of having my third baby- before and immediately after my thyroid surgery. Part was normal postpartum weight loss but part was due to my thyroid being hyperactive (the reason I had to have part removed)

My meds are stable and working, I start to lose- they quit working and I stop losing or even gain so that was part of why I decided to try Whole30. I also have 2 forms of Arthritis and thanks to having scans in multiple areas on my body, I have inflammation issues and this is supposed to help with inflammation.

The first day was pretty stressful, I was back and forth. It was easier than I thought it would be but I really missed desert.

The second day was actually easier and by the fourth or fifth, I was starting to wake up better and felt better in general. I never “detoxed” and I didn’t budge on sticking to the diet.

Sixth through now was easier but harder. I have random cravings hit but hardly ever last. I keep getting mad at myself for even attempting this and sometimes feel like I put myself on a strict diet without my consent but give me unsweet iced tea and coffee and I’m fine drink wise. I thought quitting pop would be hard but it’s only when I see people drinking Mello Yello (my only pop of choice) that I even notice.

I’m doing my best to keep from thinking about food when I’m having a craving and I checked out Whole30 Day by Day, It Starts With Food and a WHole30 cookbook (since starting to make my own mayonnaise and finding some mustard, I’m doing better- I have condiments 🙂

I’m also starting to crave the taste of different meat dishes and I’m looking forward to eating meat more than thinking about sweets

What I’m noticing already

I’m no where near as gassy as I used to be- I have cut back on broccoli and cauliflower but I had gas all the time on a regular diet (thanks to IBS)

I also have IBS-D and haven’t since starting (I did throw up once, but I used jarred garlic I had accidentally left out for a day or two. I threw it out and have been fine since)

I’m getting better at quickly throwing together recipes, I have tried meal prep and planning things out really isn’t my strong point.

I am having more energy, and at times waking up nonexhausted- I used to have to sit in bed for close to an hour trying to orientate myself and no matter how much sleep I got, I was always exhausted. I’m starting to feel better when I wake up and not as groggy.

I’m not past the hard part yet. I’m hoping to feel a drastic change as the month goes on, but right now, I’m counting down until I can start adding things back- I’m still hoping to go Paleo after this experiment ends.

I’d love to hear Whole30 success (or failure) stories. Feel free to comment if you have ever done the Whole30. How did you manage to avoid going crazy? How did you feel at the end?

Whole30 Compliant Sweet Potato Hash (whole30 day 2)

I glanced at some sweet potato hash recipes and looked in my own fridge. Since I needed something to tide me over until lunch, I mixed

1 avocado

2 eggs

1 small sweet potato, chunked

5 cherry tomatoes, sliced

3 slices of bacon, chopped

1 squirt of olive oil (extra virgin)

I cooked it all for about 20 minutes on low heat and spent the last 15 covered

It was delicious and made the house smell good as well. It only took a few minutes to prep.