Instead of doing three separate entries, since they’d all sound the same anyway, I’m going to cram Friday-Saturday-Sunday together. (October Fri 10, Sat 11, Sun 12)
Breakfasts – quiche, avocado, tomatillo sauce, tea/scrambled eggs with red peppers, avocado
Lunches – Sloppy joes leftovers, spaghetti squash with italian meat sauce, minestrone soup with avocado, homemade chicken soup
Dinners – sloppy joes with portobello mushrooms, sloppy joe leftovers, ground beef with roasted brussell sprouts and cauliflower rice
Snacks – bananas, tea, water, apples, cashews, pumpkin seeds, grapes
Sleep – 8.5 hours/7 hours/7 hours
Overall, my energy levels are balanced out (I’m very alert in the mornings now) but there is still some gastric distress (Timeline of Terrible Feelings said that will still happen at this point in the plan). I also partly blame this weekend’s Sloppy Joes. Haven’t tried working out yet but hope to give it a try this week with boot camp or a run. Noticing clothes are fitting a little easier. Those two nights of seven hours of sleep were terrible though and I paid for it on Sunday.
Funny story: Brian is taking statistics in grad school this fall. His brain is full of graphs and charts and plotting stuff. This weekend I apparently had a few dramatic spikes and falls of energy and he’s been plotting out “Tiffany’s Energy Levels” in his head and is coming to the conclusion that this Whole30 thing is not good for me.
Me: But I’m crazy alert in the mornings now!
Him: Yeah, I can’t figure that one out.
Friday:
I know I woke up feeling groggy Friday morning because of my terrible dinner the night before of grapes and pumpkin seeds. Lesson learned.
But I woke up to Minestrone Soup in the crock pot. The minestrone came out … OK. I used yams instead of sweet potatoes (or maybe it meant yams, because most of the world doesn’t know the difference between the two, and I prefer yams. Sweet potatoes are just that, sweet. Ick.). But the yams added a super strong flavor that I wasn’t expecting so I added the pork sausage after its 8-hour cook period, which balanced out the flavor at lunch, topped with avocado. FAT FOR THE WIN.
I also made Old School Italian Meat sauce and it came out wonderful – very rich, flavorful and smokey.
I made Sloppy Joes for dinner Friday. Boyfriend said he just takes the spice packet from the store for his Joes. I knew that’d have sugar (we checked and saw that it was the FIRST ingredient, thus the primary ingredient) so I gathered a few spices from the bulk rack at Central Market (that place is my best friend) and made my own. I thought it tasted fine and it was sustenance but I wouldn’t necessarily make it again. Sloppy Joes have never been appealing to me nor do they do well on my stomach for some reason. It’s too … sweet.
But the absolute WIN was roasting portobello mushrooms with balsamic, oil and salt and pepper in place of a bun. THAT was awesome.
Saturday:
I was in classroom training for mountain rescue and one of my first real social outings since starting Whole30. I just brought my own food, pilfered a banana and apple from the snack table and kept my restless hands in the cashew bag. However my eyes were drawn to the pastry next to me and the muffins in the corner of the room. I rarely even LIKE those things so why am I obsessed with them now? I think because I’m enjoying the challenge of NOT eating that stuff.
The BIGGEST challenge though was Saturday evening. I was invited to a cider press party. I show up to a party of 30 people cutting, pressing, filtering apple cider and bottling it (fun!) plus two tables of food. This was an interesting experiment – what can I eat?
The only things were some freshly caught and baked salmon and apples. A piece of grilled chicken – it was marinated in something so I took a very small piece. (It looked like balsamic vinegar-based and knowing these folks hosting the party, nothing terribly processed), plus some carrots and celery. Oh and some grilled patty pan squash! What a treat! I realized though that I was terribly missing the tortilla chips and hummus dips that were on the table. And the fancy cheeses. And that tabuleh salad.
Then… dessert. Apple Pie, Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Cake. ALL HOMEMADE. WITH ICE CREAM.
Let’s just say I was very observant of what was going on around me.
I just moved across the patio to the other side of the fire and contemplated my water. I watched 3 year olds tuck into their cake and ice cream and watched the bearded guy (think of him as your funny uncle) tease the kids about their desserts. I politely declined a piece of cake. It was cool. I enjoyed the company of the hosts and friends.
I had to leave early though as I had things I needed to do and I was blocking someone anyway, plus I had an early morning the next day. I took a half-gallon jug of cider for Brian (since he LOVES cider), thanked my hosts and went on my way.
Surprisingly easy to keep my paws off the illegal foods, but definitely at the forefront of my mind. I could definitely feel the “ah, just this once” Blerch kick in but I beat it.
When I got to Brian’s, I had a sip or two of the cider. I figured it was legal since it literally was nothing but juice pressed from an apple. IT WAS DELICIOUS. SO FRESH AND CRISP AND DELICIOUS.
I did notice it took me a while to calm down and settle in for the night though. Don’t know if it was because of the concentration of sugars or what or just my very long day.
Sunday was pretty similar with the food (except no party of desserts). After training, Brian fed me his amazing homemade chicken soup for lunch, (completely paleo – water, chicken, veggies, salt, pepper. Makes his own broth first in the crock pot, then makes the soup). It was so tasty for a cloudy Sunday afternoon. Then we got some coffee (short americano, no room, light ice, my usual order anyway) and basically shopped all day for food and for a friend’s baby shower. Then went home and cranked out my basic veggies and protein for the week.
I think I did alright this weekend. Technically nothing was “illegal” (maybe that chicken?) but whatever. After the party I realized how technical I’ve been getting about this and it’s a little…. scary.
Another debate is the term “Contains 2 % or less of the following … sugar…”. Especially in something that doesn’t list added sugar in the ingredients, so is that referring to the natural sugars? Brian likes to cook breakfast meats in the morning and he’s finding absolutely nothing in the meat sections that doesn’t have that phrase. I’m also finding some of that on canned items and avoid them. He thinks I’m being too technical. I’m not sure. I need to search the forums for that one.
On the Celebrity Beat:
Hell, Lebron James may not have done it intentionally this summer, but it certainly sounds familiar. And with very similar results.
At the same time, the author of both articles, a normal everyday person like you and me, followed the same eating patterns: http://www.sportsgrid.com/nba/10-more-reasons-you-should-try-the-diet-lebron-james-used-to-lose-weight/
Tiffany Royal 