Whole 30: Day 1 - 2

It's now day 2 of the whole 30.  I'm gearing up for a cooking day tomorrow.  Exciting.  I have big plans but we will see what unfolds.  I never actually end up with what I think I'm going to make.  It's kind of an interesting process. 

Anyway, how are things so far?  How does this compare to the timeline? 

Day 1: "So what's the big deal?"

The truth is that you’re feeling empowered by making one good choice after another, all day long. And you should! Take note of that Rock Star feeling, stash it away and bring it back out when days get rough. Because rest assured that after a lifetime of suboptimal choices, things are going to have to get worse before they can get better.

I'm not feeling that.  A little I am I guess. I enjoyed my food.  I'm proud of myself for 24 hours Diet Pepsi free.  It's been over a decade since that's happened.  Even when I gave up caffeine I still survived on caffeine free Diet Pepsi.  If that isn't Whole30 SWYPO I don't know what is.  I am subsisting on regular scheduled Tylenol and a minor headache.  Trying to convince myself that I actually need to trade water intake for the 3-4L of diet soda I was taking in.  Working on that.  I'm still feeling the GI distress of yesterdays indulgences.  It does help to have the reminder of motivation on Day 28 I'm sure... Reminder to self, you feel terrible.  But not half as terrible as you did right away.  Quit doing this to yourself, quit living in the foods of the past and embrace all the new things you've discovered.  It's not worth it.  Really.  It's not worth it.  One more time?  Not worth it.

So day 1 isn't the high flying rockstar feeling that's promised but I am gradually recovering from the crapfest of the last 24 hours and approaching baseline discomfort rather than doubled over pain.  Solid improvement.  Dinner is nothing exciting, still just cleaning out the stuff I've got in the fridge so kind of thrown together.  Night 1 is below.  A random assortment of things from the fridge/freezer -- roasted artichoke and brussel sprouts with garlic and oregano; mashed cauliflower (also garlic and oregano); grilled chicken breast and my mango salsa. 

 

Day 2:  "The Hangover"

This phase is especially hard for the habitual Diet Coke (and Diet Dr. Pepper here in my part of the world) drinkers. You know who you are.

Who me?  Oh. Yes. The food, not so bad.  The sacrifice of my diet pepsi, diet coke and otherwise diet cola... sacrilege.  I'm missing this like terrible.  I don't feel terrible.  I'm still taking tylenol every 4 hours with a baseline headache but not as bad as expected.  I just WANT it.  I have a habit, I don't know what to do without it.  I reach for it writing my patient notes at work.  I want it on the drive in.  I want it while I'm cooking.  Water is not a reasonable substitute.  Meet the off-roading flow sheet - everytime it tells me to do the same thing - just have it and enjoy it.  I'm trying to make it 30 days and reintroduce in some semblance of moderation.

Many Whole30ers report headaches, fatigue, and general malaise during this part of the program. This, my friends, is completely normal.

 Not that so much.  I feel about the same.  My arms tingling, I have perioral tingling but that tends to be baseline.  I'm am hungry.  Like eat all the vegetables I can get my hands on hungry.  Not sure what the crazy change is here - I'm betting on not having the caffeine here but we'll see how it goes.  Nothing exciting for dinner here either. I took out my italian vegetable soup which was hot and comforting and makes the cold rainy weather and caffeine headache and post-carb "binge" malaise better. 

 

So far, not great, not terrible but we'll see how this goes.  Missing the cooking time and hopefully that will get me excited about it tomorrow.