Whole 30 on

Well, the November Whole30 is over.  It was (after that first week anyway) much less painful than one might suspect.   The major cravings have gone away.  I don't wake up in the morning requiring Diet Pepsi.  I also don't require it at regular intervals throughout the day.  Unfortunately I also have not replaced it with water or anyone similar wholesome appropriate beverage but that is neither here nor there.  

On average the gut feels better.  There are still terrible days but they are less frequent than they were before.  I suppose that is something. As far as food goes though I seem to be hitting my stride.  I'm not missing grains or dairy.  Soy is harder not because I just love soy but because it's so ubiquitous in American food.  It's nearly impossible to eat out or even buy a lot of canned or frozen vegetables because they're laced with the stuff.  That is one area where I've been a little more lenient just for convenience sake.  Otherwise, all is good.  I'm tweaking recipes and learning what my new "staples" are.  Nothing too exciting got made in this weekend's rotation but a smattering are below.  Another batch of baked fajitas - these are awesome on top of salad for work lunches.  I've done seafood, chicken and now made my way back to steak.  Another quiche which has become a weekly endeavor - this time pumpkin 'crust' with broccoli, mushrooms and eggplant.  Babaganoush.  And sweet potato chips.

I'm sure new recipes will come eventually - especially with a vacation in a few weeks - but I seem to have settled into a pattern here and lost my inspiration for new cooking adventures.  

 

Stuffed turkey peppers

Did you notice that my food is usually still steaming when I take its picture?  That's usually because I don't want to wait to eat it... Those who have worked with me (and thus seen me eat, because it seems to happen every few hours) have probably noticed that I have a thing for peppers. It's kind of like my obsession with pumpkin, which by the way is slowly improving.  Mostly because even though its fall and not even Thanksgiving and I should be able to have pumpkins - the stores no longer have pumpkins.  And after eating a 'real' pumpkin the pre-pureed version in a can just isn't the same. Stupid learning to eat real food...  The pepper thing is kind of like that, only it's year round so the crazy is spread out a little. Anyway, I really like peppers, I put them in all sorts of things, kind of like mushrooms (more on that coming in the next batch of cooking), and I really enjoy stuffed peppers. 

 Up today, plain ol' ordinary green bell peppers stuffed with ground turkey.  Mostly latin inspired flavor.  I'm really enjoying ground turkey and ground chicken because it doesn't really have much of a strong flavor - it adapts pretty easily with a little seasoning. 

Makes: 4 servings

Per serving: 130 calories,

22g protein,

1g fat,

9g carbs

Ingredients: 

4 bell peppers

12 oz ground turkey

3 oz coarsely chopped mushrooms

1 roma tomato, chopped

1/2 T dried cilantro

1 tsp cumin

* Clean the peppers, remove the stem and remove the seeds and flesh from the inside.  Place on lined baking sheet in the oven pre-heated to 375F for 5 mintues.

 

 * Mix together ground turkey, mushrooms, tomato, cilantro and cumin.  Divide into 4ths and roll into balls

 

* Remove the peppers from the over & stuff your turkey balls inside

 

Return to the oven at 375F and back until fully cooked, approximately 45 minutes.  The turkey should be browned through and the peppers should be soft.  

Whole 30: Day 16-17

This weekend starts us on the journey of the longest phase of the Whole30.  Finally, some good stuff to come? 

Days 16-27: Tiger Blood

Goodbye cravings, hello Tiger Blood! This must be what everyone is talking about!

Well, I don't know, nobody but those of us doing it here seemed to have ever heard of such a ridiculous diet before. 

You’ve hit the downhill slope of your Whole30 and life is beautiful.

Hah. 

Your energy is through the roof, you’ve kicked the cravings, you’re experimenting with new, delicious food

Mmm, food experimenting...  Yeah, that's definitely what I did today. All day.

and you’ve finally got the time to notice that your clothes fit better, your workouts are stronger, and you are generally more awesome.

Well, I'm pretty much unchanged. My clothes seem to fit the same, which is generally ok.  I'm not working out any better.  In fact, I'm still pretty unable to sustain any sort of workout schedule for more than a week before my body just screams at me 24/7 and I'm forced to stop. But ok, I'm awesome, I'll tuck that away to come back to later.

There’s not much more to say about this phase – go forth and enjoy!

Yeah, I'm still waiting... 

Spaghetti Squash "Pad Thai"

 

OK.  So it's not quite Pad Thai.  Those aren't rice noodles.  And there aren't any peanuts.  Or soy sauce.  Because those are all explicitly no-no's on the Whole30.  But it worked.  And along with the Thai Salad and Pineapple Coconut Chicken fulfilled my Thai cravings that week.  Plus I got to bash open a coconut which is (shocked?) right up my alley...

Makes: ~6 servings

Per serving: 109 calories,

11g protein,

4g fat,

7g carbs

Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash

2 cups bok choy, coarsely chopped

8 oz sliced mushrooms

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup carrots, thinly sliced

40g almonds, ground (~1/4 cup)

1 T vinegar

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 tsp Chili powder

juice from 1/2 lime

1/2 lb grilled chicken breast cut into 1" pieces

Directions:

Prepare the spaghetti squash however you'd like. I roast mine whole (because cutting that sucker in half raw almost always ends up with my knife stuck halfway through and me pretty sure I'm going to lose a finger) in the oven at 375 on a foil like baking sheet until it is easily pierced with a fork.  Depending on size, usually about 45 minutes.

* Saute bok choy, carrots, mushrooms and garlic. Saute over medium heat until tender.

 

* Add chicken broth, ground almonds, lime juice, vinegar and chili powder.  Simmer for 10 minutes.

 

* Stick it on top of your squash or toss to mix & dig in!

Whole30 Days 10-11: The Hardest Days

Fact: you are most likely to quit your Whole30 program on Day 10 or 11. By this point, the newness of the program has worn off.

 Yes, it has.  

You’ve made it through most of the unpleasant physical milestones,

 Thanks are being offered by all of my coworkers for that fact. 

but you’ve yet to experience any of the “magic” the program promises. You’re still struggling to establish your new routine (read: you’ve eaten eggs prepared ten different ways over the last ten days), and while you’ve been trying really hard to have a good attitude, today you are incredibly aware of all the foods you’re “choosing not to eat right now.”  

Today, was a birthday dinner.  Surprisingly, this went pretty darn well.  I can look longingly at everybody else's grains (that's a phrase I never thought I'd write) but I don't feel cheated or depraved by my own foods.

Everywhere you look, you see the things you “can’t” have

Isn't that the truth.

This is where you really start to experience the psychological hold that your food habits have on you. You’ve put in a lot of effort to get to where you are right now, but you’re still waiting for the results you’re hoping to see.

 I think this is actually going surprisingly well. I think for me most of my psychological stuff was with the diet pepsi/coke/etc.  And I do see "results" so to speak.  I already feel better.  Which is to say, I don't feel like something is trying to rip its way out of my body at all hours of the day. 

At this point, I'm not suffering major food cravings.  I'm eating better, more diverse meals than I was before all this started.  I'm eating more protein, more fat (and probably more calories) than I've been able to in a while and not feeling sick about it.  The challenge for me will be in deciding how to go about reintroducing things and figuring out which things are permanent removals, which are occasional indulgences and which are just going to return completely.  But, if this is just the start of 'good days' and there's even better to come it may become even more permanent than intended. 

Whole30 Day 8-9: My pants are TIGHTER?!!

So for better or worse this doesn't seem to apply to me.  My clothes still fit just like hey did before.  Instead, for days 8-9 I regressed.   I spent day 8 in the Day 5 Kill All the things phase. For me this manifests as a I want to punch all people in the face phase. Fun was had by all I assure you.  Day 9 was spent in the Day 6 I just want a nap phase...

Speaking of, it's day 9 and I think I'll just go sleep...

Eggplant a la Adithi

This one really isn't mine to share.  I took a few liberties with the recipe but Adithi took pity on my overabundance of eggplants and provided an Indian recipe for me.  It works quite nicely on cauliflower rice and is such a great combination of spices that I don't really miss any of the things I'm not eating... grain, dairy, soy, sugar... 

Simple... chopped eggplant, tomato & onion.

 

Lots of spices- garlic, coriander, garam masala, turmeric, chili powder, ground mustard...

 

Cover, simmer for a while and then it turns into something like this... 

  

Whole 30: Days 6-7, I just want a nap…

I do.  I just want a nap.  These people are so spot on sometimes.  Or, I always want a nap and they're just telling me, "hey, today that's ok". 

Okay, so its day 6 and you made it through the last phase without smiting anyone.

Barely.

The thing is, today you don’t feel like you could smite anyone if your life depended on it!

I bet I could.  

It’s 10 am and all you can think about is crawling under your desk for a catnap.

10 am?  This started around 8am morning of day 6.

As the day drags on, the surface of your desk is morphing, from hard wooden surface to snuggly warm pillow, right before your eyes.

Mmm... yes... cat nap in the chair at my desk surrounded by the team.  Yeah, that's ok.  Especially since the attending did the same thing on the other side of the room. 

You hit the gym, but only halfheartedly, unable to face the barbell with any kind of conviction.

Nope, didn't even bother with that on day 6... Day 7 I hit a wall and running was extraordinarily unimpressive. 

You crawl into bed at 8 p.m. only to drag yourself out eleven hours later feeling no more rested than you did the night before.

Hmm... kudos to company and cooking for keeping me awake past 8pm but I will be unpleased to awaken before 6am.

Now your body is learning to efficiently burn fat and protein as its fuel sources, and that takes more effort – and some time. If you can hold out just a bit longer, you’ll definitely reap the benefits. (Besides, you could probably use a day off from the gym anyway, right?)

 Let's go body, pick it up. We have things to do! Day 7 was better than day 6 in that I wasn't quite as sleepy and had energy to do things.  I just had no desire to do anything.  Except for punch everyone in the face (i.e. kill all the things).  Sounds like I back slid to the last phase at the end here.  Really looking forward to the energetic phase.  I do feel much better though and my bowels hate me less so hanging in there. 

Whole 30 Day 5

Umm, yeah.  Today is the day I want to Kill ALL of the Things.  Spot on people.  Just took me an extra day to get here. 

Whole 30: Day 4 Kill ALL of the Things, Part 1

The aforementioned timeline calls this phase, Day 4-5, "Kill ALL of the things".  Doesn't that sound promising?  They say: 

Now, I have no clue why this phase happens, or why it happens here (and not on, say, day 14).* I just know that it happens. Often. Even experienced Whole30ers (myself included) go through this phase. Every nerve is lit, temperance is non-existent and the only solution to the problem seems to be to Kill All of the Things.

 Day 4, I have not seemed to experience this phase.  Today was in face probably filled with less desire to kill, maim and destroy ALL of the things than I experience at baseline.  I figure that only means I'm going to experience it later.  Or it's what I was experiencing day 1-2.  Or people have learned to stay out of the way.  Or I've realized it's really my own fault for deciding to do this.

*It’s probably because your brain is never very happy when you tell it that it CAN’T have something, and take it out of it’s habitual and accustomed comfort zone. An unhappy brain is a stressed brain, an anxious brain, a fearful brain. No to mention your hormones are desperately trying to keep up with your new food choices, your gut is trying to heal, you’ve had a headache for the last three days, and you REALLY MISS YOUR DIET COKE. So yeah, maybe we do know why this is happening now…

OK, yeah.  I really miss my diet coke.  (Insert a huge sigh and incredibly sad face here!)  However I don't want to kill for it.  At least I want to kill for it less than I did days 1-2. My headache is better.  I still get my usual 5pm need to find a quiet place, stop working and eat some food headache -- but that's baseline.  The 5am I REALLY miss my Diet Pepsi headache has passed. 

Day 4... 

Breakfast -- Squash crust quiche with portobello and asparagus.  There's a lot to be said for a hot breakfast and this was a surprising victory with not-a-pastry-crust.  Plus makes me feel like I should be eating this in a Paris cafe on a fall morning...

Lunch -- Thai inspired salad & squash Pad Thai.  Still delicious. 

Dinner -- Indian Eggplant a la Adithi with cauliflower rice, grilled asparagus and latin spiced turkey stuffed pepper.  To round out my international flavors

No worries... recipes all forthcoming...

The Whole30: Day 3 - The Hangover?

The hangover phase seems to have passed quickly.  The withdrawl headaches are gone.  The habitual desire to have a diet pepsi in my hand at all hours of the day has not.  But, at least it's now a mind over matter issue not a physical need.  The house is clear of "bad" foods which makes this a million times easier.  I still find myself defaulting to grains to go with things I'm cooking.  I wound up with cauliflower wraps instead of tortillas to hold my fajita veggies and chicken for dinner & lettuce instead of bread for my turkey burger at lunch.  I can't say I really missed either but it definitely would have been easier to have bread and tortillas lying around to grab.

Today was really a decent day.  Sunday off of work.  Sleeping in.  Therapeutic UV radiation.  Cooking and football.  Day 1 of starting to run again -- I will echo others, you hit a wall pretty quickly grain free compared to carb loaded.  But overall so far so good.  And I did have a cooking day today so more new photos are recipes to look forward to.

  

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.   

Whole30 Challenge: Get Ready, Get Set...

Tomorrow starts Day 1 of the Whole30.  What's this all about?  Well, essentially (and this is extraordinarily simplified) it's about eliminating things from your diet that are the most common causes of GI distress (distress is such a great word for it) and taking ownership of making healthy choices that make you feel better.  It seems intuitive and simple.  I mean after all, who wants to make choice about things that they know are going to make them feel terrible? Unfortunately it's all too easy in the moment to forget (or acknowledge and choose to blatantly ignore) the consequences of the things we eat.  I was doing pretty well with the whole grain free thing and actually felt a lot better than I have recent.  That combined with reorganizing my kitchen Sunday (exciting!) resulted in some new motivation.  Eating all the "bad foods" to 'get it out of my system' before starting the Whole30 has just reinforced the decision.  I feel terrible on sugar and grains. Terrible. But psychologically also, going back to not taking ownership of "healthy" decisions - why, knowing you're going to feel terrible afterwards do you choose to do something anyway?  No idea... but since I did this I got a little extra kick of motivation to get my act together.  It was also good motivation to take the kitchen organization one step further and purge it of all the things I don't intend to eat.  Don't worry I kept beer for guests (and Diet Pepsi for December).  And the baking supplies are still around, but tucked away, because even if I don't want to eat it I still love the creation process and you never know when a friend is going to need a cookie.

I didn't really intend to  follow the Whole30 letter by letter.  I didn't think I would give up diet cola, but I will.  Unless I end up with paralyzing migraines (possible...) I'll do my best with the caffeine.  I'm a little nervous about giving up corn 100%.  I'm all for avoiding high fructose corn syrup and corn as hidden ingredients in things, I'm even on board to avoid whole corn. But popcorn, that'll be back in December.  Adithi's also making it much easier on me when our next intern birthday rolls around in November (hers!) for the newest variety of birthday celebration baked goods.  It's her birthday and she's joining in on the Whole30 experience.  She gave me inspiration and months to plan, plus on top of no baked goods for 30 days first - this will be epic. 

So what is it I'm actually doing?  Essentially eating as unprocessed as possible.  And not eating grains, dairy, legumes, sugar or alcohol. Is this a commitment to eating like this forever?  No.  It's about learning to consciously make healthy choices and as an all or nothing extremist I do better with extremes than moderation.  It's about figuring out what works for me.  The idea is to clean house and then figure out what I can fit back in comfortably.  To start feeling better and then add things back in one at a time until I've got a diet that is manageable, sustainable and works.

Bonus, There's a sweet timeline that tells me how this is all going to unfold.  Nice.  It's like built in support for the days where you're going to feel terrible and have cravings for something terrible.  With any luck a little validation and reassurance that all is according to plan with be adequate encouragement.  So what's coming up on Day 1?  Apparently, I'm supposed to be feeling all good about myself and motivated by my success at making good decisions all day long and starting something new.  That sounds nice. More likely I expect to experience the GI distress (yep, distress again) related to all the horribleness I ate today.  And no, it wasn't worth it.

On a more somber note, my freezer is still full and I'm trying to resist buying more groceries it was a long 7 days of no grocery shopping which means no fun cooking experimentation at the moment so no new fun pictures for you guys. All in due time.  I'm sure this latest adventure will push me into new directions and discoveries that I haven't found yet.  And if not there's always the excitement of reintroduction :)