Day 3 - Whole 30

I went to bed at my normal time last night but didn’t sleep as well as the night before. I was up several times in the night with “tummy troubles” and I had weird dreams when I was sleeping.  However, I did wake up when the alarm went off at 5 a.m. so I must have gone back to sleep at some point. I felt ok when I woke up, not great like I did yesterday, but still better than I have felt in months. I had a slight headache but once I got some water into me, it went away, so I’m thinking it was dehydration from the heat wave we’re having and also the upset stomach last night.  Water is my friend and the Coke Zero cravings were less yesterday and today. The stomach issues continued all day, so I’m not sure if its my body getting used to the extra fat or the extra fibre that is the problem, but I know it’s normal when there’s a change in diet so I’m just going to ride it out and hope it settles down…and drink lots of water to help flush all the stored toxins away and help process all the better food.

Today’s food:

Breakfast – 2 boiled eggs, raw carrots

Lunch- chicken/vegetable soup, watermelon, 1 date

Today I had the meat texture gag at lunch time, I had the same soup I’ve had for the last two days but put some left over chicken from last night into it as the protein component. As I was chewing the chicken, I could feel my throat closing in that gag reflex. I had to force myself to eat very slowly and chew and chew and chew and chew before swallowing and I had to have vegetables with the chicken. I ended up eating about ¾ of it before I just couldn’t continue.   I have eaten more meat/eggs in the last three days than I have in the last two weeks so I’m hoping I can just accustom myself to eating like this by just doing it.

Snack – apple and almonds

Dinner – green beans, grilled veal steaks and watermelon salad (watermelon, hot pepper, green pepper, red onion tossed with 2 tbsp of apple juice)

Day 3, that’s 1/10^th of the way there, right? This takes a lot of planning and prep work. I was tired when I got home last night and honestly, a peanut butter sandwich or a bowl of granola would have been a much easier dinner than grilling chicken and cooking sweet potatoes and sautéing apples and almonds.  But once it was done, I realised it wasn’t as time consuming as I thought and I have to start thinking in terms of me and Liam being worth the time and effort it takes to eat properly.

I’ve been running for a year now and have seen no real improvement in pace. In endurance, definitely – so I know my lungs and heart are working more efficiently and are stronger, but it would be nice to be faster! I am always the slowest in the pack. I’m hoping that Whole30 will help with the muscle and fatigue pains I was having (inflammation?) and help me run faster, dropping some weight will also help!

I’m not loving coffee with coconut milk, so I’m going to try the light coconut milk to see if it’s any better – based on Andrea’s suggestion. She is my Whole30 guru right now.

Today my department went out to lunch at a Chinese Buffet restaurant and I didn’t go. It’s a hole-in-the-wall little Chinese restaurant and I’ve been there before so I know there is nothing on that buffet I would  be able to eat. In the past, I would go and eat – just because – but today I chose not to go. I don’t need to eat high starch/sugar/chemical additive food – ever – and especially not “just because everyone else is going”.

By contrast, tomorrow night I am going to dinner at a friend’s home who is cooking a special French dinner for a group of us before she heads back to Paris in a few weeks. She said she is making chicken basquaise ( this is just a recipe I found on line, not  her recipe). I think I will be ok to eat that. I am not sure what the sides will be but I will not eat grains, dairy or legumes no matter what!  This meal is worth it. It’s made by someone special for a special occasion and although the chicken dish may not be exactly “Whole30” ingredients, it will be pretty close.  I know there will not be a dessert and I don’t drink alcohol, so that’s not a problem. There are two other people at the dinner who are following a metabolic diet and don’t eat grains/starchy vegetables or dairy so I think she may have catered the menu to them anyway. I’ll blog about it tomorrow.

Next thing I need to work out – Sunday mornings I go for a run with my running group at 830. This means leaving home at about 720 to meet them. I have to eat something before I run, but I can’t eat a meal else I feel like I’ll throw up whilst running. Old go to – 1 slice whole grain bread with 1 tbsp peanut butter and half a banana or protein shake made with water.  New go to – ½ banana with 1 tbsp almond butter? I guess I will try it and see how it goes. I think once the Whole30 is over, I’ll look for some recipes for Paleo protein type bars to get away from eating the processed ones and having something to fall back on for a quick snack or something light before running.

Three days down and I’m doing ok. I don’t know when, if ever, I’ll make this blog public, I just know that as soon as I set a challenge or join a challenge and feel like everyone is watching me, I lose it and start to self-sabotage….so this time, I’m keeping this to myself and one other person who is doing the same challenge so I know she “gets it”. I also don’t want the questions and having to explain myself/ the plan right now. Its not a radically different way than I ate before, so I don’t think anyone will actually notice in my day to day life.