What an interesting experience! I did not expect to feel quite the way I did after a week of clean eating. As I alluded to in my previous post, I am not hell bent on compliance here, however, up until the evening of Day 7, I ate only Whole30 compliant foods. I will confess that I didn’t stick 100% to the “spirit” of the program which is three meals, no snacking. Most of the time I was OK, but as the week wore on, breakfast became more and more of a problem and I found myself snacking on cashews instead of eating a meal. Even after making this:
I still couldn’t summons up the enthusiasm to eat breakfast every day. It is a meal I have always struggled with. I was doing intermittent fasting and skipping breakfast altogether. That style of eating actually worked really well for me but then I discovered the Chobani coconut and chocolate yoghurts and started eating those every morning for breakfast. Yum! Back to the here and now, if I didn’t have a meal prepared, I also didn’t eat lunch on schedule. Yesterday for example, I didn’t get lunch until 3 PM because I didn’t have time to fix it. This is on top of no breakfast. Could I make this work? Absolutely! But I would need to change so much about my lifestyle to be 100% compliant and I am not feeling the motivation or the need to make these changes.
I woke up on day 2 of the Whole30 thing feeling great! But that really was the last time I have felt great. My head was less foggy than usual, but my stomach was a disaster. And this was part of the problem with breakfast. As soon as food hit my stomach, the gas and pain would begin. It got progressively worse throughout the day to the point where I was miserable and in pain every evening. I looked to be 6 months pregnant. This did not ease at all over the course of the week. Yesterday I bought magnesium and what I hope is Whole30-compliant lactobacillis acidophilus. I haven’t yet identified why I am having so many GI issues but I am guessing that either my soluble fiber intake is too low, or my stomach acid levels are too low, or I have an imbalance between the good and bad bacteria in my gut.
We were unexpectedly invited out to dinner last night. I knew I had not the will power to get through a dinner out without breaking the rules. So I compromised with myself. I’d order a salad and have a glass of wine. Well, we all know that I don’t do just one glass of wine. I was true to form and had two glasses with dinner. I had a third when I got home. I also ate a few corn chips with cheese dip. Yup, if you are going to break your diet, might as well do it with style! I am proud of myself for only having between 5 – 10 corn chips though. If I’d not been on the diet, I’d have eaten the whole basket!
And that brings me to another aspect of the Whole30 diet that has surprised me. I haven’t been hungry at all. No cravings for anything. I think the bloated stomach plays a big role there, but that’s OK. My main objective for doing this was to stop the carb binges!
Luckily for me, my mother was an excellent cook and she turned some of those skills over to me. Putting together meals without a plan isn’t that difficult for me. I made this green curry from leftover stir fry chicken and vegetables:
My slow cooker has become a best friend and has allowed me to easily prepare meat that can be used in numerous ways, including my own version of southwestern pulled beef:
I have discovered some foods that I didn’t know existed. This loaded sweet potato has a big spoonful of coconut butter on it. This was one of my favorite meals to date.
I bought a spiralizer last summer and it really is the most practical diet tool in my kitchen. I am not a big fan of spaghetti squash but I love spiralized summer squash or zucchinis. I made this “pasta” dish and served over summer squash.
I also made myself a sweet potato shepherd’s pie using lamb from a roasted lamb that I fixed on the first day of the diet. It was really, really good. I also used the lamb in the breakfast casserole. I have yet to find breakfast sausage that is Whole30-compliant in my town.
I know that eating this way is not for me. I don’t really enjoy it and the bloating impacts my life significantly. After my intentional slip up last night, I woke with no bloat but with a wicked migraine that was resistant to all drugs. I know the wine is the culprit and I am treating yesterday as a reintroduction day, of sorts. That means that today, tomorrow, and the next day are pure Whole30 eating. I will then add in dairy for a day, as detailed by the plan.
Many will criticize me for doing this for only 1 week. I had hoped for 2 weeks but I just don’t see any point in being this miserable. I find that the diet has too much meat in it for me. I also feel nauseated at the prospect of a full meal for breakfast. The last issue I have is muscle fatigue. My muscles burn to a ridiculous extent when I do anything more than a brief walk. Clearly, my muscles are not accustomed to drawing energy from much other than an immediate source. On the one hand, it is probably a good indicator that my body is trying to use fat instead of glucose. On the other hand, it sucks to feel so physically exhausted.
So there you have it. My first attempt at a very dramatic dietary change. Let’s see how the next 3 days go.
springcleanedmom 