Jul 4, 2012

Day 2 - Whole 30

I went to bed at 830 last night and I think I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I was so exhausted and it felt like every muscle in my body ached and I had a wicked headache. I woke up this morning  feeling so much better.  Caffeine headache was gone, muscle aches gone and I felt alert. It was a good start to Day 2 and the best sleep I’ve had in months.
Today’s food is similar to yesterdays:
Breakfast: ground beef/sweet potato casserole, carrot sticks, coffee with coconut milk
Lunch:  vegetable soup in chicken broth, strawberries and a boiled egg
Dinner: grilled chicken breast with sweet potatoes mashed with some coconut milk and almonds/apples sautéed in coconut butter
Since I was going to be home earlier than usual, I figured I didn’t need my snack so I used my almonds and apple to have with dinner, based on an idea I got from Andrea.  It’s a bonus that Liam will also eat this way, saves me from cooking grains and being tempted to eat them, he just eats bigger portions!  And he still eats grains during the day when he’s left to fend for himself.
I filled my water bottle as soon as I got to the office and made sure I refilled it every time it was almost empty. The water is definitely helping with keeping me away from Coke Zero although I do miss the fizzy, ice cold, crispness.
It seems very strange not to be counting something and weighing and measuring every thing  I eat. I am counting out the almonds just because I know how easy it is to go overboard with them and limiting myself to 10 a day and hopefully not every day as I get more used to fitting fat into my diet. Without counting, I feel like I have no barometer of how much I’m eating. I’m looking forward to the day I can trust my body and my hunger cues again, just like Melissa and Dallas say will happen.
The hardest part for me, aside from the Coke Zero and the breakfast dilemma is that I really and truly do not like the texture of meat in my mouth. Sometimes I feel like I’m going to gag on meat. I have tried all kinds and cooked all ways you can think of and its definitely a texture thing for me.  I rarely eat meat once a day and now to try and fit it into two meals a day is daunting and this is my biggest fear of failure. That I will get fed up with eating meat and go off the plan and back to my carbs. I had already limited dairy to cream in my coffee and my whey protein shakes. I loved Greek Yogurt and was eating it as a protein source for about a year but then discovered it was the cause of rosacea flare ups  so I had to cut it out and within days my skin cleared up and I’ve had no problems since then, just sticking to the very small amount of dairy.
Of all the low carb plans I’ve tried, (Atkins, South Beach, Dr. Poon)  this is the least restrictive on fruits and vegetables and that is helping me want to stick to it and will help keep enough variety in my meals. I managed the others for about 3 weeks but knew I could not sustain it and I hated it  - so every day was a fight with myself or making deals with myself to get through it.  And as soon as I went off it, I gained all the lost weight back (thankfully not more). With Whole30, I can still eat carrots, sweet potatoes, peppers, tomatoes and onions and my fruit – I stick to two servings of fruit a day and try to stick to berries, melon and apples.  Apples aren’t in the recommended fruit list from the book, but my endocrinologist says they are packed with fibre, water and Vitamin C and are very good for regulating blood sugar so I’m sticking with them.
Last night I read the vegetarian section (two paragraphs!) of It  Starts With Food and it doesn’t offer much advice except to say that whey protein powder is less bad than real dairy,  so I may resort to that again for my breakfasts if I find that eating eggs/meat at every meal is not sustainable.
I’m not giving up before I’ve really tried, so I’m committing myself to at least a week without the protein shakes and then will reassess. If I can do it for a week, I should be able to do it for 4.
Two days down, 28 to go!

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