Whole30 - week 1

Day 6. Today marks nearly one week done with my second round of Whole30 (with a few modifications) - the last time being three years ago. Now that I've reached my goal of paying off my student debt, I've decided it's time to have some self-discipline in another area of life and get my weight back under control, both for myself and to serve as a good example to my patients.

Although the goal of Whole30 is not to lose weight, I am using it to do so as it give me a good plan on healthy foods to eat with limitations on foods that sometimes are not as good for me in the quantities I eat them (ah-hem, *bread**sugar*). Neither time have I been totally strict, although I mostly hold to the guidelines set out on their website. https://whole30.com/whole30-program-rules/

So, what can you eat on Whole30? Fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat, oils/ghee, and nuts (excluding peanuts which are legumes). What can you not eat? Grains, dairy, legumes (including any beans except green beans or green peas, soy products, and peanuts/products), added sugar in any form (including natural forms such as honey), and alcohol. What can you drink? Water (with fruit or vegetables such as cucumber, lime, strawberry, etc), plain tea (can add fruit or mint for flavor), and nut milks (coconut, almond, cashew), and sparkling waters such as La Croix or Bubly. 

Ok, time to be uncomfortably vulnerable. On Day 1 (5/26), my weigh-in put my calculated BMI at 27 (healthy being 18.5-24.9). (Want to find out your own BMI and what it generally means? Check out this link: CDC BMI Calculator). Despite Whole30's recommendation to only weigh at the beginning and end of the 30 days, I weigh every 7 days to see progress and have motivation to continue.

What are some secondary outcomes I have besides a healthy BMI or, as Whole30 calls it, NSV (non-scale victories)? Comfortably wearing my summer wardrobe I already own, being more content with my appearance in photos, and having normal cholesterol levels when next checked (last labs were normal three years ago when we were encouraged to have them checked after Dad's massive heart attack at a young age). 

How do I figure out what to eat? I've found the only way not to fall off the band wagon is to plan, plan, plan. For me, that looks like weekly menu planning, grocery shopping, prepping, cooking, and packaging of meals for the week. I also have found it helpful to have easily accessible snacks in case hunger hits quick and I'm tempted to buy food at work or on the way home. Often I need a snack before bed too. Most of my recipes are from Pinterest; the rest I modify from favorites I normally make or make up my own recipes based on allowed foods. 

For those who might be interested in what my menu has looked like the past week, check out the following:

Breakfast: 

-Scrambled eggs with various combination of bacon or sausage, avocado (1/4, 1/3, or 1/2 depending on the day), and/or grilled mushrooms

Lunch/Dinner: 

-Thai Green Curry with riced cauliflower (my favorite recipe I've found so far is http://www.foodreference.com/html/green-curry-1008.html, I tweeked it a bit (keffir lime leaves are hard to find, mushrooms were already allocated to other recipes, and I didn't put in the sugar) and used a pre-made Thai Kitchen green curry paste instead of making my own) 

Empty, clean jar (dug out of the recycling pile as a photo for this post was an afterthought).

Thai Green Curry with "riced" cauliflower

-Lettuce wrap tacos with tomatoes and avocado and homemade salsa verde avocado (Joanna Gaines' recipe) or hot sauce.

Joanna Gaines' recipe featured in a recent Magnolia Journal article.

-Chicken salad with pecans, apples, and grapes, and fruit cup (cantaloupe, honeydew melon, grapes)

-Jimmy John's Vito on a lettuce wrap (no cheese)

-Brat with ketchup  (I draw the line on buying additional Whole30-friendly condiments, a little sugar in my ketchup is ok with me), homemade mustard potato salad (https://www.wholekitchensink.com/whole30-mustard-potato-salad/ although I left out the onion, red pepper, and celery as it was a spontaneous recipe and I didn't have everything at home), and homemade Asian slaw (minus sugar in the dressing). P.S. I am so excited about the change to include white potatoes on Whole30 since the last time I went through the program!

Brat, homemade potato salad and Asian coleslaw, and grapes

Snacks:

Fruit: grapes, raspberries  

Smoothie: frozen mango, frozen cherry berry medley, almond milk, and vanilla protein powder (I realized after I made the smoothie the powder had a tiny amount of some form of added sugar, *oops*) 

Turkey lunch meat, tomatoes, strawberries

Drinks: 

-Water, water, water! 

-Coffee with splash of half and half (*not Whole30 approved*)

-Hot spearmint tea

-Tangerine La Croix

What did Whole30 teach me last time? 1. Food is highly social. It's hard to socialize in America (and other countries) without eating together. I had to bring my own food or eat prior so I wouldn't be hungry and tempted to eat foods not on my plan. 2. I often eat what is convenient or tastes good whether it is good for me or not. 3. I developed the ability to recognize the sensation of hunger more acutely than when on a high-carb diet. Often I eat because it's time to eat or I know I will be hungry later if I don't and won't have a chance to eat then - on a lower-carb diet, I tend to be hungry every 3-4 hours making it easy to eat only when hungry. 

This time? So far, with being more isolated due to social-distancing guidelines/limitations and less social gatherings in general, it's been fairly easy to stick to the plan. It's also so much easier to eat high counts of fruits/veggies when it's summer because food is more accessible, fresher, and cheaper! Also, I have a good income and low living expenses in general making it possible to absorb the higher cost of fresh produce and more expensive proteins (as beans and legumes are taboo on this plan). 

That's it for now. Until next week!