Discovery

Since I finished the Whole30, I started eating my more typical diet, albeit with much less of the Whole30 no-nos. I have, however, had a headache every day since. EVERY day.

I never realized I was a person who had headaches. Have I always had them and just grew accustomed to them? Or is my body responding dramatically to the change in my diet?

It's enough to make me go back on Whole30.

Gluten Trial Day 2

Woke up very hungry, and something is irritating my right tear duct. It feels plugged.

• Breakfast: Two eggs fried in ghee, sauteed spinach, some canteloupe, coffee with coconut milk
• Snack: Almonds
• Lunch: Spinach salad with two HB eggs, broccoli, black olives, and balsamic vinegar, three sourdough pretzel bites
• Tired in afternoon
• Some eye strain, but I think it's unrelated.
• Snack: Two M&Ms and a few pistachios
• Dinner: Steak and steamed broccoli. OH MY GOD. SO DELICIOUS.

Notes:

Fairly good mood.

I enjoyed the M&Ms more than I ever have. Did they always taste so awesome? Strange/good bit: I was satisfied after 2. (It helps that they're Lola's poo-poo reward, so we have to make sure she that doesn't see us pilfer any and that they're always in stock. Someday, someday, she'll earn one.)

Zit (Wanda?).

Itchy scalp.

I'm trying not to read about symptoms of gluten sensitivity, but I know a little. I'm worried about psychosomatic problems. I'll just post my experience here, and perhaps do another trial in a week to see if anything is consistent. For now, the verdict is still out. Too many variables.

Lola is starting to refer to food she sees as "mom's" or "dad's." Spinach: "mom's." Pretzels: "dad's."

Gluten Trial Day 1

• 8 AM Breakfast: Applegate roast beef, raw bell peppers, whole grain melba toast, coffee with coconut milk
• Noticed foggy feeling around 10.
• 3 PM Lunch: Spinach salad with carrots, HB eggs, pistachios, evoo, s&p. One serving of Snyders of Hanover's sourdough pretzels.
• Slight headache around 4:22. (Maybe from reading.)
• Yawning around 6. Very drowsy.
• 9 PM Dinner: Spaghetti with chicken and spinach. Tangerine.
• Woke with headache in the middle of the night.

Notes:

I forgot to take my medicine this morning. This may explain all of the symptoms above. What a waste of a trial day!

Irritable in evening. Failed to snap out of it, except with Lo.

Lazy Mama's Whole30 Summary

Go, Me! 30 consecutive healthy-eating days have passed, and I feel like a champion!

Looking back to my first post, I see that my #1 motivation was finding a magic food portal to the kingdom of energy, focus, and well-being. (Can you tell I've been watching "Once Upon a Time"?) Didn't really happen. At least, I don't think so. I feel good, physically. Mentally... I'm still the same. Boo.

I also hoped to lose weight, shop locally, feed my family healthier food, and model good behavior for my daughter. That all happened, so here's to small victories.

What I Did

• For 30 days, I ate three meals of protein, vegetables, and healthy fats, in the proportions dictated by It Starts With Food. 
• I abstained from dairy, legumes (including peanut butter), sweeteners, gluten, soy, alcohol, and vegetable oils (except canola - on occasion).
• I went to the local farmer's market and Whole Foods almost weekly to get fresh produce. 

What I Didn't

• I didn't make my own mayo and instead chose store-bought mayo with canola oil (but no sugar and soy, etc). Canola oil is a "no" on Whole30.
• I didn't always buy grass-fed or pastured meats, although I did buy these more often than I ever have before (which was never), and I always bought wild-caught fish.
• I didn't always sit down for my meals. More often than not, I ate breakfast in the car.
• I didn't always buy in-season or local produce.
• Occasionally, I ate off-schedule or out-of-proportion and suffered the consequences of hunger, mood swings, and dizzy spells.
• I slipped up with one bite of banana bread and one, doneness-test pasta shell.
• I ate small snacks of nuts or fruit most afternoons.

How I Felt

• I felt good about my self-discipline. I just jumped in and stuck to it! Believe me, I'm not often like that.
• I enjoyed what I was eating. In the absence of junk, good-for-me food tasted better and better as the month went on.
• I feel awake, for the most part.
• I felt satiated. 
• I lost weight. Probably 5-10 lbs, but I don't step on a scale unless I'm at the doctor's office. I'm just guessing, based on the looseness of my pants.
• My mysterious breast soreness disappeared.
• Some new intestinal weirdness is happening. I haven't figured it out, but I'm working on it.

How I Didn't Feel

• I never felt the Tiger Blood or super-focus. 
• I never had a miracle skin transformation (although, my skin did stop itching so much).
• No niggling long-term health problems disappeared. Fortunately, I don't have any major health issues, so I can live with these.

What I Learned

• I can do something new and difficult, if I set my mind to it, even with a toddler, a full-time job, a long commute, and a fixed-income. It helped to have the support and witnessing eyes of my dear friends, especially Ms. Stacy.
• My stomach ailments are primarily caused by one or more of the things I've left out. I very rarely felt bloated, constipated, or windy while doing Whole30.
• While on Whole30, I noticed my impulse to thoughtlessly toss any loose food into my face any time of day, when I'm cooking, when I'm feeding Lo, when I'm at the office, when I'm cleaning, when I'm driving, etc.
• Sweet potato chips are a food-with-no-breaks for me.
• Spinach and leftovers are my friends.
• Yogurt, soy milk, cereal, whole wheat bread, etc. I'd rather eat any of them and skip my veggies, so for now, they are out out out. I'm choosing vegetables.
• Just to be honest, healthier food doesn't taste better than junk. It's not packed with sugar and MSG and salt and other evil yumminess. As I said above, I'm making a choice to eat healthy.
• I don't want to be a blogger. I can't pick a tense and stick with it, and I bore myself.

The Kid and the Husband

• Since I cook dinner, my husband accidentally benefited from the Whole30. He was glad that we were eating more vegetables while not getting too adventurous with the spices and such. No curries for Tim. 
• I don't think I've inspired him to quit smoking. =(
• Lola is going through a phase. She's avoiding vegetables right now. I've decided not to force her to eat healthy things, because I want her to choose to. I'm going to continue to offer her food from my plate and introduce new things, and hopefully someday, she'll follow my lead.
• My husband and I have decided not to take yogurt, milk, and grains out of Lo's diet right now. We're going to go whole fat, whole wheat though.  We're cutting out legumes as much as possible. After this jar of peanut butteris empty, Lo will try almond or sunflower butter. 

What's next?

• More of this. I plan to continue eating this way, after I do a trial reintroduction of gluten. I already know about dairy, and the literature on legumes is enough to convince me to keep them out of regular rotation. Gluten, however, is still a mystery to me. I'd like to know once and for all.
• I plan to let myself eat non-compliant food on special occasions. I know I'll feel very bad afterwards, but this has been my relationship to ice cream for 20 years, so I can do it with crackers, cheese, sugar, etc.
• If things get out of balance, I'll go back and do the Whole30, with no cheats, and begin again.
• As of last night, though, I realized that my family will not be as supportive of this diet now that the Whole30 novelty is gone. I'll have to make a better effort to make our meals delicious. I admit, some of the things I made, especially the fish dishes and some of the veggies, were not very tasty. I'm not a cook, but I am The Cook. I still control the menu, and I vow to keep making healthy food.

DAY 30: THE END... or is it?

• Breakfast: Egg and stuffed pepper scramble. 1/4 Bartlett pear. Coffee with coconut milk.
• Lunch: Leftover pork and mash. Banana. Cashews.
• Dinner: Egg salad. Sweet potato. Apple chips and pistachios. (Tim got delivery: a meat ball sub. He wasn't feeling the Chicken Fajitas that had been scheduled for dinner.)

Notes:
Sad food for the last day, but that's okay.

I am certainly going to continue with the diet, after I do a trial with gluten.

Summary to come...

Day 29

• Breakfast: 2 HB eggs, 1/2 sweet potato, handful of cashews, coffee with about 1/8-1/4 cup of coconut milk
• Lunch: Stuffed pepper, banana, cashews
• Dinner: Seasoned cubed pork (pastured pigs), cauliflower and turnip mash

Notes:
Major Win! Lola loved the meat from the stuffed peppers, so she got a nice helping of protein and veggies. She tried the pepper itself, in a distracted moment, and although she said "no like it," she no spit it out.

Some stomach discomfort in the afternoon. May just be that time of the month.

Feeling very motivated, although not very focused.

I'm beginning to think that "focus" is not a realistic expectation for me. Perhaps I'm just always going to be distracted.

Days 27 & 28

Saturday, Day 27
Breakfast: 2 over-medium fried eggs over 1/2 sweet potato
Lunch: Leftover tilapia and 1/2 sweet potato
Dinner: Left over stew and green beans

Sunday, Day 28
Breakfast: 2 fried eggs and 1 cup of raw carrots
Lunch: Egg salad, fruit, salad, olives
Dinner: Turkey and veggie stuffed bell peppers

Notes:

I slipped up on Sunday and had a little morsel of banana bread at Stacy's daughter's birthday party. It was good. Not gonna lie.