Whole 30 / Round 2 / One week in

Well, I know I haven't been posting as much as I did the first round, but man, it's a lot of work. Besides, it's just a bunch of pictures of the same stuff as the first round, minus the eggs. I have to admit, I'd forgotten how good I feel. I go to sleep right away, and wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed. I feel more focused while at work. I have more energy during the day. The bloating in my stomach is going down again.

Whole 30 / Round 2 / July 2011

Well, I've decided to go another round on the Whole 30. This time though, I'm not going to come off. The last couple of months I was trialing various "safe" starches and not having success with that. And then of course life goes on and bad food choices are made on a regular basis and I'm back to 226lbs.

I actually started yesterday and for the first time since I was off the Whole 30, I woke up early and easily. I've also discovered another probable allergy, I say probable because I haven't been clinically tested. I've been trying out the Lara bars lately, and those have been a treat. I tried the cashew cookie one the other day and my face blew up again. The only ingredients were dates and cashews and I had dates in other Lara bars with no issues.

This time around I'm going to avoid eggs for a while and try them back in at the end of the month. They make such an easy breakfast. <So sad> Another thing that I'm going to try to do is to eat more intuitively. In other words, I'm not going to worry about making sure I eat meat and veggies with every meal. If I feel like just eating meat, I'll do that. If I feel like just eating veggies, veggies it is. If I feel like eating just sweet potatoes or fruit all day, you betcha. The thing is, I figure if I'm eating real food, my body is going to tell me what I need.

Let the games begin!

Whole 30 / Perfect Health Diet

Well, after much debate and trialing several supposedly "safe" starches, it looks like I'm going back to what works for me, and that's the Whole 30. I have to say that I'm much more open to the idea of starches now due to the Perfect Health Diet. And while the Jaminet's diet does include yams & sweet potatoes as safe starches, which work for me, some of their other starch recommendations, rice and potatoes, don't. Or at least right now, they don't. Also, I'm getting a little OCD on the measuring. I've also been consuming unregulated amounts of dairy (not Perfect Health compliant), which I already knew I shouldn't. I have terrible acne at the moment.

I still believe that there is a lot that both Paleo and low carbers can take from the Jaminet's diet. Here are several things I'm taking away from trialing the Perfect Health Diet.

1) I don't really need as much protein as I'd always assumed, as long as my carbs from starch is comparable. For example, keeping my fat constant at 100 grams, if I consume 65 grams of protein and 65 grams of starch, I'm just as full as if I had consumed 120 grams of protein. And that's 65 grams of starch, not just any carbs. Caveat - this did take a few days of adjustment with the higher carb/lower protein in regards to hunger. I just ate more starch if I was hungry for a few days, then it regulated itself.

2) With the additional amounts of starch carbs, not including what I'm getting from veggie carbs, I find that I also don't need as much fat to be satiated. Back when I was doing vlc/no carb, I could consume upwards of 200 grams of fat and not be satiated.

3) I can handle higher starch carbs than I had previously assumed, as long as it's from yams or sweet potatoes. Trialing some of their other "safe" starches produced some crazy high postprandial #'s, along with ravenous hunger after a couple hours. In fact, their weight loss ratio is 600 calories from protein/carbs and the remaining calories from fat (up to 12-1500 calories). I actually have trouble consuming their recommended 100 grams of starch plus 50 grams of protein and 100 grams of fat to get to 1500 calories.

4) With the more lenient carb/starch intake and more moderate protein and fat intake (at least in relation to the average low carb diet, not SAD), my meals are looking more "normal". Looking at some of the meals using a low/moderate protein, some starch, some veggies & moderate fats, gave me some surprisingly delicious and decadent meals.

And finally, I, and my bowels, really do not enjoy eating excessive amounts of fibrous veggies (i.e. more than about 30 grams of veggies). <Yikes!> And I can honestly say that getting over 50 grams of starch carbs really limits my desire for any additional veggie carbs.

But what it boils down to is that I really don't want to measure my food anymore. I have a tendency towards OCD if I do. And then I start manipulating what I'm eating to get to the "correct" ratios, instead of eating what's appealing. Or start franken-baking so I can have "treat". And the majority of the time, I find that when I just eat real food, and then log - what I like is close to the ratios anyways. But only when it's real food. When it's frankenfood or SAD, forget about it. I've also found that I have trouble eating more than about 80 grams of starch carbs from yams/sweet potatoes in a day, I just get too full. Which still works out just fine, because the food is so filling, my calories are still under control.

Allergies

For those of you who were waiting on baited breath for my next allergist appointment ........the results are in.

Allergies - Known:

• Mango
• Latex
• Shellfish

Allergies - Unknown

• Chicken

Where to go from here? And a recipe.

It's been nice the last few days not to feel obligated to put up a blog post. I've been debating on whether to continue blogging and what subjects I thought would be of interest. There are so many paleo blogs out there now, some focus on recipes, workouts, nutrition, science, etc.

It made me think that one more blog focusing on what other people would be interested in would just be so much white noise. So, I decided that if I'm going to continue to post, it will just be about me. What I'm thinking, what I'm cooking, what new n=1 food experiment I'm going to test out.

I guess what I'm saying is, if you're reading this thinking that I'm going to only do the Whole 30, or just paleo (with whatever your definition of paleo is), then this isn't the blog for you. All you're going to get here is someone who is still trying to figure "it" out. I'm all for "paleo" in that I plan on eating real food, mostly unprocessed, while continuing to try out real food that may fall outside the traditional "paleo" food world.

And now a recipe.

 

I'm all about ease of cooking. And while I love using fresh vegetables, in my busy life, this is not always feasible. I knew that last night would be a throw everything together kind of dinner.

I started heating the skillet with a dollop of leftover bacon grease. I then added a package (10 oz) of frozen onions & peppers. This is one of the greatest inventions ever.

Once the onions and peppers thawed, I added what was left of the baby spinach I had in the fridge, about 1 lb. I only allowed the spinach to just get soft.

Cooking it any further than that would have given me over-cooked spinach by the end of the dish. Then I added some diced leftover pork shoulder.

Once I mixed that in, I added some seasonings. Last night I decided on Cajun seasoning and a spice mix that I had blended together. At this point, the recipe would be Whole 30 compliant. I don't know what you would call it, other than a stir-fry.

For dinner last night, I added some steamed white rice. That would make the recipe Perfect Health Diet compliant.



 

Whole 30 - COMPLETED

Whole 30 Results

Start weight: 230lbs
End weight: 217.5lbs
Start waist: 36"
End waist: 35"
Start Morning fasting glucose: 107
End Morning fasting glucose: 89
Start 1 hour postprandial: 140
End 1 hour postprandial: 96
Start 2 hour postprandial: 120
End 2 hour postprandial: 89

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

You can't really tell because the shirt covers the jeans, but those jeans used to sit right at my waist. Now I have to pull them about 3 inches above my belly button.

Whole 30 / Day 30

Wednesday
Breakfast
I had made beef jerky overnight in the dehydrator. The fatty strips I cut off the edges this morning were my breakfast. Very tasty, but ugly.

Lunch
Hamburger patty with cauliflower & broccoli.



Dinner: No picture. Went to the buffet with my parents. First plate: had prime rib, green beans, couple bites of cauliflower. Second plate: prime rib, green beans & blueberries. Dessert: Pineapple, blueberries, couple bits of cantaloupe & honeydew (not ripe). When I go back to the allergist for more testing, I'm having them test cantaloupe. I have some suspicions there.

Tomorrow I will be posting my results and the before & after pictures. And if I do say so myself, they're fairly impressive.

And now for some comic relief.

Whole 30 / Day 29

Tuesday
Breakfast

Sun-dried tomato chicken sausage and leftover veggies.

Snack: Apple & almond butter

beeeefy

Lunch: Mock tender steak w/asparagus. I seasoned it with Herbs de Provence.

Dinner: Hamburger patties with sauteed spinach and mushrooms. Leftover mashed cauliflower on the side.








Had the allergist appointment today. Tested positive to chicken and possibly to coconut. The dr said he wasn't sure on the coconut. They had me draw some blood to do additional testing. I have another appointment a week from Monday. I'll be bringing in the coconut flakes, coconut cream, olive oil and dillweed for additional testing. 

Whole 30 / Day 28

Wow, time really flies when you're having fun. I can't believe there are only a couple more days left on the Whole 30.

Breakfast:
Eggs & bacon

Lunch: Chicken and veggie stir-fry.

Dinner: Leftover pork roast & veggies.

Whole 30 / Day 27

Sunday

 Breakfast: leftover steak (didn't eat it all), bacon & yams.
 Another day with a big breakfast and no lunch.

 Dinner: Pork roast, leftover green beans & mashed cauliflower.

Snack later: Blackberries

Whole 30 / Day 26

Saturday
I decided on a large breakfast this morning since we were going to be out running around today.

Ham & eggs, bacon, & yams.

We had breakfast around 9am this morning. No snacks during the day.

Roast & veggies

We ended up eating dinner about 9 hours later at around 6-6:30pm, only because we wanted to finish eating before we babysat our niece at 7pm. I wasn't terribly hungry, but ended up eating everything. Later while we were babysitting, we snacked on grapes & nuts.

Whole 30 / Day 25

Friday
Breakfast: None - I fasted

Dilled pork

Lunch: one bite of dilled pork. A little too much dill for me. Then I had another allergic reaction. I also had a half of a cup of coconut chai tea. I continued the fast until supper.

I get to see my allergist Tuesday afternoon for some testing. I have some suspicions, hopefully I can get  some answers.



Supper was rib-eye steak, sauteed green beans and fried yams (yellow & sweet). Later I had a handful of pistachios and a couple of dates. 

This was sooooo good.

Whole 30 / Day 24

Thursday

I had the same meal for breakfast & lunch.



Not pictured: had a small handful of nuts

Roasted chicken

Dinner was roasted chicken. Not pictured are a couple of Japanese sweet potato fries. I didn't particularly care for them.

Blackberries

Dessert

Whole 30 / Day 23

Breakfast

omelet

I've missed ham.


Salad for lunch. Leftover coconut chicken with a homemade strawberry/pineapple dressing. Something with it gave me an allergic reaction though. My eyes swelled up terribly. I'm going to have to go see my allergist again.

Strawberry piña colada chicken salad

Dinner: leftover roast beef & meat loaf.

leftovers

 
I'm probably going to go meat and water for a few days and start adding things back in one at a time to see what I'm having issues with.

Whole 30 / Day 22

Tuesday
Breakfast

yummy

I got some non-sugared, uncured ham. It's very tasty.

So tasty, in fact, that I decided to have breakfast for lunch. Eggs w/ham, the last of the yam that I didn't like, and a giant strawberry.

lunch

I threw the leftover beef ribs back in the crock-pot this morning with a can of tomatoes and some diced onions. Seasoned it with chili, onion, and garlic powder and let it go all day.

beefy

All in all, it was a very tasty day. I went to bed early last night, I wasn't feeling great. It may have been caffeine withdrawal. I had hot chai tea w/coconut milk/cream all day and no coffee.

Coconut Milk/Cream, Homemade Beef Jerky & Yams

creamy goodness

Since starting this diet challenge, I have tried more varieties of coconut milk/cream than I knew existed. Out of all the varieties, the worst was the Kroger brand. It did not dissolve and did not taste that great. The other name brands, Thai Kitchen, etc were only ok. The one I like the best though is Aroy-D Coconut Cream.

 Once I run out of the canned stuff, this will be my purchase of choice. I love this stuff. And it is extremely cheap at the Asian food store. Score for me.

Next on the list of wonderful new experiences: Homemade Beef Jerky. Last summer, during garage sale season, I purchased a super cheap dehydrator. I think I paid $5 for it. I kept telling my husband I would get around to making beef jerky............. Uhmmmmmm, yeah. Almost a year later, I finally got around to it. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be.
 

beefy goodness

I swung by my local Fareway and requested a lean roast to be sliced to beef jerky thinness. I decided on a dry seasoning as this was my first time trying beef jerky at home. The beef initially weighed in at 2lbs 15 oz. After dehydrating, it was 13.5 oz. Waaahhhhhh??? I'm so not joking.



And last, but not least, yams. Yummy, yummy yams. I love starch. Starchy, starch, starch. Here it goes down, down into my belly......

Hawaii yam

I purchased three different yams from the Asian store. The first was labeled Hawaii yam. I had these for breakfast yesterday. I thought they were only ok.

Yellow yam

I had the one labeled yellow yam for supper last night. I thought this one was wonderful. Slightly sweet, wonderful flavor.

Japanese sweet potato

The last yam I picked up was labeled as a Japanese sweet potato. We haven't tried this one yet. It'll probably be tomorrow night. I will definitely be picking up more of the yellow yam. It will make a nice change from the normal sweet potatoes.

Whole 30 / Day 21

Breakfast
Coconut milk coffee

Lunch: Coconut chicken & roasted baby carrots

coconutty

I think I had an allergic reaction to the carrots though. I'm going to abstain for a couple of weeks and then trial it. Kind of makes me cranky though because the majority of my frozen mixed veggies have carrots in them.

Snack: couple pieces of bacon (not shown)

Dinner: Boneless beef ribs and sauteed sugar snap peas

Beefy goodness

Evening snack: Indian chai tea w/coconut cream.

Whole 30 / Day 20

Sunday
Slept in today. It was lovely.
Breakfast

Sausage, eggs and yams

Snack/Lunch:
I made some dehydrated beef jerky today. I had the butcher freeze the roast and slice it very thin for me. Today I took it out of the package and trimmed the fat from the edges, seasoned it and put it in the dehydrator for the afternoon. The scraps were rendered in the oven on low for a few hours and that's what I had for a snack/lunch.

Meatloaf, green beans, & yams

Dinner was homemade meatloaf, green beans and yams. I know they look like potatoes, but they are actually yams. We went to the local asian store this weekend and picked up three different varieties. One pictured for breakfast and a different one for dinner. We haven't tried the third one yet.

It's pretty late now, so I'll give more details about them tomorrow.

Whole 30 / Day 19

Saturday
Breakfast

Sausage & eggs

Lunch
We were out running around all day and never stopped for lunch. I packed some cut apple, a banana, and this. I mostly ate the sweet potatoes and a couple apple slices.

Dinner

Hamburger & green beans

Dessert

berries

Whole 30 / Day 18

Too sleepy to say much. Here's today.
Breakfast:

egg, sausage, sweet potato

Lunch: Not pictured. I must have forgot. It was steak and sweet potatoes.

Snack:

coconut water

Dinner

steak hash and sweet potatoes

berries

Yep, that's right folks. I had sweet potatoes at every meal.