June 5, 2014 – Day 5

What did I Eat?

Meal 1

• 2 Leftover Italian Baked Eggs (Oeufs En Cocotte)
• Over leftover ground pork and spinach

Meal 2

• Apple
• Banana
• Larabar
• See below for why

Meal 3

• Roasted chicken leg/thigh
• Mashed Sweet Potato 

  

The Day

Today was the opposite of yesterday in that it started off well and kind of went downhill – food-wise.

In the morning, I took the extras I had of spinach and cooked, seasoned ground pork from last night and put the two leftover Oeufs on top, for breakfast. I got to work and heated it up in the microwave. I try to limit my use of this appliance if you wondered. When I write about leftovers at home, assume I have used an oven or stove top. Sometimes I just chow down on cold food, depending on what it is. I mashed the eggs rounds over the other meat and spinach and it was delicious. I enjoyed a black coffee too. I felt satiated until 12:00.

Fun Fact: Sean accidentally broke our microwave before Christmas and we have not yet replaced it over 6 months later. The only place I really use one now is at work for lack of any other options.

I went for lunch and remembered that Freshii across the street from my work has a new(ish) Green Wrap, where they will Big Collard Greens as a wrap instead of a flour tortilla. I also knew that you can order a pre-made wrap, or customize one. There is no way that can’t be Whole30 friendly right? I used one of their checklists to order my ingredients and hand it to the cashier. I wait patiently for my wrap and am ecstatic when they hand it to me. It must have weighed about 2 lbs. I asked for double chicken, romaine, carrots, cucumber, red onion, tomatoes, beets, olive oil, and Pico de Gallo all wrapped in a big collard green leaf. The extra chicken, and Pico additions brought the wrap to around $12. A little on the expensive side but I don’t know anywhere else near my work that I can get food that fresh and healthy for less. As you can see by the picture, I was hardly ripped off.

I got back to my desk and began to eat. I had three bites across the top that were mostly collard green from the way it’s folded. I looked in the wrap and the sauce appeared to be creamy… I got a plate opened the wrap. There were clear chunks of goat cheese mixed in! I was beyond disappointed. I thought: What do I do? Do I keep eating? Because this is all I have for lunch and I am technically back on the clock. Besides I have already ruined my Whole30 right? I put it aside while I contemplated. 

I remembered seeing a recent post on a Facebook group I follow. It was regarding accidentally being served non-compliant foods and what to do. There are of course hard-core people who are dead-set about starting over for the smallest of breaches. Then there are people who say it depends on what it was and how much and the details. They believe it’s case by case. 

For me personally I feel it really does depend a) on the situation and b) on why you are doing a whole30 to start with. Your reasons are personal and so should your decision to carry on if you slip up be. The important thing that I keep reading is to not stress the small stuff. Your stress levels and mental health are just as important to your health as the food you eat.

For me, I am really early into this, I barely ingested any of the fillings, let alone cheese so I do have a hard time feeling this will be affecting me negatively by day 30. I will also be doing a proper reintroduction this time, unlike the last round, and I will be doing many more Whole30s in life. I decided that for me personally, these few small bites are not going to ruin my round. But I sure as hell was getting a refund. 

I recycled the wrap into the compost bin and ate my fruits and a Larabar instead.

I emailed via their feedback form and explained what happened. I explained that during a Whole30, when one consumes foods they are not supposed to, they have to start at day 1 and asked them to contact me regarding a refund. I got the nicest email back within 24 hours form their director of business development. Here is an excerpt: 

I can only hope that you caught it in time so as not to go back to day one on your eating regiment. This is especially bad as we are supposed to be the restaurant that helps with your diet and doesn’t hinder it.

I’ve let our team at ****** know to be very careful when building our meals so this sort of thing doesn’t happen again.

Rebecca, I’d like to give you a $20 gift card which can be picked up anytime at our ******** location, as our way off apologizing as well as thanking you for taking time out of your busy to write us which helps us improve.

I blocked out the location name for my own privacy (as I have said it’s across from my workplace) and because I am not here to call shed a negative light on this company. They beyond exceeded my expectations for rectification and I will consider going back there again, though I may just be very clear about no dairy. Perhaps I can even go so far as to say I have an allergy to ensure it’s not mixed in from tools, or the assembly boards. I knew previously and full believe that they intend to be accommodating for all diet types, be it paleo, allergies and sensitivities, vegetarian, vegan, or whatever else. I will take them up on their offer to give me a gift card, order lunch or dinner, and see how it goes. If another mistake happens, then maybe I can’t rely on them during Whole30, but for now, I will view this mistake as just that.

When I got home, I put a chicken in the oven and boiled some sweet potatoes. I thought I would try making them mashed instead of frying them up like I always do. After scanning a few recipes on how to do this, I set out without any one recipe in particular and began mashing and adding things. I added coconut milk and ghee and used my hand mixer to mix it all up. It turned out a bit liquidy while at the same time stringy. So I tossed it in the blender to smooth it out. This resulted in baby food for lack of a better description. I re-read a recipe after that recommended only 1 tablespoon of coconut milk. I didn’t measure but I would estimate that I put closer to ¼ of a cup in mine (based on the milk I would add to mashed potatoes – so not the same!). For me, the nuttiness of the milk and sweetness of the potatoes did not complement each other. Between the texture and the flavour, I was gagging on it. I forced some big bites down since lunch was so sparse. I saved the chicken and a big glass of water to chase it down and called it a day. 

These mistakes are important to share so that we all learn. I have now learned to specify how important it is for me to not have dairy in restaurants, and how not to make mashed sweet potatoes.

How do I feel today?

Disappointed in my food situations, but overall cleaner, clearer headed, and positive.

Day 15 – Halfway!!

I am halfway done my first Whole30 today.

I feel great. My energy is up, my focus and concentration is better, I am developing good habits, and I am genuinely enjoying it all.

I am starting to wonder when my skin will clear up though. It was starting to and the bam! Breakout! The messed up part is I never got acne until I was about 24. Now I get it when I eat poorly, and hormonally, like that time of the month, which is starting now. It takes more than 2 weeks to fix your hormones though, which is why this is the Whole30, not the Whole15.

Between being away overnight and then having company, I did not get a chance to make pre-made breakfasts for the week. I chopped some lettuce, tomatoes, shallots, and chicken breast from the last of the three chickens, for Sean’s salad, then I ate a banana as I threw leftovers from the salmon dish and some leftover yams in my lunch bag, then went to work. I stopped in that little café in our lobby for a black coffee and boiled eggs and headed up to the office. The morning went by fast and before I knew it, it was lunch time. I actually stepped away from my desk o eat lunch in our lunchroom. I heated my leftovers and enjoyed the salmon dish, round 2. All in all, the day was uneventful, and my meals weren’t all that exciting.

Even dinner wasn’t amazing, or worth bogging about. We finished off the last of the three roast chickens, which a seasoned with an Herbs de Provence blend from Whole Foods (it has no additives). I made a sided of brussel sprouts for me, and a side of broccoli for Sean since he hates brussel sprouts. We ate dinner and I caught up on my blog. This might have been the most uneventful day since starting W30.

There is a part on the timeline called “Days 12-15: Boundless energy! Now give me a damn Twinkie” that talks about cravings being the most intense around the middle and let me tell you, I have that going on. I ate almonds and could almost taste the Hershey chocolate that I wished they were coated in. I wanted marshmallows yesterday and something like a Mars bar today. I have craved toast, Kraft Smooth Peanut Butter, Justin’s Nut Butters, and cake! I can’t remember all my cravings but I remember thinking they are random or funny – and so realistic, like I can smell it, or almost taste it. Can I please just have one bowl of gluten-free puffin cereal?

A highlight today was being asked if I have lost weight - but not because of anything to do with my weight, because I could confidently say “I have no idea… but thank you!” and genuinely not care. I realize that the Whole30 is genuinely not about losing weight, numbers, scales, inches, unrealistic beauty standards, or anything superficial. This is about getting healthy and being healthy and about how I feel. And I feel damn good!

I have known for a long time that if I was ever going to be successful in losing weight, I would need to adopt an outlook about being healthy, not skinny. But no matter how much I preached it, wrote it, said it, or thought I believed it, I didn’t. I fantasized about being able to slip into item of clothing and have it drape off me and look good like on a model. And when I “came to terms” with the likelihood that I may never be that thin, I ate whatever I wanted and pretended to be proud of my curvy body. But this was just a disguise to acknowledge that my waistline was increasing while at the same time, hide my contempt for it. This Whole30 and ISWF has changed all of that mentality. I just want to nourish my body, because I love my body – it’s the only one I have. How it looks will be reflective of how I feel and if I keep eating this way, I can only feel better and better.

I can’t believe we are halfway to the “end”. I feel like there is still so much to learn. I still have over half the book to read, but at the same time, I already have learned a lot and I am really enjoying the program. I have already decided there will be more Whole30’s in my future. Once I have read the whole book and understand fully the whys and whats, it can only get better.

Day 4 - Office Potluck

Today there was a potluck at the office. 

I am actually the one who suggested it. I suggested it about a month ago, heard about Whole30 three weeks ago, committed to a W30 start date two weeks ago, and remembered about the potluck last week. I couldn't put off starting any later than I did though, in order to be done before my birthday. My birthday is kicking off the May long weekend this year, it's the last birthday of my twenties, and I want to enjoy it. 

Plus it's one thing to put off starting like I did last weekend, but now that I have started, I am not going to stop for anything.

I initially felt silly that I had planned a potluck that I likely wouldn't be able to participate in, but I wasn't going, postpone it, cancel it, or make special requests for my own benefit. I soon realized that all I could do was bring a W30 approved dish and hope something else might comply. I remembered that I could always ask what is in things and hope that someone would bring something with basic ingredients. 

So I brought a huge bowl of veggies from Whole Foods and some dips. I wanted to cook something Whole30 compliant, yet tasty, but I am still new at this and I didn't want to spread myself too thin. Last night I made dinner, breakfast for today, plus Sean's lunch, so by the time I was done all that, it was already late and I was very thankful for my earlier decision to buy the veggies. 

When I got to work, I looked at the list and summed up really quickly that I wouldn't be able to eat anything on it. Though it wasn't for a lack of trying; one of my co-worked brought butter chicken. I had a brief fantasy that it was made with coconut milk, but I asked (yes I did) and he passed me a link to the recipe - sure enough, it had milk, butter, and sugar in it, so it was out. Next I saw deviled eggs. "Deviled eggs are just boiled eggs," I thought to myself. "With Mayo!" the angel on shoulder piped up. "She could have made her own mayo with compliant foods" the shoulder devil chimes in. (See what I did there? Deviled eggs…) I perked up optimistically, then sighed... Nah! I am not going to even bother asking about that one. How many people make their own mayo if they don't have to? 

Soon enough the whole boardroom table was a buffet of amazing creations. Everything from spring rolls to sushi, chocolate covered strawberries to cassava cake, butter chicken to bacon popcorn and it looked great! Co-workers started coming in one by one to fill their plates. There was chatting and laughter, discussions of the food, work, and weekend plans. And then it hit me; I was truly enjoying this potluck. 

This isn't even all of it...

It doesn't hurt that I work with a fantastic group of individuals. We are all around the same age, which helps. Many of us share the same sense of humour. There is often laughter in the office every day. Bringing everyone together was my drive to do this in the first place. It worked and everyone had a good time, enjoyed the food, and got to step away from their desks, stretch, and socialize. I am satisfied with that. 

I eventually had to step out to get food that I could eat. Same as yesterday, chicken and steamed veggies from Urban Fare. When I got back to the office, I had an array of emails to say thank you, and what a successful event it was. This put me over the top with happiness. Those who know me, will know that when others are happy from my actions, I am happy. So, I am happy. 

(And if I am being honest, it didn't hurt that many of them also said we should do this more often, so I can always make sure that I don't miss out next time!)

What did I learn? How truly dedicated I can be to my body. How strong my willpower really is! (It was a close call with the deviled eggs). How gatherings are about more than just the food, even when they are about food (like a potluck). It was hard not to give into temptation, but it was worth it because I am writing today on day 4 and not day 0. 

Most of all, I learned that there will always be things in life that I will want to do, that I will consider postponing for, that I do not want to miss out on, but that if I post put off doing this for everything I want, then I will never follow through. I am reminded that I am doing this for me, and me alone.

Sean and I had a big dinner to celebrate. I made pan-seared steaks, with sautéed onions and mushrooms, and I sautéed slices of zucchini in the steak juice while the steaks rested. DELISH!!

What is the biggest temptation you have had to face so far? How did it turn out? What did you learn?