Whole30 Round 2 Day 3

Today was a really great day! I was expecting Ryan to be a bit grumpy and tired - according to the daily email, day 3 is peak transition day. I don't think he is experiencing any signs of detox, probably because he was already gluten free (dairy was his biggest toxin), but he is a bit tired and moody. All things expected so I was surprised when he was eager for an early start to the day!

We woke up early and I made meal 1 - carrot, spinach and brussel sprouts hash with scrambled eggs and chicken sausage. It was a great use of leftovers and Ryan and I both cleared our plates. After a couple episodes of Nurse Jackie (sadly, we finished House of Cards), we left for Brooklyn Flea!

We hadn't been back to Brooklyn since we moved January 31 (except for a basketball game and concert at Barclay's) so we were really excited to walk around and see the neighborhood. We got to Fort Greene and after an hour at Brooklyn Flea, we walked to Brooklyn Heights. We went to Bareburger for lunch on Atlantic Avenue and ordered lettuce wrap burgers. I got lamb with grilled apples & onions, Ryan got jerk chicken with pickles, onions and tomato. What is a burger with fries? Well, Barbeurger has always used peanut oil to fry their appetizers, including sweet potato fries, so those are Whole30 out! However, on the menu it said "all appetizers are fried in non-GMO canola oil." Well to my surprise this meant it was Whole30 approved! We asked the waitress just to confirm the change in oils and she said they got rid of peanut oil from the restaurant!

Well, Bareburger sweet potato fries will not be categorized as SWYPO for me. Ryan and I split a basket, but I'm pretty sure I ate most of them. After the meal, we walked towards our old apartment! Along the way, Ryan discussed some of his struggles with Whole30. He said the hardest part of eating at a restaurant is smelling all of the foods you know you can't eat and feeling full and satisfied without bread (gluten free or not). However, he added, that once he left the restaurant, he felt full and happy. I understand exactly what he is going through - it's realizing that the healthier foods keep you fuller longer but sometimes they don't taste or smell as enticing. They aren't coated in sugar and chemicals - they are natural, they are delicious and they are so healthy. It is so much for Ryan to overcome eating a burger without a bun, but he did it, loved it and felt so much better walking out of BareBurger even after eating fries than he would have pre-Whole30.

Our walk to our old apartment was nostalgic. We missed the community and neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights but we are so happy in our apartment that we don't want to look back! I don't think we would be able to Whole30 in our old apartment. We didn't have a dishwasher so cooking 3 meals and prepping would be completely impossible. There wasn't enough counter space or fridge space or freezer space. There also wasn't a separation between kitchen and living room so we would have spent all day in one room. Also, in the summer, the oven made the apartment unbearably hot. And we didn't have a dining room table so we ate on the floor watching TV. Totally not Whole30 possible!

I hit my NikeFuel goal early on in the day wit the amount of walking we were doing in Brooklyn! When we got home, I marinated chicken and we rested on the couch and caught up on Game of Thrones. For dinner we were making nomnompaleo Chili-Lime Chicken Wings, salmon cakes and asparagus. The recipe calls to cook the chicken on a wired rack - we followed the instructions and cooking time exactly but the chicken wasn't crisping the way it should have so after 40 minutes of cooking, we took the chicken off the wire and put it directly on the backing sheet. The chicken browned and got crispy right away and tasted so much better! Ryan made salmon cakes using Trader Joe's canned salmon, almond flour, eggs and scallions. And the asparagus was oven-roasted with coconut oil. It was a delicious dinner and I think it will keep Ryan full the rest of the night so he doesn't feel the need to snack!

 

Tomorrow I am going to Trader Joe's early before the huge crowds/lines to stock up on groceries for the week and items I need to family dinner. I also want to take Ryan to Hu Kitchen so he knows what to order if he does have a night when he really doesn't want to cook or clean! We also want to check out the Farmer's Market at the Stuyvesant Oval that is open all summer. Might be a really great place to get local vegetables!

I didn't go to Bar Method today and won't make it tomorrow but I have a lot of activity from all of the walking we are doing so I am not worried. I love spring in NYC - I am so much more active and wanting to get out of the house and be outside. It makes me so much happier!

I hope everyone has a great night!

XO

Whole30 Round 2: Day 1!

Here we go again!

Ryan's goals
Workout 4x week (2x at home, 2x at gym)
Be in bed by 11:30pm week 1-2, 11:00pm week 3-4
Hit NikeFuel goal (3,000 fuel) 5 days a week
No snacking late night after Leslie goes to sleep
Eat 3 meal #3's per week not in front of television
No caffeine after 5pm

Leslie's goals
Go to Bar Method 4x week
Take 1 Level 2 Bar Method class
Hit NikeFuel goal (2,000 fuel / 8,000 steps) 5 days a week
Limit Lara Bar/Rx Bar to emergency only - not pre/post workout
Eat 3 meal #3's per week not in front of television
Let Ryan plan and cook 3 meals per week
No plantain/apple chips (SWYPO)
Limit nut butter to recipes only - not snacking
Read one paleo/nutrition book (Eat The Yolks)

Today was Day 1 for me, Ryan and my mom on Whole30. Starting May 15 through June 13, we will be following Whole30 - that means no grains, wheat, dairy, soy, legumes and sugar! Because this is my second round I now know my weaknesses and SWYPO food items so I will also be restricting plantain chips, nuts and nut butter. Last round I used nuts and almond butter and plantain chips to satisfy a craving rather than for nutritional purposes. For this reason, I know that I need to restrict my consumption of them because I have a hard time controlling myself.

Ryan is having a hard time not snacking. He is used to eating small meals frequently throughout the day so he is having a hard time figuring out how big each meal should be in order to feel full for 4-5 hours until his next meal. His hardest time of day is light night. Because he eats meal 1 and meal 2 so early, meal 3 is usually at 5pm and meal 4 is at 9pm. But meal 4 is usually nothing nutritional (a rice cake with peanut butter and nutella). For him, that late night snack will be the hardest restraint. We will have to work together to extend the length between his meals so that he can feel full until 6pm so that he can eat his last meal later in the day. Unlike me, he stays awake a long time after his meal so one goal of his is to get into bed earlier without each week. I have high hopes that once his eating habits are under control, he will have more energy during the day, need less caffeine in the afternoon and therefore be able to go to bed earlier.

I have been without caffeine for 1.5 weeks now. I decided that for my second whole30 that I would give it up. On day 31 we receive an email about starting another whole30 and it doesn't have to be food related. It could be 30 days without caffeine, 30 days of working out, 30 days of calling your mom every afternoon - so I chose to do 30 days without caffeine. During it during whole30 makes it easier to say that it is one of the things I am giving up. That way I feel less deprived. I was sick last week so any migraines or nausea that I may have felt, I didn't really notice. I do feel a little down around 2pm/3pm so I have found a delicious kombucha green tea decaf to sip on when I get food cravings or caffeine cravings. So far so good!

I am excited to share the whole30 experience with my family and I hope they learn as much as I did my first round. I hope they embrace the change and the new way of life and it opens them up to seeing food differently. Food is healing as much as it is harmful and whole30 is about finding the benefits of food and eating whole food and giving our body the best nutrition that we can. When we poison ourselves with processed foods, we slow ourselves down physically and mentally. Whole30 helps make us be the best version of ourselves!

I can't wait to see all of the delicious recipes that Ryan wants to make. And this round I will let him control a lot of what we cook and eat so that he can enjoy the experience and not feel like I am dictating every aspect. It is his journey just as it is mine!

Tonight for dinner I was out with a friend so we had sashimi and naruto rolls. I even brought my own coconut aminos!

Ryan was on his own and I was nervous about that for day 1 but meal 3 look delicious. He made sweet potato and zucchini fritters with a turkey burger! I was very impressed that after a long and hard day of work he came home and cooked!

Oh and I guess I should mention that yesterday's Day 0 was pizza. It was my first pizza since February! It was gluten free and I made sure that mine had over 5 vegetables so that it would limit the amount of cheese that could fit on the pie! I went to bed feeling sad but not guilty because I knew that even without starting Whole30, I had the tools to move past 1 meal and not see it is a bad week or weekend. It was 1 meal and after it was done, I moved on and started the next day with eggs and chicken sausage and vegetables! I did wake up feeling extremely bloated and gassy. I also did not sleep well and woke up feeling tired and not rested. I won't say that I will never eat pizza since it is Ryan's favorite food, but it will have to be extremely limited and worth it for me to want to eat it! Sharing Day 0 with Ryan was worth eating it!

Tomorrow we are going to spend time meal planning for the week so that Ryan will feel prepared. I am not home a lot for dinner next week and I don't want Ryan to feel abandoned. He needs to prepare otherwise he will think it is easier to order pizza! I am here to support him and I know we can have a successful 30 days together!

XO

Sex With Your Pants On

Sex With Your Pants On (SWYPO) is referenced a lot during Whole30. It is a term used to describe foods made with Whole30 compliant ingredients but resemble a junk-food. This includes, pancakes, cookies, muffins, cake, pizza - all of the yummy things that we all have trouble saying no to. It's the addicting foods that we "treat" ourselves too. Now SWYPO means it's good and it's almost the real thing, but not quite, and it never will be the real thing. A paleo pizza will never be as good as the dollar pizza on the corner in NYC oozing with cheese and a dough that melts in your mouth and still has a crispy crust.

I have a problem - an addiction - to SWYPO. Even when I was gluten free, it was the idea that I was never full or satisfied until I had "dessert." Every night I would eat an amazing dinner and then a couple of hours later I would run to the kitchen foraging for chocolate. When I started Whole30, I had to fight the urge at 7pm to run to the kitchen for dessert, even if that meant nuts, almond butter or fruit. It was a mental addiction to the "treat." I was addicted to giving myself a prize for eating well all day and my body craved the sugar late at night. I was only hurting myself by indulging in these items and I looked to Whole30 to "cure" my addiction.

The first week of Whole30 I remember my stomach growling at 7pm and having to tell myself "just 5 more minutes and then you can go get a snack...just 10 more minutes and then you can go...just finish this commercial and then you can get a treat." The first few days I remember snacking on nuts and almond butter but as the days progressed, my meals were so satisfying and filling that I never needed anything after dinner.

Sunday's brunch definitely had SWYPO - chocolate walnut banana bread. And yes, I had a piece! It was made with banana, almond butter, eggs, ghee, coconut flour, cocoa powder, cacao nibs, walnuts and spices - All Whole30 compliant ingredients but once I turned those into a batter and put them in a bread pan and baked it and served it after the meal, it became a really good Sex With Your Pants On experience. And I wasn't constantly comparing this to a "real" banana bread because this was real banana bread, this is my new reality, but it was a treat. I was full after lunch but I still ate the bread. I can tell the difference this has on me mentally because now I am finding myself craving the bread. And not particularly this bread, but a treat.

Last night I made a delicious pork chop for dinner. I pan seared it with garlic, shallots, rosemary, orange spice and salt and pepper. It was perfectly cooked, melted in my mouth and had a great sear. I had an artichoke and walnut salad on the side and leftover shrimp & avocado salad.

Ryan made pork belly tacos. I could have had this with him as a salad and not eaten the tortilla but it was easier to make my own pork. We cooked together and ate together so it was a perfect meal. And I made 3 chops so I have leftovers for lunches and "emergency" dinners.

 

After dinner we went for a walk in the neighborhood. It was beautiful out so we enjoyed spending time together outside. I was so exhausted from not sleeping well the night before so when we got home, I got into bed before the sun was even set. This is where the trouble started. My stomach growled, I found myself telling myself "just once more commercial...just 10 more minutes..." - I was mentally my old self - and you know what I was craving? Chocolate Walnut Banana Bread. I knew it was in the kitchen, I knew it was sitting there waiting to be eaten and I knew there were enough leftovers for me and Ryan for a few days. Ryan was in the shower so I knew I could walk out there and have a piece and he would never know...but I would...I fought the urges and I didn't have the piece. I was very sad going to bed, but I woke up this morning so proud of myself for not having sex with my pants on!

Whole30 gave me tools for everyday living and eating and I was able to refer to these lessons and overcome a difficult situation. For my pre-workout meal today I decided to have a piece of the banana bread and although it tasted good, it wasn't as good as when it first came out of the oven so I knew last night that I made the right decision not having the "dessert" and instead incorporating it into my everyday the next day. It served it's purpose and preworkout fuel but it wasn't as satisfying as a hard boiled egg, nuts, almond butter or a monkey muffin (made with banana and nuts). Even though the banana bread had all of the same ingredients as my normal pre-workout meals, turning it into a bread made it more dangerous to keep in the house, but less appealing in other ways. I found myself hungry halfway through Bar class wheras the day before when I had only a hard boiled egg with a tsp of almond butter, I was full and energized the whole class. So I am glad I indulged this morning, glad I didn't give in to temptation last night and learned I have more self control than I give myself credit for!

Have a great day everyone!

XO