YouAreHealthy

Reintroductions: Dairy & Alcohols

Well, you may or may not have seen on my Facebook, but, apparently dairy and I are just not meant to be.

Nic and I had around 2 days of dairy reintegration, and it was just kind of awful from the beginning.  Day one of dairy integration and my stomach felt like a rock as soon as dairy hit it, which was Clue #1.  As we went through that and the following day and we tried different things, I felt worse and worse, even trying some {DELICIOUS} organic whole milk at the end of the night on day #2 and severely regretting it later.

One day 3, which was technically Day #1 of alcohols {including vanilla extracts, YAY}, I was hit by the worst and most random migraine.

Let me tell you a little something about me.  I don’t get headaches.  Like, ever.  So it always freaks me out when I do, because I always know something is wrong.

Furthermore, I don’t get migraines.  I had my first one about 3 years ago, and have maybe had one since then {before this one}. 

Also, when I have migraines, I’m one of the lucky ones who experiences: “scintillating scotoma (an area of partial alteration in the field of vision which flickers),” hemianopsia (loss of part of the field of vision), “a feeling of pins-and-needles begins on one side in the hand and arm and spreads to the nose-mouth area on the same side,” “numbness usually occurs after the tingling has passed with a loss of position sense,” and “speech or language disturbances.”  And that’s BEFORE the actual headache and pain.  This time, too, I got to experience “postdrome,” where “the effects of migraine may persist for some days after the main headache has ended.”

I ended up sleeping most of the day.  They’re only a little more than terrifying, especially the first time I had them.  No joke, I kinda thought I was having a stroke or heart attack or aneurysm.  Numbness in arm & face, blind spots, lack of motor and speech control?!  No freakin’ thanks.

So, needless to say … dairy and I aren’t exactly going to be friends, in the future.

And as a note, let me just say that Nic feels perfectly fine, but will be joining in my very minimal dairy journey.  We both just generally feel better without it.

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If you had told all of this to my pre-Whole30 self, I probably would have cried.  And if you are surprised by that, then you clearly don’t have the relationship with cheese that I used to.

But, amazingly, the Whole30 kind of cured me of all that. {And so much more, but more on that later.} I still like cheese, I just know that it A. is a “food with no brakes” for me, and B. will make me feel like death if I eat a lot of it.  So I’m willing to give 95% of dairy up.  Probably permanently.

Nic will be bringing back dairy for his morning coffee, and we may have cheese in small quantities occasionally, but for the most part, we really haven’t missed it.

Case in point, we had spaghetti the other night {using spaghetti squash, SO GOOD} and I didn’t even care that I skipped the usual 10+ shakes of parmesan/romano cheese on top.  It really doesn’t affect the flavor that much to where I wanted to risk it.

I did enjoy a very small piece of Gruyere, which was lovely, but that’s it.  Even that I normally would have skipped.

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Alcohol, of which we tried a couple of varieties of, went off without a hitch.  I had one of my Angry Orchard ciders {which I used to love, and still enjoy, but not at the same level I used to} and felt fine.  I’ve also tried vanilla extract a few times, and that was fine.

No weight gains or anything, no breaking out, etc.

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Because of the huge dairy fiasco, Nic and I have decided to go back to Whole30 normal for a few days so I can recover before we dive into grains and non-grains and sweeteners.

We have added back a little bit of sweeteners {we have a store-bought almond milk with a little added sugar & carageenen in it} but haven’t noticed any issues and know that we’ll be using it in such small quantities, we’re not worried.

I’ve already come to terms with my non-sweetened coffee & tea, and that was always a big issue with me.

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Next up {in a few days}: grains!

Post-Whole30: Dairy Day 1

So, slight change of plans.  We decided to do dairy first.

Breakfast was paleo peach & banana muffins with shredded cheddar cheese on top and bacon.

Recipe: http://chocolatechillimango.com/2012/01/15/raspberry-paleo-muffins/

Original recipe was raspberries instead of peaches, and coconut sugar instead of a banana.  I’m fine with the sugar substitution, but I think raspberries might have been better.  Also, they didn’t remind me to add more flour if using a banana instead of sugar, sooo, they were a little mushy.  GOOD, but mushy.  And a little plain, so maybe cinnamon next time?

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As a side note, we’ve been EXHAUSTED this week.  I thought it was recovery from our super late nights before DragonCon, but now I’m not so sure.  Staying up’til 2am every night sure isn’t helping, either …

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Nic’s thinking about having some yogurt at lunch, but I think I might stick with cheese or milk … or ice cream?  I don’t really care, actually, so maybe skip the ice cream thought.

We’ll report back with how we feel in a bit!

Day 30: The Results

Wow.  Day 30.  And so much about how we view eating and food has completely changed.

This isn’t the end, not quite yet.  We still get to go through the reintroduction phase, which should be INCREDIBLY interesting as we figure out what does and does not work for us personally.

We already know that Nic has a somewhat allergic reaction to a lot of fresh pineapple.  And we know that dark cherries are too acidic for us to enjoy on a regular basis.  But I’m planning on finding out more, like what exactly is the cause of Nic’s joint pain, etc.

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To give you a final tally of weight.

Nic and I both lost around 15 lbs each.

This, to me, is amazing.  It really, really sneaked up on me.  I wasn’t really feeling any differently about how my clothes were fitting {or I was trying to not get my hopes up, so I ignored what I felt}, so it shocked me when such a big difference appeared on the scale, this morning.

I am so, so proud of us.

And it’s SO NEAT.  Because we’ve gone on diets before.  We’ve lost weight before.  When we both went on the South Beach diet the first time, Nic lost almost 30lbs in 2 weeks {crazy and unhealthy, I know}, and I lost around 15lbs.  But we didn’t feel healthy.  At all.  We just felt thinner.

This time, we feel healthier.  Like, to the max.

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We already know that we’ll be folding a lot of this into our daily lives post-Whole30, like more almond meal/coconut meal, less flour, etc.  And we’ll find out even more in the coming days about what’s best for us.

I recognize that cheese is a “food with no brakes” for me, so I’ll be really watching myself with that.

I also recognize that I love sugar.  Like, really, I must be part fly.  And I know that I don’t need honey in my tea or sugar in my coffee to enjoy it, and I plan on keeping it that way.

We’re totally comfortable with having special occasion bad-for-us-food, but now that our good friends mostly eat like us, this really shouldn’t be that much of an issue.  So every few months, we can … I don’t want to say “treat ourselves,” but “cheat,” I guess, is a better term for it.

Anyway, can’t wait to see what reintroduction brings!  :D

Day 29

I absolutely cannot believe how close to finishing this thing we are.  It’s kind of amazing, and I’m in awe of the whole experience, and of us.

Because we’re awesome.  :)

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As a side note, out air conditioning keeps freezing up, so I’ll be eating LOTS OF ICE before bed tonight.

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What I mostly wanted to share with you today is {firstly} my AMAZING discovery of paleo butternut squash casserole.  Oh.  Ye.  Tiny.  Gods.

SO HAPPY.

The thought had occurred to me a while back, that there had to be a way to make delicious butternut squash casserole without having to add tons of sugar, and LO AND BEHOLD: I was right.

Wouldn’t be the first time.

So, I had the basic idea in my head to begin with, but then I - shockingly, not really - found not one, BUT TWO recipes for it!

Here they are:

http://easypeas-y.blogspot.com/2012/02/post-workout-pwo-butternut-squash.html

http://masteringtheartofpaleocooking.com/2011/08/10/butternut-squash-casserole/

What I ended up doing was a combination of these two recipes.  Mostly because I didn’t measure the spices and ended up doing WAY too much.  So, I added coconut milk, an egg, and a sweet potato to cut the spices, and it came out PERFECTLY.

I also ignored any topping instructions, because I had a specific idea in mind.

I chopped some almonds, added almond flour/meal, coconut flour, unsweetened coconut, and coconut oil in a pan, warmed it up, and topped it at the last minute before going into the oven.

PHOTO GOES HERE

We left it a little long, as you can tell by the image, but it wasn’t burnt, just very done.

Guys.  It turned out AWESOMELY.  Go make it.  Now.  You can thank me later.

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I also wanted to make a plug for Adiago Teas, because they’re fab.  I haven’t actually tried any yet, but my shipment of a Neville Longbottom, Effie, and Butterbeer blend teas came in today and they smell GREAT.

ALSO, APPARENTLY THEY ADDED GAME OF THRONES TEAS.  OMFG.

http://www.adagio.com/

How NOT to Eat at DragonCon & Weddings

For those of you who don’t know, I’m a photographer.  Mostly weddings, which presents a bit of an issue when on the Whole30.

This past weekend {Labor Day weekend}, I found myself shooting a wedding on Saturday and at DragonCon on Sunday.  It was an AMAZING weekend.  However, it was definitely NOT a healthy one.

So, at the wedding, I had brought baby carrots and grapes and water for snacking on during the day, figuring I would find some protein at the reception.  For lunch, my second shooter and I had time to go out to Sun in my Belly and I got an arugula, grilled chicken, roasted pear, and walnut salad, along with a side of bacon & sausage.  It was REALLY awesome.

I’m really not sure how the meat was prepared, and the pear was so sweet from being roasted, it made me wonder if the walnuts were candied!  I think everything was fine, though, as I felt GREAT the rest of the day and the following day, too.  Luckily, that much protein for lunch carried me through the REST OF THE DAY!

Which was good, because though everything at the reception looked AMAZING, it all had at least one of the forbidden items in it, so I couldn’t partake.  What I ended up doing, since I had to work for at least another few hours, as I got fruit, veggies {including roasted little red and orange peppers, DELICIOUS}, and a piece of pork.  The pork had a sauce on it, which I did my best to avoid.

Seems like it worked out, as I felt fine that night and the next day.

Still, not a lot of eating, that day, and in the meantime, Nick was at DragonCon not eating ANYTHING.  Literally.  Nothing.  He still felt fine, though.  We keep having good breakfasts, so I attribute some of it to that.

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On Sunday, when I got to go to DCon, we had a good breakfast that morning, then pretty much snacked on whatever fruit we could find in the little shoppes around the hotels for the remainder of the day.

Again, shocking that we felt as good as we did, and I know that if we’d had a little protein, we’d have felt 10 times better, but felt surprisingly good that night, too.  Aside from being exhausted, anyway.

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Please don’t think I’m recommending anything that we did during those two days.  We should have prepared better, drying some fruit and meat and bringing veggies, but it just didn’t happen.

Maybe next year?

Then again, we were having such a blast, we really didn’t notice being hungry, much.  It was an awesome first convention, for me.  :)

Day 27

Only 3 days away from the end of our journey, and we’ve learned SO much.  I’m going to been talking about the things we learned, both about ourselves and what we’d like to continue from eating this way once we’re done, but for now I’ll update you on our food and general well-being.

I think what we’re going to do for reintroduction is a few days of, in this order: Alcohol, Dairy, Grains, Sweeteners, Soy, Beans.

Alcohol first because Mel & JM {the sister and brother in law} bought a really nice wine with Nick in mind, so they’ll be enjoying that on Saturday, our first day off.

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Speaking of alcohol, there HAS to be a paleo-approved cider!  Just has to be.  I find it hard to believe that a fermented apple alcoholic beverage isn’t out there for me to drink.  Anyone know of anything?

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We’ve been truckin’ right along, generally very happy with how we’ve been eating and feeling.  I think that in a few months, I might do another Whole30 and do it for 2 months instead of 1.  According to a paleo friend, she found that the mental attachments to food went away around the middle of week 6, so I’d like to try out a longer stint eventually.

Breakfast this morning was chicken & fried plantain + cantaloupe.  Awesome!  :)  Also, we just got a French press {on sale at Kroger!} and it makes the BEST coffee.  So much better than the coffee maker.

We did stuffed peppers again last night, delicious!  Also a salad.

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I’ve been doing well with removing my ideas of “breakfast” or “lunch” foods.  For example, lunch for me yesterday was a chicken and plantain mash, which is normally a breakfast thing.  So I think I’ve been doing well with that.

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Next up is how NOT to eat at DragonCon & weddings!

Day 23

Whoops!  Missed a few days, so sorry about that.

We’re running a bit low on resources {taking a trip to Costco, today} so we’ve had to be REALLY creative lately.  :)

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One morning, we had a breakfast of just ground turkey and mangoes scrambled up in a pan.

The past few mornings, we’ve been very much about omelets, bacon, and a grapefruit {probably my fave}.

One day, we roast a chicken with some bits of mango inside to have with a sweet potato & broccoli.  Then we used the leftovers {bones, etc.} to make a chicken soup!  It came out a bit sweet, because of the mangos.

We also yesterday put a pot roast, rutabaga, and carrots into the crockpot and made a pot roast/beef stew of sorts.

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I was on the road yesterday!  We went up to Tennessee to shoot an elopement, and I got to make some hard choices at the gast station when getting lunch/snacks for the trip.

I had picked a container of grapes, a fruit medley, a grilled chicken salad, a packet of cashews, and a container of celery & carrots.

The fruit was all great.  No worries, except that maybe pineapple may not be agreeing with me.  :/

The celery & carrots were good, except I had to ignore the lovely cheese sitting in the container, too.

The cashews were a big disappointment, as I hadn’t noticed they had peanut oil on them until I was about to enjoy them.  Boo.  BOO.

The grilled chicken salad had cheese I could pick out, but unfortunately we were so busy, I didn’t get the chance to touch the salad!

Generally kept me full all day, kind of grazing on the things we’d picked up.

In retrospect, I wish I’d had homemade dried fruit & jerky.  THAT was what got me through our hiking trip, and it was AMAZING.

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Been feeling okay. Still think I’m getting too much fruit, or that some specific fruit isn’t a good choice for me.

I don’t know if there’s something we’re not doing right, but I don’t feel amazing anymore.  I still feel fine, and happy generally, but not that super light and healthy feeling I had for a while towards the beginning.

Still no sign of weight loss.

Planning on heading to the gym, tonight.

DAY 20!

HOLY COW!

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You know what’s a terrible idea?  Spaghetti sauce before working out.

Clearly, I’ve learned this lesson more than once.  This time, I thought 6 hrs would be enough digestion time before going to the gym. {Also, I forgot we had plans to go.} I was sadly mistaken.

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Dinner on day 18 was AWESOME.  We did roasted zucchini, spaghetti sauce w/meatballs, and chicken that I battered in almond meal and spices and cooked in the pan.  HEAVEN.

Yeah, that’s right.  I coated the chicken in the almond meal that was left over from the almond milk we made.  I’M SO AWESOME.

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Lunch on day 19 was salad & leftovers from the spaghetti & chicken.

Because I regretted THAT when we got home from the gym, dinner was another salad, with the almond chicken.

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Breakfast today was an omelet with bacon on the side, and an attempt to eat the honeydew we bought.

:(  It’s way underipe.  And apparently it stops ripening once you cut it.  OOPS.  Oh well, it’ll make a nice base for smoothies.

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SPEAKING OF SMOOTHIES!

I made this AMAZING blended concoction of fruit and almond milk the other day.  Kiwi {overipe, so SO sweet}, berries, cherries, mango, etc.  It was THE BEST.

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Lunch today was a salad with the almond chicken, and we’re planning on dinner being pork fried “rice” {cauliflower rice}.  YESSSS.

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Decided coffee was a bad choice for me, because I sip on it instead of water.  Also, had a headache yesterday.  Maybe the caffeine?  Maybe not drinking enough water?  Maybe neither?  Who knows.