Author: Dave

Day 29

Amazing. Tomorrow is the 30 of the Whole30 program. I still am curious about the staying power of this routine. It really is easier to just say no to most foods. But the point isn’t to always be in hyper-restrictive mode. Hopefully the reintroduction will drive home the benefits of having clamped down so hard over the past month. 

I do think that the natural sweetness in foods is more pronounced these days. Sweet potatoes and squashes seem sweeter than they are in the memory banks of my brain. 

La Jolla is still nice. I got a sunburn. Baby loves the swimming pool. 

  • Breakfast: sweet potato hash
  • Lunch: salad with salmon
  • Dinner: spaghetti squash and sauce

Ralph’s out here has the Jenny-O Italian seasoned ground turkey that they stopped carrying at King Soopers back home. We’re fixing to go through our third package of it tomorrow morning. Boo King Stupid for not carrying it anymore. 

Day 27

Traveling is rough on Whole30. Restaurants in the airport like to lure patrons by wafting smells out into the walkways. It was interesting how much more sensitive we both were to it than usual. The scent I picked up on most prominently was ketchup. 

Also, it is spring break season, so the airport security lines were CRAZY! But in the end we made it to our plane and there was only one other person behind us. The baby did great, except for some tired crying toward the end of the flight. 

We had plenty of snacks with us- gorp and Larabars. And we had leftover steak and veggies from yesterday for our meal. Upon arrival we made a grocery run and our room has a kitchen in it. We should be set. It will just be strange to not go out for fun and delicious foods while we’re out traveling and having an adventure. 

  • Breakfast: egg cups
  • Lunch: salad
  • Dinner: leftover steak and veggies

This morning there was snow to shovel at our house. Tonight we are sleeping a few hundred yards from the ocean. 

Day 26

St. Patrick’s Day: another reason for treats at work. 

Tomorrow we leave for San Diego for a long weekend. Traveling with this diet and a baby in tow might leave us hurting for another vacation when we get back. But the good news is that we’ll be reintroducing foods at that point. 

  • Breakfast: egg cups
  • Lunch: leftover sliders and salad
  • Dinner: steak and veggies 

Day 25

The Svelte Wednesday food was ziplock omelettes. Crack 2 or 3 eggs into a ziplock sandwich bag. Add mushrooms, meat, and whatever other fixings you desire. Then seal the top and drop it isn’t not-quite-boiling water for 15-minutes, or so. It was nice to be able to participate again. But I declined the rice crispy treats for dessert. And thanks work folks for supporting me in my diet. 

I think I have more energy through the afternoon and lunch seems to be carrying me through until dinner better. Still, I’m not quite ready to call this tiger’s blood. Sorry Charlie Sheen. I don’t see sleep feeling normal again for a while. But even on an interrupted short night I wasn’t dragging like I might have expected. Maybe this is bobcat’s blood. 

  • Brekkie: ziplock omelettes
  • Almuerzo: leftover stew & salad 
  • Bangohan: turkey burger sliders on eggplant “buns” with homemade ketchup

Day 24

Beware the ides of March and nobles with six fingers.   

mason jar salad part 1
Salad Part 1
mason jar salad part 2
Salad Part 2

I tried a mason jar salad for lunch today. Preparing it added time to my morning, but it was good. The basic concept is to put the dressing and toppings in the bottom with the greens on top so they don’t get soggy before you eat it. I approve of this lunch. 

  • Breakfast: egg cups
  • Lunch: mason jar salad and leftover shepherd’s pi
  • Dinner: stew

Day 23

Happy Pi Day. One week to go. 

 

Pi's on Pie Day
Pi Day

Black cherry and rhubarb pi’s were hanging out at work today. Normally Pi Day is a day worth going great lengths to ensure there is pi to stuff in my pi hole. In 2012 I was in Brazil and, against all odds, found delicious pi. Had I purchased these particular specimens myself I probably would have delivered the exact same flavors. But alas, no fruit pi for me today. 

Actually, it was easier to not participate at all today than had I been able to have some. That is what worries me about the long term. Normal me has a modest piece of each in the morning when they show up, but then can’t resist a matinee later in the day and perhaps a bit for the drive home. There wasn’t a whole lot of those pi’s left at the end of the day anyway, but there might not have been any a month ago. I can think of some tactics, but I don’t have long-term confidence in my ability to avoid a trap like this in the future. 
 

Shepherd's Pi
Shepherd’s Pi

This special day was not totally lost however. We had shepherd’s pi for dinner. It was excellent! The mash on top was a white/orange sweet potato mix and was amazing. The filling was good too. 
For the record: daylight savings is stupid, miserable, and bad for your health. 

  • Breakfast: egg cups- not scrambled and made with green chili. Thumbs up. 
  • Lunch: leftover grilled chicken & veg
  • Dinner: shepherd’s pi

Day 22

Ingredient List for Vitamin Supplment
Supplemental Sabotage

I’m feeling a bit discouraged. I know this isn’t the greatest picture, and I’ve talked about this before, but my vitamin supplement has soy and corn in it, likewise for the Calcium supplement. There would be no point in going back to the Day 1 again over this because I will be taking these for the foreseeable future, probably the rest of the year or more. It just seems like so many things have gotten in the way of my nutrition and health leading up to this point and haven’t let up during this 30 days either. My stupid tooth is at least out of my skull now, but it is pushing 6-months that it has messed me up in some way or another be it pain, dentist visits, diet cleanse sabotage, or some combination thereof. I don’t know if it is clear, but the vitamin supplement/sabotage is supposed to help regenerate the bone that my tooth killed with infection, which is why I will be continuing to take it. Then pile on being sick. I took some medicine so I could get a good night’s sleep last night, but that has sugar and additives as well. Part of the motivation to undertake this challenge was the hope of that Tiger’s Blood. I’d really hoped that I’d get to around this point and be starting to feel like all the trouble was worth it because I felt so much better. Unfortunately it still mostly feels like a lot of trouble to be this strict about my diet with pretty minimal rewards. It is time to start planning the dismount from this 30-day push. I guess I’ll just have to keep after it. We used our grill basket for the first time today. It was pretty cool. The broccoli really absorbed the flavors into all the nooks and crannies. But the zucchini was still rather al dente.

  • Breakfast: egg scramble
  • Lunch: leftover curry
  • Dinner: grilled chicken and vegetables with sweet potato mash

Day 21

Still trying to get over being sick. It is a shame to be missing out on the time that is supposed to be feeling excellent. 

We went to friends’ house this evening. The beer wasn’t very tempting. But the pizza sure looked good. There were things that I could eat though. 

  • Breakfast: egg scramble 
  • Lunch: leftover curry
  • Dinner: tuna salad and vegetable platter picking

Note on mayonnaise: it is better with light olive oil as opposed to extra virgin. The EVOO left it with a stronger oil flavor and slight green tint. 

Day 20

There isn’t much to say about this day. I went for a run at lunch and it was nice to get out. But having been sick I wasn’t very energetic to begin with and was pretty spend when it was over. 

  • Breakfast: egg scramble
  • Lunch: leftover pork and pasta sauce
  • Dinner: pumpkin curry with shrimp that would have been excellent on rice