#whole30 WholeLent, Day 35.

[angledge]

Sleep: a little low on quantity (I didn't start getting ready for bed until almost 11 PM) but high on quality (did the pre-bedtime routine & conked right out once I made it to bed). Slept until 7 AM.

Breakfast: big slice of S&SBC, monkey salad, black Scottish breakfast tea.

Work was slow this morning, so I cleaned the refrigerator (as in, pulled out all the contents & scrubbed the walls, shelves, & drawers) & got Philippine Chicken Adobo with Sweet Potatoes started in the slow cooker. I used ghee in the skillet to cook the chicken - should be more flavorful than "nonstick cooking spray". Tripling the cayenne pepper will give it some extra punch. I also replaced the soy sauce with coconut aminos & fish sauce, & the rice vinegar with coconut vinegar. So now this dish is Whole30-compliant & features coconut three ways.

Snack: cup of herbal tea.

Lunch: same basic meal as last night (pork chops, squash, apple-cabbage stew) but with an added bonus from the freezer - leftover cranberry sauce I made at Thanksgiving! It's Whole30-compliant because the only sweetener in it is date paste. This addition went perfectly with the pork & the cabbage, & really amped the meal up another notch. YUM.

Snack: kombucha. I really need to learn how to make my own; at about three bucks a bottle, my kombucha habit is expensive.

Dinner: Philippine chicken adobo, sweet potatoes, & steamed broccoli. Topped with onions & the sauce from the slow cooker, along with salt, pepper, & diced chives. Nomnomnom.


Colorful, tasty, Whole30-compliant. YAY.

My (clean) fridge is full of leftovers again: casserole, jicama salad, pork, cabbage, squash, cranberry sauce, chicken, sweet potatoes, & broccoli.

Snack: chamomile tea.

Comments

[thepikey.livejournal.com]

I've got a friend on fb interested in the Whole 30 thing, can you give me a quickie summary of how it worked for you and the results? (and mebbe something about how/why it didn't work before?)

[angledge.livejournal.com]

Quickie summary: it worked, but you have to work for it.

The first time was VERY difficult. Prior to my first Whole30 attempt, I had not really ventured into clean eating or Paleo, so I came into my first Whole30 with a raging sugar addiction & a diet heavy on baked goods, dairy, & highly-processed convenience foods. This made the first ten days kind of hellish - it's what I imagine detox is like for drug addicts. The sugar cravings were insane. Also, my partner hotpantsgalore was doing it with me - & if anything, her diet was worse than mine AND she hadn't really read up on the program before starting. Therefore, every time I told her, "No, you can't have that - it's not Whole30-compliant", it was an unpleasant shock to her. I felt like I was carrying her on my back through the program. We crashed out on Day 22 because we hadn't planned what we were going to eat on a long day of house-hunting & we hadn't kept up with the dishes. Your friend can read about our crash & burn here (http://angledge.livejournal.com/421320.html). That post also summarizes my outcomes (weight loss, etc.) & lessons learned.

My second attempt was successful for a number of reasons. One, HPG didn't join me on this attempt, so I didn't have to drag her along. Two, I maintained fairly clean eating habits between the end of my failed Whole30 attempt in November & the start of this attempt in February - so I didn't go through nearly as rough a detox stage. Three, I was way more diligent about ALWAYS having Whole30-compliant food on hand at all times - extra meals frozen in the freezer, snackables on hand in the fridge, even Whole30-compliant portable snacks when we went skiing or out to other events. And four, I made an effort to find restaurants where I could eat out (not an easy task), so that I wouldn't feel so socially isolated, stuck at home for three meals a day, seven days a week.

[angledge.livejournal.com]

If your friend wants more advice, s/he can contact me here or hit the Whole30 forums (a really good source of information, advice, & support):

http://forum.whole9life.com/forum/4-join-the-whole30/