A great question to ask yourself before you make a food choice is
'will this nourish me?'
Apply this question to your mind, body and soul.
- Dr Libby
Day One - 02/02/17 - Friday
Today marks the start of our Whole30 journey! It feels like there has been a lot of build up to this day so it is good to finally get underway. I am so ready to begin and see where this takes us. I know I need a change and to channel my energy into doing something positive for my body instead of constantly fighting against it.
Dan and I took our starting weight and measurements and now we are not allowed to weigh ourselves for the 30 days. While loosing weight is not my main goal I must admit that currently my body feels extremely puffy and swollen (thanks prednisone) so I am interested to see if changing my diet will help elevate some of this uncomfortable bloating.
I have done a lot of reading of other people experience on the Whole30 and the message that keeps coming through is to be organsied! Today I spent the day in the kitchen making home made coconut milk, turmeric kumura and capsicum roasties and chicken cacciatore for our dinner. Yesterday Dan and I also made chicken bone broth and a frittata. It already feels nice to have a purpose again!!
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| Lunch time! |
I feel like we are going to spend the next 30 days constantly doing dishes!!
Totally think I can get used to drinking my coffee with almond milk or black!!
I have been wondering weather to include what we ate every day or just my favourite meal of the day....I think for now I will do my favourite meal but please let me know if you would like to see more of what we are eating!
My favourite meal of the day was our dinner which was Chicken Casotore with beans and courgettes out of dads garden. The recipe can be found here Chicken Cacciatore or in page 334 of The Whole30 book.
DAY TWO: 03/02/18 - Saturday
Today I was faced with my first lot of temptation in the form of sushi, donuts and lollies. Although my lovely friend felt awful eating this in front of me I assured her I was fine and I needed to learn to be around this food and say 'no'. It probably helped that it was only Day 2 so I wasn't missing anything.
I was proud of myself though I packed my own lunch so sat there eating frittata, shredded chicken and some chopped vegetables. Yay for self control and being prepared.
After a long day out I was surprised how my body held up and felt good. I was even able to come home and begin to get dinner ready. I made my own aioli..little tip don't use extra virgin olive oil.... thankfully Dan came home at the right time and was able to save it.
Favourite meal of the day had to be breakfast which consisted of: chicken meatballs, turmeric kumura and capsicum roasties with an egg.
DAY THREE: 04/02/18 - Sunday
Today I felt AMAZING!!!
I can't quite believe everything I was able to do today.
I went for a swim at the beach in the morning which was divine. Then I packed up my lunch and went to visit Mum and Dad where I raved about how motivated and great I was feeling.
Dan was working the day shift so we met each other back at home. After catching up on our days Dan said he was going to go for a run. It was a beautiful night and I was already feeling like getting out of the house again so I said I would go for a walk. Dan decided to come with me first then go for his run. Going for a walk with your husband might seem like a small thing but for me it is a bloody big deal and something to celebrate! Our 'small walk' turned into quite a 'big' walk with two big hills thrown into the mix but for the first time in a very long time my body felt strong if I was able to ignore my high heart rate....
I cannot say enough how empowering it feels to be talking control back.
My favourtie meal of the day was sitting down with Dan after our walk and enjoying a prawn stir fry packed with lots of vegetables. We laughed how we can almost hear our bodies thanking us for feeding these delicious nutrient dense meals.
DAY FOUR: 05/02/18 - Monday
Today I woke up with a pounding headache and the questions started in my head....am I drinking enough water? Am I detoxing off sugar? Did I over do it? Instead of reaching for Panadol I was able to treat it with running Peppermint and Lavender oil on my forehead and temples.
I had an appointment with Meegan who does Craniosacral therapy (you can read more about her work here Meegan Care) so was interested to see if she could pick up on any changes in my body. I have been seeing Meegan for years and highly recommend this form of treatment. I find it extremely gentle and Meegan is one very talented and knowledgeable woman. We spoke about my decision to make dietary changes and how it needed to come from me when I was ready. I am now in the right place to be doing this. The exciting bit was Meegan was able to identify that my body is beginning to make positive changes and my nervous system is beginning to 'calm' itself down. This has been after a lot of sessions and work. I am reminded that this is a process and its not going to be an over night fix for me but for the first time in a very long time I felt extremely proud of my body and all the work I have been doing to get it here.
Dan and I were both very tired this afternoon. I am usually tired after a session anyway but perhaps the sugar detox is hitting us?! We decided a refreshing swim at the beach might wake us up. On the way home we both realised how often if we did something like that we would stop on the way home for an iceblock just because we could. We are starting to learn how often we would just eat for the sake of eating. Don't worry I can assure you there was no iceblock eating!!
Dan came home and started to fall asleep on the couch so I sent him off to bed to have a nap while I started on dinner....yes I know who is this person haha!!! Usually its the other way around and I am the one being put to bed. I am enjoying being back in the kitchen and realised how much I have missed cooking.
We had a quiet evening and were both in bed very early!
My favourite meal of the day was our dinner which was salmon cakes, roasted vegetables and a salad.
DAY FIVE: 06/02/18 - Tuesday
Today I have struggled with lack of energy, an achy body and a pounding headache. I think for me personally I am finding it hard to distinguish between what Lupus symptoms verse what is from not eating sugar, changing my diet etc. Today I did not want to move but I have still been able to be proactive though.
I had a dream last night that I ate half a cupcake and have never been so thankful to wake up and realise it was a dream haha....
Dan made a delicious breakfast of left over salmon cakes, poached eggs with avocado. We are learning the importance of eating a decent breakfast! It helps having Dan home because he makes amazing poached eggs!!
We went out to a cafe and had long blacks which were surprisingly good and I can see myself getting used to. Then with our meal plan in hand we went to the fruit and veggie store and stocked up for the week then went to the supermarket.
I think I gained superpowers from the long black or I was just a woman on a mission because we came home re-arranged the fridge, cleaned the house then began our meal prep for the week. Dan roasted the chicken which we will use for lunches during the week. He then went out for a friend and I spent the afternoon making sweet potato, apple bake which will be our breakfast for the next few days and then I made dinner. Right now I feel so accomplished but so exhausted.
Favourite meal of the day was dinner again which was Potato rosti hamburgers. These were delicious and will now probably be our new way of eating hamburgers in the future.
DAY 6 - 07/02/18 - Wednesday
Woke up today and felt like I hadn't slept for weeks....que sinking feeling!!
I felt so drained; like my body was made of lead. Dan started work at 8am and I didn't even hear him leave. I woke up at 9am opened my eyes and immediately wanted to go back to sleep. I read and continued to rest until 10am and then finally dragged myself up with a promise to my body that I would take it easier today. I can appreciate that I have been really busy for me so this does make sense.
I had the brief and I say brief thought that maybe a walk around the block might help but I could tell that this fatigue was different than just feeling tired and that it wouldn't be wise to push through this. I instead decided to do some yoga. I have found a really good YouTube channel where a woman who has a chronic illness herself does yoga sessions. I started with one but then soon realised my knees and wrists hurt too much so instead of push through (which I probably would have done in the past) I found a wonderful gentle restorative yoga sessions which I did. I will include that here...Restorative Yoga. This session helped me to relax and gentle stretch out my body. Just what I needed.
I then had a shower where I had to use our shower bench to sit down and I soon realised standing was too hard. I napped and then went up and had dinner with Mum and Dad. I had a little burst of feeling more like me in the afternoon but by the evening could barely keep my eyes open. Its days like this I am so thankful for being organised. I didn't have to worry about any of my meals because we had done all the work!
Favourtie meal of the day was breakfast which was Sweet potato apple breakfast bake (click on the link for the recipe). This was delicious and is a great easy breakfast for Dan to grab on the way to work.
DAY 7 : 08/02/18 - Thursday
I don't like to write this but today was rough........
Woke up with extreme fatigue, joint and body pain. I dragged myself from bed to the couch which even that simple task required a rest. I manged to get some food into me after a mini melt down when I dropped the Tupperware container on the floor because my wrist was too weak are sore to hold it. Again it is always the small things that end up tipping me over the edge.
It was another sitting down shower kind of day even that left me feeling like I had run a marathon. My body hurt, my brain was foggy and the fatigue was unbearable. Having a shower put me in bed for over two hours. You know things are bad when even breathing feels like such a massive effort. Today was the first day since starting the Whole30 where I had to take some stronger pain medication. This is both amazing that I was able to last that long and also a little disheartening because I was doing so well. I will choose to look at what an achievement that was!!
My amazing husband took the lead today and while I slept he worked his magic in the kitchen making our dinner, roasting vegetables and making another frittata for the days ahead. When I was finally able to get up Dan made me lunch and I rested on the couch.
While everything felt out of control today it was nice to have some control about what foods I was putting into my body. Today more than ever was the day where I needed to feed myself well.
My favourite meal was the delicious chicken chowder Dan made. You can find the recipe here Chicken Chowder.
Moving feels too hard today,
Standing feels too hard today,
Eating feels too hard today,
Holding a conversation feels too hard today,
Everything feels too hard today,
Then I am brought back down to earth with Mums comforting words,
' hunny please don't feel dishearten'.
DAY 8 : 09/02/18 - Friday
Short version: Today was hard!
Longer version: Today was hard physically and emotionally. Last night I had to take a sleeping tablet due to horrible unrelenting pain. After trying everything I could I realised the only way I was going to escape into sleep was by taking a sleeping tablet. I finally got to sleep then woke up feeling like I hadn't even slept. All I wanted to do was NOT move an inch of my body.
I woke up and could hear Dan rustling away in the kitchen making breakfast. I get up and he had whipped up meatballs in tomato sauce, poached egg served on top of a potato rosti! I am just going to say again how amazing he is!!
I wanted to try and get out of the house to see if it would help or at least take my mind off the pain. I had a shower which of course resulted in a rest and the realisation the shit I am struggling. My body feels so incredibly weak and fragile. My joints feel like they have acid running through them. My mobility isn't good...I am just so uncomfortable!
Dan picked up two long blacks and we went a did my favourtie thing...sit by the ocean. It was nice to get out and get some fresh air. It did help to get out.
We all know what I did when I came home...went to bed. I got up and reluctantly took some more pain medication. I then went up to visit Mum and Dad. Mum took one look at me and could instantly see I was not well. I started talking to Mum and before I knew it I burst into tears. For me it feels upsetting to be looking after my body so well and to be feeling so miserable. Its hard to be putting in so much effort and not getting the results. Realistically I know it is very early days and I am still going to have these days and weeks; but its just hard.
I am at a stage where I want to move on with my life and not be constantly battling against my body. I want more...is that selfish of me?
Mum and I talked how this feels really hard because I did have such good days earlier in the week. Its confusing to go from feeling so good to feeling so horrible. It feels cruel.
Today I just feel really suffocated by Lupus.
Its hard when I get a taste of wellness and then I am brought back here. If anything this does make me want continue to work hard so I can have more days of wellness; days of being able to cook in the kitchen, swim in the ocean, walk around the block and ultimately feel like myself!
Recap of week one:
So as you can see Week One of Whole30 has been a whirlwind ride in the Hall household.
Its been full of amazing pinch me moments and then has ended with some difficult emotions and unwanted pain and fatigue.
Every day Dan and I are learning more and more about our eating habits and patterns and experimenting with this new lifestyle. We have already gained so much and it has already been a week.
For the first time I am finding I am eating all my meals as I am not grazing during the day. I am finding how much I have been eating out of habit and how often I will reach for food without even being hungry.
The wonderful thing is that we haven't gone hungry or even really felt restricted; if anything we are both eating more than we usually would.
Week one has been hard but not because of the Whole30! If anything it has been so wonderful to have the structure and to have a purpose again. I am excited to see what Week 2 brings.
