The Whole 30 Homestretch

I've plugged along on the Whole 30. Now I'm weary of cooking, and bored with my choices.  The Whole 30 guys basically say, when folks say they are bored, "You have not nearly exhausted the spectrum of allowed foods!  Google some recipes! Go on Instagram! Get some inspiration!"  The weariness is a bit harder to cope with, but I will probably just go ahead and clean my kitchen and get going.

What have I been eating? Breakfast, cooked at home, even before going to work. This is very unusual for me - eating in the car has been my thing. But almost every breakfast is some form of cooked vegetables (sauteed greens and onions, sauteed mushrooms and onions, sauteed spinach and mushrooms and onions...) and fried or scrambled eggs.  I cook a batch of the veggies at once, then re-heat and fry the eggs before work.  On weekends, I grill meat outside and then eat leftovers all week. Lunch at work is my grilled meat, cafeteria "fresh" greens and either my homemade salad dressing or their olive oil and vinegar splashed on top.

The only restaurant food I've eaten is Chipotle.  I confess, I did not examine their ingredient lists on the web in detail because I made the decision I was going to eat there, and I didn't want to regret it. So a salad with lettuce, meat, tomatoes and guacamole I've done twice, when I had boxed myself in a corner and it was either that or not eat at all for hours.  I've also bought some prepared foods from the food bars at Whole Foods, where I believe I can trust their ingredient lists. It is surprising to me how many of even their salad dressings and sauces list sugar or honey as an ingredient, which scratches it off my list.

Everything else I prepare at home, mostly from scratch.  I usually do big batches, so there are leftovers. I've treated myself to a couple of new kitchen tools, one of my motivators. I love gadgets, and I figure reducing barriers to cooking will result in eating well.  So I have a new spiralizer, and a lemon squeezer.  Since its zucchini season, lots of uses for the adjustable spiralizer.  I strive for awesome in eating, but frankly that is a lot of work.

I very much miss dairy, cheese and butter and creme fraiche.  In an effort to get that rich smooth mouth-feel, I tried to make mayonnaise this week. I was using the hand blender, and it was going well and then suddenly broke. I've never had a mayonnaise break before, but it was a mess and a couple of efforts to salvage it failed.  I'm going to try again, maybe in the food processor, which I've always used before.  While missing butter, I have been cooking with olive oil and coconut oil, but I also bought a tub of (organic) lard, which I like for sauteed greens for breakfast.

I miss sweets, of course.  I have been using fruit as my treat.  After over-indulging in fruit at first, I'm keeping it down to two servings a day.  Peaches are great, and also cherries. Those are like candy to me, with my taste buds probably more sensitive to sweet than before.  Even though apples are not yet in season locally, a very special treat is to slice an apple (I have a 12-slice gadget that works really well) and dip the slices in almond butter.  One amusing thing we're told to expect on the Whole 30 is to dream of food - and I did!  I woke up one morning remember some creamy chocolate delight, and some disappointment with myself that I went off plan. It was a relief to realize it was not real, and no need to feel guilty.

I miss alcohol!  I love the taste of beer. I like fancy cocktails. I like the way they make me feel.  I'm a one drink a night kind of person, but I really enjoy it.  Sparkling water with a wedge of lime is cute, but doesn't do the trick.

I turned my fridge into a white board. It helps to remind myself what is there.

I think I can buck up, get busy, and cook enough this weekend to carry my through next Saturday, just to see this through.  Frankly, I'm not finding fabulous results and outcomes so far.  I'm not looking at my weight (though its hard to avoid all numbers, as my internet-connected scale propagates that number through different apps, such as my fitbit.  I had to manually go and break a bunch of links to keep it from myself.)  It's clear from the way my pants fit I'm not losing huge amounts of weight, which of course I secretly hoped for. It will be interesting to also look at body composition and see if my fat percent has changed any.  I can track my blood sugar at home, and it is roughly the same - I've been on-and-off again in the "pre-diabetic" range, one of the reasons I eat low carb.  I don't have a blood pressure problem and so no change there.  My energy is fine - though I spend more of it focused on food.  I am back at the gym and also running, after slacking off through my vacation and its aftermath.  Other aches and pains seem unchanged.

So why bother with one more week?  There are two stated goals of the Whole 30:  detox from all kinds of potential food sensitivities, and change food habits.  I don't think I have the kinds of food sensitivities they are talking about, so the detox is not something I needed, so no surprise I'm not seeing an effect.  But the habit thing is working.  I really was on a sweet-tooth kick before vacation.  I had ice cream nearly every day, and we're not talking a single tiny exquisite scoop, either. Clearly I've stepped away from that.  I have subbed fruit and nuts, though I haven't broken the concept of my evening sweet treat as a necessary thing.  I'm cooking more, and eating better.  In particular, I was on a real food truck habit for work lunches, and the off-limits aspect has helped.  But the greens from the salad bar at work are not very good, and splashed on poor quality olive oil and red wine vinegar is bland, so I may need to up my game on the lunch front this week.  I can make salad dressing at home, and acquire some better greens to use (though I can't buy in advance for the whole week).

One last note - my Foodist friend, Darya Rose, observes that food is better in San Francisco than New York City, which she attributes to better ingredients.  In New York, fancy cooking takes center stage instead.  It probably means it would be worth it for me to keep a farmer's market habit.