# Whole30 Diet



## Baymule (Jan 2, 2018)

We are starting a Whole30 Diet today. No dairy, no grains of any kind, no sugars or sugar substitutes, no legumes, but snow peas and green beans are ok, just not the seeds (beans or peas). It's a meat and vegetable diet. Almost ALL processed foods have sugar in them. A lot of label reading and putting it back. 

I bought all 4 of the books, 2 cookbooks in the lot and we started off the morning with scrambled eggs with mushrooms and green onions and pan sausage. No toast. 

We have played around with it since Thanksgiving, but wouldn't commit until after the holidays were over. We ate our last pieces of key lime pie last night. LOL Our son in law did the Whole30 from the day after Thanksgiving to Christmas. He feels better, lost some weight and his clothes fit better. He says he will stay on some form of this diet the rest of his life in order to eat healthier.

We have two freezers full of meat. Half a grass fed steer, lamb, chicken and home raised pork. Also corn, purple hull peas and butterbeans which are not on the diet.  But we have turnip greens, mustard greens and collards in the freezer and lots of canned tomatoes. 

So here we go!


----------



## TAH (Jan 2, 2018)

Sounds like a good idea... I'm already off most dairy and want to go gluten free also, we will see.


----------



## promiseacres (Jan 2, 2018)

Hope you see results.... sugar would be very hard for me. A friend and her entire family, kids 7 and up.... went some kind of paleo diet.... got to admire their and your dedication to health.


----------



## Southern by choice (Jan 2, 2018)

That sounds alot like the atkins diet... which makes people lose weight but causes such an imbalance that many end up with severe depression.
Just be careful @Baymule


----------



## babsbag (Jan 2, 2018)

I chose a diet that does most of the work for me. I HATE to cook and HATE to do dishes so while DH is gone all week I will be eating some prepackaged meal replacements and then a salad and chicken for dinner. I have done this before and did well and felt great. I am a sugar addict, carbs and sugar together are the best so here we go again. But since I am always on the go this kind of diet works for me.  No fuss, no mess.


----------



## Sourland (Jan 2, 2018)

My name is George, and I am a carbohydrate/sugar addict - especially this time of year.  Luckily for me even though  I must have a high rate of metabolism as I don't gain 'too' much weight this time of year.  Towards spring, I will start on my 'if it's white, it's bad' diet.  By cutting carbs and sugar I can drop the 10 pounds I put on every winter.  Of course that means no more sweet tea.


----------



## Baymule (Jan 2, 2018)

the idea behind this diet is to find if certain foods cause inflammation or make you feel bad. After the 30 days, slowly add foods back into your diet. If you eat bread for 2 days, stop eating it and you feel bad or "off" then maybe that is a food that you shouldn't eat, or limit the consumption of it. Same thing with dairy. It is also to help you get away from so much sugar-that stuff is in EVERYTHING! My husband is a sugar-holic. He loves sweets and hopefully, this will help him break the sugar habit.


----------



## babsbag (Jan 2, 2018)

That sugar habit is tough to break.  I have been overweight literally my entire life, I was born big and there it stayed. I was at my "correct" weight for about a week a few years ago and then slowly gained it all back, took me 6 years but I have found all that I lost and I am not happy to be reunited. My DH loves to cook and since I love to eat all that I do during the week can be undone in one weekend. Of course he needs the diet more than I do since he is a diabetic so hopefully by me being the meany and putting my foot down on certain foods it will help him out too. 

It would be interesting to try a diet like yours, I would love to find something that might help with the arthritis. Do you do this for a month?


----------



## Sheepshape (Jan 3, 2018)

I,too, must admit to being a Carboholic,a Saccarroholic, am vegetarian, and am not keen on eggs (even though I keep an average of 20 chickens). I keep sheep, too, but have no idea as to what lamb tastes like.

If I don't eat enough/get a carbohydrate 'fix' and become ketotic, I feel like I'm going to die.....the most profound feeling of weakness/lethargy/sleepiness and nausea at times.Being (too) skinny, I continue with my far-from-great diet. Though I have no need to calorie control, I would like to know, for those of you who have been on the Atkins-type diets and end up ketotic, as to whether that grim feeling eventually passes.

For those of you who are thinking....."What a *$@£*% (no particular noun implied here!). I'm not all white-toothed, clear-skinned, shiny- haired and super-fit, quite the converse, in fact. I take quite a few supplements, and think that some do help.


babsbag said:


> I would love to find something that might help with the arthritis


 I think that bromelain (from pineapple stalks) and turmeric are helpful in reducing inflammation, and may help with your arthritis during flare-ups.


----------



## greybeard (Jan 3, 2018)

Lost nearly 40 lbs in less than a year just by cutting way back on dairy and by getting more real exercise. Have kept it off. 
Real exercise=a real bicycle--using it every weather permitting day and getting out and just walking for the sole purpose of walking.  My wife and I ride together most days.  I hadn't ridden a bicycle in 30-40 years until last June, but I now highly recommend cycling. 
(no, I don't wear that stupid looking helmet) 



 


My docs and nutritionist both told me.
"You can eat all the carbs, fats and protein calories, etc you want IF you burn them off".


----------



## Baymule (Jan 3, 2018)

I highly second the turmeric for inflammation. I mix it with coconut oil to make a paste, it is easier to swallow. I follow it with something to drink to wash it down. 

@babsbag  this diet would probably help you identify what foods add to the inflammation of arthritis. Sugars are the biggest culprit. Yes this diet is for a month, then you slowly introduce foods (in small amounts) back into your diet to find which ones worsen, in your case, the arthritis. It helps you break the sugar habit, which is a good habit to break. It may be that you have an allergy to nightshades, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant. My mother was allergic to nightshades, eliminated them from her diet and felt much better.

We already eat meats and vegetables, it's the processed crap that DH loves so much-and I fall in right behind him. So by totally cutting these from our diet, we can "reset" our bodies. 

"Shelf life" in foods really means "Shelf Death" for us. Think about it. If a food product can sit on the shelf without spoiling, it is dead food. It has not much to offer other than making us fat with lots of calories. 

@greybeard you are right, cutting back on calories and increasing activity is the way to go. When DH and I married, he was almost 300 pounds. I started him counting calories, skipping the half dozen donuts in favor of a couple of apples and so forth. It took him a year to lose 70 pounds. His weight has waffled back and forth because sugar lures him back into eating all the wrong things. 

@Sheepshape while I respect your decision not to eat any meat, it is not a very healthy choice. You really need animal proteins for a well balanced diet. I think you know that, but for your own reasons, you just can't eat the meats. Many Indians are vegetarians, maybe you should get an Indian cookbook? 

Supper last night was leftover ham, leftover sweet potatoes and cauliflower. I also made a slaw with red cabbage, green cabbage, carrots and home made mayonnaise. 

Breakfast, I wasn't hungry, but we ate 2 pan sausage patties.


----------



## greybeard (Jan 3, 2018)

Baymule said:


> It took him a year to lose 70 pounds.


I would change that to "It took him ONLY a year to lose 70 pounds."
That, on monthly average is  nearly a 6lb/month weight loss.  Most people would have to work very very hard to do that, month after month for a year. It's relatively easy to lose (or gain) 5lbs in a very short time period, but to keep that 5lbs off during the next same time period AND lose an additional 5 lbs is not. It becomes exponentially more difficult each successive time period.

You can't cut carbs out completely. The body uses them first because it can convert 'available' carbs to energy the easiest and the muscles, organs and brain must have energy to function.  That's not the carbs from the meal you just ate, it's the carbs from the meal you ate 4 hours ago. Stored fats are the next to last place the body burns for energy, which is why it's so hard to lose long term stored fats. The last place the body will try to get energy from is muscle, but only after all stored carbs and stored fat is used. It's why it''s important to maintain and even build muscle after you've lost all the fat.

Tho the brain is not a muscle, it uses a LOT of energy.
Cutting carbs to the point of becoming ketotic is dangerous. The reason you feel so bad is because the brain is suffering from a loss of energy resulting in an inability to replace brain cells (cells die and are replaced constantly through out the body) and there is new research suggesting continued long term ketotics can increase the possibility of mental problems including chronic depression and Alzheimer.

I eat 4-5 carbs every meal, mostly plant based, but keep it to a total of 40-50 grams per meal.
I still eat lots of lean meat which is permissible for me with the type diabetes I have. A1c is 5.9 down from 7.9 a year ago.
I can still have the occassional strawberry malt as long as my glucose level can tolerate it and IF I burn those calories off.


----------



## Baymule (Jan 3, 2018)

Lunch today was cubed ham sautéed with mushrooms and red onion. 

Supper tonight was home raised chicken breast, home grown/ home made smoked pork sausage sautéed with onion, broccoli and mushrooms. Seasoned with garlic, oregano, basil and Redmond sea salt. DH added salted, smoked almonds to the slaw. 







Really would like a big glass of chocolate milk, a brownie and half a loaf of bread......


----------



## goatgurl (Jan 3, 2018)

supper looks good bay.  you have to be stronger than I am to be follow this or any diet.  I am a confirmed chocoholic and carboholic.  I am wishing you and dh all the strength in the world to do what ya wanna do


----------



## Southern by choice (Jan 3, 2018)

You know when fasting a long fast 7-10 days  or 21 days you have to introduce very slowly... it isn't about sensitivity it is the body must get use to the foods again.
That is one of the things that is ill represented when physicians tell you to cut such and such out and then reintroduce.

IMO eating as closely to the "clean foods" and not doing the ridiculous food pyramid is the healthiest of all diets.
When we think of how food was eaten before refrigeration and having access to foods year round instead of seasonal we can learn alot from this. The body was not overloaded by all sorts of food causing issues. Where so many cut breads out of their diet or dairy etc I go back to the foods permissible. Breads have been eaten for thousands of years. Dairy as well, yet dairy and meats do not mix well in digestion.
Anyway, proud of you for trying to cut the excessive sugars out. Everything in moderation.


----------



## Baymule (Jan 3, 2018)

I am healthy, don't have any food allergies that I know of and maybe could stand to lose 20 pounds. I am mainly doing this for my husband. He is such a junk food, sugar, and anything-bad-for-you eater of all things that he shouldn't have. Hopefully this will help him break the habits. He also eats a LOT of bread, coated in butter and honey, jelly, you name it. 

SBC I am with you on the eating clean and being a seasonal eater. I am very happy eating out of the garden, canning jars and freezer from produce and meat that we have grown and "put up".


----------



## Sheepshape (Jan 4, 2018)

Baymule said:


> Many Indians are vegetarians, maybe you should get an Indian cookbook?


 I regularly cook Indian food, but don't use ghee. Lovely flavours. I'm undecided as to whether we need to eat animal protein....probably not....but getting all 10 essential amino acids  in the right proportions from plants could prove tricky. I opt to be ovo/lacto veggie, so drink some milk from animal sources and love cheese, so probably don't miss out on a lot. My blood tests recently showed I had a cholesterol of 3.7, BP low, and no evidence of diabetes. Almost half of my mother's family have diabetes, but my bother is diabetic, so I might just not have inherited that gene combination. Generally I'd say I'm a practicing vegetarian, but not a preaching one.....folk have the right to eat as they want (whilst praying that the animals eaten have been treated humanely).

With regards to ketosis....I personally find it horrid. Though we have evolved so our brains can function on free fatty acids, sugar is the usual food. Alternatives may be a survival strategy, but aren't pleasant.

It seems to me that many of us are trying to improve our diets/BMI/amount of exercise etc. There's clearly no single blueprint for this, and there's as many different ways as there are types of folk. It's a great idea to share ideas as if something isn't working well, then another strategy may be the answer.


----------



## Baymule (Jan 4, 2018)

Diabetes is serious, I see why you watch your diet so closely. It is in my family, but not until we are in 80's or 90's......by that time, what the heck, eat what you want. LOL LOL What'cha gonna do? Die?


----------



## greybeard (Jan 4, 2018)

"clean foods"

What does this mean?

In this morning's news:

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/04/health/keto-worst-diet-2018/index.html



> If you're a fan of the "fat-burning" keto diet,you'll be fired up about its ranking in the 2018 list of best diets from US News and World Report: It's tied for last, along with the relatively unknown Dukan diet...............
> Another popular low-carb diet, Whole30, was also at the bottom of the list, just before keto and Dukan. Whole30 is a 30-day diet designed to end "unhealthy cravings and habits, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract and balance your immune system," according to its website.
> The panel slammed the diet as having "No independent research. Nonsensical claims. Extreme. Restrictive." and tied it with the raw food diet as "the worst of the worst for healthy eating.".


https://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-diets-overall
http://fortune.com/2018/01/03/best-diets-of-2018-ranked/
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/keto-whole30-diets-rank-best-diets-2018-list/story?id=51953127
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesal...d-mediterranean-experts-rank-2018s-best-diets


----------



## Baymule (Jan 12, 2018)

We have been doing good on this diet. We both want bread. Today we skidded sideways.......

The feed store where we buy horse feed has closed for several weeks. I have 2 senior horses, 28 and 30, no way I'm changing feed. So we found the same brand some 40 miles away and bought 20 bags. That ought to hold us for awhile!

Coming back, we came through Edom, Tx where there is a café famous for their chicken fried steak.  EEEERRRRKKKKK!!!!!! did y'all hear DH's truck tires screeching into the parking lot??  We both ordered the chicken fried steak and 2 sides. The waitress brought us 2 fluffy yeast rolls and a cornbread muffin. We devoured them. We could barely finish the steaks and didn't eat much of the sides, mashed potatoes and carrots (must have been cooked in 5 pounds of sugar ) for me and mashed potatoes and fried okra for DH. Then the pie....... We split a piece. We left and I felt nauseated. The sweet from the pie was sickening to both of us. We agreed, NO MORE PIE! Back to our vegetables and NOT FRIED meats!

It was all I could do to keep from throwing up when we unloaded the feed. Blech. It can be a long time before I eat another piece of pie or anything that loaded in sugar.


----------



## Latestarter (Jan 12, 2018)

Since recovering from the flu (and the renal failure) I've been eating a large salad as my main meal late day, and drinking lots of liquids including water, crystal light iced tea, hot tea and poweraid. I have small amounts of meat and eggs for protein, and not much else. I have had some bread and I'm not eliminating carbs, but am trying to avoid them and sugar as well as salt as best I can. Also trying to avoid late night "snacking". I've learned from past experiences that anything radical (compared to my normal eating habits) won't work for me and has the opposite affect over time on me... I've lost ~15 pounds and expect/plan to continue to drop over time. The doc was pleased at my last visit and said 7-10 pounds per month loss is completely acceptable for me. More than that means I'm trying too hard, and will be difficult to maintain. 

I did cheat coming back from the VA... I did an internet search for NY style pizzerias as I really wanted a couple of slices of same. Didn't find any but did find there was a Papa Murphy's "Take & Bake" https://www.papamurphys.com/  so swung in and picked one up (Papa's all meat, large, on traditional crust) to bring home with me. As of tomorrow, that has/will have been 3 days early meal.  Also have had the occasional (2?) small bag of chips and today I had 4 Oreo cookies


----------



## Baymule (Jan 12, 2018)

Sounds to me that you are doing good. 
Keep doing what you are doing, it is working for you. 

It is hard to cut out sweets, but after today, I don't think that will be a problem for me or DH again. We do miss bread, and I plan on making sourdough bread later on. The meat and vegetable diet suits us, we have two freezers full of lamb, pork, chicken and grass fed beef. I put up proceeds from the garden, so we are well situated for veggies. We like eating vegetables and meat anyway, so this diet is not so bad.


----------



## Southern by choice (Jan 13, 2018)

Baymule said:


> We have been doing good on this diet. We both want bread. Today we skidded sideways.......
> 
> The feed store where we buy horse feed has closed for several weeks. I have 2 senior horses, 28 and 30, no way I'm changing feed. So we found the same brand some 40 miles away and bought 20 bags. That ought to hold us for awhile!
> 
> ...



Sorry, but I couldn't help laugh... even though it wasn't funny with the distress. I guess because I saw that coming after the tires screeched to a halt.
You know that was great though, sugar , after you've been off it and you have it... UGH  I bet you guys were tired too after that. 
I think you guys are doing fantastic. Love the support you give each other!


----------



## babsbag (Jan 13, 2018)

Walking or riding a bike where I live is pretty much out of the question. We live on the top of a hill and the only road near us is not safe for walking or riding. Our private road is too rocky and too muddy in the winter and too dusty in the summer. I used to walk a lot when I lived in the city but not happening out here. 

If I lived by myself my eating habits would be much different.  I don't wake up thinking about food, I eat when I am hungry and don't spend my day thinking about what is for dinner. Eating does three things...it costs money, it makes dishes, and it makes you fat. I really don't need it. Wish I lived with someone that felt the same way.


----------



## greybeard (Jan 13, 2018)

Baymule said:


> We could barely finish the steaks and didn't eat much of the sides, mashed potatoes and carrots (must have been cooked in 5 pounds of sugar ) for me and mashed potatoes and fried okra for DH. Then the pie....... We split a piece. We left and I felt nauseated. The sweet from the pie was sickening to both of us. We agreed, NO MORE PIE! Back to our vegetables and NOT FRIED meats!


If this was at The Shed, I've heard it isn't what it used to be. Used to thru there pretty often going from Whitehouse to Canton, but last time, the CFS was mostly batter. 
That town has turned into quite the yuppie-type retreat nowadays.


----------



## Baymule (Jan 13, 2018)

Yup, it was The Shed. I don't care what the reviews, all cafés get their food off a truck. None of them buy fresh vegetables and then_ really_ cook them. The carrots were the "baby carrots" that are not baby carrots, but misshapened carrots (that don't meet consumers ideas of what carrots are supposed to look like) and are milled down to acceptable shapes, then treated so they don't discolor. I never buy them. The okra looked pre-breaded (read that dumped out of a bag). The mashed potatoes were at least real mashed potatoes. After being on this diet, the white gravy all over everything was like eating wallpaper paste. 

I cook so darned much better than that! 

Most of the time, the reason we go to Edom is to pick blueberries. The Shed is always packed, durned if I know why.


----------



## greybeard (Jan 13, 2018)

Baymule said:


> The Shed is always packed, durned if I know why.


Sure you do.

"where there is a café famous for their chicken fried steak."

Many eateries make their $$ today on the coat tails of past anecdotal performance, not current experience.
Of course, good pie is always a big draw, and anyone not on a diet may have  thought the desserts were fine.

Remember the decades old adage too. "_There's nothing worse than a reformed (fill in the blank here) _______._"

Many a former fried food/sugar/meat/caffeine/nicotine/booze/pain killer user once touted the wonderful attributes of that usage but once they went to the 'other' side, they suddenly become among the most outspoken critics of the same thing(s) they once enjoyed so much.
Human nature is so very fickle.....been guilty of it myself since I quit drinking (only because of unpleasant interactions with some of my meds)

Latest 'beautiful people' health fad appears to be some sort of coffee enema.

I once watched a portion of a late night infomercial on 'colon cleansing' produced by a rather slimy looking weirdo. I found it more than a little disgusting. Another of his 'tea' products had high levels of lead (many times the legal limit) and no warning label on the container or in the literature.





Looks to be a Dapper Dan man from his hairdo.


----------



## Baymule (Jan 16, 2018)

Today for lunch we had leftover pork roast, a green salad and fruit medley. I sectioned two grapefruit, cut up a mango, added 2 cups of frozen blueberries we picked in July, shredded unsweetened coconut and pecans. We'll eat the rest of the fruit tonight. Yummy!


----------



## Baymule (Jan 16, 2018)

Tonight we had riced cauliflower. It was a frozen bag of white stuff, some green peas, minute shreds of carrot and green onion. On the back was a recipe for fried rice. So I added fresh garlic and ginger, along with a scrambled egg. I chopped the last of the leftover pork roast and added that. It was good, if a bit underwhelming. I sure wouldn't want to eat riced cauliflower imitation rice forever. It was ok, but it ain't REAL rice! 

Desert will be the last of the fruit salad. Later. Full on imitation rice.


----------



## Southern by choice (Jan 16, 2018)

Baymule said:


> Tonight we had riced cauliflower. It was a frozen bag of white stuff, some green peas, minute shreds of carrot and green onion. On the back was a recipe for fried rice. So I added fresh garlic and ginger, along with a scrambled egg. I chopped the last of the leftover pork roast and added that. It was good, if a bit underwhelming. I sure wouldn't want to eat riced cauliflower imitation rice forever. It was ok, but it ain't REAL rice!
> 
> Desert will be the last of the fruit salad. Later. Full on imitation rice.



I would have loved the fruit medley!
Now I want coconut! Love coconut.


----------



## Baymule (Feb 3, 2018)

Well, we did it. We completed our Whole30 and have done a good job of staying off so much sugar. DH still craves sweets, me-it's the chocolate! But we are better about it. I lost 3 pounds, DH lost 9 pounds. We have eaten better and healthier. Tomorrow is Super Bowl, we invited a friend over and I'm going to cook chili and go for all the goodies, cheese, fritos and chopped onions. We are taking a small break, then back on the diet.

My weight is 145, DH is 225.


----------



## Southern by choice (Feb 3, 2018)

I have been wondering how it was going.
Good for you guys! 
Does DH feel like he has more energy? (I already know you're energized)
Sugar really zaps energy but hard to see that at first.

You know after all the goodies ya'll are going to be sick.


----------



## BoboFarm (Feb 3, 2018)

Awesome job! 

I'm currently gluten free and no russet potatoes. I did the Whole30 and found that both made me feel awful when I reintroduced them to my diet. Oddly enough I can still eat red potatoes and sweet potatoes.


----------



## Baymule (Feb 3, 2018)

Southern by choice said:


> You know after all the goodies ya'll are going to be sick.



Yeah, but it's the Super Bowl. Our friends are bringing their flat grill and making fajitas to go with the chili I'm making. 

@BoboFarm  Are you still on the Whole30? I am REALLY wanting to plant the garden! All those yummy vegetables I could be picking and cooking!


----------



## BoboFarm (Feb 3, 2018)

I'm not on the diet anymore but I stick to mostly protein, fruits and veggies. I eat rice and red potatoes here and there. I did the diet as an elimination diet because I had a lot of aches and pains and I had no energy after having my kids.


----------



## Southern by choice (Feb 3, 2018)

Baymule said:


> Yeah, but it's the Super Bowl. Our friends are bringing their flat grill and making fajitas to go with the chili I'm making.


I would LOVE some fajitas! Steak fajitas!


----------



## Baymule (Feb 4, 2018)

BoboFarm said:


> I'm not on the diet anymore but I stick to mostly protein, fruits and veggies. I eat rice and red potatoes here and there. I did the diet as an elimination diet because I had a lot of aches and pains and I had no energy after having my kids.



I have found that a lot of sweets now makes me nauseated. We eat a lot of meats and vegetables anyway, it's the junk food we have to cut.



Southern by choice said:


> I would LOVE some fajitas! Steak fajitas!



Our neighbor has a gas flat grill and he is bringing it. They have 3 boys that love to come over and run all over the place. So fajitas, chili and fritos is the game plan!


----------

