Whole 30

[InanimateCarbonRod]

I'm going to do the Whole 30 challenge starting on the 1st of February. Anyone interested in joining in?

For those who don't know what Whole 30 is I'll give the links:

whole30.com/

A brief synopsis is that you basically eat whole foods for all your meals for thirty days. Sugar, grains, dairy and legumes are all off the list.

For any doubters among you here are the testimonials that the whole food way is life changing:

whole30.com/2011/06/the-whole30-a-z-real-life-testimonials/

I feel your pain yumyum. 2yo forced me to buy her a packet of Skips today by clutching onto them with a death grip while I had my hands full, then took one nibble and pulled the most hilarious look of disgust. I was going to take the rest of the packet home for DH but they went in the bin after a couple of minutes as I really wanted to scoff the lot.

The mustard was a grainy one: Co-op own brand I think? It's only got 4 ingredients, none of them on the 'no' list.

Inanimate are you still here? :)

And Holly and everyone else!

How are you finding it harry? I made a globe artichoke today .... it tasted like a wet sock

You need butter and salt with artichoke, sorry.

Today was alright. Pork roast for tea and I was fed up at lunchtime so ditched my lovingly homemade and watery soup for an entirely original mix of avocado, blueberries and grilled Parma ham. Not bad!

I also cheated and looked at the scales to see if anything was happening. I lost 3lb last week and am now under 70kg

Harry well done on the weightloss! Amazing to be able to lose weight without counting carbs or calories

Parma ham is def a whole 30 star , I would never think to pair it with blueberries but salty and sweet is often yum!

I had half of this yog www.coyo.co.uk/products/coconut-milk-yogurt.htm with a few nuts and raisins, it's a little expensive but it kept me full until after lunchtime. Dp was off and we took dd to starbucks for lunch after nursery, I thought I could get a salad but tthe salads on offer had noodles and tabbouleh so I was stuck with herbal tea. I felt fine till we got home round 2.00 though then I had some eggs anddelish parma ham.

Mmm that yoghurt looks delicious, where do you get it from?

I'm still here. Was in London for 4 days so found it difficult to stick to. I'll update more tomorrow. Wrecked from a lot of walking and a late flight. Will catch up tomorrow!

Hooray! I thought we might be down to two :o

Today was another Hotel Chocolat disaster. I was so pleased with myself for giving the last lot to BIL and thought I wouldn't have to worry about the next box for a few months but no, today they sent me a huge free slab of chocolate to say thankyou DH is on his was to SIL with it now. It was extra annoying as I was in back-to-back meetings all day so I hadn't had a chance to get lunch and was really hungry by the time I got home. Roll on March!

Blardy hotel chocolat

The yoghurt is stocked at tesco, ocado and waitrose, I got mine from tesco.com, its weird but nice, kind of silky texture and tastes deserty. Not sure I could eat a plain pot without added bits though.

Inanimate glad you are still around too!

..that link happened by itself...tesco has creepy mumsnet link powers

Hi guys can I join have been planning this a few weeks but got a girls cocktail and film night to see fifty shades on Friday so am starting on Monday. I'm already gluten free so hopefully will find it ok just worried about missing my morning cup of tea with milk but am def going to try my best. I've got autoimmune thyroid disease so weight loss just doesn't happen on the plus side though I never seem to gain either been the same wright for years! But would really like to shift at least half a stone and be healthier.

Hi ELR :) What sort of meals have you got in mind for next week? I need inspiration.

yumyum I tried that coconut yoghurt (from Tesco ) for breakfast this morning: it's like ice-cream! I had half a tub with some coconut chunks, raspberries and blackberries and was very full afterwards.

ELR Me too. Hypothyroid and trying to shift weight!

This is how I eat yoghurt: I use Greek style because I prefer the thicker texture. I add a good sprinkling of cinnamon, I have a vanilla grinder so it grinds the actual pod so it's whole food. I add a teaspoon of cocoa and cocao nibs. Then I sprinkle in my home made roasted nut granola. I bring it for second breakfast (in work). In fact I'm eating it right now!

Being away was difficult. Firstly London is a rip off We spent so much more than we were expecting to and now we have to be really really careful for the next couple of months. BAH HUMBUG. Secondly the options for food, that weren't astronomically high, were pretty shit to be honest. The cheaper options were all burgers or club sandwiches. Urgh. We ended up mostly eating Japanese as it's all perfect for Whole 30 and it's totally wheat free. The waitress in the Mexican restaurant clearly thought I was up my own arse when I asked for the burrito with no wrap. I had to explain that I just wanted the contents on a plate, not wrapped up in aforementioned wrap..

On the plus side we walked at least 15k around London over four days. So I'm happy to report that I lost a KG over the weekend. I'm chuffed because I have to fight so hard for every gram lost.

Hi ELR welcome aboard - you must come back after your weekend, which sounds like a fun one!

Inanimate - Well done losing weight while you were in 'That London' as dp would say (Love London personally though!). Do you grind the whole vanilla pod and save the rest, I have some pods from Costco and was wondering how to tackle them? Talking of costco they sell a few paleo baking bits in bulk: coconut oi, almond meal, coconut flour, maple syrup almond butter.

Harry - glad you liked the coconut yog I know what you mean about inspiration I need some too, particularly around sauces and convenient stuff. On the no paleoified desert rule - are baked pears ok? Things I still plan to make are fajita wraps in lettuce leaves with avacado, some kind of breaded things using almond powder, fishcakes, maybe some kind of shepherds pie or fish pie, some kind of cauliflower pizza and possibly a lasagne with veg sheets instead of pasta.

So how are people doing, I have def made some accidental and slightly like forgetting when ordering from a cafe that there would prob be dairy in mash - the most irritating part is i would have much rather had that dairy in a coffee! I am finding dairy hard tbh, its weird because I seem to lose the urgent need for bread quite quickly, but the need for a latte just seems to keep growing! I would never have realised before this that it is dairy rather than flour that is the real addiction for me.

Let me try that sentence again!

I have def made some accidental slips like forgetting when ordering from a cafe that there would probably be dairy in things like pesto or mash potatoes.

I've been quite happily baking apple eighths to have as pudding so I don't think baked pears could be too bad.

I'm reading It Starts With Food now for recipe inspiration and have joined Pinterest to pinch ideas from other people.

ooh great, thanks. let us know how your research goes please!

I'm in Ireland so don't have Costco.

Here is the link to the grinder www.oetker.ie/ie-en/our-products/home-baking/natural-extracts-flavours/product-range/madagascan-vanilla-grinder.html

I use the whole pod. You can really taste the vanilla. It's delish.

It can be really hard to avoid some things. I gave up dairy a year ago after reading one simple idea:

"Humans are the only creatures who continue to drink milk once they've been weaned. Cows milk is perfect, full of fat and growth hormones. Perfect for baby cows. Not humans." We actually lose most of the ability to process lactose one we reach a year old. Than and lactose is a sugar. Anything that ends in OSE is a sugar. Fructose, glucose, lactose, dextrose ad nauseum. We get plenty of calcium from fermented dairy (which removes most of the lactose and grown hormones in the whey) and from vegetables. What's missing in the western diet isn't calcium. It's vitamin D deficiency. If you have great levels of vitamin D then you absorb calcium much better. It's so important to look at the body as a whole system rather than split into different areas.

Sorry if I sound preachy. I'm just so annoyed by the shite dietary information that people are living by. I was delighted to see the news yesterday and the day before which highlighted the fact that the report on fat causing heart attacks was completely debunked. So grab the butter and smear it on EVERYTHING!

I tried something nice tonight: slow-cooked diced lamb with ginger, cinnamon, cumin, chopped fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic and stock. It's supposed to have dried apricots in it too but that would have needed a trip to Asda for the Urban Fruit ones. The stock was Tesco Finest beef stock: it comes in a pot and you add water to use it. Very nice.

I have a vanilla grinder too and use it for all sorts of things. Panna cotta is my favourite but that's out just now!

DH is out with work people tonight for his birthday. I was invited to bring DD along but couldn't face the thought of munching a salad in an Indian restaurant!

I am totally in awe of your discipline Harry!

Lamb dish sounds lovely. I have had a total sweet tooth today and lo and behold totm just started. Had a bag of mixed frozen fruit so been munching on that, melon was a bit boring but oranges, grapes and pineapple were best. Oh and frozen dates cut into small pieces are a bit like toffee! Not sure if the fruit helped or made me more hungry though.

Will have to get a vanilla grinder - never heard of them before.

Inanimate you are probably right about dairy, I am going to try to cut back a fair bit after this but not sure if I want to cut it out altogether. I am thinking of doing strict whole 30 2 days a week when we get to march so I don't slowly slip back to 10 teas with milk and a latte a day.

Don't be! I picked up DH's cake this morning and have been wondering whether I could freeze a slice :o

I know I'm not going to stick with this after the 30 days but it has made me re-evaluate what a healthy diet looks like and my meal-planning will definitely be more W30 rather than carb-centred. What I don't like is how difficult it is to eat out.

Hi all some great recipe ideas, will be back later with my planned meals for next week when I start.
I'm so glad I decided to start after my night out yesterday. It was a complete sugar fest!! 6 strawberry daquirues, two scoops of Ben and jerries and a massive bag of popcorn!! Fifty shades of grey was pretty rubbish but the whole night was great the cinema was packed with horny, pissed women and the odd really uncomfortable looking bloke. There was loads of giggling and wolf whistles, some one was sick in the toilets and the floor was covered in popcorn and empty wine glasses at the end, reminded me of a large scale hen do!

ELR - that sounds like a bizarre but fun night at the cinema Looking forward to your meal ideas.

Harry freezing the cake is a fantastic idea..

{kicks self for not freezing the brownie kids made yesterday}

Have any of you noticed any benefits from whole 30 to your health? A friend looked at me in a funny way yesterday and said 'you're looking pretty are you going out?' - considering I was wearing clothes I had worn lots of times before I think it must have been because I have lost a bit of weight and my skin looks better? But that sort of thing isn't enough to stop me eating cake forever unfortunately! I just need to figure out a way of making 80 20 work this time once whole 30 is finished. I really think 2 days of whole 30 each week (5:2 inspired) to provide some discipline might work... fingers crossed.

ELR the cinema sounds crazy. I feel sorry for the blokes :o

One birthday down, three to go. I really chose a bad month for this! I cooked for this one so made everyone burritos (classy! But there were loads of us...) and just kept the ingredients separate for me to have taco salad. We're eating out again tomorrow evening so I've scouted the menu and found something I can have and might actually like. Last week I paid £8 in Nando's for a bowl of leaves and a chicken breast, which was served in soggy lumps, like I couldn't cut up my own food