Doctor Follow-Up With Good News, and Non-Whole-30 Foods

I went to the doctor this morning to get my blood pressure and weight checked.  There was a modest reduction in blood pressure over the month of about ten points on each end, so that's good.  I was hoping it'd get even better due to the diligence I've had with my sodium/potassium, but I'll take it.  The "official" weight drop from my last appointment to this one (so a span of about a month) is 14 pounds, which is also good; a little under a half a pound a day!  My doctor was happy about this, so hopefully I can keep it up.

Today I tried two of the more obvious non-Whole-30 foods.  Again, I was going to do the official reintroduction, but I'm going to be traveling for two weeks starting Sunday so that just won't work.

The two things I tried were fresh mozzarella cheese and soda (with corn syrup and aspartame).  I don't think the cheese had any affect, keeping in mind I actually have gone without dairy for extended periods of time.  I was a vegan for three years.  So I wasn't really worried about the cheese.

The soda... well, I didn't want to add it back, but I had some from before I started.  I should have just gotten rid of it, but I didn't, and I'm paying for it with a stomach ache and throat pain.  There are a few cans left that I'll be adding to the "family soda pile" and then I'm just going to go back to not drinking it.

In some ways it's similar to... well, maybe two or three months ago I accidentally drank a regular soda instead of a diet soda.  It's similar to that feeling, after having not drunk any regular soda except for the occasional root beer and suddenly drinking a legit Cherry Coke.  Except regular soda... it just coats my insides and I can't get rid of it.  I never would have guessed that'd happen in my past; I used to drink around 6-10 cans of soda--regular, sugary soda--daily.

I hope that kicking the soda is actually along-term thing, because even on diet I have a tendency to drink just a ridiculous amount of it and that's just not appropriate.

The End of the Whole 30

So my Whole 30 officially ended... I think yesterday?  I didn't write about it nearly as much as I'd expected to, since the last time I did a Whole 30 it was so mind-bogglingly difficult I wanted to write my frustration out at every single turn.  This time it was like... eat food, work, and suddenly it's over.  I'll be continuing the full Whole 30 into tomorrow (I have a doctor's appointment and want to see the exact results from pre- and post-Whole 30) before adding back a few select things (some dairy, maybe a little sweetener, occasional sushi) and seeing if they affect me too much.

But yeah... it was remarkably easy this time, which I didn't expect.  Last time as soon as the Whole 30 was done the food addiction kicked in and I was basically mauling cake.  I don't feel like that this time, which is a great success.

Anyway, I'll be leaving next week for an out-of-state business trip, meaning my diet will likely be very compromised.  I will be striving for "paleo-as-possible-with-regard-to-the-circumstances," meaning I might have a serious cheat meal here and there but otherwise I'll be going with whatever is closest.

When that time comes, I'll try to keep writing but I can't promise anything.  I do have a few other things to post before I go, though!

Whole 30: Day 21

This weekend had been pretty intense as far as... uh... not eating properly.  I didn't eat anything un-paleo (not counting aforementioned supplements) but I did pretty much gorge myself on cherries, seeing as they are $1.99/pound until Wednesday.  So the foods are largely fine, but the proportions are very off.

I'm still feeling good, but cherries can cause gastrointestinal upset (a Bing search tells me this is due to the levels of a flavanoid called quercetin) which, well, yeah I got that pretty bad.

Quick interesting tidbit:  I typically have taken melatonin in order to get to sleep due to years upon years of difficulty getting to sleep.  I haven't needed it for several days.  I don't know if it's actually an effect of dietary changes, but it's nice.

I don't have much to report otherwise.  My weight is stabilized right now.  Trying to prepare for a business trip out of state which will involve taking needles on an airplane, navigating trying to stay mostly-paleo on an extended trip, and spending a lot of time with people I'm stealth to; that happens in a few weeks so I'm sure I'll have a lot to talk about then.

Whole 30 - Day 19

Well, time for my first real post here.  And as it stands, today is day 19 of a Whole 30, which is 30 days of almost-strict-paleo (the detailed rules can be found on the Whole 9 website but the gist of it is no dairy except ghee, no legumes except fresh green ones like snap peas, no grains, no sulphites, no processed foods, no alcohol, no white potatoes, no sweeteners except a little fruit juice, and no trying to paleo-ify things like desserts).

OK, I'm not actually doing a genuine Whole 30.  Almost all the dietary stuff I am doing, but due to medical tracking purposes demanded by medical professionals I am weighing myself.  I'm also taking the "big three" dietary supplements recommended by most paleo eaters who believe in supplements, including fish oil (mine has no forbidden ingredients), vitamin D3 (mine has some soy, sorry) and probiotics (lactobacilli + bifidobacteria, also regrettably has some soy).  I track my food intake on most days using a site called PaleoTrack, which gives not only things like caloric and nutrient intake but also gives helpful messages about the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids and the ratio of potassium to sodium.  For instance, this was the run-down I got on Wednesday:

I clearly kicked ass on Wednesday.

I don't actually pay much attention to calories or carbs, but I do pay attention to the omega 6/3 and potassium/sodium levels.  Since I do weigh myself, I can also mention that when I started I weighed 252 pounds.  Today I weighed 237 pounds and my shorts are pretty much hanging off my ass.

Generally speaking, I feel really good as well.  The last time I attempted a Whole 30 by this time I was going pretty batshit wanting sugary food.  I was hoping to be able to do the textbook gradual reintroduction of ingredients I don't want to avoid forever, but as it turns out I'm probably going to be going on a business trip in a few weeks so that's just not going to work (although I'll be trying to do at least approximate paleo while I'm there).

As far as foods go, I've been eating a lot of fish, a lot of ground beef, a lot of eggs, and drinking a lot of coconut water (it's great for that potassium/sodium ratio).  I've also been eating way too many cherries, because they're ridiculously cheap right now and... well, they're cherries.

I'm not sure how my blood pressure is doing because I know my sphygmomanometer is inaccurate and I don't really trust the one at Pick 'N Save either.  It might be improving, but we'll have to see when I go to my next doctor's appointment on I believe the 11th.