Day 30 is here!

We've made it to day 30 and I can't believe how quickly it has passed. We have decided to keep going. Of course with Easter coming up, we will break for Easter Family dinner. I have decided that I will eat one cream egg. That's all for now.

It has been quite some time now...

I think I gave up on writing a blog because I don't know if anyone will ever read this. Oh well, maybe some day I will look back on it and use it for motivation!

Anyways here we are on Day 24. I am not sure if it gets easier or more difficult as it goes along. I never really found this very difficult. The worst part is when I work late and Peter works late. We both come home with super hungry bellies and grumpy attitudes. Of course, we still need to cook dinner and there is a lot of arguing in the kitchen. We return to normal once we have eaten.

We've both lost some weight. I have no idea how much. We are following the whole 30 rules and waiting until the 30 days are up. We have decided to go until Easter Sunday... which takes us to 34 days.

What has been the most difficult?
1. No drinking
Not that Peter and I are booze hounds but we have been renovating our house like crazy. Sunday was the first warm day of the year and we really wanted to just sit on our porch and have a beer....but we couldn't... so we had water. Also, my friend Mark came up from Toronto. We went to a buck and doe and it felt so weird with out a drink in my hand.
2. Smelling Bacon
The school that I teach at has a hospitality program. One day they were cooking bacon all day. I was so grumpy when I got home.
3. Grandma treats
My Grandma frequently leaves treats on our porch. She did that yesterday. It was a late when Peter and I got home from work We't eat them. We were really grumpy.

Day 9 and all is fine!

Well here we are at the morning of day 9. This post doesn't really have any sort of topic. It will just be a mesh of how we are feeling and whats been happening.

Let's start with Peter. Yesterday morning, right before he was about to leave for work, Peter was violently ill.
In my head I was thinking: "Crap, Norwalk. Guess I better get some lesson plans prepared for this week."
I called Peter in sick because he was, well, not in a state to use the phone and I headed to work.
He slept all day and by the time I came home, he was fine.

So it wasn't Norwalk but I can't help wonder what  caused it? We've been eating the same things and I feel fine. I know some whole foodist out there might say it was his body was releasing the toxins, buutttt I am not sure if that really happens.

Again I am not really having any issues. I feel like I need more sleep but my brain is less cloudy. They stress on the whole 30 site that you need 8-9 hours of sleep a night. I maybe almost got that last night. My goal tonight: be in bed by 9!

The other thing the site stresses is to not weigh yourself until it is over. The reason for this is because it is not about weight loss but healthy eating. I totally agree. Neither Peter or I are standing on the scales until the end.
I must admit though, a little weight loss would be an extra bonus. I havent been running or hitting the gym very much over the winter and I don't fit into the my bridemaid's dress for sister's wedding in July.
I can feel that I have maybe lost a little. Especially around my stomach but that could also just be the lack of bloating I now feel.

Anyways, I better get my lunch ready. I can't just buy from the school caf anymore.

Lesson #1: Don't let yourself get really hungry

After we finished our post last night, Peter was starving. He's been starving for the past 5 days but we decided to do something about it. So we headed off to Zehrs. We only have two grocery stores in town and Zehrs is the only one that carries some organic, whole food blah blah etc. Luckily enough, they carried Larabars. They fit all the whole30 rules, except the peanut ones, so we picked up a box up the apple ones. There were five in the box and Peter ate three in one sitting. Poor boy.

I have to tell you that today was not an easy day for both of us. I've learned something very important:

Do not let yourself get really hungry. 

You will be grumpy and feel too tired to make yourself food. You may also say pointless things in an angry tone to those around you. Here is how I learned the lesson:


I participate in the sport of curling and we had our year end bonspiel today. That meant, since I am on two teams, that I was basically sweeping or shoving heavy objects down ice for 4 hours. It doesn't sound like a lot of work but it gets a little wearing after 4 hours. I quickly ate a Larabar in-between games but it wasn't really enough. By the time I got home at 1:30 pm, I was a huge grump.

Peter and I are slowly taking down the lathe and plaster in our +100 year old house. Instead of getting myself some food, I went up to see how Peter was doing with the current renovation. We started discussing where outlets should go and it turned into a whole lot of pointless arguing. So I shop-vac-ed the floor while Peter showed. Another bad idea because it just made me really tired and gave me a head ache. This was probably the worst day I have had and it gave me some perspective into how Peter has been feeling.

On the postive side, we did something about this hunger problem. We found out that nuts and raisons are a great snack. Larabars are a saviour in a pinch. We also found some organic spaghetti sauce with completely whole ingredients.  We mixed it with some free-from antibiotic ground beef, peppers and tomatoes and put it on some spaghetti sauce. It was wonderful to have something carby tasting.

It likely would have tasted very bland if we had tried within in the first few days, but now we are just happy to eat a meal. We have found that we need to eat much less to be satisfied. By tonight, we were in much better moods and easily figured out where the outlets should go.

Little did Peter know, the vegetables were lurking...

Peter and I have decided to complete a 30 Day Whole Food Challenge. His co-worker Sarah suggested we keep a blog of our experience. When Peter told me about 10 minutes ago that he was going to barf if he couldn't have dip with his carrots and broccoli, I decided it was time to start recording his ridiculousness.

I guess I better start with why we are putting ourselves through this. Ever since I found out I had thyroid cancer, (which, oddly, was 1 year and 1 day from today) I have been on a quest to improve my health. I came across this website when my naturalpathic doctor posted it on her facebook page.
 http://whole9life.com/2010/12/whole30-2011/  It has some pretty strict rules so I suggest you take a look and see what trouble we have gotten ourselves into.

Peter, being the wonderful and supportive guy he is, decided to take the challenge with me. Anyways, we are just finishing up day 5 and I feel great. Peter, on the other hand, is slowing morphing into a pizza hungry polar bear. Please note, polar bears are the scariest animals on earth.

I asked Peter to now write a response but he says he doesn't want to. So I'll transcribe:
Angela: Why are you doing this challenge?
Peter: Because I felt like meeting an insurmountable challenge but mostly because you needed the support.
Angela: How are you feeling?
Peter: (really long pause) I definitely feel like my brain is more alert, like a little bit more of a fog has been lifted.I don't know if it is related but I've had a headache for the past 5 days. I like... uuugghh ...I dunno my skin is little tighter, more taut. Oh ya, and I am constantly hungry.

That's all we will write for now because Peter says he doesn't have the energy for any of it.