Day 26
Challenges: I tried the chia coconut pudding that a neighbor raves about and nearly gagged on it. Thankfully my son likes it. I guess I'll be giving her the rest of my chia seeds bag. I learned that I'm not a fan of the gelatinous texture.
We have guests coming from Friday to Tuesday so once again I will be around a ton of non-Whole30 foods. But at least this time I'm armed with some good advice on how to frame the discussion and with a loaded fridge of good food.
I can see how you might dislike the texture :) Here are some ways I use chia, that I shared in the use it up thread. Warning not all of these are compliant, bust most can be tweaked or can be used after your whole 30. You might like the chia seed pudding texture MUCH better.
Chocolate Chia seed pudding. I usually sweeten with dates instead of what they suggest. Maple syrup works well too. I prefer this to the "Tapioca" style because sometimes chia seeds don't look all that appetizing, or I don't want to be picking them out of my teeth later. Also this seems less healthy in pudding form :)
http://wholenewmom.com/recipes/chocolate-carob-chia-pudding-dairy-free-sugar-free/Refrigerator Jam pretty much any fruit combo will work, so it is good for using stuff up. Don't always need the extra honey depending on the fruit you use
http://thankfulexpressions.blogspot.ca/2013/07/strawberry-rhubarb-refrigerator-jam.htmlRasinetes Protein bites - cuz, yum! Alos handy to have on hand for grab and go snacks.
http://teaspoonliving.com/2015/06/raisinets-protein-bites/Lemon Energy Bites - Also delish, I really like making them with Brazil nuts instead of almonds!
http://www.theleangreenbean.com/lemon-energy-balls/Lemon Chia Pancakes (grain-free) Good if you have lots of coconut flour to use up. Again, use whatever sweetener you want, if any.
http://www.anthonysgoods.com/blogs/recipes/102442374-lemon-chia-pancakes
Chia Buckwheat Pizza Crust Okay this is a WEIRD one. My hubby made it while I was out of town and when he said he wanted to show me when I got back I was suspicious. I looked at the recipe and was even more suspicious. Then he made the "gloop" and I was thinking there is no way. Turns out I was wrong. It is surprisingly tasty. It is not really, yeast pizza dough, but it is the best gluten-free sub we have found and it is VERY filling. You just got to make sure you really bake it well before adding the toppings. We usually flip it over and bake for longer than it says. It might take some experimenting to figure out how you like it, but if you can't do gluten it is worth playing with.
http://nyoutritious.com/grain-free-chia-buckwheat-pizza/Wins: I made it through the worst day of my cold yesterday. All I wanted was to take a bath in warm carbs, but I held strong and made lemony, chicken soup instead.
I told my dad about Whole30 and he was so supportive of me. He's in chemo treatments right now, but I could see us doing it together next year once he's healthy again.
Glad to hear you made it over your cold, and sending your dad positive healing thoughts :)
Yesterday, Day 28 was so hard. Tons of delicious food AND chocolate cake were available at lunch. I ate the grapes and melons and cauliflower. The hardest part was the food that was available that MAY have been compliant. There was chicken, but it had some sort of baked on sauce on it and I couldn't tell what type. It was home made, but I couldn't find out who had made it. I eventually tried a very small bite and it was incredibly spicy, but not sweet. Could have been compliant, but I didn't enjoy the taste!
Against all re-entry rules, I did take a piece of cake to have on Sunday. It's currently in my freezer. I almost liked the icing off my finger, but stopped just in time.
You got this, Cookie! Way to go on resisting all the temptations! I'm going to make a suggestion. If you *really* want to have some of that cake after your Whole 30, do it in a way that won't derail your progress and will give you some data to work with.
Have a TINY piece (like a couple of mouthfuls)and put it on a super fancy plate. Sit down with no other distractions and totally focus on it. Use all your senses. Have a bite. See what it brings up with you as far as feelings and emotions and cravings. Is it excruciatingly sweet? Do you still want to eat a bite, even though the other bite wasn't as satisfying as you would like?
Don't eat it all. save a bit and put it away in the fridge. See how that feels. Notice your response after the fact, do you spend a lot of time thinking about it? do you cave and scarf it down? are you okay with letting it sit there until you make a conscious decision to enjoy it again?
If you have ever struggled with sugar/sweet things going from 0 to cake will probably wake your sugar dragon something fierce. You just have to be conscious and aware of that, otherwise, it is so easy to slide and undo all your progress.