The Skeptic’s Whole30: Day 3
Wednesday, Feb. 21
This post is part of a series. For the previous post, click here. For the whole series, click here.
I’m starting to figure out that the main thing that’s hard for me about this diet is not the food I’m not allowed to eat, or even how much effort and time is involved in preparing each meal. It’s that when I’m hungry or tired, the gulf of time and effort that stands between me and eating is unbearable. I don’t want to stand there and work for an hour before I eat. I just want to eat. I want to pop something in the toaster oven. I suppose I could have a banana, or a carrot, or a clementine, but what I want is a meal. I am writing this before breakfast and just wish I could HAVE SOMETHING. I’ve already had black coffee.
So there are two ways to deal with this: Either get used to it (however long that’ll take; I doubt 30 days is enough) or get into the habit of cooking ahead for future meals while I’m still full from the last meal. Since yesterday we did something big and intense outside the house, today we’re going to have a nice relaxing day at home, and hopefully I can get some advance cooking done. It’s the only way I’ll be able to make it through the next 28 days. This is the third and final day of mid-February break, so the kids are home with me today again. Tomorrow Big Kid goes back to school, and the next day Little Kid does, so that’ll give me a bit of a break in terms of deciding what they’ll eat at every meal.
On the breakfast menu today was Avocado Baked Eggs. I had to admit I wasn’t enthused about this recipe. I really wasn’t in the mood for something gooey in an egg-avocado way. But it was easy: All you do is cut open an avocado, scoop out enough flesh that an egg can fit into each half, break an egg into each half, top with salt, pepper, and lemon juice, and bake for 15 minutes. This would have taken me a lot less time to prepare if I wasn’t also making pancakes for the boys AND breaking up a particularly nasty fight between them in which they were hitting each other with hard plastic toys.
I ate it, and it turned out the real MVP of this recipe is the lemon juice. It makes the avocado and egg taste tangy, which is more like what I would want a breakfast to taste like. I was still not into the hot, heavy goo factor, though. And the recipe claims that it will keep you full until lunch, so we’ll see. I tend to think “full” and “satisfied” are two different feelings for me, so if I eat something that is filling but just not my taste preference at the moment, will it be enough?
OK, the avocado egg thing had the effect of making me feel more and more queasy and headachey as the day wore on. By lunchtime, I was ravenous for my leftover fajita beef, which I found myself wishing contained some carbs. I felt, intuitively, as if the headache was caused by lack of carbs. I’d also noticed the headache yesterday but thought it was because I’d gone too long without eating. A clementine helped a little, but not enough.
I googled “Whole30 headache” and found that it’s a Thing. People were talking about it on one of the forums. More starchy vegetables (I knew it!), more salt, and more water were all suggestions. I HAD been wondering about the salt. It seemed like I sometimes needed to add what seemed like an inordinate amount of salt to things. Someone in the forums said that when you eat only whole foods, it’s surprising how much salt you have to sprinkle on things.
I also crave the crunch of starches and grains. Vegetables, fruits, and meat all have a certain juicy smoothness that starches lack, and I have long felt the need to eat something that doesn’t possess that smoothness in order to “anchor” a meal that is mostly smooth. Like, if I get butternut squash soup for lunch, I like to have it with a roll. I feel somehow unanchored (at sea?) if I just have the soup without the roll. Even in the case of the fajita beef skillet, which uses cauliflower crumbles as “rice,” I liked the cauliflower but wished it were more dry.
I wonder whether this has to do with some “carb addiction” shameful unhealthy state I’m in, or if it means we (human beings) really need carbs. I hope it’s the latter.
Ugh, I’m glad I can have potatoes and sweet potatoes. I could really use some nice crispy hash browns like I had on the first day. Maybe that breakfast has to be in heavier rotation. In the meantime, I think I’ll lie down.
I had an actual nap. Wow, I was really fried. I think from the art crawl, and from the fact that Little Kid woke me before 6 am, which he doesn’t usually do. After my nap I felt better, and I dragged the kids to Target. Did I mention there was a freak heat wave going on? And it was 75 degrees out? The exact kind of weather that makes me want to buy a pastry or a Frappuccino while I’m out, just because the mood strikes. I was driving along with the windows open, wearing my new stylish Madewell shirt and linen pants and sandals. Well, this is why I did this in February. The nice weather will be over tomorrow.
For dinner we had something that everyone enjoyed: Pork-Apple Meatball Noodle Bowls. Again I was scrambling to get it done at a reasonable hour (I need to get it together to cook ahead!) but at least I wasn’t ravenous while doing it. The kids enjoyed it, and it was hearty and delicious. I think I’ll be making it again. I didn’t feel the need to eat again after dinner at all.
Before bed, I put some chia seeds in a jar with water for the next morning’s chia pudding. I’ve never had chia pudding before but it supposedly tastes great.
