Whole30 Challenge: Day 5 Recap

Day 5

I started out my day sleeping in almost an hour past normal time. Guess that good sleep is starting to kick in and the Natural Calm Magnesium supplement I’ve been taking at night is working. I woke up feeling pretty good and energized. I am starting to notice small differences in my body – my collar bone and ribs feel a bit more distinct and my stomach feels less bloated and “thick.” I still am having a bit of GI distress though. Is that normal? I would love to find out more info from anyone.

When I turned on my computer, my friend Sarah from Thown Chain had sent me the most hilarious meme:

This was so funny and cracked me up because I have been joking with some friends on Facebook that the hardest part about Whole30 will be no wine. I love wine! I am having a great time on Whole30 so far but the hardest will be getting through the weekend without a sip of wine. I love coming home on Friday nights and cracking open a bottle of red wine. Gah!

For breakfast I had 2 hard boiled eggs and blueberries. Didn’t get a veggie in there because I was out of veggie juice. I ended up getting hungry around 1pm again for lunch. I wasn’t able to go home for lunch so I decided to grab something at Equinox. I work across the street from an Equinox and here in Los Angeles all Equinox gyms have a juice bar in them called Earth Bar. I had tuna with lemon and a smoothie with kale, pineapple, banana, and coconut milk. The smoothie was an adjustment for me because I normally get one with protein powder. I still don’t see what the big deal is about protein powder but I’m being loyal to Whole30 and avoiding it for now. The smoothie was good and my lunch was satisfying.

I also bought a snack at Earth Bar for later in the day: Kombucha and Trail Mix. I have been told Kombucha is okay as long as it doesn’t have any added sugars. I drank the Kombucha later in the afternoon but never dove into the trail mix. It’s currently in my purse as an emergency snack. This was a significant meal for me because it was the first meal I hadn’t cooked for myself since starting the Whole30.

After work I went to a Friday evening yoga class. I have been trying to go to yoga a minimum of once per week because I need to work on my flexibility badly. That, and yoga has a calming effect on me and it feels like an hour and a half of meditation. I feel like it is an important part of Whole30 so I’ve committed to going at least once per week. It felt really good to stretch out. I worked up a good sweat. I was drenched and dripped all over my yoga towel. Oops. I was also impressed that I was able to easily get into poses that have previously been difficult for me like crow pose, birds of paradise, and head stands. I am still doing head stands against the wall but I’m starting to balance more on my own and I think I can eventually move to being able to do one in the middle of the room if I stick with it.

I took a nice, piping hot shower after yoga and my husband and i headed to Whole Foods to pick up dinner. I was inspired by my Twitter friend Sam’s blog The Second Lunch and made the beef & broccoli she posted about earlier this week. I had received broccoli in our Farm Fresh To You CSA box so it was perfect. As I was waiting in line at the butcher I realized something. Prior to going gluten-free I had not eaten red meat in 20 years. And there I was buying grass-fed beef at the grocery store. It’s amazing how food can have such profound effects on you like that.

When I got home we cooked up the beef & broccoli. I tried cooking with Coconut Aminos for the first time and I really enjoyed them. We also added coconut milk to the mixture so it turned out more like a curry but it was still delicious. Thanks for the recipe, Sam!

After dinner my husband had a glass of wine. I really wanted a glass and decided to create a tally on our fridge for all the glasses of wine I DON’T drink on Whole30. Maybe I should put a dollar in a jar every time I don’t have a glass and then buy myself a present at the end of 30 days.

After dinner we watched a movie and I made an awesome after dinner drink. I had a cinnamon vanilla Rooibis tea and poured a little coconut milk in it. So delicious and creamy! Perfect drink for a Friday night on Whole30.

Something I forgot to talk about in my Day 4 recap was the scale. The creators of Whole30 life do not want you to get on a scale at all during the 30 days. And I understand why. We have a psychological connection between ourselves and the number on the scale. And it’s not healthy. And the whole30 is all about being healthy. Hence, you’re not allowed to weigh yourself.

I am the first to admit I have a psychological dependency on the scale. I weigh myself on my Weight Watchers Scale every morning and sometimes even at night. It’s my gage- my check in point to make sure I’m staying on track. But because I am committed to the Whole30, I took my scale on Day 4 and allowed myself one last weigh in. I weighed myself and put my scale away in the cupboard. This was hard to do, especially when I woke up feeling thin! The first thing I wanted to do was weigh myself and see how I’m doing! I hav promised myself that I will not look at the scale during this time period and I’m sticking to it.

What about you? Would it be hard for you to give up wine on Whole30? How often do you weigh yourself? Post in the comments and let me know!

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