Author: Claire

Today was going to be a bit of a challenge. A lunch date out in town with friends. I agreed to this weeks ago, before the Whole30 because a good idea. I made sure I had a decent breakfast so I wouldn’t be starving at midday.

Lunch was a success – managed to get grilled sardines for a starter (hold the croutons) and a steak for main course, with no chips but extra salad instead of chips. While the other girls had a glass of wine each I guzzled a big bottle of sparkling mineral water. No pudding, just an espresso. All in, very nice.

Got half my shopping en route home – a farm’s worth of veg 🙂

Friday night, can’t go to the pub and no other plans so back to local supermarket for remaining shopping. Rock and roll, baby! Did treat ourselves to some marinated and stuffed olives plus almonds as a pre-dinner nibble. Dinner was a yummy bowl of kale topped with garlic, lemon and rosemary chicken thighs prepared by the Man of the house 🙂

Had a few very ripe strawberries as dessert.

Stayed up late watching a movie so only go to bed at 11pm.

Woke up feeling a little better, but still not full of bounce and sparkle. Got to practice getting up earlier. Made myself a plate of sweet potato hash and fried eggs for breakfast while ignoring the mess in my kitchen.

Busied myself with organising my wardrobe. A lot of stuff still fits which is good (for shopping budget purposes) but a tad did appointing (from a vanity perspective!). Starting a new job in a couple of weeks so need to get out of the shorts and t-shirt look I’ve been abusing for the last 6 months.

Had some black coffee while sorting a few Ebay bits – seemed to abate the headache. That was until the neighbours who like to crank up their car stereo, or just scream and swear at each other, get started. Could soo have done with a latte. Or a glass of wine. Maybe even a bottle 🙁

Tuna deli salad with an extra dollop of mayo for lunch, and a spoonful of the macadamia nut butter that arrived in the post. Lush 🙂 Headache came back so downed a couple of ibuprofen. Not sure they’re Whole30 compliant but had to try something.

Was still feeling very grumpy come evening so took 3 huge bags of clothes and shoes to the charity bins. No idea where I was hiding this stuff- my flat is tiny and I have no clothes! Cleaned the kitchen, again. I seem to get a lot done fuelled by grump.

Dinner was Thai fish cakes and som tam salad – Mr’s speciality. The salad is basically crunchy ribbons of raw veg and mango, dressed with lime. Very filling and satisfying so will have to remember to include more raw veg with dinners next week.

Stayed up too late watching TV so only went to bed at midnight.

Still struggled to get up. Headache fairly mild. Made a nice big breakie before heading to yoga.

Quick turnaround to get cleaned up, eat lunch (soup) and drive out to the country side to meet a friend. Thought it would be safer to go for a walk in the middle of nowhere rather than go into town with all its frothy coffee temptations. Did swing by a farm shop on the way home and pick up some fresh eggs, two lovely yellow courgettes, cherries and another avocado. Came home and had a few brazil nuts to sustain myself.

Headache / sinus pain kicked in just before 8pm so Hubby stepped in to cook our evening meal. Took my last Sinutab. Fortunately dinner was an assembly job as the chicken stew was in the freezer and the cauliflower rice prepared at the weekend. Reheated stew and sautéed cauli-rice in ghee. Job done in under 10 minutes 🙂

Plenty of water and in bed at 10pm.Would have been an early night except that our delightful neighbour decided that Wednesday night is party night! < sigh >

Woke up again with a fuggy head and sinus pain. Made a nice, big veggie omelette for breakie – pretty good, but would have been better with cheese. Spot of light pottering and a few cups of ginger tea saw me through the morning.

Big plate of deli-style tuna salad with extra olive oil drizzled on top for lunch, plus a mug of coffee with the last of the coconut milk added. Seemed to reduce my headache so can only assume it’s caused by caffeine withdrawal.

Got ahead on the chores in the afternoon by cleaning the kitchen, prepping the seasoned pork and apple to go with some sweet potato for pre-gym breakie tomorrow and getting started on a big pot of braised cabbage to go with dinner. No way we could be hungry after polishing off that lot! Treated myself to a spoonful of sunflower seed butter as a reward. Not as nice as almond or cashew nut butter, but it’s what I had.

Not a pretty dinner, but a tasty and filling one.

Plenty of ginger tea, plus a Sinutab, and in bed @ 10pm.

Woke up with a fuggy head, but not really a headache. Sipped a glass of ginger tea and knocked up a couple of veggie omelettes for our breakfast. Chopped up some leftover green peppers and courgette for another day.

Had to take the car to the garage so there was an hour to kill in town. Managed a saunter round Waitrose, checking out their non-dairy milk as I’m running low on coconut milk. You can either have soy milk (no), sweetened almond or hazelnut milk (no), or just nuts and water, with sunflower lecithin stabiliser. No. Did find some fresh coconut chunks to have as after dinner treat tho. Going to have to become one of those hard-core Paleo types who make their own nut milk but don’t think I can be bothered for just one month. Plus, nut milk is never as thick and creamy as I want for a coffee, and I don’t like having skimmed milk in tea anyway. Bleurgh. Will try a bullet proof coffee made with coconut oil (instead of my usual butter) tomorrow for mid-morning treat, if I still fancy a “creamy” coffee.

Tore the man away from his desk for 5 mins to eat a bowl of smoky bacon, chunky veg and tomato soup for lunch.

I was going for a sort of minestrone flavour, minus the beans and pasta. So basically nothing like minestrone 🙂  Appreciative noises were made so I’ll assume it was good. I think next time a basil oil slurry would be nice just to garnish. A couple of glasses of iced fizzy water and lime saw me through the afternoon while I tortured myself by reading a Nigel Slater book. Major dizziness kicked in at 4pm so grabbed a few chunks of fresh coconut. All better.

Got impatient waiting for man to make mayonnaise so did it myself. Had a craving for crudités and dip, so made part of the batch into a really punchy garlic and herb version. Actually not hard to do, but does mean I have to wash up the food processor 🙁

Dinner was a bowl of chilli and garlic zoodles (zucchini/ courgette noodles) with prawns. After that we were both still a bit peckish [Note to self: must increase portion sizes] so I chopped up some carrots and celery to dunk in the garlic mayonnaise as a post dinner snack. In bed before 10:30 so bit of an improvement.

Woke up with a banging headache, again. Had my left over ginger tea rejuvenated, which was still pretty strong given the 7 slices of ginger I’d used last night. Breakie of sweet potato hash, bacon and eggs with more ginger tea and I felt pretty much human.

Had a bit more prep to do; 2 soups, a batch of ragu for next week, olive oil mayonnaise (man’s job) and a tub of tuna deli salad. Thankfully the weather has cooled down so not too unbearable spending a couple of hours in the kitchen, but headache kicked in again around 11. Drank a pint of water. Making ragu without most of the contents of a bottle of red wine just feels wrong…..

Managed to have lunch at lunchtime for a change (bad Sunday habits) – rather tasty Mulligatawny soup.

There would be no afternoon visit to the pub so instead we went to my folks’ house to mow the lawn and keep my mind off proper lattes and artisan cheese…..

Back home and got the munchies around 5pm so had a few almonds and a cup of ginger tea to keep me going until dinner. Getting a bit of a taste for ginger tea; might keep it up after Whole30. Allergies in full swing but could be due to time in the garden. Dinner was scheduled to be salmon ceviche with avocado but we forgot to add the avocado.

Still had plenty to eat and didn’t need any additions. In bed by 10:30 – a bit later than planned but the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony/ Australian tourism board advert was on TV.

Got up late. The glass of water served to my bedside wasn’t as enticing as a cup of tea 🙁

Cheered myself up with soft boiled eggs and griddled asparagus spears, and a few more glasses of water.

Actually not too bad and I could probably do with the extra hydration. Completed my menu and shopping list, downed a coffee with coconut milk then hit the supermarket. Managed to get everything and still spent less than £50 – with enough food for the whole week, 3 meals a day, and a few roll overs for week 2 and later. Did look at getting some non-dairy milk but all full of rubbish and mostly sweetened. Not quite dedicated enough to make my own nut milk yet. Missed lunch as we were shopping, and breakie had been quite late, so decided on an early dinner. While we were out, both got tempted by the coffee shop so gave in, but just for plain double espressos. Nice to feel like we can still go out-out 🙂

Hoping that this elimination diet will help with my allergies ( been sneezing my head off all week) and help me get my sleep patterns back to normal. No milk means no tea, and I can only drink so much black coffee, so my caffeine intake should reduce consequentially. No alcohol means we shouldn’t be staying up late watching rubbish on TV, so should get to bed earlier.

Dinner was a new recipe for burgers with ground bacon mixed in – success! Lettuce wraps for buns, as normal, plus roasted cherry toms to use in place of tomato sauce and some spiced up sweet potato chunks. Nearly went for the mayo and chutney but caught myself in time.

While that was being assembled I also made a batch of meatballs, shredded some sweet potatoes, parboiled some other sweet potatoes and riced a whole cauliflower ready for later in the week. Got a few more bits to prep tomorrow but that’ll be it for the week.

After dinner I did get a fancy for some choccie, but not really a craving. Just wanted an after-dinner treat on a Saturday night as normal. Had some water instead and a cup of lemon and ginger tea before bed. Was actually feeling sleepy at 9pm so this must all be doing something right, but still didn’t get to bed until nearly 11 for watching recordings of QI. Ooops.