So day zero is my prep day (technically on Thursday). I swung by my local "farm stand". If I've taken you, it's like a Whole Foods but attached to a large farm. Lots of expensive goodies, but if you focus on the produce they grow on their farm and not the stuff they import, some real bargains. I picked up some local asparagus, spinach, baby lettuce, radishes, rhubarb, eggs, strawberries and some potted basil. The place is also a nursery. I meant to swing by Whole Foods too but was hungry for lunch and then the afternoon flew by. I feel hung over with this jet lag. Luckily I had enough for breakfast on day 1 and made a grocery run in the morning. I usually stay along the border of the grocery store but this time I stayed just at the front half - produce and meat counters.
I'm buying tons more meat than usual. You are supposed to have a palm size of meat per meal, at a minimum. I used to eat meat a few times a week. I decided on chicken breasts, fresh salmon, ground lamb and chicken sausages. The last one I had to go through a lot of reading ingredients before finding two packages I could eat. And bacon may be challenging - they all have sugar in them - who knew?!
I bought a bunch of vegetables and a few fruits. Not too much more than what I usually buy and picked up some cashews, coconut flakes and almond butter. Figured I'll try making monkey salad. So at the end of the first round of shopping, I'm at $138 spent. I'm tracking my spending too since I'm anticipating my food budget will go up twofold at a minimum this month.
I did sign up for a meat share from a local farm. I signed up for 15 lbs a month for the summer cycle (six months). I hope that's not too much. I'm guessing that will be about half my meat for the month and if I scale back after 30 days for whatever reasons, it's just the right amount of meat. I was thinking why I don't eat meat much and it came down to most meats are not healthy (the hormones and food they consume) and the happiness of the animals. I hate seeing the meat farms, so I just don't support them with my money on a regular basis. The meat share takes care of these issues by providing healthy and happy meat. Not cheap but that's why people eat junk food and that's not good. As I'm switching my material purchases (I.e. Having a smaller closet, but with better quality items), it correlates into food. Why consume (and spend money on) empty calories or food that does you damage. Spend the money on the good stuff that gives you energy. Luckily I'm in a position where I can afford not buying the cheap stuff. And I'm thankful for that.
I still need to box up my pantry, fridge and freezer. I figured it best to get all the non-whole items out of sight and easy access, but keep them for the reintroducing period in a month. I'm hoping to get to that in the afternoon. And just have taped up boxes in the fridge and freezer. Makes it harder to dive in and get to the chocolate chips or crackers.
Right now, the two things I don't think I could live without are dairy and sweets. I just love them - you only need to check out my pinterest boards to see all the goodies. I don't love carbs, but there is no denying they are a staple of my diet. It will be interesting to see if my taste usd/cravings/enjoyment changes after the thirty days.
The last thing I thought I should do on day zero is write down all my general ailments. I have no grand expectations that after thirty days they will all be gone, but I do want to be cognitive of any that do disappear. And I'm horrible at noticing these things. So here goes, my ailments in no particular order:
- low energy - in general
- low energy dip after eating breakfast especially
- weight gain
- bigger stomach (I'd say I'm nearly in my second trimester)
- bigger thighs - noticing it in some clothes
- stuffiness in the nose (afraid I'm allergic to cats or have house mold)
- redness on the nose - seems to worsen and lessen but don't know why
- minor face acne - at first I thought I had bed bugs or something
- general body aches - just feeling old all of a sudden
- joint discomfort sometimes - not sure if it was from working out
- lethargic at times - maybe due to new lifestyle - no deadlines/stress
- headaches sometimes - I think from dehydration - need to drink more water
- sweet cravings - sometimes correlating with my cycle and I've noticed it when I'm hungry
- cholesterol - I'm still in the good range, but each test show me creeping up close to the limit and some of my family members have high cholesterol.
As I think of more, I'll add them. The main ailment I'm hoping this program will address is my tiredness. I thought I was getting more and more tired because of work and related stress. But this year I've been good about removing mental stress from my life. And I've tried different things to combat the energy. When I get out and exercise - my big thing at the moment is orienteering, I'm really tired after and it doesn't seem to be right. Disproportionate. Something's up and I dont think it's because I'm just getting older. Doctors have done tests in the past and find nothing so therefore nothing is resolved - just the general exercise more and eat healthy. Im excited to finally have a framework to figure out what "eat healthy" means for my body. Here goes!
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