Day 3 - The Flood

In case you were still wondering, Oakland lost in a nail biter to Youngstown State on Monday night.  I was also successful in staying good and making it to Day 2 and subsequently Day 3 now.

By tonight I will be 10% complete with this program and even though it is very early I have been noticing some side effects to the new diet.  Late in the afternoon Monday (Day 1), I was hit with a major headache.  I can't completely blame it on the new diet but it could be the cause so it is worth mentioning.  Typically, my headaches are caused by dehydration, stress, tiredness, illness, or low blood sugar (assumed).  I can eliminate some of these causes but I can't narrow it down enough to directly blame the diet.  For instance, the first week back from the holidays is very stressful at work and certainly can't blame that on the Whole30.

Yesterday (Day 2) I was also feeling pretty foggy by around 4:30-5 o'clock, but no headaches.  I'm optimistic that Monday's headache was a fluke.  What did start yesterday and has continued through today is what I'm calling "the flood".  I will try to describe this without getting too gross and graphic, but lets just say that the flood gates have been opened.  At some points during the day it is now harder to not poop than it it to poop.  It isn't that it is bad, its not painful or uncomfortable, its just now and I certainly feel lighter.

Another thing that I am noticing is that I am beginning to sense a craving for particular food.  I am not a heavy "sweets" person but I find myself thinking of/longing for chocolate, specifically caramel covered in dark chocolate.  I can taste it and my waters just thinking about it.  In fact, I had to swallow three times while typing that sentence.  Fruit seems to be helping with these cravings and it could be all in my head but, the fruit seems to taste sweeter than I remember.  I just had the sweetest orange I ever remember, perhaps it was just that good of an orange...

New Food

My wife and I have found that the recipes in the Whole30 book are a bit under spiced, in our humble opinion, so we've been kicking up the amount of spice we've been adding to the recipes.  For instance, she made the ratatouille recipe last night that was wonderful; I had my fill and more! She also found a health food store, a few towns over, that has chicken sausage that is Whole30 approved.  I was very skeptical when she had told me but we scoured over the ingredients list and found nothing that even sounded like it could be off plan, I was thrilled.  We have had absolutely no luck in finding anything in the way of sausage, bacon, or deli meet at our local supermarket that would be Whole30 approved.  Why do they put sugar in everything!  Perhaps there is something at the deli counter but I'd feel like an ass asking to see the ingredients list of all the meat at the deli counter.  I might next time though, just nicely, and I'll blame it on my wife's allergies...I just want some ham!

...

The foggy feeling upstairs is kicking in again.  It's starting to feel similar to quitting smoking. I've been smoke-free for almost a year now, and nicotine free for 6-9 months. The thought of a smoke makes me want to hurl though, but chocolate...mmm...it wouldn't surprise me if I start dreaming of chocolate at night. I think I need another orange.