Author: Ahrel Finnie

I had to get up with the sun this morning because of a new employee off to a rocky start within the company I work for. So today started at 6:30 for me, only an hour earlier, so if fatigue will sit in, today’s the day. But my mood is still typically calm.

A new guy started yesterday overseas. He had a 12 minute long tirade about the condition of the computer and it’s delay 2 weeks in the mail (overseas to a limited access area), but I maintained patience and calmness through his much needed cathartic release of frustration. Or maybe I’m just a jaded IT guy and while my blood-pressure certainly went up, I’ve got the tools and reasoning behind me to keep me calm.

So, I got in at 8 to speak with him again, and he walked back a few things, but additionally it was very late where he is and he wanted to call me later. Thanks for interrupting my sleep so you could feel some semblance of control in your life.

I went back home afterward, so that I could start tonight’s dinner in the slow-cooker. Kahlua Pork – no not that kind of kahlua! It’s just pork shoulder (met the butcher, John, and had a fun conversation – remind me to get him a 2lb sandwich when I’m back on the bread) salt, and a touch of mesquite liquid smoke. Will season afterward as needed, so I picked up some annatto seed powder as well. But tonight’s dish will be simple. Pulled Pork and Green Cabbage. Perhaps on a bed of cauliflower rice.

My girlfriend asked if we could make colcannon with it, but wanting to steer clear of potatoes in large quantities today, I’ll likely pair it with the collards in the fridge that need cookin’ soon. Breakfast was the usual (eggs, spinach, seasonings, oil), but I did forget that we had oven-roasted and cracklin’ chicken left-overs in the fridge! So for lunch I had a chicken thigh, half of a yam, and broccoli to fill the plate-void left behind. 6 raspberries as well. This actually makes lunch easier honestly. Pop open fridge, find left-overs, eat.

Tonight I go back to “Gross Out” (Grocery Outlet, Bargain Market) to get more frozen riced cauliflower and a leafy green to put into eggs. Some more time on the rowing machine is in my mind, but I’m not yet sure where I’ll fit that in with the need to cook tonight. It’ll happen.

Also, I’m going to avoid desert tonight. Don’t want it to be a regular thing, even if it is healthy.

All this good food, and new food in the ‘fridge has had us working furiously in the kitchen. It’s time for a left-over day. Not because we’re tired of cooking, but because we still haven’t mastered the art of cooking for two (and when I was alone, I’d cook on Sunday and eat through until Thursday most weeks).

Today was still easy. I have some fears that my metabolism is broken, because I’m not feeling any ill effects at all. But, I started today off the same as usual, eggs, spinach, different spices than the day before. Breakfast is just an automatic thing I eat because I’m “supposed” to, usually by 9AM but sometimes by 11AM. Some days I want to skip it, but calorie-wise on this Whole30 that seems like a bad idea. Additionally, breakfast is likely why I’m satiated through the day.

Lunch was left-over stuffed bell-pepper (ground turkey), and a slice of shepherds pie again. Work was smooth, nothing extraordinary at all about today. I thought I should exercise, so I hopped on the new water rowing machine, and was able to bang out 5 solid minutes during lunch. I didn’t want to sweat so I knew then that I’d return to it when I returned after work.

When I got home, some Linux work trying to isolate a problem on my relatively new Arch installation. After some troubleshooting I knew the lady was on her way home soon, so I put it down and went to belt out 30 minutes on the rower. 3:40 in I went in too hard and too heavy. I had put in the rest of the water bringing resistance up to “4”, from “2” earlier in the day. A couple of minutes after, I found some endurance within and was able to go 15 minutes straight, with another breather of about a minute and an additional 7 minutes to get to 2000 meters rowed.

I have no idea if that’s good or not, but it was just as she returned, so no matter. Will certainly continue. Low-impact, relatively easy to do while paying 1/4 attention to a show on the iPad.

For dinner we had the aforementioned stuffed peppers and pie. After a bit, we ate some desert of fried plantain with cinnamon and salt, with a little coconut milk from the can earlier in the week, followed by a small palm-full of raspberries.

Feel’s just as decadent as a baked desert. Another good day.

We had grand plans to eat our tasty left-overs tonight, but it was a dear friends birthday, and she had just returned from Germany. I thought I’d only have to resist tempting foods/drinks this weekend when we planned to celebrate, but she wanted to see us on her birthday. Have to oblige a birthday girl, right?

Breakfast, was quick-n-easy. I’m getting good at this. Eggs, spinach, some choice seasoning, and a 1/4 of an avocado. Fried up on my way out the door to a job-site an hour away. Packed up my leftover shepherds pie for lunch and grabbed a cutie mandarin to snack on.

Out at the job-site, on my knees, wiring up our network to the new patch panel, I found myself much less stressed about it. It was a small task, only 24 patches. But I think normally I’d be bent out of shape at all the wiring. It’s tedious and requires knuckles getting crushed from time to time as you reach and thread CAT5 cable, bundle it up and push it where it’s supposed to be, out of the way but accessible and quickly read at a glance. It’s only Monday, so maybe that’s all it is, but I like to think this diet is helping me be more mindful and enjoy the little things. Lunch was delicious, I saved it for after I was done, and testing the wireless network (which also had an issue but didn’t make me freak out too much, I was only pressed for time in leaving the city, “traffic gets nasty soon” I thought. But again, I KISS and figured out that I must have nudged the power plug to the router).

For dinner, I had agreed to cook salmon and a baked potato with spinach on the side. I found a delicious recipe for Salmon w/ Avocado Sauce, on a bed of riced-cauliflower. As I write this in hindsight (2020 has the clearest hindsight), it was another outstanding dish. Even for two people that aren’t on Whole30. One thought the riced-cauliflower was actually rice. Go figure. Ghee is delicious though so I don’t blame him. I left the potatos in the oven, because we were hungry, and it would take at least another 20 minutes until they were ready.

The night went on, and we chit-chat, a typical dinner party. We were so into conversation that 40 minutes in, I leapt up to check on the potatoes we had all forgotten about. Apparently we were full-enough not to care. They were a bit hard and went uneaten for the evening. I bought some macrons for my friend, and didn’t have temptation to lick my thumb of the filling that got on it after plating it and singing happy birthday. Feeling satisfied with this good food. Not something I would have believed 6 days ago.

We did munch on some food later in the night back at home though. Near bed time. I had a potato, and half of a banana with almond butter. I think I need to avoid that kind of eating, just to stay health-conscious. But it was really good.

I did have a second “nightmare” about eating a sweet though. So subliminally there’s definitely something. In both bad-dreams, it was an involuntary unplanned reaction. I was in the middle of something, and passing by a plate of baked chocolate something-or-others. Grabbed it and took a bite, and then spit it out after I had realized what I’d done. I can live with these nightmares though. It means even subconsciously, I’m trying to stay on track.

If this is a diet, I may need to try others. Sure I would like to eat some bread or sweets, but, I’m so satisfied with my meals, that it seems superfluous. This morning (well, 11:30) I went ahead with the sausage, making a self-righteous assumpion so that I could add one flavor profile to my already delicious accidental omelette. Ate it very quickly, and will make again. Though I’m waiting for word. One time is fine for me, multiple times is just rude to myself.

For dinner, my girlfriend said that enough is enough, it’s time for her to cook and treat me to some meals she’s got on her mind. Spoilers: it was delicious. We were planning on entertaining her mother for dinner, and perhaps her brother so there were two options. We went with the safest: Bell-peppers stuffed with ground turkey. Turkey alone was missing something but with the bell-pepper…. it needed nothing extra. Zing bang damn it was good. And she also made a spicy chicken soup, with its heritage in Mexican tortilla soup, but w/o the tortilla. It’s so hearty and good, the broth is amazing. We used the chicken bones from previous cracklin’ chicken and chicken broth.

Dessert, yes we can have dessert (that’s why this doesn’t feel like your typical “diet”), we had a golden delicious apple with a 1/4 lime squeezed on top, split between us initially. Then another. I’m trying to avoid eating fruit after dinner, for the Glycemic Inde spike just before bed, but it was a delicious sunday meal and we only ate twice today. More calories felt okay, if not needed.

Last night we opted for In-N-Out, with the hope of maintaining our usual ritual of going out on Friday night. Protein style, with mustard, raw onion, tomato & pickles. It wasn’t as good as with cheese and sauce, but, it was still damn delicious and I’d order it again in a pinch.

Started the day with an omelette, again. Spinach & Baby Kale with Eggs and seasoning. Tonight we made that Shepherds pie that that I spoke of yesterday. Brussel sprouts, carrots, onion, grass-fed/finished beef (80/20 and 93/7 mixed) with a topping of russet potato, ghee and nooch, and a splash of Nut Pods. It was truly delectable and will be replacing the shepherds pie I make from now on. Additionally, it’s going to inspire an attempt at a “thanksgiving flavor” turkey and yams, but that will need some thought.

I still have yet to feel any changes in my body, but it’s only been 3 days.

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An aside: we went grocery shopping today and saved a butload at Grocery Outlet. They even had a sausage that seems okay for Whole30 (it only had sodium lactate in it that is remotely questionable, and according to the Whole30 forums its a-okay if it’s from beets, not corn). I’m waiting with bated breath to hear from New York Sausage Company what it has. Yes, I emailed them.

Day 2 has been easier so far – but I had a nightmare already about sabotaging myself by eating a cookie! Ridiculous, can’t even go 24 hours without sugar without dreaming about eating some. And I even had a banana yesterday.

Anyway, the left-over yams and chicken thigh made today a breeze. Must cook ahead.

My favorite part of the meal was yam-medallians, spiced with salt, pepper and paprika. Savory yam is my jam, and so simple I wonder why it wasn’t part of my staple diet before. And while I know I’ll get sick of chicken and yams, this is a wonderful reintroduction to real-food. I’ve been eating so decadently for what feels like forever, that I almost forgot how to cook and eat without butter.

Tonight, I plan to make shepherd’s pie, understanding full well that I shouldn’t be substituting a damn thing. But the reddit whole30 seems to be all about it, so I’m taking my queue from there. Also, shep pie is one of my favorite things to eat that I don’t eat that regularly.

Take-away-of-the-day: scrutinize labels. I went to make Yogi’s Nighttime tea and halted as soon as I ran across Stevia-Leaf. Things you wouldn’t think are bad, are in fact bad.

Trying to start the year off with a shift toward more conscious choices of food. Convenient food is great, but somewhere along the line I lost my way. Pizza and burgers, even though I don’t eat them every day, have become part of my normal habits. Eating sweets is no longer a special teat but an expectation. Whole30 boils down to one thing for me: get your ass in the kitchen and cook again. Sure, I can’t use butter, or cheese, but just making dinner from scratch I now have no excuse.

Day 1 has been a challenge, and it’s only half-over. We should have planned it better. Yesterday, I made hoppin’ john, as tradition dictates with butter, ham-hock, rice, and black-eyed peas. All to be avoided on Whole30. This tradition pushed the Whole30 back 1 day, but it felt fine. Hoppin’ John isn’t exactly unhealthy, and it’s a nice bridge between all the holiday food and New Years eve gluttony the night before.

My first order of business was to prepare breakfast for the upcoming work days. I decided on egg-muffin-bites with spinach, baby kale, bacon, and seasoned with rosemary salt and pepper. Why didn’t I read the label prior to attempting to cook it? I realized the bacon I picked up from Boar’s Head did indeed have 0 carbs and no sugar on the nutritional label, but the ingredients list revealed that it still was cured with sugar. I need to scrutinize the ingredient list. Research my purchases, and then buy with certainty. Breakfast was a bust. Generic eggs for breakfast it is. At least that’s easy. Perhaps I’ll add some avacado.

I just spent half of my lunch break wandering Whole Foods buffet area, and now realize that there’s a lot of whole foods, but they’re the type that might cause gastrointestinal issues, or something along those lines. Whole 30 ain’t no joke.

Tonight I plan to cook enough food for a couple of days. Cracklin’ Chicken thighs and Oven Roasted, crispy skin chicken thighs with yams and asparagus/broccolini. At least I know that’s delicious and will satisfy us for a couple of days….