Cold Weather Blues

Excuse Me, Did You Say -31 WITHOUT the windchill???

I awoke to a text from my uncle saying “-31 in North  Bay this morning, -27 at North Pole”. That message in itself was enough incentive to stay in bed a little longer. Not that I needed the rest. After following Dr. Parsley’s advice last night, I slept significantly better than the previous night, although there was still many instances in which I arouse and was unable to fall back asleep for quite some time. I would like to make something clear from yesterday’s post Till I Collapse: I am not necessarily correlating my sleep patterns with my four days of doing the Whole30. I am however speculating that there may be a relationship between the two, as Dr. Parsley’s research suggested. I am looking at this journey holistically, which means identifying all aspects of my life that are possibly being affected.

“-31 in North  Bay this morning, -27 at North Pole”.

This evening I felt energized enough to complete a home workout, as well as my day four of Yoga with Adrienne. With not only the cold weather, but my lack of motivation for exercise lately, I was proud of my accomplishment in finishing both. As stated previously, I am looking at this journey holistically which includes my physical endurance. So how would I rate my physical endurance on day four? Honestly I felt adrenalized for the first fourteen minutes of my HIIT work out. The second fourteen minutes, not so much. That being said, I remained positive and took it slow, listening to my body.

My roommate has a book that takes you through each of the thirty days of Whole30, listing typically experienced symptoms, feelings and difficulties. Many people on day four/ five commonly want to kill all things. You didn’t misread that. Kill. All. Things. The book relates poor temperance and outbursts to your brain telling you “no, you can’t have that”. After spending the day with one of my best friends Jess, I can safely say that I did not experience any urges to punch her in the face. Even when she bought a box of cinnamon toast crunch at Walmart, I was in no means angry. I guess we will see what happens tomorrow!!

Bowl of Mush: Round Two

After enjoying my bowl of mush yesterday, I decided to play with the recipe and substitute zucchini with carrots, going for more of a carrot-cake like bowl. Additionally, I chopped up dates and put ground ginger. The result: very good. Topped with walnuts, unsweetened coconut and a smear of almond butter, this breakfast bowl will probably have another appearance in the next twenty six days.

That being said, I do not want to get into the habit of trying to substitute my oatmeal bowls with “N’oatmeal” bowls (a popular word in the blogging world for non-oatmeal-oatmeal). Going back to the sex with your pants on, this n’oatmeal is a substitute for the real deal. Besides, I also would like to try making new recipes that are outside of my comfort zone of warm mush.

Bruschetta Sauce via. Walmart

The other night my roommate and I sought salsa without added sugar. I am an avid salsa eater, putting it on nearly anything imaginable. Unfortunately, salsa without added sugar is difficult to come by and when you do come by it, it’s quite expensive. I was thrilled however to find a small jar of bruschetta sauce that would serve a similar purpose to my beloved salsa. On a similar note (and just to side track here for a moment), I have a fun fact of the day for you: Franks Red Hot Sauce is Whole30 complacent. Not any of the flavoured kinds, but the plain, original one. My brother lived on that during his thirty days, putting that s*** on everything. That is the slogan for Franks right???

So anyways, today for lunch I prepared an omelette with roasted sweet potatoes, roasted vegetables, spinach and bruschetta sauce. Seeing as I was planning on having leftover spaghetti squash for dinner, I figured I would take the time to make something a bit different for you guys to read about!!! 

Now I don’t have any complaints about this. It was delicious. That being said, it did not carry me sufficiently until supper and I grew foggy during that time. For next time I know that perhaps I did not have a sufficient amount of fat added (such as an avocado), which is key to making a meal on this diet more substantial. For some reason there is a stigma around adding fat to our foods. Society targets carbohydrates and fat as the culprits for weight gain and heart disease. That may be true in certain instances such as trans fat but not in terms of the naturally occurring saturated fats in real foods. Just to summarize some of the benefits of fat:

• Stronger Bone Health: fat is necessary for the absorption of calcium
• Improved Liver Health: saturated fat cells encourage the liver to release fat cells, preventing fat cell accumulation and therefore decreasing the risk of fatty liver disease
• Healthy Lungs: Surfactant (a fluid that contributes to the elastic property of lung tissue) is made up mainly of palmitic acid, which is formed by saturated fats
• Healthy Heart: The saturated fat aids in reducing lipoprotein levels, which is correlated with heart disease

In conclusion, make sure you are getting enough healthy fats people!! I’m not saying to go and eat a bag of potato chips, because that is not a source of naturally occurring fat. I’m saying that foods such as avacodo, eggs, nuts, olive oil and even chia seeds are beneficial to your diet.