Whole30 Day 12 Holy mother of hard: How bad to you want it?

Today was my first day shooting in KY.

I discussed traveling here and the challenge I faced at the airport last night in this blog post. But the airport was Nirvana compared to today.

So I guess it started with the fact that I landed at midnight. My partners had come in a few days earlier and I was hoping they had a little time to do some food shopping for our production house. Unfortunately, things were just hectic and they never did so I came into no food. We also had an issue that came up for today's shoot so by the time I got to the house (at 1AM) we had work to do! They ate apple pie while I remembered my dismal airport salad.

Fine. I'm fine. Who needs apple pie at 1:30 in the morning? Me! Me! Me! Most definitely NOT ME!

We finally turned in at 2:30 AM - I tossed and turned and we had to get up around 5AM. I'm not good with no sleep and I woke up from my 'nap' feeling like I had drank and partied like a rockstar the night before. Oh. And there was the little issue of what the f am I going to eat?

We are in rural-ish KY and on a tight schedule. I counted my blessings that I had a bruised banana from the flight and a crushed cashew cookie Lara bar at the bottom of my travel bag and ate that at 5:45 AM with some black coffee. Needless to say by 9AM I was starving and screwed.

This was the table that was set up for production:

Pringles compliant? No? Didn't think so

And there was some bananas too (which I had one of) but I really wanted some good protein.

It was tough out there. It was cold, windy and a little drizzly. I was hungry and sleep deprived.

Around 11:30 AM I came across a small miracle. I was digging through my travel bag and found this at the bottom of it:

A gift from the Gods

I had forgotten that I had this little packet of cashew nut butter stowed away - I put it there the week before and forgot all about it! I felt like I had just won the Whole30 lottery. It was soooo yummy and took the edge off.

And then it started to rain. So we had to wrap our outside production at 1PM (bad news for production) we were moving to an inside scene on the other side of town - buuuuuut…. we had to go through Lexington and there, in all its shining glory, there it was….

halleluja! halleluja!

Thank you Lord! But, we only had ten minutes to grab lunch. But I knew this might be my only WF chance so I took those ten minutes to bring stuff back to the office for lunch and stuff I might for the next two weeks. Time was tight and I pretty much panicked into "Super Market Sweep" mode.

I grabbed dates and avocados and raw cashews. Ooooh - compliant guacamole and some lemons  (no basket mind you in my arms like a lunatic) A few sweet potatoes and I found ghee! I found ghee! Grabbed that and some coconut milk for the morning. Then I realized, I had no protein. I saw my co-workers get on line and I zipped to the meat aisle - what protein could I zap in the microwave? I know! And I grabbed some organic, uncured, compliant Applegate Farms hotdogs. Whew!

So with my food loot we went back to the office and I had a sweet potato with ghee and two hotdogs for lunch. And let me tell you it was the best damn lunch ever.

I grabbed a few cashews as a snack and then we came back to the house. 

One of my coworkers had grabbed some eggs and a big box of spring mix salad (oh bless her heart) so for dinner I had some of the guacamole, the spring mix salad with a squeeze of lemon and olive oil that we had in the house from our last visit and two scrambled eggs in the ghee. 

So today is in the books and it was successful. It was hard but I am so happy that I made it happen. I feel particularly proud because not only did I deal with the lack of food but I also was faced with that while on little sleep, outside freezing and away from home - all triggers for me. 

On a side note - even feeling sleep deprived, I do think I would've felt 10 times worse if I wasn't on Whole30. As the day went on I felt a tired but I had enough energy to get my work done and not feel like dying all day. 

How are you doing? Have you ever been in a challenging food situation and had to work it out?

XO

Jen

Food For Thought Friday - "Convenience" foods

produce getting ready to be juiced

I've been feeling pretty good lately, been getting in my runs, starting to get in some strength training (thanks, Dana) and eating pretty well.

I have been obsessed lately with learning more and more about the food industry, going organic, maintaining health thru food, etc.

I swear. When you start delving into all this shit it really could make your head explode.

The food industry is nuts - it's almost not our fault that many of us walk around obese and sick. We are kind of set up for failure. Between franken-foods that are purposely processed to be non-satisfying and addicting, to marketing, to misinformation, to our own biology that still acts as if we could face a famine at any moment - we have a lot to fight and face.

We get swept up in hype. I was guilty too. I mean - I'm finally eating very clean for the most part and have lost 95% of the processed foods that were once in my life but I bought into all that marketing in a big, big, big way. A year ago, processed foods found their way into every meal. Easily. And I thought I was doing "good."

In the old days I would have a day like this and count it a HUGE healthy success.

Breakfast: a popular low fat breakfast cereal, skim milk,  fat free key lime pie yogurt, coffee with more skim milk and a packet of sweetener.

snack: a cereal bar / fruit

Lunch: Frozen low-fat entree, salad with some kind of fat free salad dressing

snack: microwave "light" butter pop-corn (94% fat free)

Dinner: small piece of chicken, instant mashed potatoes, some kind of veggie topped with spray fat-free "butter".

snack: Fat free ice cream, maybe some more fruit.

Now this would be considered a successful day for me and maybe it's still considered a successful day for some of you - I know my sister would think this was a good day… I would come in well with-in Weight Watcher points and it's the kind of day that supported weight loss even - I would have kept the calories and fat at a pretty good number.

BUT, knowing what I know now, I will never have a day like that again and consider it a "healthy day." All that processed food - has more unpronounceable words that I can count. Eating "food-like" products filled with chemicals is NOT healthy or good for us. They keep us hungry and hooked and some even say lead to disease.  Why would I give up cigarettes, lose weight, run for my health only to tempt fate with fake sweeteners and fat free frankenfoods?  I did it for YEARS.

I'm not judging if you like a little convenience food. I am no food angel - I am sure I will rely on some processed food or granola bar at some point in my life again. I just marvel at how healthy I thought it all was. I fell hook, line and sinker for all that marketing out there but when you flip that "healthy-looking" box to the back and read the ingredients - it's there in black and white - all those gross industrially-chemically sounding words just can't be good for us.

Ironically, I feel way more satisfied now. I am no longer fat-phobic. I eat avocado a few times a week, I drizzle healthy oils on my salads and use an organic coconut spread in my oatmeal. I snack on almonds, cashews and almonds, I'm enjoying healthy good foods that I had banned because I was so afraid of fat grams… I fill my plate with veggies and good grains like brown rice and quinoa. I top greek yogurt with fruit... I'm almost never hungry because I'm not trying to make some fake ice cream fill me up or satisfy me.

The weekends I will treat myself to one meal that could be questionable - like I might order a little chinese food or pick up some Greek food (but the greek food seems mostly OK tho high in fat.)

If I want a little ice-cream, I will have it. There's a homemade ice cream parlor up the street from me. So every so often we go and enjoy a little real ice cream.

I like to have a glass of red wine here and there or a dirty martini…

I'm not perfect. I don't want to preach.

Earlier I mentioned some of it is almost not our fault. I still agree with that to an extent but we need to take control over our food and choices by continually educating ourselves and arming ourselves with knowledge. We don't have to change everything all at once but we can take baby steps to better food and health.

I just would encourage you to reconsider some of the processed stuff and try to slowly replace what you can with more whole foods.

Thoughts? Do you ever feel like your head is going to explode as you learn more and more about this stuff?

XO
Jen

Recommended viewing/reading:
The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Secrets Behind What You Eat by Michael Pollan
Food Inc.
Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead
Hungry For Change