#been up since like 3-4 am. drank some coffee. made cucumber salad. drank more coffee. god help me

[sharksliveontrains]

trying not to throw up rn

[em114706]

WHOLE30 Day 21

Single digits left y’all. So, seasoning. If there is anybody in the world who salts and sugars as much as I did, I’d be surprised. I’m a picky eater, though not in a way where I understood that. As a child I used to drive my mom nuts, I’d pick out the noddles from her supposedly yummy chili (in Cleveland, chili has noodles) and leave everything else in the bowl. I’d eat around a burger and when I got to the pink part of it I’d stop eating. Basically if I didn’t like it I didn’t touch it. Come high school, I was living with my dad, and I’d eat cream cheese with a side of bagel and white cheez-its with skim milk. I remember losing weight for prom so I could fit into my size 4 dress and all I did was replace the cream cheese with peanut butter. That’s it. Here is a prom photo:

Now that I’m grown up and doing the whole adulting thing, I couldn’t eat just cheez-its and bagels. 1. I’d gain weight, and 2. most restaurants don’t serve that. So I learned to take meat out, since I don't like it, and that forced me to eat more fish and vegetables, and ‘lo my pallet expanded. My appetite grew, as well as much stomach, and my menu of approval thickened. My secret, I figured out I’m allowed to salt stuff, not pepper (sorry Laura ), but salt helped me down things I’d usually pick around.

Coffee. Never drank it until the film industry. People live off this stuff. As an assistant I’m constantly around it. Yes, I do get coffee for people. You’d be impressed how many orders I have memorized for a show. So one day I tried it too (I’m usually a tea drinker) and I was like ew gross. But I realized it made my hunger disappear and kept me full even if I didn’t eat brekkie. I figured out filling half my cup with almond milk and like 4 packets of stevia I could chug it down.

Now, even though stevia is whole30 approved dietary wise, it’s not allowed because it leads to the sugar cravings most people need to let go of. I thought I was above that because I don’t have sugar cravings, I’m more of a salt person, and I started with putting stevia in my coffee. I felt guilty after the first week and decided to take it out. I also stopped salting things and adding cheese and other flavors. I swear to you, fruit is so sugary I can’t eat a lot in one sitting. Avocado is so flavorful and smoked salmon is the salties thing in the world. I made sliced avocado with hb egg and topped with smoked salmon. I sprinkled a little salt and drizzled a dab of lemon and was just blown away by the flavor overload, had to wipe some of it off. Me? Wipe salt off? Yeah, I did. And my coffee? Guess what, I enjoy it diluted with almond milk. It tastes fine. What? Coffee tastes...did I say...fine? Yeah.

Whole30 has taught me to appreciate the flavor of food. Probably something my parents wished I’d discovered at a younger age, might have been easier to cook for. Not saying I’m no longer a picky eater, trust me I am still very much so. But it’s nice to taste the flavor in things. It’s a new experience for me.

Reflections:

What went well today: nice array of snacks/food options What could have gone better: time to change up the gym What I’ll do tomorrow: push myself harder at gym and incorporate different foods

Energy: 8 Sleep Quality: 8 Cravings: 8

NSV #1: I can taste food’s natural flavor better NSV #2: treadmill 30 min was really easy NSV #3: motivation to keep up on mundane daily tasks that I usually let pile up

Meal #1: hb egg, cucumber, avocado, pineapple Meal #2: arugula and romain salad with mushrooms, squash, avocado, cucumber, jicama, egg, walnuts, almonds, side of pineapple Meal #3: salad leftovers (it was huge) Snacks: fruit leather, salmon jerky, pickle

Workout: 30 min treadmill (2.3 miles)