Mood:  Relieved.  Today we made a trip up to Fremont where I had the opportunity to have Spanky’s breadsticks.  Anyone from Fremont knows what this means.  It means my Whole30 experiment is effectively over.  The breadsticks have set me free.

General Thoughts:  I’ll give a more detailed summary of my findings later.  Right now I have breadsticks to eat.

Mood:  Fine.  I’m fine.  I may never eat scrambled eggs for breakfast again, but I’m fine.

General Thoughts:  My dreams are getting stranger.  Most of them are food-centric.  My subconscious is betraying me.  It’s only a matter of time until I crack.

Mood:  Annoyed.  I’ll give it until Day 20 and if I haven’t seen Tiger Blood by then, I’m going back to Donut Blood.  

General Thoughts:  The social aspect of food makes this diet even harder.  It’s tough to turn down outings with friends because it’s centered around food you can’t have.  And I know what you’re thinking, “geez man, have a little self control”.  People, if I had self control around food, I wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with.

Food:  Tandoori Chicken with Cauliflower Rice (http://thebigmansworld.com/2015/03/22/pulled-tandoori-chicken/) The chicken was amazing and the Tandoori sauce did a wonderful job of covering up the taste of cauliflower.  This was another healthy meal that I could eat on a regular basis.  

General Thoughts:  Still no Tiger Blood, though I’m finding that it’s getting easier to pull myself out of bed in the morning.  In fact, most mornings I’m now waking up about 10 minutes before my alarm even goes off (4:50am).  I’m not bragging…. this is an extremely annoying ritual by body has adopted.  Also, my dreams have been really weird for the last few days.  Maybe my Tiger Blood is nocturnal?

Mood:  Concerned.  Half way there and no sign of Tiger Blood yet.   Sure, my stomach is feeling better and I don’t feel as much like a blob anymore, but I’ve not seen the kick-in-the-pants of extra energy I was promised.  I’m worried that my Chex-mix mishap the other day may have done me in.  What if this is a “pass/fail” scenario with no gray area and because of my gluten-filled transgressions I have been barred from paradise?  Of course, there’s always the option of starting over.  BAHAHAHA!!!

General Thoughts:  My other worry is that I’ll complete this 30 days and feel no different.  Only to find out that the “Tiger Blood” is one of those hippie, existential, B.S. everyone-gets-a-trophy ideas and “the Tiger Bloods been in me the whole time” and all I had to do is believe.   Or worse, that the Tiger Blood is literal and the final test of The Whole30 is an epic man vs. feline battle to the death.  In retrospect, I probably should have read the whole book before starting this.

Food: This diet is a lot of making foods you wouldn’t normally eat into foods you would.  Today we made plantains into tortilla shells (http://zenbelly.com/2013/08/17/plantain-tortillas/) and they were delicious.  Topped with pulled pork, cabbage slaw and a jalapeño sauce, they were some of the best tacos we’ve had.  

General Thoughts.  I could survive on an entirely taco based diet. No Tiger Blood yet.  Still hopeful.

Mood: Guilty.  I have a confession. Today, in a moment of weakness, and to my everlasting shame, I had a handful of Chex-mix.  Chex-mix is obviously not Whole30 compliant.  To be fair, it was my mother-in-law’s homemade Chex-mix, which, for all intents and purposes, is a borderline narcotic.  I will try to be stronger going forward.

General Thoughts:  That Chex-Mix was really freak’n good.  Don’t you dare judge me.

Mood:  I drove slowly past The Donut Conspiracy today.  Sometimes I wonder if it’s thinking about me too.  I find that the days I workout in the morning are the days I think about food the most.  Maybe I should just start sleeping in…

General Thoughts:  One of the biggest problems with this diet has been that a lot of the foods we’ve been preparing lack excitement (excitement=sugar).  Today I found this killer hot sauce that may turn thing around.  All natural ingredients and nothing I couldn’t pronounce.  If you can find it, I highly recommend it!

Mood: Victorious-ish.  Today was the day The Whole30 said we were most likely to quit.  But we didn’t. We thought about it.  A lot.  But we didn’t.  Mostly out of spite.  Whatever keeps ya going, I guess…

General Thoughts:  I did cheat a little bit by weighing myself before the 30 days are up.  The fact that I’m down 7 pounds was enough to get me through another day.  I should celebrate with a donut.

Mood:  I heard Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar On Me” on the radio this morning and wept the rest of the way to work.

General Thoughts:  The Whole30 book says that around Day 15 or 16 the dieter should experience a phase called “The Tiger Blood Phase”.  This is where you really start to drop weight and have boundless energy*.  If this doesn’t happen to me, I’m going to burn The Whole30 book in my backyard and toast marshmallows over its smoldering ashes.

*The dieter may also experience hallucinations featuring Charle Sheen during this phase.