Sometimes it pays to buy in bulk. I don’t remember when I first heard of Tropical Traditions, but I’ve bought coconut oil and other products from them several times during the past three years or so. When they had a recent half-off sale on 1 gallon pails of their “gold label” coconut oil, I decided to stock up. Much less expensive than buying it a pint or so at a time at grocery stores.

Their claims that the “volcanic soil of Mt. Banahaw makes these organic coconuts some of the most nutritionally rich coconuts in the world” seem like mere promotional hype, but the oil is certainly tasty, and gives everything I cook with it a bit of a Thai/Indian tinge. I’ve been using this pail for the past few days, and it’ll last long after this Whole30 program has concluded.

Here are my food photos for day 9:

Thursday, Jan. 23

I woke up at 10:25 a.m. (after heading to bed at 2:20 a.m.). I slept pretty well, and have no memory of my 9:25 a.m. alarm. I slept an hour past the point that I intended to get up, and my alarm was switched off when I awoke. That could be because I forgot to set it, but it could also be because it woke me up just enough to turn it off and go back to sleep. Equally plausible scenarios.

Breakfast: 11:05 a.m. | 1 pork chop, 1 1/2 turnips, 1 carrot, 1 oz. baby spinach, 1/2 red onion, 2 Tbsp. coconut oil, herbs & spices

Leftovers from last night’s dinner.

Lunch: 2:25 p.m. | 6.7 oz. tuna filets with garlic in olive oil, 1 cucumber, 5,000 IU Vitamin D3 capsule

Dinner: 10:00 p.m. | 8 oz. salmon, 1/4 head cabbage, 1/2 rutabaga, 1/2 yellow onion, 4 cloves garlic, 2 Tbsp. coconut oil, herbs & spices

I ate half of the contents of the skillet below, saving the other half for breakfast.