So I did whole 30.. for 27 days. I feel great. Here is the story about how I stumbled upon it, what it is, and the successes and
struggles I had with it.
I have always considered myself to be a healthy
eater. Jman and I don't drink soda, don't eat fast food regularly, and
generally try to meal plan good recipes, so it was a mystery for me on why I
continued to gain weight (besides that it was the holiday season and I was
eating more than my fair share of Christmas cookies and desserts). I finally
had it about one week into December when all of my pants were too tight to
button and I was tired of the muffin top spilling over. So I decided I needed
to start working out again! Instead of waiting until January, Jman encouraged
me to start immediately since I was feeling a wave of motivation. So I
did! Except that two weeks later I became discouraged that I wasn't seeing any
results in the pants department. "What could be the problem?", I thought. Of
course the clear answer was that I would work out and then eat crap the rest of
the day. "I worked out today so it's ok if I drink a beer and eat some
cookies". I knew I had to change my diet but I didn't know how.
I first heard of whole 30 from my friend Angelica, but
really knew nothing about it except that it was kind of like the paleo diet,
which sounded crazy to me. I looked up the rules on whole30.com and was interested but not convinced it
was right for me. One night I couldn't sleep so I decided to buy the whole 30
book "It Starts With Food"
on my kindle. Hours of reading later and I was hooked!
It all made perfect sense. Basically, Whole 30 is a 30 day "Nutritional reset, designed to help you put an end to unhealthy cravings and habits, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, and balance your immune system" (http://whole30.com/step-one).
nutritional
reset, designed to help you put an end to unhealthy cravings and
habits, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, and
balance your immune system. - See more at:
http://whole30.com/step-one/#sthash.KjP19Bii.dpuf
nutritional
reset, designed to help you put an end to unhealthy cravings and
habits, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, and
balance your immune system. - See more at:
http://whole30.com/step-one/#sthash.KjP19Bii.dpuf
nutritional
reset, designed to help you put an end to unhealthy cravings and
habits, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, and
balance your immune system - See more at:
http://whole30.com/step-one/#sthash.KjP19Bii.dpuf
nutritional
reset, designed to help you put an end to unhealthy cravings and
habits, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, and
balance your immune system - See more at:
http://whole30.com/step-one/#sthash.KjP19Bii.dpuf
You can only eat real nutritious unprocessed food, which
includes meat, seafood, eggs, vegetables, some fruit, some nuts and good fats.
Everything else gets cut out for 30 days, including but not limited to:
- any added sugar including real and artificial sweeteners
- alcohol
- grains of any kind including whole grain, wheat, corn,
rice..
- legumes including all beans, peas, chickpeas, lentils, and peanuts
- dairy including cream, cheese, and yogurt
- sulfites/msg/carrageen
The book explains that these things have to be
cut out because they break at least one of their four "good food standards"
which are: 1) promote a healthy psychological response. 2) promote a healthy
hormonal response. 3) support a healthy gut. 4)support immune function and
minimize inflammation. It also explains why these things are important for
healthy living and how each food you cut out breaks these rules.
Personally, I think everyone who is considering doing whole 30 or just wants to
get healthy should read the book.
Originally, when I told Jman that I was doing this I
told him he could just alter the meals I was making and eat how we normally do.
However, I started reading the book to him and he agreed to do it with me.
Here is my advice for anyone considering doing whole 30:
1)
Read the book. It tells you why you have to cut
out these things, which makes it easier to actually do it.
2)
Find someone supportive to do it with you.
3)
Be prepared and plan meals for the whole week.
4)
Get online and connected to communities of
people who are doing the same thing. On instagram I followed Whole30recipes and
Whole30 and Liked the whole30 facebook page. I also followed lots of blogs
where people posted recipes and advice.
Things I found that were difficult about the diet:
- It
is a lot of food prep. Luckily for us, we don’t have kids and the month of January
was pretty uneventful. We had time to prepare food on Saturday and Sundays.
- Finding
compliant food was really hard.. For example, you can have bacon but it should
be organic, uncured and have no added sugar. We ended up getting a Costco
membership just so we could have sugar free bacon.
- The
hardest part was going out with friends. Resisting the urge to eat at potlucks was
difficult but not impossible. We brought veggies or fruit to eat instead of
cheesecake or popcorn and got through it. It is difficult to find compliant
food at restaurants, you are basically limited to salads with no dressing. (I
heard Chipotle and Outback both have come compliant food but we never went to
either place).
- Giving
up alcohol was also hard but again not impossible. When I did go out with friends who were drinking I took sparkling water to fulfill my carbonation craving. Also, I avoided restaurants for the entire month. We don’t
drink a lot but both Jman and I like to drink a glass
of wine on occasion with dinner, so giving it up wasn’t easy.
I must say we ate REALLY well on this diet. I enjoyed
most of the meals and it was refreshing making something new and knowing that it
was healthy. Go to this blog post to see all
of our meals and recipes from the month!
Thank you to all of my family and friends who supported me and encouraged me during this past month!
Until next time,
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