Maybe I am crazy, but I know it can work, because I have done it before. I know that it's a good, healthy reset for my body. And if nothing else, it's a great test and strengthening of self control which is never a bad thing, right?
But still, here's the why.
The past couple years I've noticed a few changes in me. A lack of energy and motivation, mood swings, weight gain, more carpal tunnel pain, etc just to name a few. At first I blamed most of these things on turning 30. People do say eventually your metabolism catches up with you, right? Eventually your body ages to a point that it just doesn't quite feel the same, right? Is it just that I've finally reached that point of adulthood?
Well, here's the thing. Besides entering my 30's, in the last couple years I have also gone from part time to full time employment, stopped almost all of my exercise (refer back to working full time and you'll get why I can't seem to "find" the time anymore) went through schooling and obtained a certification, moved twice, (yes, I'm throwing that one in because moving is it's own kind of stress) and then the big one... cough... finalized my divorce. When I think back on it, I guess a lot has happened in the last few years. So, perhaps it's not about aging past 30. Maybe it's actually just life in general.
Regardless of the cause, I am too young, and too "relatively" healthy to get winded walking down the street to the mailbox and back... you know what I mean? I used to be very active. I want to get back to that.
Whole30 for me is just a stepping stone to get me back on track. Back to eating healthy. Back to more energy. Back to feeling motivated to excerise. It's not about restricting my diet for the rest of my life and never having cake again. It's not about shaming myself or anyone else for choosing to eat bread. It's about getting control over my addiction to sugar. It's about being able to play outside with my kids and somewhat keep up with them. It's about teaching them healthy eating habits that they will hopefully take with them someday when they are grown. And I know it has to start with me.
So, how has week 1 gone?
Let's go over the basic rules of Whole30 real quick.. These are the rules I have committed to following for the month of August.
No Grains. No added sugar, not even from natural sources. No beans. No legumes, (with the exception of green beans, sugar snap peas, and snow peas.) No dairy.
Reading labels of canned goods and pantry items is the hardest part. Sugar, as well as soy and corn are big ones that are in a lot of products you might not think about.
I will eat meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds.
The night before I started, I ate all the things.. really, kind of a bad idea. I even knew it was a bad idea, but I still did it. I was meal prepping, so raman noodles were on the menu with my Milo's sweet tea. (LOVE that tea brand!) I also had to eat a couple of brigadeiros that my kids had made since I was giving up chocolate for a month. But... besides eating random, unhealthy things, I chopped veggies.
Day 1 was a success as far as staying compliant... with a couple minor exceptions. Go ahead, Whole30 police, come and get me.
When I do a Whole30, I stay as compliant as I possibly can, but also stay within my food budget and convenience. What I mean by that is.... I'm a huge fan of Walmart's online grocery pickup service. Instead of having to spend half of my Saturday to grocery shop, I typically pick up my online order on my way home from work on Fridays and I'm good to go. That being said, if I can't find it conveniently at Walmart, I don't have the will power or time to shop around out of my way at other stores like whole foods, or Aldi, nor do I have the budget to order specialty foods from these big, fancy farms.
So.. back to staying Whole30 compliant. The only exceptions I will make in these 30 days is my bacon and breakfast sausage. I get the all natural sausage, and the uncured natural bacon. The sausage has listed in the ingredients "less than 2% sugar" along with the other spices, and the bacon has just a little turbinado sugar, a.k.a "raw sugar." But, I will not consume them every day.. and it's still a much better choice for me to make than a donut.. Mostly because I do not crave them the way I crave a dessert, or pastry. :)
I felt empowered on day 1, and excited about the next month. I totally had an obnoxious "can do" attitude. I ate boiled eggs and avocado for breakfast, baked potato and sausage for lunch with raw cucumber and carrots, and cantaloupe.. and dinner was baked chicken and veggies. All the veggies I spent time the night before chopping!
Here's a funny one for you.. I chickened out of completely getting rid of coffee.. coffee is fine for Whole30, but the normal creamers out there on the market aren't and.. I don't drink my coffee for the coffee taste, if you know what I'm saying. I knew not drinking any at all would result in a headache later, so.. I put unsweetened coconut milk in my coffee to see if it was edible. Let's just say, it looked like I was drinking grease after cooking a bunch of fatty ground beef.. here's proof. Go ahead, you can laugh..
But overall, day 1 = success and a feeling of accomplishment.
Day 2 I woke up with a pounding headache... bring on the detoxing... I almost left work 30 minutes after I got there, convinced I would puke at my desk and never be able to show my face there again. I got up from my desk three different times, as the nausea came over me strong enough that I thought I might lose it. It was bad, y'all.
After some black coffee and ibuprofen, I managed to stay at work, but the headache continued on through the day until late evening.
Day 3 I had a slight headache, but overall I felt okay. By the evening after work I was tired, but finished the day with steak, sweet potato fries and broccoli for dinner and a movie night with the kids.
The funny part about this night was that I dreamt of food.... when I woke on day 4, I couldn't remember details of my dream, only that it involved eating at a restaurant, and no... I was not eating on plan.. 🤣
But, for day 4 I stayed compliant in the daytime hours-the hours that count. For dinner I threw together this homemade Whole30 approved chili. It was so yummy!
I was pretty tired that day, and ready for this phase of the detox to be over. 🙂
Days 5 and 6 I felt great. I have not hit any sort of spike in energy yet, in fact, I'm still feeling sort of sluggish.. but, I'm still determined to see this thing through. I'm on day 7 and am ready for what it will bring. I feel like Kuzco in The Emperor's New Groove. "Bring it on!"
I have a few friends and family members doing this thing with me, and that makes it all the more fun that we are experiencing it together. I hope we all have good results in the end!
The biggest take away I have had in the first week is really just a reinforcement of what I already knew. We must (to the best of our ability) take care of our body. Otherwise, we suffer for it. That's not to say of course that there aren't some health problems that come that we can't prevent. But there are several ailments that we can bring on ourself by not eating right. The detox headache was much worse than it was the first time I did this challenge. It was worse because I've not been nourishing myself with the right foods. On day 2 I thought to myself, "I'm never eating sugar again!" We all know that is impossible, but, my irrational (or maybe rational?) thought process was that I never wanted to feel so yuck again. If going one day without some of these foods creates such a withdrawal, shouldn't we be at least a little more leery to consume them?
After this month, I will try very hard to strike a balance. I love that word. It works in so many areas of life. Perhaps some future thoughts are coming on what I am learning about having balance in life. In this case, balancing healthy choices with the occasional treat. #goals
So, there you have it. My crazy ramblings. I'll get back to my regular posts soon. As soon as I can have chocolate again! ;)
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