Have you heard of Whole 30? Maybe it's all you hear about and you're sick of it, then this is not the article for you. Like many others, my eating got a little off track during the holiday season. I love to challenge myself and knew the Whole 30 would be a great way to kick-off 2017. Because I believe strongly in support and accountability, I asked others to join me and now have a private Facebook group of 33 members. Knowing throughout December I would embark on this journey I devoured the book Whole 30 (link below), preparing my mind for a challenging month of January. I believe mindset is everything in achieving success, in diet, in exercise, in career, etc.
To begin, the Whole 30 is not a diet, but a total nutrition reset. Here are the basic rules:
Some of you might be thinking : NO FUN, but rather than focusing on what we CAN'T have, we're encouraged to focus on what we can have. I already eat everything on the YES list so the toughest thing for me was giving up peanut butter (the one food I could eat if stranded on a desert island for life) some cheeses, cream occasionally in my coffee and oatmeal. I guess that's a lot but it's ONLY 30 days!
The Whole 30 forces you to read labels because if you eat foods that are not compliant, BACK to Day 1 you go! It's pretty strict and the reason for a forced "reset" is to keep you disciplined and on track. I always thought I was a good label-reader, but now realize I was still buying products with added sugar, a trick food companies use to make food taste better and/or hook you into buying their product again. After all, sugar is a drug and coming off of it can be really rough. Many of the group's participants had fatigue and headaches the entire first week. I did well my first week; I did experience fatigue on Day 7 but I was fine again by Day 8.
An important key to success on Whole 30 is meal planning, shopping and prepping. A failure to plan is a plan to fail. Its more work than most people are used to. No longer are we buying processed "convenience" foods. And you have to be mindful of every bite you take, no longer can you just take a few bites of your kid's pasta, or Mac N Cheese. That's a tough habit to break because so many of us do it daily without even realizing it, but all those "bites'' of food add up to wasted calories.
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| Gracie's DeCecco pasta last night with Parmesan Reggiano, oh how tempting this was! |
But, I get:
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| but ONLY if it's compliant |
And LOTS of.......
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| I LOVE eggs and can have 2-3 each day and WITH the yolks! |
For years I ate egg white omelettes which lacked flavor and I totally burned out on them. Now I can have the whole egg and cooked in Ghee or clarified butter which really brings out the flavor. That's the thing, because of the fats we use to cook with, Whole 30 food is so flavorful! I don't feel deprived at all.
So today is Day 15 and I'm feeling strong. We are told to weigh and measure on Day 1 and Day 30 but nowhere in-between because the number on the scale can mess with our heads and throw us off track. We are encouraged to recognize non-scale victories, like one of our participants just got back into her pre-pregnancy jeans (she had a baby in August), or some are sleeping better. As for me, I wake up each morning without my usual aches/pains and muscle and joint stiffness and I know that is due to cutting out all gluten. Grains, especially gluten, can really inflame our bodies which is why we avoid ALL grains for 30 days, so we can truly identify how we feel off of them and how we feel once we reintroduce them back into our lifestyle.
To encourage or motivate others I did want to take progress photos but I haven't weighed.
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| Not sure why I look so miserable on Day 1, I was pretty excited about this. |
I've been in pretty good shape since July and only gained a few pounds over Christmas holiday but I was puffy and uncomfortable when I began on Day 1. Today I feel much leaner and notice the biggest difference in my tummy! That is reason alone to continue for 2 more weeks!
There are SO many more details I could go into about Whole 30 and an entire science behind it but the book explains much better and I highly recommend "It Starts with Food" by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig (link below), and THEN get "Whole 30" also by the same authors.
Once our 30 days are complete we are encouraged to go into a Paleo diet which is much like Whole 30 but not as strict. And we can start making our favorite foods again like pancakes or muffins but using coconut or almond flours instead of the usual wheat flours which contain gluten. On Whole 30 those type of foods are considered "trigger" foods that could send us off the deep end so zero baked goods for 30 days, but it's only 30 days! I can do anything for 30 days, can't you?
There are countless blogs, websites, and Pinterest pins galore of amazing Whole 30 and Paleo recipes. Never before have we had so much information so easily accessible. There really is no excuse to fail because too many have gone before us and paved the way with delicious recipes to keep life flavorful and fun! But if you pin on Pinterest daily, let me just say.....
Let me know if you try it! I highly recommend Whole 30 and haven't found it difficult. My husband did no grains for 13 days and my 9 year old daughter lives on carbs so I have plenty of non-compliant food in my home at all times. That is life. You have to learn to adapt to a new lifestyle even when those around you don't. You have to learn to balance special occasions where food is always used as celebration because that is life. And life is about balance! You can do it!
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I hope this has been A Good Fit! Thank you for your time.
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