I made it through my Whole30 without dying from lack of pepperoni! YAY!
My Whole30 adventure is complete. I have made it 30 days with no sugar, no pizza, no chocolate, no bread...no soooo many things. I didn't cheat even once and I am feeling pretty proud of myself. Jack also made it through and it was a great thing to do together as a couple. I am really glad we did it that way. This was a very eye opening experiment for us and showed us many, many things that we could do as parents to create a healthier household.
The journey really isn't quite done yet. I can't go all hog wild on the pizza place right now. There is a period of reintroducing food categories back in to see how they affect you. This lets you identify foods that trigger bad reactions. Today we begin with dairy, then add back in grains and soy and peanut and so on...all the groups that are prone to causing issues. I am interested to see how this plays out. Wouldn't it be funny if my love of peanut butter since I was about 3 is something that upsets me? Living with issues on a daily basis makes you less likely to notice the havoc they create - you think that is your normal. It should be an interesting experience.
We are also going to continue to incorporate many Whole30 ideas into our everyday diet. We plan to stick pretty close to it while eating at home, with a few exceptions like adding cheese back to things :) I am going to continue to make our sauces and dressings most of the time. I am also going to experiment a bit with making my own bread a few times a week to try and make my love of bread a little healthier. We shall see how that goes.
As for results, I lost 17.5 pounds in 30 days. My stomach upset and heartburn and all that general gut unease has been gone right from the beginning. I am sleeping easier and better - even with two toddlers intent on joining my bed every night. I don't have any sugar cravings or bouncing sugar levels at all. I found that I love cashews. On a slightly sad note, I did continue to have gallbladder pain across the middle of my back every time I ate even a healthy fat - which means it is likely that my gallbladder is just going to have to come out. However, I never had any attacks and the pain was tolerable with a few ibuprofen. It is much less than it was before Whole30.
All in all, I am very happy with the Whole30 experiment. Hopefully, things continue to go well as we navigate this reintroduction period and find a way to incorporate the old and new in a way that is sustainable on a daily basis. Thanks to all for the thoughts and motivation and atta girls...I really appreciated it all. Now someone pour me a glass of wine...
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Whole30 - Day 23
Ok, so I missed a whole bunch of days blogging. Honestly, you didn't miss much. Just pretend there is a blog for every day saying "I ate chicken/turkey, apples/oranges, almonds/cashews, and I tried a new vegetable that I didn't really like." That has pretty much been the last week and a half. Actually, if we are being totally honest...I didn't try a veg every day because I am pretty discouraged on the veggie front. Some days I just roasted diced potatoes for a little home fries action with sea salt and garlic. I like those.
Despite my crushing loss in the battle of eating my vegetables...I am still cruising on and sitting pretty at Day 23. First, I am incredibly proud of myself. Not only for sticking to this (even when people aren't around) but for committing to this project in the way I did to begin with. I owe a giant thank you to Susan D. who was the most awesome motivator and sent me the book with I have cooked out of religiously for 23 days - You rock Susie, that gave me the push I needed to make this happen.
This week, I did make my return to the gym. I had avoided doing this for the first two weeks (and months prior...) because they talk about how exhausted you can feel in the beginning while your body adjusts to the change in diet. Also motivating this change, my sister in law just got a Fitbit so we are engaged in a VERY competitive fitbit war! You would think being home with kids all day would give me lots of walking opportunity but it is slow going getting steps in when we are home because we just walk around a few rooms...occasionally venturing up or down some stairs. So to get a really good chunk of steps in to meet my goal, I really need to leave - preferable on my own so I can go faster. Any of my friends with a fitbit that want to link up, just shoot me a message with your email and I can add you! (For some reason, Android has a bug that is keeping FB from linking with me right now - so I need to add through email.) So far, gym time has been good - I do feel a little more tired but I try to go in between meals so that I can eat when I come home and it seems to work out ok.
With only a week to go, I have been really thinking about the next step, which is slowly reintroducing foods back in and then finding a way to incorporate all that I have learned into our daily non-restrictive lives. At this moment, I think we are going to stay a pop free household. I am not going to be a pop ninja and prohibit the family but it will be a when-we-are-out treat, rather than a walk-five-steps-to-the-fridge daily habit. For me, I think I am going to restrict myself to Sunday lunch. I really don't miss it at all. Also, we are going to stick with many, many of the recipes we found - including all our homemade sugarfree sauces and dressings. They are not difficult to make and are full of vegetables and everyone likes them. I am also going to keep our grocery shopping full of produce like we have been doing. If we cut out all the processed food we normally bought, then it really isn't much more expensive if you plan right. For my personal meals, I am going to keep my breakfasts and our family dinners very much the same. I will probably stay similar for lunch, but if I want to splurge - this will be time. Hopefully this keeps me from returning to bad habits and gaining a bunch of weight back from reintroducing things. Pray for me :)
What I am most looking forward to at the end of this process is going out to eat with my husband. Date night always includes a stop out at a restaurant and with these restrictions, we haven't ventured out to eat. I miss this habit of ours. We have big plans to go out to our local bar for a meal and a drink and
spend some time relaxing together. I am keeping that picture in my head as I finish out another portion of white meat. Seven more days to go, my friends. Seven more days.
Despite my crushing loss in the battle of eating my vegetables...I am still cruising on and sitting pretty at Day 23. First, I am incredibly proud of myself. Not only for sticking to this (even when people aren't around) but for committing to this project in the way I did to begin with. I owe a giant thank you to Susan D. who was the most awesome motivator and sent me the book with I have cooked out of religiously for 23 days - You rock Susie, that gave me the push I needed to make this happen.
This week, I did make my return to the gym. I had avoided doing this for the first two weeks (and months prior...) because they talk about how exhausted you can feel in the beginning while your body adjusts to the change in diet. Also motivating this change, my sister in law just got a Fitbit so we are engaged in a VERY competitive fitbit war! You would think being home with kids all day would give me lots of walking opportunity but it is slow going getting steps in when we are home because we just walk around a few rooms...occasionally venturing up or down some stairs. So to get a really good chunk of steps in to meet my goal, I really need to leave - preferable on my own so I can go faster. Any of my friends with a fitbit that want to link up, just shoot me a message with your email and I can add you! (For some reason, Android has a bug that is keeping FB from linking with me right now - so I need to add through email.) So far, gym time has been good - I do feel a little more tired but I try to go in between meals so that I can eat when I come home and it seems to work out ok.
With only a week to go, I have been really thinking about the next step, which is slowly reintroducing foods back in and then finding a way to incorporate all that I have learned into our daily non-restrictive lives. At this moment, I think we are going to stay a pop free household. I am not going to be a pop ninja and prohibit the family but it will be a when-we-are-out treat, rather than a walk-five-steps-to-the-fridge daily habit. For me, I think I am going to restrict myself to Sunday lunch. I really don't miss it at all. Also, we are going to stick with many, many of the recipes we found - including all our homemade sugarfree sauces and dressings. They are not difficult to make and are full of vegetables and everyone likes them. I am also going to keep our grocery shopping full of produce like we have been doing. If we cut out all the processed food we normally bought, then it really isn't much more expensive if you plan right. For my personal meals, I am going to keep my breakfasts and our family dinners very much the same. I will probably stay similar for lunch, but if I want to splurge - this will be time. Hopefully this keeps me from returning to bad habits and gaining a bunch of weight back from reintroducing things. Pray for me :)
What I am most looking forward to at the end of this process is going out to eat with my husband. Date night always includes a stop out at a restaurant and with these restrictions, we haven't ventured out to eat. I miss this habit of ours. We have big plans to go out to our local bar for a meal and a drink and
spend some time relaxing together. I am keeping that picture in my head as I finish out another portion of white meat. Seven more days to go, my friends. Seven more days.
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