Last week, Spencer and I finished the trendy Whole 30 challenge - for 30 days we had no sugar, no dairy, no grains, no legumes, and no fun. Kidding!... kind of ;) For 30 days we ate "real foods" which to the Whole30 people means meat, seafood, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts, healthy fats, and we only drank water. The diet claims to reset your metabolism, to heal your gut, to help you learn how and what foods are effecting you negatively, and to cut out the psychological unhealthy way of eating. We decided to do it mainly because we wanted to recover from the holidays and to identify Spencer's food intolerances, and we also loved that the main focus wasn't on weight loss. (You are not allowed to weigh yourself during the 30 days)
**Side story about why I love that the focus wasn't on weight loss** Five years ago I did the Weight Watchers program and I really loved it except that after I got to my goal weight I became a weigh-yourself-multiple-times-a-day kind of person. After I had David, I got frustrated that my weight wasn't coming off as fast as it was after I had Jack, and was inspired by Hungry Runner Girl's articles on ditching the scale - almost a year ago I put my scale away and just focused on being healthy. I started to only weigh myself once a month and that was a very mentally healthy decision for me :) I love these blog posts/articles on how the scale does not measure your health:
5 Reasons to Break Up With Your Scale
Ditch the scale
The last 5 pounds
So back to the Whole30 - we didn't cheat the entire time (except when I think I ate non approved oil at a restaurant, when Spencer got the stomach bug and ate saltine crackers, and when Spencer's face fell in a box of donuts at work on DAY 26 OF ALL THE DAYS!!!!!)
THINGS THAT I LOVED ABOUT THE WHOLE30
- The focus was on being/feeling healthy/listening to your body. I didn't have to count calories and could eat until I was full.
- The food we ate tasted really good! (except I got sooooo sick of eggs and I learned that I truly despise cabbage)
- I slept better - I fell asleep faster, slept deeper, and woke up more refreshed #thankyouwhole30 #andDavidsleepingthroughthenight
- I had WAY more energy during the day. During weeks 2 and 3, I never felt the afternoon slump once.
- My food had so much flavor once I cut out sugar! Grapefruit tasted soooo sweet and delicious on it's own as well as sweet potatoes and carrots. Larabars (which I never really liked before) and apples with almond butter tasted like dessert.
- I learned to better read food labels and ingredients and I learned that sugar is in EVERYTHING!
- Spencer has never felt better - he has had stomach problems his entire life and I think paleo is what his body wants.
- Learned that I won't die without sugar and that I won't kill anyone for sugar either :)
- I eliminated the possibility of food being a trigger to my eczema.
- Spencer confirmed that he is intolerant to milk and that he needs to be careful with sugar and some grains.
- Spencer lost 10 lbs and I lost 5 lbs
THINGS I HATED ABOUT THE WHOLE30
- It is expensive! We went way over-budget on food and weren't even going out to eat.
- Food preparation took FOREVER!!! I really really really wish that I liked cooking, but I just don't. I hate it and I had to cook 5 billion times more this month than usual. I know I could have been better at prepping food in advance, but I lived in the kitchen for 30 days. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner was all a lot of physical and mental work when you have a baby crying at your leg or in your arms, not to mention the dishes. At one point, I was HANGRY like usual and trying to get a meal ready and was wondering what the point was of having all of this extra energy if I was just going to spend all of my energetic time in the kitchen. I could be sitting on the couch during an afternoon slump or cooking in the kitchen doing what I hate with lots of energy - tired on the couch sounded more appealing :)
- I was bloated for the first two weeks as my body cleansed and adjusted to the food.
- I missed carbs. Maybe my body never really adjusted to learning how to burn healthy fats and use it as energy like the diet claims or maybe it was because I was nursing and running/strength training but the food wouldn't stick! I would get hungry about two hours after eating (which is normal for me when I'm not on the Whole30 too). They encourage you to eat sweet potatoes and potatoes sparingly and not to snack unless you absolutely have to, but I ate sweet potatoes and potatoes basically every day and could not survive without a snack between meals.
- Social events stunk. We tried to do the Whole30 during a month where we didn't have much going on, but David still had a birthday, we had a church event, and a few other get togethers with friends and we couldn't eat anything. Spencer had it worse because he had a lot of work luncheons and so he had to eat lunch beforehand.
- I sometimes felt guilty for eating too many potatoes, almond butter, nuts, and fruit in one day - foods that they encourage you to eat sparingly. (Shout out to Spencer for never feeling guilty for eating his FOUR bananas a day!!! hahaha) The diet claims to help you change your psychological negative relationship with food but I felt like I had already done a good job in the last five years of having a positive relationship with food and to not beat myself up for enjoying a treat or splurging and eating a cookie (or two or three or four :) So when I started feeling bad that I was eating a freaking potato (!!!) I had to remind myself that the Whole30 was not the boss of me - I am feeding myself good food because I love my body and potatoes and nut butters and fruit are WAY better food choices than the amount of sugar and cream cheese dips that I was consuming in December :)
- I HATED Whole30 breakfast. I never want to eat another egg as long as a live!
This quote was on Whole 30's Intstagram:
"People are constantly asking me, "Do you DO whole 30? Are you ON whole 30?... I do not DO whole 30. I am not ON whole 30... I AM whole 30. This lifestyle is as much as a part of me as anything else. It makes me who I am."
This quote was from
this article about clean eating becoming the new eating disorder (
orthorexia):
"It breaks my heart to see and hear beautiful, motivated, capable [people] being sucked in to an extreme diet and way of life because it has been branded to them as ‘THE HEALTHIEST WAY TO LIVE’ above all else.”
In conclusion, I am NOT Whole30. It does not make me who I am. When I'm in a hurry and HANGRY, I would like to be able to grab a handful of goldfish to tide me over. When Jack doesn't finish his food or when David spits out his chewed food in public and I can't find wipes or a garbage can, I would like to be able to clean it up by eating it. (Okay, I would not like to do that, but Whole30 sadly showed that I am my kids' garbage disposal) I like to eat dairy and grains and legumes and sugar and luckily my body is fine with me eating it all in balance. I'm not saying that it's bad for people to live a paleo lifestyle or any other type of extreme diet but it's not for me long term. I'm glad I did the Whole30, and I'm also glad it's over :) If I do it again, it won't be for a looooong time :)
--------------------------------------------------------
If you are interested in doing the Whole30, here were some of my staples/lifesavers/favorites:
- Apples and almond butter
- Pre-shredding sweet potatoes for sweet potato hash browns for breakfast
- Aidells chicken apple sausage (I got it at Walmart) to throw in with eggs for breakfast or to roast with root vegetables for a quick dinner.
- Larabars (coconut cream pie was my favorite flavor)
-
Larabar recipe
-
This Whole30 approved freezer meal plan
-
This chili recipe
- Avocados with EVERYTHING!!!
- Salads (romain lettuce, spinach, meat, olives, artichokes, tomatoes, red onion, avocado, tomato, oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper)
