My 4 day Whole 30 is ongoing! The premise of the Whole 30 is to reset your nutritional balance by cutting out all the psychologically unhealthy, hormone-unbalancing, gut-disrupting, inflammatory food groups for a full 30 days. When the 30 days are complete, slowly add the omitted foods to observe how each one affects you.
I am a huge proponent of the Whole 30! During my first trial, I discovered that I have a slight allergy to strawberries in that they make my skin itch. So now every time I am confronted with the choice to have strawberries, or a food with strawberries in it (my local sushi restaurant has a roll with miso-strawberry sauce) I can make an intelligent decision if it’s worth the discomfort.
My first attempt at the Whole30 regiment was super successful! The second attempt, not so much. I lasted about 4 days, and not fully committed.
However…
That is only half the story.
When you finish the Whole30, you are reminded to try to live by eating cleanly, but allow yourself to enjoy life and foods with no regrets. Just hop back on the Whole30 bandwagon as much as you can.
I learned during this go-round that I need to stop trying to do the Whole 30 completely. I need to focus on doing it as much as I can, constantly noticing how different foods affect my body and my state of being.
I noticed that Sugar is Not My Friend. Eating sugar makes me very unbalanced. I chew my fingernails, play with my hair, am very unfocused, and lethargic. So I cut out sugar as a general rule. I still do not eat a lot of gluten either. It makes me bloated, and tired. And I eat very little cheese. These are my guidelines now. Not just for 30 days. For life. The picture below is a little extreme, but I think I do need to avoid sugar very assiduously.
Of course, I should be drinking more water. Yeah, I may get there one day. Not a priority!
I did not weigh or measure myself before starting the Whole30. People keep asking me what I’ve done differently – what’s changed? I have been losing weight! My skin is healthier, brighter. The Ex even noticed that my hair looks healthier. ??? (Meaning isn’t that odd that 1- I was with the Ex and 2- that he commented on my hair???!) Bear in mind that I did not look extremely malnourished or unhealthy before. But there are noticeable differences now.
Most importantly, I feel better. I have more energy, better focus, a longer attention span. I get super excited about mundane things, like getting a lot of small tasks completed in a short period of time, or leading a very efficient meeting.
Yay.
