Call Me Crazy…

I’ve decided to do another Whole30 in April!  I’m going to do all 30 days and Dave is doing it with me!  And so is Sarah!  I’m slipping back into bad eating habits (which makes my stomach hate me), I want clean eating to become a habit, and I want to see if I can obtain even better results.  My skin has always been less than amazing and although it improved during my Whole21, I think it could still improve with more time.  I’d also like to see if I can continue to lean out and find my abs for the summer!

What is The Whole30 Program?  This link will give you all the details, but here are the basics:

• Eat real food:
• Meat
• Seafood
• Eggs
• Tons of vegetables
• Some fruit
• Plenty of good fats from fruits, oils, nuts and seeds
• Avoid:
• Sugar of any kind, real or artificial
• Alcohol or tobacco products
• Grains
• Legumes
• Dairy
• Carrageenan, MSG, or sulfates
• White potatoes

So, I know what you’re thinking… why the heck would anyone do this?  From the website:

Certain food groups (like sugar, grains, dairy and legumes) could be having a negative impact on your health and fitness without you even realizing it. Are your energy levels inconsistent or non-existent? Do you have aches and pains that can’t be explained by over-use or injury? Are you having a hard time losing weight no matter how hard you try? Do you have some sort of condition (like skin issues, digestive ailments, seasonal allergies or fertility issues) that medication hasn’t helped? These symptoms may be directly related to the foods you eat – even the “healthy” stuff. So how do you know if (and how) these foods are affecting you?

Strip them from your diet completely. Cut out all the psychologically unhealthy, hormone-unbalancing, gut-disrupting, inflammatory food groups for a full 30 days. Let your body heal and recover from whatever effects those foods may be causing. Push the “reset” button with your metabolism, systemic inflammation, and the downstream effects of the food choices you’ve been making. Learn once and for all how the foods you’ve been eating are actually affecting your day to day life, and your long term health. The most important reason to keep reading?

This will change your life.

My thoughts about it:

Do you suffer from a food coma after a big feast?  Maybe after lunch, you just want to take a nap?  Do you get headaches or feel starved if you miss a meal?  Do you get hangry?  Does your tummy feel bloated?  Does it make weird noses?  Are you gassy?  Do you realize that the food you eat impacts everything in your body?  If you’re getting a majority of your fuel from processed food you may be surviving, but are you thriving?

The Whole30 is not for everyone, maybe baby steps are more your style.  It’s intense and it involves a lot of cooking, planning, and willpower.  But it’s only 30 days… you can live without bread for 30 days (I promise!), it will be there when you’re done!  As the website says:  “It is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Quitting heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard. You won’t get any coddling, and you won’t get any sympathy for your “struggles”. YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE not to complete the program as written. It’s only thirty days, and it’s for the most important health cause on earth – the only physical body you will ever have in this lifetime.”

If you like immediate results, this is for you!  You will see changes within days.  You might sleep better, you might lose weight, you may even rethink everything conventional wisdom has told you.  Or you may finish 30 days and realize Paleo just isn’t for you… but what do you have to lose?

Are you thinking about joining us for the April Whole30?  A few people have already told me they’re in!  It’s much easier to do with a support group and I will be posting lots of helpful links before April!  Let me know if you’re interested!

Guest Post: Sarah’s Whole30 Results!

When my friend Sarah told me she was thinking about doing the Whole30, I was so excited for her!  I knew how hard it was going to be and also how rewarding and I wanted to be her support system!  I went on amazon and ordered her some books, sent her tons of links and googled her every question.  There were numerous texts and calls back and forth.  Well, yesterday was day 30 and I am so proud of her!  Congratulations Sarah!

It’s official. I completed my first Whole30, and what a journey it’s been (yes – I did say first, which means there are more to come in my future). Pre-Whole30, I was a two-a-day bagel, fast-food-when-I-don’t-feel-like-cooking, snacking queen who felt controlled by food cravings and addictions. My life revolved around my 10-month-old son and my husband’s crazy residency schedule, leaving little time to care for myself, and boy did it show.

When I started the Whole30, I was 2lbs heavier than my pre-pregnancy weight, and just couldn’t get that weight off. I am proud to say that I blew those 2lbs out of the water, and lost a total of 16.5lbs; a whole 14.5lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight. BOOYAH. Not only did I lose weight, but I lost a total of 13 inches off my body – 1 in off my neck, 1 in off each arm, 2 in off my bust, 2.5 in off my muffin top, and the rest off various other places of my body. In addition to all the weight loss, there were a number of other benefits I got out of this cleanse –

(1) Skin improvement – I never struggled with acne, per se, but I never had clear, radiant skin. And now I do! Of course an occasional spot comes up here and there, but guess who doesn’t need foundation anymore? THIS GIRL!

(2) Sleep improvement – at one point in my life I had clinical insomnia, and I swear to God, there is nothing worse than that. I had been doing much better, and then all of a sudden I started having trouble with it again over the past few months. Whole30 started… I slept.like.a.ROCK. Almost immediately. No medication needed. Some of the best sleep I’ve had in my life.

(3) Medical reasons – being overweight comes with other issues. I recently found out that my fasting insulin level was TRIPLE what it should be. What does that mean you ask? That means I’m heading down the road to diabetes. Uhh, at 26 years old? You bet. That was the kick in the pants I needed to get my eating straight. I was hoping for follow up blood work to share with you, but unfortunately my doc didn’t pull through on that one. Once I have it though, I will share! I can’t imagine that my insulin level has done anything BUT improve.

There are a few other things that I’ve learned in addition to those mentioned above.

(1) Craving vs. hunger – Pre Whole30, 75% of my eating was driven by cravings. I can only say that with hindsight now. Had you asked me before, I would have said 25%. This journey has forced me to recognize the difference between those cravings and TRUE hunger, essentially by cutting out ALL the foods I was craving before – sugar, carbs and fast food. Sure, do I still want those foods? Absolutely. Will I still eat those foods? Sometimes. Do I still need those foods? No. Do you still need those foods? No.

(2) I eat a lot of what I feed my child. What do you call this? Mindless eating. Oh, I mushed a graham cracker too much; I’ll eat it instead of throwing it out. Whoops, put too many goldfish on your tray; I’ll eat some so you don’t put too many in your mouth. Honest to God, I had NO sense of how much I was eating when I fed my child until I intentionally stopped.

(3) Cooking shows did more for me than teach me how to cook – they made me CRAVE what I was seeing. As a new mom, I knew there were a lot of adult shows that I used to watch that I didn’t want to have on in front of my baby. So what other adult TV shows could I watch that would be fine to have on when Caleb was around? COOKING. OF COURSE. Sure, they’re fine for Caleb, but little did I know, they weren’t fine for me. I look back now and realize that a good portion of my snacking was mindless (ohh there’s that term again) eating that was catalyzed by looking at all the delicious food on the TV. OH! And just a little rant. Next time you watch TV, pay attention to HOW MANY food related commercials there are. SO MANY. No wonder this nation is obese…

(4) You can cook outside your comfort zone. I am as guilty as anyone else in the department of cooking the same crap night after night, week after week. It was what I was comfortable with. And clearly it wasn’t working for me. As evidenced by my weight, my inability to even run a mile, or still wearing some pregnancy clothes NINE MONTHS after being pregnant (wow that’s embarrassing to admit out loud) – take your pick. Clearly what I was doing wasn’t working, even though it was comfortable. The Whole30 forced me to embrace new fats, new proteins, new vegetables, new spices and seasonings – a WHOLE new thought process behind how to prepare a meal. I ALWAYS prepared your typical “protein, starch, vegetable” for dinner. And why not? I’ve been eating that my whole life. The Whole30 challenged me by saying “Why not skip the starch, and add another veggie?” “Why not make the protein or the vegetable the star of your meal?” So I did. And it was awesome. And I wasn’t hungry. WHAT!?! I wasn’t hungry??? Nope.

(5) You don’t need carbs to stay full. Or processed carbs at all for that matter. Take it from the carb queen of ALL carb queens, I was PISSED to give up carbs. Believe me, I fought it. I was cranky about it. I thought Amber was insane for even suggesting it. But you know what? I.did.it. and I wasn’t hungry. Sure, I dreamt about cupcakes and pizza, but I didn’t eat them, and my body feels AMAZING. If I can go 30 days without processed carbs, ANYONE can. Trust me on this one.

(6) You can eat bacon every day and lose weight. A lot of weight. You think I’m crazy, right? I am living, breathing testimony to this. I ate bacon EVERY DAY of the Whole30. I ate between 2 and 6 eggs EVERY DAY of the Whole30. And I lost 16.5lbs. It happened. Believe it. Oh, and did I mention that I BARELY exercised (maybe 1x/week) during this whole thing? Imagine the possibilities if I had!

All-in-all, the Whole30 was a good experience and definitely worth doing again when I’m feeling lethargic and crummy from what I’ve been eating. Or when I’m wanting to lose weight. Or when I want my skin to improve. Or my sleep to improve. Or hosts of other awesome benefits from the Whole30. Was it hard? Yes. Was it really hard? YES. Was it worth it? Absolutely. There are a lot of things I would suggest in order to succeed during the Whole30, but we’ll save that for another post.

‘Til next time, folks!


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What’s Happening

What we did yesterday: Stuffed our faces at the Reading Terminal Market and saw the Flyers win!  If you live in the Philly area and you haven’t been to the Reading Terminal Market, shame on you!  Everything is so delicious that it’s impossible to decide where you’re going to eat.  We split a few things and then splurged on dessert!

What we watched last night:  Restrepo, an intense eye opening documentary about a group of men stationed in Afghanistan.  I was skeptical when I opened our latest Netflix delivery, but it was so well done and now I want to watch a million documentaries!

What we’re having for dinner:  Caramelized Italian Pork Chops with Sweet Onion Jam, nom nom!

What I’m reading:  Bloom: Finding Beauty in the Unexpected, a memoir by one of my favorite bloggers about how having a child with Down syndrome changed her life.  Having a brother with Down syndrome has definitely changed my life and I’m loving this book and her perspective.

And now I’m trying to enjoy the last few hours of my weekend with a quick workout, some cooking, and relaxing.  I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

How about you?

• What did you do this weekend?
• What are you watching?
• What’s for dinner?
• What are you reading?