Do You Whole30?

Have you heard of this whole30?

I didn’t know it existed until a friend of mine came to a party talking about how she had just finished her whole30.  She said she lost fifteen pounds and felt amazing.  As she said this my ears perked up and I was hanging on her every word.  You see, I hadn’t quite lost my baby weight.  I actually hadn’t lost the weight from my first baby which had been 3.5 years ago.  Intrigued I went home and googled all things whole30.

Then I got depressed.

No sugar.  

No flour.  

No DAIRY!  

For thirty days straight.  

But the worst was no peanut butter.  

I mean, how could anyone live without peanut butter!  I actually feel bad for people who are allergic to it because it is amazing.  I rationalized in my head that I could do it.

Then, I decided maybe that was too extreme and to merely try eating clean.  But it was almost Halloween and then, of course, there’s Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I just couldn’t find my window of opportunity.  I had thrown whole30 out the window.

After months of pinning recipes and ignoring the tug of whole30, I finally caved after seeing a horrible photo of myself.  Isn’t funny how mirrors and photos show us exactly what we had hoped wasn’t true?  The other problem nagging me was that I couldn’t fit my wedding ring on my finger.  I hated not being able to wear it.  So, instead of rationalizing that it was too hard and giving myself a million excuses as to why I couldn’t do it, I told everyone I knew I was starting and used my pride and stubbornness to get me through.

The first day of whole30 I had a raging headache and was slightly miffed that my pants didn’t fit.

I mean I had eaten healthy ALL DAY LONG!  

I wanted to cave so badly, but I didn’t.  I would win.  After the first week, I felt good.  I meal prepped every Sunday and made sure that I had snacks in case we went somewhere that I knew would not be whole30 approved.  I even brought my own salad dressing to dinner.  I was THAT person.

I discovered LaCroix.  It was like a breath of fresh air when I needed a little pick me up.  I made homemade guacamole and ate it with plantain chips.  Most of my dinners were whole30 compliant and if they weren’t I either modified or ate something I knew was okay.  Some nights the family ate pizza and I ate leftover chicken with sweet potato fries and chipotle mayo.  I wasn’t deprived at all.

There were times when it was very hard.  Like when we went to a friend’s home for brunch.  She is an amazing cook and I so desperately wanted to eat all the goodies that were sitting at the table.  And the pre-whole30 me would have just given up in a second.  But the new whole30 me ate fruit and brought my own almonds.

Something changed for me mentally while going through whole30.

I realized I didn’t have to have dessert.  I didn’t die if I declined to eat the chocolate.  My life wasn’t over if I didn’t eat brownies, or cookies, or pizza.  Who knew?!  I had never felt more in control.

By the end of my whole30, I had learned a lot about myself and my relationship with food.  We saved a lot of money because I wasn’t going to go out to eat and so none of us went out to eat.  I gained quite a few new recipes for my dinners.  And I lost 15 pounds.  My wedding ring fits.  And I also saved myself a Butterfinger egg to eat on day 31.  Because chocolate. Right?!