Paleo/Whole 30

After a somewhat disastrous summer/fall/winter of eating and not exercising (health issues, being busy, not caring--although I did ramp up workouts before Disney, thank God, or I would have died walking so much), I decided to make some changes recently.

First, I gave up Diet Coke on New Year's Day. It has now been 76 days since I've had one.  The basic not-drinking-it was fine, but dealing with the feeling like I couldn't stop for a treat was hard, and the DREAMS about drinking Diet Coke? They took a while to go away (they varied from "Oh, this DC is delicious" to "OH MY GOD, MY STREAK IS BROKEN, I CAN'T BELIEVE I GAVE IN" nightmares).

Anyway, after the holidays, I was still having some 'female' issues, and my dr. decided to put me on progesterone.  NEVER AGAIN. I gained 5 lbs. in a week and felt like a balloon. The week I stopped the progesterone, I decided to try eating according to a Paleo diet.

My best friend can't eat wheat or dairy, so she's been eating this way for a while, give or take a few cheats here and there.  She and another friend both recommended the same book, "It Starts With Food" by Dallas & Melissa Hartwig. 



Wow.  This book has a ton of information, and it's presented in a very readable way. Between this, and Robb Wolf's "The Paleo Solution", I felt like I was ready to take the plunge.

It did feel at first like this way of eating is just a list of things I CAN'T eat: no grains (that's right, it's not just wheat....no rice, barley, oats...), no dairy, no sugar, no legumes, no soy.  So what DO I eat?

Real Food.

Lean meats, tuna (that's the only seafood I can tolerate *shudder*), vegetables, healthy fats (ghee, coconut oil, olives, olive oil, avocado), fruits, nuts & seeds.

The Whole 30 (the eating program outlined in It Starts With Food)  is like super-strict Paleo, and not intended as a Whole 365.  (When you're done with the 30 days, there is a reintroduction period, where you test out certain foods to see if you have a reaction to them.)

I started my Whole 30 on 2/14/13. Yes, Valentine's Day.  That's okay--we didn't have big plans anyway.

On the 'whole' (ha! pun intended!), the 30 days wasn't horrible. :)  But as the month went on, I realized I was eating some non-compliant foods unintentionally.  Like, the Vitamin D3 I was taking had soy in it.  Who knew?  And the chicken I was putting in my salads?  It had SUGAR!  But for the most part, I did well.

I lost 8.4 lbs. I lost 2.25 inches off my waist, and 1.3 inches off of my hips. With very little exercise, I might add.

Going without sugar wasn't as bad as I thought it was--even with the kids & Steve eating things in front of me. :)

Speaking of Steve, he and I started a Whole 30 today.  Yes, with Easter in two weeks.  What can I say? There's never really a convenient time to eat this way--but it is always a good time to try eating healthier.

I feel like I've had more energy, slept a bit better--I definitely woke up easier every morning.  I'm excited to see how Steve reacts to this since he has more health issues than I do (asthma, allergies, reflux, high cholesterol...).

Today went well. Although it does feel like all I do is cook and do dishes. I'll be sure to come back and update during this 30 days!