Post-Whole30

Last month I did the whole30 diet. And it was rough. I had to come down off of it, and process before I decided to write an update. I didn't lose weight, or inches, but I did gain some energy towards the end of the diet and I really liked that. But, it came at the expense of being on perma-PMS for a month. I was horrifically grumpy and unreasonable most of the time. It seemed even worse since I work with young children and have to act like I'm patient and happy all the time. My husband got the end-of-the-day-I-can't-take-it-anymore me. Poor guy.

The whole30 is really whole45 because of the reintro phase. However, I'm not that patient. I went a freakin' month without eating hushpuppies. And tortillas. So on day 31 we went to Cook-Out. I reintroduced 3 out of 4 food groups all at once.

And I got sick. Not like puking and stuff, just a really upset stomach like I would get before I did whole30. That still happens on occasion too. Mostly when I get Cook-Out (It's just so delicious though!).

About 3 days after stopping, my energy plummeted again. And my stomach had been off for the entire time. I can't truly say that it's all because of the food I was eating because I happened to time everything perfectly. I had cramps all week due to the wonders of being a woman, so the upset stomach and energy slumps could have been the food but it could have been the confounding factor of being of child bearing age. ;)

Update to now, my energy is still suffering and I still have occasional upset stomach, but nothing like it was before the diet.  I am very close to going back on the diet just to get my energy levels back up to where they were the last week or so of the diet. But when I said that out loud, the look on my husbands face said I shouldn't. So I'm compromising and will integrate more vegetables and fruits into my diet, and still cook at home as much as I can. This also means avoiding pre-processed meals like frozen pizza and such as much as possible.

In all I think it was a good thing to try, and the principles in the diet are a good idea to incorporate into everyday life. However, it let me know that dieting is all I thought it would be: horrible.

Whole30: I made it.

Today is day 30 of my Whole30 adventure. 

Here are my thoughts: 

I think it was beneficial, but I don't think it's a long term sustainable lifestyle for me right now for 2 reasons: 

     1. Expense. We are on a grad school, newlywed budget. I spent a lot of money on foods that were compliant. While I always try to eat fresh foods, our budget depends a lot on us having filler foods in our diets like pasta and rice. Using those helps stretch all the vegetables and meats for a few days longer than they do now. 

     2. Time. I am in the depth of writing my thesis right now. I simply don't have the time to cook all of my meals fresh each day. I have been doing really well with it, but there were some mornings, and evenings, where it was a little much for me to take 20 minutes to cook up something quick and still make it to work on time, or to bed on time. 

I will continue to incorporate a lot of the philosophy of whole30 into my meals, avoiding sugar where possible, eating lots of fresh veggies and fruits. Preparing most of our meals at home. Things like that. 

Since I haven't updated since week 2, here's the general overview of how things went: 

Days 1-22: I was unreasonably grumpy. Like perma-PMS grumpy. My energy was still horrific, wanting naps. I even cried uncontrollably some mornings because I was so tired. Also, whole30 is supposed to 'reset your body' including hormones, so things were really freaky. 

Bless my husband for putting up with me. Around Day 20, I read a post in the forums that said if you have a history of depression, Whole30 will screw up your system like crazy, they referred to a discussion they had with their doctor which was very medical-y and scientific talking about serotonin levels and carbs or something.... Which really explained a lot of what I was feeling.

I stopped having cravings around Day 20 as well. Before that it was a daily battle around dinner time. I craved foods like hush puppies, cheese quesadillas, ritz crackers. After awhile I think the 'cravings' were really desire for convenience. It's just so dang easy to run to the Chick-Fil-A and order a sandwich. It would leave me with a whole half hour or more in the evening that I could read or work on my thesis! I did not cave once though. And my husband was good to text about it or say "I want a Reeses" to. He always said that I really didn't want one, or that I can't go to the fast food place. I have not had a craving for over a week! Even when I sniffed a pan of cookies (turned out it was raisins not chocolate chips, so there was no temptation at all). People will say that if you eat a lot of fruit on whole30, you will still get cravings because of the sugar. I ate fruit the whole time, quite a bit I think (2-3 servings a day) and for me, the cravings did go away. 

I no longer have to use an alarm. And I don't cry in the mornings. It's still tough every few days, but nothing compared to what it was before. I also notice that I still get slumps, but they occur later in the day and aren't as debilitating as they were before. 

I have not been nauseous since Day 6. This is a pretty huge thing for me, I basically was constantly nauseous for the last year. 

While a lot of my issues that I started whole30 to help out with were explained as "stress" by the doctor. Now, I am still under the same amount of stress as before, but I am definitely feeling better. Not as much as I would have liked to, but there is an improvement. 

But I am looking forward to hush puppies and quesadillas again. 

-         

Whole30 Week Two Reflection

If you haven't already read my day 10 rant, go ahead and read it. And the Day 11 one too.

I'd like to start out by saying, I think I might be over the hump. I did not want or 'crave' any fast food today. No desire for hush puppies. No near-to-tears over a chicken quesadilla tray at Cook-Out. Just a lingering thought that a Reese's would be nice, but not a "i'm going to kill my husband if I don't get a Girl Scout cookie NOW" urge.

As far as my psychological relationship with my food, well, I feel like it's gone down hill. Never in my life have I dreaded eating. Yes. I dread eating. I wake up in the morning and try to reason with myself about eating breakfast even if I'm not hungry. My understanding of Whole30 is that you shouldn't be hungry between meals, but if you are still in the early stages of the program, you HAVE to eat even if you AREN'T HUNGRY. Psh. If my body says it's not hungry, I'm not going to force food into it. Conversely, if my body says it is hungry, I'm going to feed it. End. Of. Story.

I seriously do not want to eat. Ever.

Whole30 also bans dairy and soy. They hail coconut milk and coconut butter as the center of the universe best dairy replacement ever. I'm pretty sure I'm allergic. I have developed a horrible, non-itchy rash that has spread quite rapidly. The only thing different about my routine (all of them) is that I have ingested some whole fat coconut milk. I first had it on Tuesday, when the rash appeared. I finished the can on Thursday and am not going to try any more for a couple of days to see if the rash goes away.

I've also googled it. Turns out for some people eating no gluten/carbs causes a rash similar to the one I have. It could be the influx of eggs. I eat eggs regularly, but on whole30 I  am eating about 1000x the amount of eggs I usually eat. Or avocado. But I'm pretty sure it's the coconut. Either way, if it's not eating gluten-y carbs or being allergic to coconut, I have a dr appointment next week to take care of it if it's still around.

This is also the time when I should be experiencing "boundless energy". I'm still waiting on that one. I think I might be close, but it would have been nice to have shown up by now since folks say it should have.

And I broke another "rule". On those days where I was on the edge of sanity, I pulled out the tape measure and measured my waist because I needed SOMETHING to keep me going a couple more days. Yes, you aren't supposed to measure your body or weigh yourself while on Whole30, but where I'm not seeing a whole lot of the other promised results (ahem, all of them) I decided I had to do something. After making the measurement, I couldn't find the paper that I had written down my starting ones on. While I remember my weight perfectly, I think I might remember the waist, but definitely not the others. I've lost 2 inches already, but seriously? I can't tell. Can not tell.

And Now: Day 11

After my little rant yesterday I went to the Whole30 online community. Actually, I just googled "Quitting Whole30".

Turns out that days 10 and 11 are the days when most people quit, or want to quit. So there we go, the first Whole30 timeline item that I actually fit into the norm with. I still really want to stop, but figure I will hang in here for a few more days in the hopes that the promised energy levels will appear.

The super difficult part of this yesterday was making my husband's lunches for his first two shifts of the week. I usually eat a piece of cheese or two while making them. And I couldn't. I sat for a moment looking at the cheese crumbs in my hand and had a moment of silence for them before putting them in the garbage instead of my mouth.

I stocked up on chicken, added to the fish I bought last week we should be okay for the rest of Whole30. But of course, I underestimate my husband's ability to pack away food almost every time we eat. From here on out I should only need to pick up some minor meat items, like the compliant hot dogs I found and use for breakfasts and the 'bacon' I found too. I haven't tried that yet, so if it's gross it won't appear in our fridge again.

Finally, I saw that a lot of people were talking about how their stomach hurt and they were having a lot of stomach issues. Yet NO ONE suggested making the meals smaller and having snacks. While this is working for me, it also makes me a little concerned that no one else has discovered this. Is the no snacking rule really that rigid?

A "Healthy Psychological Relationship with Food"

I'm on Day 10 of Whole30 and I've noticed some things about the effects so far of the program.

I no longer have the crazy gastric symptoms I was having last week. Which I am so grateful for. I still feel exhausted almost constantly. I plan on starting some mild exercise this week to see if that will help, along with being more strict on my getting to bed routine.

I do not feel sick after I eat anymore, for the most part. I never really ate a whole lot of proteins or veggies for breakfast, because they made me sick. I still feel a little residual of this each morning after eating, and think that part of the diet will go rather quickly back to my smoothie or a bread based food (cereal, waffles, muffins, etc). I've completely abandoned the "no smoothie rule". Why? Because I constantly feel hungry, but when I sit down to eat a legitimate meal, my body can't handle the amount of food Whole30 says I should be ingesting at each meal. I have to break it down a little or I will be right back where I was last week, sick with no 'real' reason to call in to work.

Now, here's the biggest beef I have with the program. They constantly refer to breaking your old unhealthy psychological food habits and creating a new "healthy psychological relationship" with food. THIS IS NOT HAPPENING. In fact, I feel like the exact opposite is happening. I mean, is it 'psychologically healthy' to nearly burst into tears when my husband points out that I can't eat the croutons on my salad? NO! And it's not because I binge on croutons and they're causing psychological damage when I eat them (which only happens in restaurants btw).

I don't think it's 'psychologically healthy' for me to spend most of my day really, REALLY wishing I could have a single mini-blueberry muffin, or a roll, or a single freakin' tortilla. I've suddenly become OBSESSED with food! I spend a lot of time consciously avoiding looking at the reeses or daydream about pancakes, which I don't eat very often in the first place. Then get super frustrated and angry that I can't have just one. I should not start crying just because someone said my relationship with croutons and restaurant rolls is 'unhealthy'. Nor should I cry when I think about Sunday morning waffles and realize that I let someone else tell me that they aren't 'good' for me psychologically.

According to Whole30 if I have so much as a lick of a Reeses, my brain and body will react in the same way a drug crazed addict's will respond. I will suddenly uncontrollably eat all the sugar and 'junk' food in sight. Then drive to the store to buy and eat more!

This is ridiculous! Rice is not going to kill me! A tortilla won't send me into a spiral of binge eating, self loathing, and suddenly feeling horrifically sick and magically being fat.

While I am trying, really trying to keep this attitude in check, it's really difficult. And I honestly don't think I've had, or ever will have,  a "unhealthy psychological relationship" with food. I enjoy food, but once I'm full, I'm full and I stop. This diet still promises great things, but I feel that the emphasis on 'psychology' is a bit much for people like me.

(If you made it through the post, I thank you very much for allowing me to rant.)

Whole30 Week One Notes

I've been keeping a running journal of how it's going day by day. Hopefully this will help someone out there know a little more about what a Whole30 looks like. I found some other blog posts like this majorly helpful as I geared up to start mine! 

Day 1

Shopping today was interesting. I read labels like crazy hoping to find some sausage or other spicy type meat that was compliant. No go. No lunch meat either. So I stocked up on Tilapia (at the request of my husband), some chicken, and some beef ‘hot dogs’ that were compliant, in addition to my regular fresh veggie and fruit stock up.

I also started reading the labels on our spices at home, in the hopes of finding something that would help eggs taste better. I was surprised to find that some of our spice mixes are non-compliant. Did you know that some of them have “dehydrated corn syrup”? Who even came up with that? I have a feeling this first week is going to be a slow learning process before I can switch to a more auto-pilot mindset.

Now, to the nitty gritty, real deal, here’s how it’s going part of the post.

I have heard horror stories about the first couple of days being horrific. Withdrawal symptoms similar to hard drug withdrawal (shaking, sweating, nausea, etc.) Migraines! Pain! Death!

Ummmm….. I just feel kinda hungry, even though I am eating plenty. In fact, I feel like I’m eating more than I normally do because there’s no ‘filler’ food in my meals like the crust of pizza, or rice with the chicken.  The worst part for me so far is the almost unbearable compulsion to eat the cookies! Eat some Reese’s! Make Waffles and drench them in syrup!!!

Day 2

I was feeling kind of grumpy. Bad planning on my part made day 2 also a Fast Sunday. I had very little patience with the Primary kids, and had to talk myself down from it.  I got home and ate a banana, but when I went to cuddle with my husband (he works nights so I snuggle up to him even if he’s snoring, for a nap) I started crying. Not all out bawling, just uncontrollable silent tears. I asked him later if he knew I was crying and he said no. It was weird.

Day 3

I read on a blog that I’m not supposed to feel hungry while on Whole30. But I feel hungry. I am completely convinced that it’s my body thinking that it can’t be full without rice or pasta or cookies. I swear that’s what’s going on because normally my stomach can’t deal with 2 chicken breasts, 2 celery stalks, a cup of spinach, a whole banana, a handful of raw almonds, and some raspberries in ONE MEAL.

Days 4-5

The wonderful early morning energy and all day energy I felt on day 3 is gone. GONE! I feel like I used to, waking up is rough, just not I feel like I might have a hangover rough. And I even took a nap. I’m hoping this goes away again, and soon. This was one of the major reasons I’m doing  Whole30, my horrific energy levels.

Also, the gastro-intestinal symptoms that the book (and website) said would start between days 10 and 14 have already started. Forums online have people saying that they have these symptoms the ENTIRE DURATION of Whole30. I hope that isn’t the case with me.

Day 6

I’ve officially reached pre- Whole 30 energy levels. Waking up this morning was horrific.

Add to that, I can’t tell if I’m hungry or not. My stomach keeps growling, sometimes uncomfortably. But when I do the ‘test’ of asking myself if I would eat fish and broccoli, I answer ‘no’. Which supposedly means I’m not hungry. But maybe I am hungry, I just don’t want broccoli.

I feel like I’ve been doing well with using a variety of foods. I stocked up a bit again yesterday and made sure I bought things I haven’t been eating this week so I don’t get tired of them. I’ve been experimenting with different spices and even made compliant buffalo chicken! But man, I just want a pizza and some milk and cookies.

I guess it’s going to take a little longer for my body to get used to the whole ‘no snacking’ rule, because I think that might be the culprit. My body thinks it needs to eat every 2 hours (like an infant does) but I’m not eating that often anymore. I’ll give it a little longer before deciding if I should add an afternoon snack back into my schedule.

(Later in the day)

I feel sooooo sick, like I should be puking but I’m not. My body is not happy with me.  I officially decided to abandon the no snacking rule for now. I had a small lunch, and plan on a snack in a bit. Followed by a small dinner after knit night. I just don't think my size body can handle that much food at once without getting sick. This is something I noticed pre-Whole30, so I'm going to go back to smaller meals, with snacks. Maybe after I recover a little I'll try the 3 big meals again. 

Day 7:

I made it. We even went to a restaurant today. I almost lost it when John said he gets my croutons, but he was right and he’s been doing AWESOME at keeping me on track. I’m just really looking forward to being able to eat restaurant rolls, pancakes (I haven’t wanted those for a looooong time, and I suddenly can’t get them out of my mind), and allow myself a Reeses!

I had a friend ask me if I had tried “cauliflower rice” yet. No. And I won’t do cauliflower rice (as of now). Why? Because I feel like it isn’t Whole30 compliant. If we’re not supposed to make Paleo pancakes or Paleo cookies, I don’t think paleo rice should be made either. For me, it’s not in line with the spirit of Whole30, that you need to break a cycle of bad eating habits. And rice is a filling food that some people eat mindlessly, so why add pretend rice if it’s going to psychologically fill an unhealthy need instead of being a healthy choice? 

Day One (pre-written, I will do a how it went post later)

Bonus! I found out Franks Red Hot Sauce is compliant! (the original one, I think the others are non –compliant)

As I start this journey officially, I would like to review some of the things that Whole30 claims will be fixed just by diet. I’ll start with ones that don’t really apply to me, so I have no way of measuring them at this time in my life.

-          Diabetes

-          Asthma

-          Allergies (since moving to Tennessee I have not had allergies, so while I technically do have them, I currently have no way to measure if they are alleviated through diet)

-          Arthritis symptoms

-          Leaky gut (at least I don’t think it applies to me…)

-          Crohn’s disease

-          Celiac disease

-          High cholesterol

-          Infertility

-          Lupus

-          Etc.

Here’s where we’re gonna go into some personal territory. These are some of the symptoms that Whole30 claims will be cured, or at least diminished, by following their diet and that I am struggling with. In general, I just don’t feel ‘good’. It’s like I hit a point in my life span where my body decided that it’s done and it’s all downhill from here. Here are some details, some of which are ‘chronic’ for me, and a couple of recent developments. When I visit with the dr about some of these, the general consensus after tests is: Stress from grad school. Seriously.

-          Sleep problems: In recent years I have had a lot of sleep difficulties. I have not slept fully through the night for a few months which is a new symptom. I have always (since kindergarten) had major issues with waking up in the morning and getting myself going. I also really struggle to fall asleep at night, sometimes lying in bed for hours wondering when I’ll fall asleep and how horrible it will be in the morning to have so little sleep.

-          Energy slumps- I hit about 1:30pm each day and I feel so tired I want to die, until about 5 or 6 at night, sometimes until I go to bed. It doesn’t help that I work with a population that get a nap time each day either. If I had a schedule that allowed napping, I would be doing it. Every. Single. Day.

-          Energy slumps cont- it’s so bad I really struggle to exercise because I don’t have the energy to do it, and if I do, I usually end up horrifically grumpy for the remainder of the day. And, no, it doesn’t improve after exercising regularly for a sustained amount of time. It just gets worse.

-          Weight issues- I now weigh more than I ever have in my entire life. Could grad school stress really explain that big of a weight gain in only 6 months, especially since I’m coming up on two years in grad school? I haven’t changed my eating habits either. Where is this weight coming from and how do I get rid of it?

-          Emotional- I get PMS bad. Those ‘early mornings’ and afternoon slumps make me horrifically grumpy on a regular basis.  I also have a history of depression. Depression is something they say will be alleviated with this diet. Unfortunately, depression is something that never really goes away permanently. I still struggle with it, since taking medications didn’t work as well for me as we had hoped, and I have been able to mostly manage it in recent years without meds.  Anything that will help, even a little is very welcome.

-          Chronic pain- I have some old injuries that flare up quite regularly. You know how sometimes older people say they feel a storm coming ‘in their bones’? I’m only 30, and I feel things ‘in my bones’, specifically the foot and arm that I’ve broken. Right where the breaks occurred too, it’s freaky. Migraines, more frequently since grad school started. And in general, I have muscle soreness and pain that really doesn’t have much of an explanation outside of the dr’s general ‘stress’ diagnosis.

-          Gut issues- this one is a fairly new one, but I get nauseous on a regular basis. The dr says, you guessed it, stress. And I tend to agree in some of the cases. But in some others, the only thing I can think of is that maybe I’m eating things that my stomach doesn’t agree with.

      Skin issues- They claim to fix almost every skin issue you can imagine here. For me the biggest concern is eczema, which is very mild for me. Occasional breakouts. And my scalp, it's constantly itchy and flaky, I've tried a lot of different shampoos, conditioners, and so forth. I'm assuming that my scalp is actually the most out of control area of eczema on me. I don't have high hopes that Whole30 will do much, but just in case it does, I'm including it on my list. 

So here, as I embark on this diet plan, I’ve recorded what I would like to be assessing again, in 30 days, to see if there really was an improvement or not. While I may mention improvements as I notice them, I plan on doing a full post covering all of them again at the end of the diet. 

Whole30 Day Zero

I start the actual diet tomorrow. I have to admit that I haven’t finished reading the book, as a graduate student I have a lot of other readings, and writings, that I need to do. And I’m super diligent about my self-care, and while this diet is part of self-care, I really wanted to read some novels this week too.

Here are two WTF thoughts I’ve had so far.

1.   Smoothies are discouraged, especially for ‘breakfast’. WTF?  I love smoothies, they fill me up and I know I’m getting some of the nutrients I need from the fact that I can pack 3 servings of vegetables/fruit into one smoothie. I don’t add sugar to them either, so yes sometimes they don’t taste great. While I understand that dairy and dairy replacements are not allowed, I can still make a smoothie without those. (I tried yesterday, it was gross, but it might have been the combination of fruits I had in it.) This might be a part that I go rogue on from time to time. Sometimes, I just need a smoothie.

 2.     Corn. I love corn. I always counted it as a serving of vegetables or a nice, low calorie, healthy snack in the form of popcorn. But CORN ISN’T ALLOWED! Apparently it’s considered a grain? This one will be a little difficult, but I will stick to it, and just be glad I finished by celebrating with some popcorn.

The Game Plan (for Now)

I explained earlier that we are poor college students and I can’t make myself throw away every non-compliant food in our house (Think of the food storage!), so I’ve come up with a plan of attack for this aspect of our lives.

First, I threw away all opened food that would go bad by the end of the 30 days. Mostly chips and cheeses and some other miscellaneous dairy products.

Second, I moved all non-compliant foods out of the ‘easy access ’ cupboards to less accessible ones. (In case you’re wondering, I’m super short so the only easy access cupboard for me in our kitchen are the below the counter ones. That’s why I used quotations.)

Third, I went through our freezer and fridge, and put stickers on all non-compliant foods in there so there is a visual reminder that those aren’t compliant. Foods that would keep for the 30 days like ketchup and frozen corn. This way I’m not going to have to constantly read labels or try to keep a list of what is and isn’t allowed.

Fourth,  I will be going to the grocery store to pick up some replacements (like olive oil instead of the cheaper vegetable oil we’ve been using) and to stock up a little on meats in addition to my weekly fresh vegetables and fruit stock up.

Finally, meal plan. I love meal planning, it makes the week much easier all around. I know exactly what to get at the grocery store, and don’t end up wasting money on unnecessary things. And at the end of a long day, it’s nice to know that the meat is defrosted and ready to go, you have everything you need, and sometimes, when I use the crock pot, the meal is ready and waiting for you! The book has recipes, the website has recipes, and I’m pretty sure if I searched Pinterest, they would have recipes too.

Stay Tuned... 

I did my measurements last night, since I started that detox treatment which claims I ‘might lose weight’ with it. Psh. I’m pretty skeptical about this since the last ‘detox’ treatment I tried was total bunk. The placebo effect was very strong in some people for it. But I was raised by scientists, and do approach things with an experiment mindset (let’s see if this really works, here’s a, there’s b, do I really get there following these instructions, etc.) so I think (hope) that the placebo effect doesn’t occur with this detox, and the diet afterward! 

Whole 30 Preshow: Act 2

The closer it gets the more I'm ready, but also not so ready to do it. I'm especially worried that my husband will not follow the diet plan as closely as I am going to, and then get frustrated when I'm being so picky about things. It's a big deal to me, doing Whole30, and I have to do it right if I want it to work the way people says it does.

I kind of had the thought that I would do some "test" days leading up to it, where I would do Whole30 for a day, but if I wanted milk at night or a scoop of ice cream it would be okay because I hadn't officially started. After reading some more about it, and really thinking about how I work, I decided this is not a good idea. When I start I'm going full throttle, no test days, and no cheat days (as per the rules of Whole30). My husband doesn't know this yet, but I also plan on going through our cupboards to pack away the biggest temptation foods we have. 

Whole30 tells you to throw out your foods that are non-compliant. But we're college student poor, and the thought of just throwing away all of the food storage we have (what little we do have) made me sick to my stomach. It's good food, and it will still be good come May 1st. Financially, for us, throwing away all that food is so stupid, we might as well start eating out for every single meal we eat AND use our credit cards to pay every time.

I didn't plan it this way, but I also got a detox kit that I wanted to try. I got it in the mail today and will start it tonight. I'm not sure how Whole30 approved it will be, but I'm going to do it either way. I should be done with it by Wednesday which was my original start date, but with the way I'm feeling, I'm bumping the start date up to Saturday, Sunday at the latest. 

I noticed that a lot of people online talk about how much weight they lost, "I lost xx pounds!" But I haven't seen anyone really talk about losing dress sizes or inches in the waist or anything. So for me, I'm going to take my measurements as well as my weight at the start and end of Whole30. As much as it pains me to say this, I pulled out all of my shorts and not one of them fits anymore. Not in a "oh, it's a little snug" way. In a "I can't do up the button" way. Oy vey. So, while I won't post beginning and ending weight and inches, I do plan to let you all know with my own "I lost xx pounds AND xx inches" testimonial. 

 I'm also going to make a real effort to get some regular exercise in, hopefully that will help my muscle tone be better. I've been feeling rather flabby lately. With my record with exercise,(Remember when the bike broke my arm?) it probably won't be anything beyond some simple yoga, calisthenics, minor weightlifting (at home) and walking. 

Enjoy the Spring Weather (while it lasts, it's suppose to get back down to January temps this weekend for us.) 

Whole30 PreShow

Due to many factors, I recently decided to take on the Whole30 diet challenge. Since every year I decide to be better at blogging, (I usually fall of the wagon this time of year) I decided to go ahead and blog about how Whole30 goes for me.

I have not started it yet, but basically you cut out all sugar, dairy, and grains. I ordered the book and started reading as much as I could online. Finally, I drafted my husband to join with me. He always talks about dieting, but never really sticks with it, or is satisfied by results (at least it seems like this to me), and with the claims Whole30 is making, I think it might be what he’s looking for.

Out of curiosity, I started thinking about why certain foods weren’t on the list of acceptable items. And this morning I looked at the labels of two foods that we eat regularly: peanut butter for me (I love it on celery) and lunch meat from a name brand company for my husband.

Why are they not on the list? Sugar.

Yep, sugar is the second ingredient listed in the peanut butter we have. Apparently this isn’t uncommon since pb is explicitly banned while you are on Whole30.

And while ‘sugar’ isn’t an ingredient in lunch meat, this particular brand lists dextrose as an ingredient. Dextrose is a science-y namefor sugar.

While I knew this diet would be difficult, I was still a little surprised at the amount of  truthfulness behind the whole “added sugar is in EVERYTHING” mindset Whole30 has. They might be a bit over the top with it, I haven’t looked beyond these two foods that were convenient to me to look at. Only time will tell how much of the hype is just that, hype.

Stayed tuned, yall.