I Am Whole30!

That's what the t-shirt says and that's what I have been doing.  My trainer brought Whole30 back to the front of my thinking last fall.  I had seen it in the past and thought "No way am I ready for that."  She had bought the Whole30 book and started experimenting with the recipes.  I decided to get the book myself and saw there were two books.  I bought them both.  I read "It Starts With Food" first and thought I might be ready to give this a try now.

Exercise doesn't stop not even for the Whole30.

Why?  I had 4 years of eating healthy and exercising under my belt.  I had lost and kept off 86 pounds.  I had been slowly making changes to my way of thinking about food and how it effects my body for 4 solid years.  I never could have done this program at the beginning of my "health kick."  My psyche was too damaged from years of not eating properly.  From years of giving into my every food whim.  I refer to that way of thinking as my inner toddler.  She still raises her head every now and then.  As a good parent I put her in timeout.  What are we up to now... a 55 minute time out?!  That's according to the rules of timeouts.

Whole30 recipes

I had been slowly over the course of those 4 years working with Tosca Reno's plan of Clean Eating.  That plan was perfect for me when I started.  It really brought me back to my roots so to speak.  Made me eat real food again.  Not just part of the time, but all of the time.

I like to make my own ghee.

I finally felt like I could do a restrictive plan, because I was almost there. I especially wanted to do it since the Whole30 said it could provide me with so many incredible health benefits.  Here's where the  practical side of me came in.  I really didn't think anything incredible was going to happen to me as a lot of what was offered by the Whole30 had already happened to me.  I did want to see what else could be accomplished.  If it was just a few more pounds lost that was fine, but what if?  What if something I was eating was causing me problems and I didn't know.  So, in October I began my first Whole30.

Grocery list looking just right for the Whole30.

The one problem I have that controls me day in and day out is my digestion issues.  I'm never sure what it is exactly.  Doctor hasn't really said much more than "take this."  I often refer to it as "old lady stomach."  I don't seem to digest certain foods well.  Lots of acid splashing around.  Acid reflux occasionally at night.  It really is something that I didn't know was such a problem and really controlling my life until I did the Whole30.  It was so controlling that I wasn't sure I could do the Whole30 properly.  I lived on Tums and papaya enzymes daily.  Both of which have sugar, so not Whole30 approved.  I was a bit panicky when I thought I'd need to go a whole month without them.  I quite frankly didn't think I could, but I was going to try.

About 3 days into my Whole30 my stomach was doing better than it had in years.  I had gotten some Kombucha to drink every day in hopes that it could also help replace my Tums.  On went the Whole30 and then I was in the reintroduction phase.  I did well with the first few add ins and then I hit dairy.  I was doing the 3 day reintroduction and when I hit dairy I never really recovered when I began gluten.  Plus a lot of my gluten items have dairy in them.  My stomach was back to exactly the way it was before the Whole30.  It was now Thanksgiving and Christmas and the food started flying at me faster than Santa on Christmas Eve.  I was miserable with stomach issues again.   I knew as soon as January hit I was going right back on Whole30.  I wanted to calm my stomach down and redo the introduction of dairy and gluten.

What I got out of my first Whole30 was better digestion.  Going a month without a stomach ache of some kind was huge in my world.  I also had dramatically lower craving for sweets.  I kicked artifical sweeteners out of my life 4 years ago and it lower my sugar craving.  Who knew kicking actual sugar out of my life would also lower those cravings.  Again a huge life change not pacing around the kitchen, because I need something sweet.  I also lost 6 pounds, which is also nice.

nomnompaleos Braised Mexican beef

My goal at the end of this Whole30 is to reintroduce gluten with a careful eye to anything that ALSO contains dairy.  I need to avoid dairy to get a true reading on whether gluten is a problem for me.  Then I may back my way into dairy.  My first thought is do I really need to reintroduce it a 2nd time and test myself?  Then I think about a life without cheese and ice cream and the answer is yes.  If dairy is truly a problem I'll commit to a life with no cheese and almond milk ice cream on occasion.  My stomach will thank me.

Tosca Reno's Sugar Strike

I tried to do Tosca Reno's StrikeSugar program last year and the timing just wasn't right with my surgery.  I didn't want to ask my family to help me cook all this new food.  Although I have a wonderful family and they would have done it.  It's an ebook for sale on Tosca Reno's website.

Ironically, I had to have a scar revision from last years surgery and it hit right around when this years StrikeSugar challenge began.  I was in the regaining my energy to exercise phase when it began.  I was afraid I couldn't get my cardio up where it needed to be, but thought there is never a perfect time in my life to StrikeSugar.  I love it too much.  Don't get me wrong I've gotten a lot of sugar out of my life, but as you can see from my previous 3 posts it's not out completely not even close.

So, I joined the StrikeSugar challenge on FB.  Still have my lesson plan all printed out and ready to go from last year.  The first week was not too difficult since I already really watch my sugar and simple carb intake.  Cutting it even lower didn't cause me headaches, or mood swings, but for a few in the group they were having such a hard time.  They were cutting cold turkey.  Brave brave women!  I had to gradually get my diet worked around to Eating Clean then try the Strike Sugar program.  It's been a 3 year learning lesson for me.  The other gals a 4 week learning lesson.  Now the Strike Sugar program didn't come up until last year.  I could have done it at the 2 year mark if I'd have been healthy enough to do it.  I am now.

Buckwheat porridge with mixed berries.  I froze a couple servings of this.  It was very good cooked with spices that really added a lot of flavor to the porridge.  It is a bit gummy, so I eat it with a dollop of Greek yogurt.  Perfection.

Protein pancakes with a quick blueberry reduction syrup.  Again very good and again I froze some for future breakfasts.  The protein comes from Almond meal.  That I like.

I've eaten more eggs during the Strike Sugar Challenge than I probably all of last year.  Not my favorite until I turn it into a frittata.  That I love.

The recipe for the Roasted Tomato and Chickpea Soup is something I'll probably make forever.  My hubs even loved it.  The seed crackers were very good and for that reason I may never make them again.  High in calories and good fats and something I want to pick at and eat all day long.  When you know you can't control yourself why set yourself up for failure.

This is the Vegetable Chili con Carne (not!) and the flavors in this chili make one not miss meat.  It called for a lot of fresh basil and I thought it would overwhelm the flavors, but it didn't.  Again I froze some of this for feature lunches and dinners.  I almost didn't have enough to freeze as my family was scarfing it down.

This was a strange one.  Cauliflower pizza crust.  My husband already love cauliflower mashed potatoes, so we were willing to try this.  Do to several people saying their crust was very soggy I precooked my cauliflower and rolled it in a towel.  No sogginess for me.  No sure I'd go to this much trouble again I don't have a huge craving for pizza.  It was good.  I had enough for dinner that night and lunch the next day.  Everyone ate it and liked it.

I think what's been fun about this Strike Sugar Program is seeing all of the creative ways to get simple sugars out of ones life.  I've lost 8 pounds to boot.