Whole30 Reset (Day 1-4)

*Note: I'm actually four days into this reset now. I didn't actually publish this until today because, quite honestly, I wasn't sure I was going to stick with it!  However, I am posting it now because I am absolutely DETERMINED to stick with it. Already, halfway into Day 4, I feel all that ick and brain fog clearning and I'm finally feeling good (like I used to feel) all the time. I can finally remember what self-control feels like and I felt like I had about lost it for a while there. I am so determined to complete this, in fact, that this is the very reason I am publishing this post! Now there's no turning back! Everyone is watching...okay, not everyone but the 20-50 people a day who visit my blog anyway....

I'm not one to do fad diets....anymore anyway! In fact, I usually cringe at the thought of them. That's why when I saw a friend posting about the Whole30 on Facebook, I was pretty dismissive. However, then she started posting pics of her meals and I realized that she was just eating whole foods. No bars or shakes. And not a single food I disagreed with as a healthy food. I combined this with my knowledge of who she is as a person: basically me. She's pretty progressive. She has taken the time to learn and understand what is best for her body. When I saw her recommend the companion book for this diet, I was officially interested. The book is called "It Starts With Food". And I can wholeheartedly recommend it. I knew anything that actually focused on food, all foods, not just carbs and not just protein and not just fat and not just a certain vitamin....might actually have a little something legitimate to say.

As I quickly worked through this 10 hour audiobook, I found myself nodding in agreement to everything they said. Most of it was stuff I've either learned through the years based on studies I've read. However, the parts that really sucked me in were the parts where they talked about allergenic foods that not many people acknowledge but that I myself have known deep down inside were causing me problems. Two of which are pretty controversial (well, compared to grains anyway, which more and more people are acknowledging are problematic) so I'm not going to go into them just yet because anyone intrigued may automatically write off this program without reading/hearing the science behind it first.

Day 1:

It's here. I have to do something and this is big for me. I'm not one to stick with plans like this really well but the science is so solid behind this that I feel a lot of conviction. It's a lot easier to stick with something you believe so strongly in.

So, I wanted to record how I'm feeling today so I'll have it for future reference. I ate breakfast around 7 am and I'm just starting to feel slightly hungry (it's 11:30am), which is pretty good for me! I had eggs, collards, mushrooms and onions all cooked in ghee. I'm guessing I am not hungry because I haven't had any artificial sweeteners which I generally have had by this time of the day, even if it's just in the form of my pre-workout. I have a slight headache but nothing bad. My ears feel very full of fluid. Part of it is definitely the cold I'm getting over but part of it is just what I generally feel lately. I'm a little achy all over and queasy.

I had a hard time falling asleep last night because I drank a ton of caffeine later in the afternoon and evening so I'm super sleepy today. I am probably going to have one cup of green tea around noon and I had about 1 1/2 cups of coffee this morning so overall my caffeine consumption should be a lot lower today than most days.

Day 4:

Okay, I haven't posted between day 1 and now because, honestly, I thought I was going to quit any minute! But the reason why is because I kept wanting to emotional eat and I was getting really depressed that I couldn't. I've really learned a lot about myself in the past couple days. I truly thought I had pretty much overcome emotional eating. But what I've realized is that I've learned to eat slower and less of the comfort foods. Yes, I eat way more good stuff now than I used to but the problem is that I was still absolutely turning to food when things got rough. Now I'm starting to feel more balanced and I haven't cheated at all which is pretty much a freakin' miracle for me. Well okay one little cheat....You aren't supposed to weigh yourself during the 30 days, only before and after because you're supposed to focus on "non-scale victories" as the emphasis of this program is not a crash diet to lose weight but rather an opportunity to reset your hormones and learn better eating (and coping) habits. I haven't been too virtuous in this department. I can't help it! I could look in the mirror last night and see that I was visibly smaller, through my midsection especially! I'm down 7 pounds in 3 days! However, I know enough to know this isn't actual fat loss and that if I keep weighing myself every day I'm going to get discouraged when the scales stop moving in a day or so and start slowly reflecting actual fat loss so...NO MORE WEIGHING!!


Here was my lunch today. It was left over stir fry (with some hot sauce), sour kraut and a clementine. A few days ago this meal would've been very lacking for me but right now my belly feels so happy and content. My energy is good and I don't want dessert! I seriously forgot what it was like to feel this way!