Ryan wanted to start up the Whole 30 again because he wanted to give it another try after our fail two years ago with it. I am usually always up for diet challenges so I put together a meal plan and went to Costco and bought a ridiculous amount of veggies and meat. Then I spent hours last Sunday chopping and roasting veggies and prepping food for the week.
We woke up Monday morning and started our day with a huge breakfast of eggs with sautéed veggies, lettuce and tomatoes with balsamic, avocado, bacon and strawberries. It was a larger breakfast than I would normally consume, which seemed weird to do on a “diet.”
I am happy to support in healthy eating ideas like these, but in reality, I knew I wasn’t going to really do the Whole 30. For one, I had a work happy hour on Tuesday this past week and I knew I wasn’t going to drink club soda. I mean, I could have, but it’s just not the same. So with that, I’m kind of doing a Whole 30. Basically, I am taking in some of the principles that I think will help me and leaving the ones I don’t want.
So what is a Whole 30?
The Whole 30 is an elimination diet that you follow for 30 days to help you reset and determine if you have digestive issues or aversions to any types of foods. It is also known to bring weight loss as well but that’s not the point of the diet. The diet is fairly simple though (in rules), which is why so many people give it a try. If you want to read all of the details, you can find them here. Otherwise, the gist of it is no grains, dairy, sugar, alcohol, preservatives, and legumes are allowed. You may be asking yourself, what can you actually eat then?! Well, you can still eat veggies, meats, healthy fats, and fruits.
What I am using from the Whole 30
- Limited sugar. I need this to reset myself. I am a total sugar addict, like it is my crack. If I have one cookie, all I can think about is eating another one. If I don’t start, then I don’t have that issue. So for the next 30 days, I’m going to limit sugar. This means I am going to mostly eliminate sugar from my diet unless it is a special occasion. I really need to reset this in my mind because it gets out of control otherwise, especially coming into the holidays! This worked well over Halloween where I didn’t find myself consuming handfuls of candy like I normally would have.
- Limited snacking. Snacks are where I get into trouble. The times when I go off the rail with food is afternoon and evening snacks when I am stressed out. So for these 30 days, I am limiting snacks and if I am really hungry, I will eat veggies, fruit or nuts only.
- No preservatives. I don’t really eat much in the preservatives category anyway so will just keep this up
- No dairy. I don’t eat too much dairy anyway but will keep it to a minimum because I am trying to follow as many of the rules as possible so I won’t include it in any of my meals or anything.
- Limited carbs. I am not eating any grains/flours/breads/pastas/rice/oats/etc. during the week and very few on the weekend.
So what’s my new game plan for success?
- Keep it simple. I think I got too fancy with my meals last time. It’s much easier to just do simple things and even short cuts (like buy the pre-cut veggies).
- Find new ways to reduce stress. I tend to use food and alcohol to reduce stress. Instead, I am going to try and meditate each day to help with relieving stress. I am also going to try and prioritize walks and yoga because those help to reduce stress.
- Go hard core during the week and relaxed on weekends. It is easier for us to follow diets during the week and then relax them up a bit on weekends. This is basically what we are going to follow. Weekends don’t mean full on cheat days, they just mean that we can have a glass of wine with friends.
How has it been going?
Well we are almost a week in and so far so good. Granted, we’ve bent the rules a few times…for example, I had a few pieces of Halloween candy but only a few is a win for me. The mindset changes are already setting in where I’m not reaching for the donut at work when it is there. Also, we have been eating meals that are very veggie heavy which has been good to reset the body. We are relaxing a bit this weekend but I already have the fridge full of veggies for next week to continue again.
What do you think of the Whole 30? Love it or hate it?
