whole30 here we go

I’m taking us on a new journey, dear readers. A journey through my Whole30 challenge. If you follow my Facebook page then you’ve seen my #whole30 posts recently and maybe you were curious (or maybe you don’t give a rip but too bad ’cause I’m going to tell you anyway).

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I’m not going to go on and on trying to explain the program. You can check out the official Whole30 website or Google (or search Pinterest) and you’ll find tons of info. Also, It Starts With Food is the book that goes along with Whole30 and would be a good thing to read if you’re seriously considering.

Basically it comes down to this: for 30 days (starting Sunday, March 1) I’ll be eating meat, seafood, eggs, veggies, fruit, and healthy fats. And that’s about it. No dairy. No grains. No beans. No peanut butter (!!) (because peanuts are technically legumes). No processed foods. And definitely no added sugar. It’s like Paleo but stricter.

(see the Whole30 rules here)

Why? WHY? Why would you want to do that?

Several reasons, really.

At first it was just because I wanted to lose weight. I’ve really struggled since Hudson was born and after researching Whole30 it sounded like something that could help but not drop my milk supply as long as I make sure to eat enough. “Traditional” dieting has not worked for me while nursing (contrary to the common idea that breastfeeding makes the weight just fall off). If you’ve been around a while you know about my weight loss journey in college so I know *how* to lose weight, I just can’t use my old techniques while nursing.

But as I researched I realized I want to do this for so much more. Hudson doesn’t eat nearly as healthy as I’d like since he eats what we eat and that isn’t very many vegetables these days. I’m also hoping it’ll help with other things too such as changing my mindset about food, fixing digestion issues, and re-training my body to enjoy real food over processed.

So are you never eating cheese or bread again?

No. I mean yes. I mean…I do plan to introduce those foods back into my diet. I do not feel like Whole30 is a long term way that I’d like to eat.

Part of the thing with Whole30 is that after you finish your 30 days (or longer if you want to keep going longer) you start slowly adding in the foods that could be trigger foods for health issues (gluten, soy, dairy, etc.). You see how that makes you feel and evaluate whether you think you should eat them or not (read It Starts With Food if you want to know more specifically why they don’t want you to eat those foods). I personally don’t feel like any of those foods are big issues for me but I want to try going without them just to see (what if they *do* make me feel bad and I’m so used to it that I don’t realize?). But unless I find that I really need to avoid one of those foods then yes, I will add them back in.

My plan after Whole30 is to go back to eating the way we did during our 100 days of real food challenge – lots of whole, real, minimally-processed foods (including dairy, grains, and beans).

Why am I telling you this?

I fully intended not to say anything because what if I fail? I was just planning to pop on here in a month and be all “let me tell you about this great lifestyle change I made this month – I’m so much healthier and I lost weight and it’s great!” Unless it didn’t make a difference and then I wouldn’t say anything. But then I realized that I’d rather share my journey with you and have that accountability so here I am.

It’s going to be hard. I don’t eat a lot of meat and I don’t eat a lot of vegetables so it will be a challenge for those to make up the majority of my diet. But is it impossible? No.

My meal plan is made. My grocery list is made. I’m going shopping this afternoon. I’ll start prepping what I can this evening. I’m celebrating my birthday with family tomorrow and will probably overindulge on junk. And then Sunday it begins.