Sunday, March 31, 2013

Whole30 DONE and RECAP!

Yesterday was the last day of my Whole30 challenge.  Keep in mind that I ate a Paleo lifestyle before starting the Whole30 so I didn't have a huge tired/cranky time followed by a surge of energy. 

finished-whole30-header


I have really put some thought in how I would recap this.  Because I didn't have this HUGE life changing weight loss/food battle event then some may think it's not worth the time.  Lets start with the not so great stuff. 

Thumbs Down:

Cooking - there seems to be a lot of cooking.  I was also trying to keep food stocked up for Daniel (17 year old son).  
Homemade Mayo - I have about a 40% success rate on this.  Frustrating
Planning/planning and more planning - Then shopping shopping and more shopping.
Expensive - In the excitement of new recipes and the anticipation of limiting some foods I over spent.  It doesn't need to be expensive.  
Hard to find something to eat if your out and about - This is where just plain lazy comes in.  Remember when our flight team was stranded in an itty bitty town?  HERE   I did just fine at their grocery store, it's just not easy.
Almond milk - Goes hand in hand with the smoothies.  I only had 2 smoothies in 30 days and I needed to use homemade almond milk.  I like the convenience of store bought but not the taste, for smoothies.
No every day smoothies - I miss my smoothies


There is plenty of awesome:

Thumbs Up!

Homemade Mayo - it's DELICIOUS!  I just need to get better at making it.  I just don't like the idea that I HAVE to make it.
Almond Milk - Homemade - I could drink it all day it's so good!  I miss the store bought kind to put in my seldom eaten smoothies.  If I made enough for both I'd have to make it almost every day.

NOTE:  I have had people tell me that store bought Almond Milk is all natural.  I like the Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze.  Here is a list of the ingredients:

INGREDIENTS: ALMONDMILK (FILTERED WATER,  ALMONDS), CALCIUM CARBONATE, TAPIOCA STARCH, NATURAL VANILLA FLAVOR WITH OTHER NATURAL FLAVORS, SEA SALT, POTASSIUM CITRATE, CARRAGEENAN,  SUNFLOWER LECITHIN, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, VITAMIN D2 AND D-ALPHA-TOCOPHEROL (NATURAL VITAMIN E).
Hmmm

New recipes - I found some stuff that I will make over and over again
I Feel better - Overall I feel more energy and happier
My body feels tighter - Fat usually settles right on my abdomen.  In the last 30 days it has felt like there is even less there, like my body is smoothing out.
My tastebuds feel like they "re-set" - sounds really odd, but I feel like fruit tastes sweeter and I can appreciate the tastes of the foods better.  I don't have to overload them with salt or sugar.  I had a couple of small chocolates today and they were overwhelmingly sweet.
Labels - I am now a big label reader.  What is really in that season salt?  Oh, sugar, weird.  For 30 days I read labels everywhere. I even went to Whole Foods and browsed around looking for things that were simple and healthy. It is such an eye opening experience and I learned so much from it. 
My son's health - Today Daniel stated that he really didn't want to stop eating healthy, that he felt really good and he even lost a few pounds.  He also mentioned that when he eats breads and sweets they make him uncomfortable and gassy.  
My health -  Knowing that what I'm putting into my body is fresh, organic and healthy.  I am completely in charge of how my body is treated and I want to respect and give it energy and light.  Sounds a little hippie-ish but it's true.  Despite the difficulty after my surgery and frustration of just laying around I still felt great. 
Cravings  - It took at least 25 of those days but my cravings are way down!  





The Whole30 challenge was a definite success!!

I feel great and I have a clearer idea of how I want to continue eating.  I have ton's of new recipes to use and will keep making almond milk.  Today was sort of a day off, but I served my kids a completely Whole30 compliant meal (except the Sangria) for Easter. (Easter post coming)

I will continue the Paleo lifestyle and use most of the Whole30 principles.  I will have a tea with honey, crystal light and the occasional alcoholic drink.   But the majority of my day will continue in a Whole30 way.  I don't want to give up eating delicious, nutrition food and as much as I want!  I was never hungry on this challenge.  NEVER!  Cravings, yes, but not hungry.  It also got me in touch with my stress eating habits.  I'm a horrible stress eater!  Hopefully I'm on my way to conquering that battle.  

I will probably do it again when I feel like I need a restart!

I did not lose any weight.  Well, I lost about .8 lb.  I've been laying around for  9 days and unable to exercise so I didn't even measure myself.  I really don't have a lot to lose and my body LOVES this weight for some reason.  If you wanted to do this program to also lose weight then nuts and fruits have to be eaten very sparingly.  I'm sure the few pounds I would like to lose for summer will come right off when I start running again. 

If you have any questions about the Whole30 challenge you can email me, comment or check out the Whole9 website that has most of the information to get started or see if it's right for you.



Thank you for being patient with all my food pictures.  I may not stop.....

Blog on................

2 comments:

  1. That's very interesting. I'm still in search for a diet that helps my GI issues. I'm very new in this, but what is the difference between Paleo and Whole 30?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Whole 30 is basically Paleo. Paleo has varying degrees. It really depends on what book you read. Whole 30 is a very strict sort of Paleo but it's only 30 days. I loved it and it really opened my eyes to eating healthy is easy. Will it help GI issues? Maybe. It's a great place to start!

    ReplyDelete