Whole 30- Final Thoughts and Before and After

This blog post has taken me a lot longer to write than I realized.  I initially thought that I would post the very next day.  I did begin the post but I definitely had a lot of realizations and thoughts and I have been steadily working on this post ever since.

First off, I have really enjoyed all of the questions, comments, and discussions with people about what I have been doing, how it is going, and why I have chosen to do this process.  I was initially worried about letting people know that I was embarking on this journey, but I am so thankful I did.  I think I was nervous about failing.  Doing something SO big and everyone knowing about it, is scary.  But it ended up being a wonderful thing.  It held me accountable and I really enjoyed talking to people about what I was doing and why.  I think we all need to be having more conversations about this important topic.  I really feel like we are in a battlefield and we are being lied to about our food.  We need to wake up, step up, and take control of our food and bodies and be an advocate for not only ourselves, but our kids.

For those of you who have followed me on this journey, thank you.  Your support has been so wonderful and I am happy to have shared it with you.  Who knows, but my hope is that by putting myself out there like this, I was able to inspire at least one person to try it.  I hope you can see that I am a normal, super busy, mom and I work full time outside of the home.  So if I can do it, anyone can do it!

I came across this graphic a few weeks ago and it has really stuck with me through this process.

So many people have made it seem like I am doing this crazy, whacked out DIET.  This is not a diet.  This is how we were created to eat, live, and survive.  This is going to seem off topic but stick with me. One thing that I have always loved about breast feeding is that mother's milk is always the perfect food for baby.  As baby grows and changes, the breast milk change and adapts so that it gives the baby everything it needs for perfect nutrition and satisfaction.  I believe that this is because God is perfect.  He provides everything His child needs to grow and be sustained.  I feel like God's provision doesn't change once we aren't babies anymore.  He has given us everything we need to be nourished, to grow, and be sustained in the food he has placed on this earth.  This seems like it is so revolutionary to eat this way and it shouldn't be!

Throughout this process, I have felt like this process has been almost counter cultural.  For so long, we have been told about calories in and calories out.  It has been super hard for me to not worry about  how many calories I was eating and how many calories I was burning.  Even though when I did that I wasn't successful!  It was a complete mind shift.  Not only that but we've been told, watch out how many calories you're eating.  Don't eat more than ____ calories a day.  Make sure you eat a low fat diet.  NOOOO!!!!  This has been the complete opposite.  While it was difficult at first, it began to be a very freeing experience for me.  As long as I found my balance between protein and fat, I ate compliant food (real, whole foods) and I was never hungry!

The process includes reintroduction of eliminated foods to observe how foods impact you.  I am not doing reintroduction at this point since I am continuing on through another round.

But I can tell you this.  I don't think that any of the eliminated foods are triggers or problems.  I know what my (and all of our) problem is...SUGAR!

Sugar is evil. Early on I named my sugar dragon my sugar demon and I am sticking with that name.  Sugar is like the devil.  The devil is described as sneaky and prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, to steal, kill and destroy.  Sugar is the same way.  Added sugar is in 80% of the foods in the grocery store.  It is in things that you would never even imagine that would have or even need sugar.  But it is there and it is unneeded!  I have learned to make versions of things that I like that has added sugar, without the sugar.  I have learned to love my farmers market even more than before.  I haven't frequented the grocery store all that much in my process.  Mostly because I buy my food in bulk at Coscto once a month and also because I use the farmer's market.  But when I have gone in to pick some things up, I never had to go to an inner aisle.  I went around the outside of the store and was able to get everything I needed!

So if you are thinking about trying it.  Here are some of my observations and suggestions.
Be prepared. This is not something that you can decide on Sunday that you're going to start on Monday.  Be prepared.  You need to read about the process...a lot.  There are tons of resources for you to read.  Everything is on the website, www.whole30.com, plus there are facebook pages, instagram accounts, and groups to be part of.  It is wonderful.  The book, It Starts With Food, is a wealth of information and I HIGHLY recommend it!

It does take a lot to get ready.  But it isn't impossible.  I found that the more I worked to get ready, the more excited I was to get started.  I made a menu for the month.  It doesn't mean that I completely stuck to it 100% but it was one of the things that helped me to stay successful!

At the beginning, I felt like all I did was read labels.  It seemed so daunting, until I came to the realization that if it had a label, it wasn't for me.  That doesn't mean that I didn't eat anything that came out of a package, but I quickly learned what I could eat.  If it had ANY ingredients that I couldn't understand then I didn't eat.  The biggest take away is that I realized that if there were ingredients listed that I could go and get and make it myself, I could have it.  I also learned that SUGAR has a lot of different names.  Remember, it's sneaky!!! Pretty much the only prepackaged thing that I ate was Larabars that I kept on hand for emergencies and Tessemae's condiments.  Other than that, I stuck to food that had no ingredients.  It became super freeing.  So they say that you do lots of label reading, and that was true, but by the end, I wasn't reading any labels at all!!

So I have already posted it on Facebook because I was really excited about it.  But it is time for my before and after.

My total weight loss was 12.4 pounds in 30 days.  Like I have said all along, it wasn't about the weight (but it was a nice side effect).  It has been about my relationship, read: UNhealthy relationship, with food and my overall feeling.

I feel amazing. I have SO much more energy.  I am sleeping SO well at night.  I feel confident and good about myself and more comfortable in my own skin.  I am loving my new self and I can't wait to see how much more I can accomplish!

Thanks for sticking with me.  Feel free to ask me any questions you may have.  Like I said, if I can do it, you can do it.  I want to help as many people be successful as possible! My whole 30 wasn't perfect, and yours won't be either.  But we can do this together!

It's been a wonderful experience.  Thanks for sticking with me! Your support and encouragement has kept me going and I couldn't have done it without you!  Let's keep calm and Whole 30 on!

Chop Chop...that's a wrap (a lettuce wrap at least!)
Juli