I have received a LOT of questions about the Whole 30 Diet so I thought I would do a post explaining it and how we have liked it so far.
First of all, my friend Ashley DARED me to do this 30 Day Challenge and I am not one to pass up a good challenge. I will be honest, I had NEVER EVER done a diet before. Unfortunately, eating disorders ran rampant in my high school and so I have tried to stay as far away from calorie counting as I possibly can so that I would never have to walk through that struggle. BUT I feel like I had taken it too far- Cokes, FAST FOOD, and eating whatever I wanted...Whenever I wanted. For the first YEAR after Stella was born, I was able to blame the extra weight on Stella and after that, it was just plain laziness so I knew there had to be a middle ground somewhere. So I decided to take on this challenge!
Instead of all the foods I CANNOT eat (because that overwhelms me) I just focused on what we COULD eat.
- MEAT
- VEGGIES
- FRUITS
- NUTS
- EGGS
The first week was awful. My system was shocked at how many greens I was eating and I was honestly a bit on edge and cranky. My saving graces were afternoon Sonic runs to get unsweet tea and my Lara Bars! I LOVE these! For lunch, I just subsituted lettuce for bread on my sandwiches, almost making them a wrap! Not as filling, but still good.
I started on a Monday and had a doctor's appointment that Thursday and the nurse practices PALEO (Very similar to Whole 30) and gave me some advice. She said if I took it TOO FAR and was too strict on myself, it would become a "Fad Diet" that I would swear on my life to never do again after the 30 Days were up! She said for her and her husband, they practice Paleo during the week and take weekends off. Why? Because you aren't going to UN-DO all the healthy eating you have practiced during the week with 1 cheeseburger on the weekend. So this was great motivation for me because I knew if I could make it until Friday, I wouldn't feel guilty eating whatever I wanted on the weekends! (Now its not smart to binge-eat, but if I wanted to splurge and have ice cream or pasta, I had that freedom) She also told me that she had a few non-negotiables in her weekday dieting: Creamer in her coffee and red wine if she needed a glass after a long day. I have adapted this to MY Nonfat Chi Tea Lattes from White Rock Coffee after my Boot Camp workouts (NON-negotiable after a 5:30AM workout) and also red wine if I have had a long day. (She did mention that red wine is the "healthiest" alcohol- good for your heart and less sugar than white wine.)
If nothing else, this "diet" has really been a lifestyle shift for my family. We are eating MUCH healthier and I am much more conscious about what I buy at the store now. LOTS of fresh fruits and veggies have taken the place of fruit snacks, trail mix, and goldfish in the afternoons. I also RARELY find myself craving "Fast Food" anymore and I used to eat it frequently. AND I am pleased to say, that unsweet tea has now replaced my cravings for COKE!! I had a Coke this past weekend and couldn't even finish it because it made me feel so bloated. I never thought I would say that!
Some of my FAVORITE things to make now are spaghetti squash. Recipe HERE. And then Taco Salad... we do ground beef, corn, lettuce, tomatoes, and sliced up avocado topped with Salsa from Chili's :) Its YUMMY!!! Logan's favorite lunch these days is tuna salad and my favorite snack has become apples with almond butter from Trader Joes.
Who are we?!?! I don't even recognize us! Haha! We do NOT keep a scale in our house for said reason listed in the first paragraph, but I have noticed that I feel better and my pants are buttoning up a lot easier than they used to ;) So I would encourage anyone to try it and not be HARD CORE about it, but be REALISTIC. When you do challenges like this it really makes you take a good hard look at your eating habits and sometimes just a tweak or two can make all the difference in your diet! I am not an expert by any means, but I feel like if WE were able to do this, ANY family can!
Good for you Abby! I'm working on the clean eating thing right now as well! I was really hard on myself last night for cheating but after reading your blog, I'm going to give myself a little grace and focus on just being healthy and happy. - ps gluten free cinnamon rice cakes with a little almond butter on top are a great snack during the day ;)
ReplyDeletethis is awesome Abby...I'm basically doing the same thing and started around the same time as you. it's crazy how much better one feels not eating the 'bad' stuff all the time. I feel a gagillion times better than I did a couple of weeks ago. keep it up! it's sooo good for your cute family AND will teach Stella good habits from the get go!
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