First of all, check out the hovering "Pin It" button on the photos. I'm pretty excited about it! Second, I debated whether or not to blog about this. I know people don't always like to read about other people's diets and stuff, but this was really successful for me and I feel it's worth sharing. I was watching a show (I think it was Dr. Oz) and they were talking about Whole30 and "It Starts with Food" by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig.
http://whole30.com/
I knew I needed to get a grip, and get it soon! I thought what the heck, and downloaded the book onto my iPad. If you haven't heard about Whole30, its basically the Paleo diet. After being really strict for 30 days, you start adding food groups back into your diet to see how your body responds to them. They mention how this is more about a healthy lifestyle than losing weight, but losing weight is one of the perks of a healthy lifestyle. One of the things I read in the book that really intrigued me was a story one of them told about their shoulder. To make it short, they read an article about how legumes cause inflammation and how people with rheumatoid arthritis have found some relief when cutting legumes out of their diet. They were already eating pretty clean, but decided to cut legumes out to see if it helped with their shoulder, and 6 weeks later their shoulder was pain free. My shoulder has been hurting for years! It hurt to put dishes in the cupboard and to take dishes out of the cupboard. It hurt when I vacuumed, mopped, cleaned the shower, did my hair, rolled up the hose.... It hurt pretty much all the time! Only 2 weeks into the Whole30 my shoulder was pain free. Woohoo! And yes, I lost weight, but that's not why I'm writing this. It's about how much better I feel.
Isn't he cute!
I decided to start the Whole30 the Monday after Nolan's graduation. (June 9). I was so ready for this and so excited to get started. I told my husband Peter that I couldn't wait until Monday and he said, "what's Monday"? "It's the day I start my diet". I knew I was going to be successful because I was so ready for this change. In the book they listed things that they didn't want us to do during this 30 days and in there I found my favorite line in the book. They said not to say "this is hard". Quitting heroin is hard, fighting cancer is hard, giving birth is hard. Drinking your coffee black, is. not. hard... To tell you the truth, drinking my coffee black is hard for me so I just drink tea now.
I told my family that I was going to start this Paleo diet and that for dinner they would be eating Paleo too because I wasn't going to cook 2 meals. They weren't too excited about this, but they have loved everything I've made thanks to these 2 cookbooks.
The hardest part is the food prep. I guess it's not really hard, just time consuming. It is so worth it though. I tried to make my own mayo, but it wouldn't emulsify. I tried it twice and couldn't get it to work. I will figure it out though! Another oops I had was while eating out. It was Elijah's birthday dinner and we went to Mexican so Abbey and I could share fajitas without the rice, beans and tortillas of course. Well, the fajitas were served in a sweet and sour sauce. Who knew I was at a Mexican/Chinese restaurant. Oh well! The two other times I ate out during the 30 days I had grilled Mahi Mahi with a pineapple salsa and cedar plank Salmon. Yum!
Now that my 30 days are up I'm planning on sticking with the plan 90% of the time and allowing treats every now and then. Dallas and Melissa say it's ok to have treats when it's something special. They also say that a bowl of M&M's in the break room is not special and to leave them alone. On day 31 I went to the beach (it wasn't planned, just worked out best for everyone) and enjoyed beach food. I had clam chowder and saltwater taffy! The next day I had no problem getting back on track.
I really was a slave to food, and this program has worked for me. I hope this post will encourage you if this is something you struggle with.
Blessings,
Julie Wagner
