The Whole 30 is my favorite.

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It's been a while since I visited my blog space and I've missed it! I post daily on Instagram so lets be friends there too okay? @hello_apricot. Summer has been wonderful so far and I never want it to end! Also, because of Whole 30, I've never felt better.
Before Carter got out of school I decided on a whim to go ahead and start the Whole 30. Not familiar with the program? It's a 30 day elimination process where you take out all inflammatory foods including sugar, dairy, grains, and legumes and begin to heal your body with real food. I've known about it for a long time and knew I needed to do it, but it just seemed so daunting. Until one day…I was DONE feeling sick all the time no matter what I ate. See, at the time, I thought I ate very "clean". I was so wrong.
A little back story on why I felt like I needed to do this. I've been a Weight Watchers girl forever. I even used to work for them as a receptionist a few years ago. I always thought it was a great program and that they did a great job of teaching how to lose weight and keep it off. I just felt that something was missing for me. I would follow the program diligently eating lots of lean protein, fruits and veggies, low fat/fat free dairy & whole grains. I'd be working out daily by jogging, group classes at the gym etc... I'd get down to what is considered a happy weight for my height (5'2.5" in case you're wondering), but I just never felt good. Stomach pain, bloating, and "ahem" gas and irregularity with bouts of constipation. We're going to get real in this post okay?! It's not all fun and games. I was tired all the time and sad about the ring around my belly that hung out over my skinny jeans. Not cute.
I didn't understand how I could be working so hard to lose weight and not see any changes. According to Weight Watchers (and America in general) I ate a very good and well balanced diet. I truly did not believe that it was the food that I was eating that was causing me to feel this way. I thought for sure it had to be that I was not exercising enough, but keeping things real, I wasn't about to tackle that one. So that's when I decided to try the Whole 30 once and for all just to see if it would make any difference. To become my own personal science experiment. Truthfully, I had very low expectations, but I am a goal setter and once I start something, I finish it. I kept a timeline in my phone of my entire whole 30 process including my reintroduction to the foods I'd eliminated. I think the reintroduction is the most important part of the whole journey. Taking 10 additional days and really nailing down what's causing havoc in your body. If you decide to do a Whole 30, you'd be doing yourself a disservice by not following the reintroduction protocol. Just my two cents for what it's worth. Anyhow, here is the reader's digest version of how my Whole 30 went down:
Start date: May 15, 2014 End date: June 13th, 2014 Exercise: jogging (no more than 2.5 miles 3 days a wk, yoga, walking) Pounds lost: 7.4!!! I weigh less now than I have my entire adult life. Even less than when I had the swine flu in 2009. That was not a good time for me.
Reintroduction beginning June 14th: Dairy-within 10 minutes after eating yogurt, I had mega cramps. Cheese didn't seem to bother me. Ice cream was less awful than the yogurt and worth it :)
Gluten grains-about two hours after, I had abdominal discomfort, bloating, gas, headache, and I just wanted to take a nap. Felt AWFUL the next morning and decided to hop on the scale. THREE AND A HALF POUND WEIGHT GAIN. From one day of gluten foods friends. One day. I was feeling the effects of the gluten for about three days with bloating and constipation sadness.
Non-gluten grains- some bloating started the day of and lasted for about three days along with constipation…again.
Legumes-no major gut symptoms other than what you'd expect from beans. Gas and bloating specifically. This lasted several days.
So guess who's body HATES dairy, ALL grains, and legumes? Mine. Interesting to me is that my body does not discriminate against gluten alone. All grains are the enemy. I really and truly thought that once this was all said and done, I'd be able to go back to eating small amount of dairy and grains and be ok, but no such luck. I have a very delicate balance going on right now and any slight disruption will jack me up for 2 or 3 days. Since my reintroduction I've tried some foods just to see how my body would react and the only thing that's been even remotely worth it is ice cream. I can handle discomfort for ice cream.
How am I doing now? Since I'm being totally honest here, now that I'm two months into this, I've hit a wall. I know that if I want to continue to feel good, I have to keep eating this way forever, but sometimes it's hard and I just want someone else to cook all my food for me. When I first started, I was on fire! Cooking was super fun, I was feeling AWESOME and nothing was getting me down! So how am I coping? With the help of a GREAT site called The Clothes Make The Girl. Her method of cooking is nothing short of genius and she has several weeks of meal plans to successfully complete a Whole 30. Yes you'll spend tons of time in the kitchen one day a week, but it's so worth it. You're making meal components that you can throw together however you want so there's still room for creativity. No boring food and after food prep day, you're in and out of the kitchen quick! I feel like I'm getting my cooking mojo back. To infinity and beyond.
Are you thinking about doing a Whole 30? I hope you are and I hope you do. I found it to be so interesting. A personal science experiment to see how the food I was eating was affecting my body. So incredibly eye opening. I know it's hard, but try to look at the weight loss part as an added bonus to feeling super awesome. You will lose weight without even trying so don't focus solely on that part! Did you catch the part where I lost 7.4 lbs by just eating food. I didn't work out like a crazy person. I ate TONS OF FAT. Best ever. Here are my tips for how to get started:
Read the book It Starts With Food. The authors are the creators of the Whole 30 and they explain food perfectly. No nonsense scientific approach to nutrition. The info on the site is not enough to really understand what is happening in your body plus there are really great recipes and stuff in there.
While you're at it, my two favorite cookbooks that helped a sister out are Practical Paleo and Paleo Comfort Foods. Not all Paleo foods are compliant, but most are and these books are great. The recipes are simple and don't call for weird stuff I promise.
This julienne peeler is something you have to have because Zoodles. They will change your life. And when my friend Erin told me about this recipe, I was like, zucchini and eggs, gag. I don't know how it works but it's delicious. Unicorn magic or something.
Some other kitchen tools I found to be helpful are good nonstick pans and a Misto because no cooking spray in your new life. A silicon basting brush is also good. I got one at the Dollar Tree.
You're going to be making homemade mayo so you're going to want a food processor. My mini Cuisinart is my favorite for my mayo needs but people also seem to have good luck with immersion blenders. Two words. Homemade ranch. My IG friend @amazon_ashley has a GREAT recipe on her feed.
And lastly, but so important, find some Whole 30 friends! Instagram has a great community of people that will inspire you and cheer you on! My hashtag for my Whole 30 is #eodoeswhole30 if you want to see some of what I ate. My friend Erin was instrumental in helping me get going. Check out her blog Tweet Potato Pie for all kinds of fun recipes. My good friend Amy of Amy Cornwell Designs started her Whole 30 right after I did and it was really fun to do it together! Amy loved her experience so much that she has started a new blog called Natural Living Real Life. You can read her Whole 30 story here. She'll also be sharing recipes, and healthy lifestyle tips including the use of essential oils which is my next adventure!
If you made it to the end of all my rambling, thanks so much for reading! I hope that with the help of the Whole 30, you'll find the health you're looking for. God designed our bodies to function their best eating the foods He created. We have compromised our bodies and ultimately our health because we over-consume man-made, chemical laden, sugar-filled foods. Allow God to begin to heal the body He gave you by eating the foods that were made to help it function happily! If you have any questions at all please fire away in the comments!
~Elizabeth