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Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Whole30: Days 21, 22, & 23 (oops)

So, yeah. There comes a point where you forget what day you're on. That came today. Normally, I'm all like, "DAY 19!!!! WOOOHOOOOOOOO!" Tonight i had to look at the calendar on my phone to see if it was Day 22 or 23. They all just run together at some point.
But it's still going well! Kind of. I mean, it's going well as in we are still doing this & we still haven't cheated!! But... it is getting old. Honestly. I just want some french toast. Or beignets. Or pizza.

Mmmm pizza. Today i went to the breakroom at work to grab my lunch out of the fridge, and i was faced with AT LEAST 16 pizzas. WHAT?! It smelled amazing. But i grabbed my pork chops, carrots & onions & went on my merry way.

The cool thing is, this stuff isn't a temptation anymore. I mean, i definitely think, "OMG, that smells so good, i want a piece!" But no real struggle in my brain, no "that cookie is seriously calling my name, I MUST HAVE IT NOW". None of that. The sugar addiction is GONE.

I don't know if i have told you our plans for when this is over. The truth is, i am done dieting in the typical sense. I'm just done. I would like to adopt this way of eating, well, FOREVER. And it feels like I already  have adopted it. I believe in it, in this way of eating, even though i am not seeing some of the benefits that i had hoped to see. I believe that I WILL.

However, with a "lifestyle", you are not going to hear me say that i will NEVER again have sugar or dairy or grains. I will. And I am okay with that. In fact, our anniversary is next weekend, 2 days after this thing ends, and we will eat some unhealthy foods. Just the truth. We will. And we will enjoy them. I don't mean our entire weekend getaway we will stuff ourselves to our hearts content with any & every evil food we desire. But yes. We will have some things we miss, just for the fun of it. Like beignets & french toast. ;)

Am I afraid that doing that will reverse what I have done so far? Or will get me right back to being addicted to sugar? Yes, a little. But that's okay. Is it crazy to say it will be different this time? Because I think it could be. I mean, this time is different already. I've never done a Whole30 before. Even in my strictest dieting, i have never been as strict as i have been for the last 23 days. (Except maybe Ideal Protein. But i now believe this way of eating is much healthier, and something you can do long-term.)

In case i never told you what this diet includes, i am only allowed meats, veggies, fruits & healthy fats. Absolutely no processed foods, sugar, grains, dairy or legumes. I have followed it 100%. That is the foundation of my new life as someone who eats the paleo way. So yes, it is kind of scary to eat what I want when this ends. It's scary to know i could end up addicted to sugar in such an intense way again. But I am at peace with doing this. I just have to be honest with how those foods make me feel. And I have to be honest about why i want them.

The creators of Whole30 are cool with this too. Here is what they said in The Timeline about Day 31 (& beyond). 

Day 31: Deep breathing. And maybe some ice cream.

Your sanity returned at some point on day 30 and you realized that eventually, you will have to come out of your perfect Whole30 bubble. Try as you may, you won’t always be able to make life fit inside the Whole30 rules. Does that mean you’re headed off-road at 90 miles per hour? No. But it does mean that you’ll give the reintroduction protocol (in It Starts With Food) the same attention you gave the last 30 days and be honest with yourself about your reactions – physical and emotional – to food. And tonight, that might just mean a bowl of ice cream. And that’s okay.

We don’t expect you to live your life Whole365. We do expect you to take what you’ve learned and use the information to carefully evaluate how the foods you were eating before make you feel now that you’ve eliminated them (and any of their negative effects) from your body. We do expect you to listen to the feedback your body and mind give you and change your food relationships. And we do expect you to make conscious choices about when and how to go off-plan…and when you do, enjoy it!


* * * * * * *

So yeah. We'll see how it goes! But i am trusting & believing that i CAN do this. And I will. And I'm excited. I definitely feel a lot better eating this way.

I can't really tell you what i ate Days 21-23, though. Promise there have been zero cheats!!

ADIOS.


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