Whole 30 Challenge

What is whole 30? Here is a description from the Whole30 site.

Established by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig (of Whole9) in April 2009, the Whole30® is our original nutritional program designed to change your life in 30 days. Think of it as a short-term nutritional reset, designed to help you put an end to unhealthy cravings and habits, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, and balance your immune system.

Certain food groups (like sugar, grains, dairy and legumes) could be having a negative impact on your health and fitness without you even realizing it. Are your energy levels inconsistent or non-existent? Do you have aches and pains that can’t be explained by over-use or injury? Are you having a hard time losing weight no matter how hard you try? Do you have some sort of condition (like skin issues, digestive ailments, seasonal allergies or fertility issues) that medication hasn’t helped? These symptoms may be directly related to the foods you eat—even the “healthy” stuff.

So how do you know if (and how) these foods are affecting you? Strip them from your diet completely. Cut out all the psychologically unhealthy, hormone-unbalancing, gut-disrupting, inflammatory food groups for a full 30 days. Let your body heal and recover from whatever effects those foods may be causing. Push the “reset” button with your metabolism, systemic inflammation, and the downstream effects of the food choices you've been making. Learn once and for all how the foods you've been eating are actually affecting your day to day life, and your long term health. Whole30.com

So why am I starting my own whole30? I have know for the last few years that grains, more so, wheat really affects me. I bloat immediately in my upper belly, I feel tired, gain a ton of water weight and have uncontrollable cravings for more grains and sugar. I have gotten better at moderation but all too often I let myself slip. 

Over the last few months I have noticed dairy becoming a GI irritant. Mostly ice cream and cottage cheese, and I get horrible gas. Bad enough that if we eat pizza or ice cream I stink Wayne out of the room. Gross I know. Sometimes he will just sleep downstairs. Beans give me horrible gas. I am addicted to sugar and coffee. 

With this Whole30 challenge I am learning what it means to break habits and understand my cravings. For instance right now. Every morning I start the coffee pot just before I take Dakota for a walk. When I get back coffee is brewed and I fill my cup full of coffee and flavored creamer and usually come into the office and sit on the internet sipping my cup of coffee. It is killing me to not have it right now. But it just shows how deep the connection and craving is. 

Yesterday was my day one. I am also on the tail end of a cold. I enjoyed all of my meals but I realized my sugar craving. I eat so much fruit yesterday to try to keep it at bay. And not to mention my headache that increasingly got worse throughout the day. I went to Crossfit last night. I was winded after the stretches, had no energy but it did help my headache a little. I went to bed at 9:30 and had a crazy dream that a family member had died. My brain chemicals must be going crazy. I am also drinking 3 liters of water a day (100 ounces)

This morning I woke up, ate my breakfast but didn't have much of an appetite. I drank green tea instead of coffee : \ not my favorite. I have a mild headache right now and i feel foggy. Not sure if the foggyness is whole30 or cold related. Whole30 looks down on weighing yourself during this process but I was curious. I dropped 5lb (water weight) in 1 day. 

I am going to use this blog as a means of documentation for this journey about how I feel and my progress so far. A lot of my whole30 meals are on my pinterest board you can find here. I am grocery shopping on the weekend and meal planning one week at a time. So far I am looking forward to all of my meals and am excited to cook new things.