Good Morning and Good Day to you all! I hope everyone is doing well and had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! It was a celebration of firsts with our little man. I’ll give you more details about how everything went down later this week, but right now I want to talk about something pretty big going on in our lives…Whole 30! You may have heard of it before. I think it’s pretty popular. I had heard about it through social media but never really knew exactly what it was until my interest was peaked by a friend of mine who did it, so I dug a little deeper and did some research for myself.
What is Whole 30
In my own words I would say it is basically a reset for your body. During this 30 day period you do not eat sugar of any kind, grains, legumes, dairy, carrageenan, MSG, sulfites or drink alcohol. There is a reason you are not to consume these foods and no, it’s not to ruin all your fun(although, I’m sure it’ll feel like it on certain days). The foods mentioned are all inflammatory food groups. By cutting them out for 30 days you are allowing your body to heal from the effects those foods may have been causing you. If you want to read even more details about this challenge visit their site here.
My Why
For the first time in my life I am doing a health challenge and my reason isn’t to lose weight. In the past I’ve completed many unhealthy programs in attempt to drops some LBs but since Foster has arrived my mindset towards my health and body have changed a good deal. I’m no longer as obsessed with how much I don’t eat. Instead I’m trying to be very aware of what I do eat. For several reason;
1) I am breastfeeding so how I take care of my body directly effects my milk supply.
2) After pregnancy and labor I have a greater appreciation for my body and what God created me to do. My body is not something just to make as small as possible. I want to make it strong and healthy.
3) I want to be a good example to my son in regards to how he should eat and take care of himself. After all he is watching me all the time and I want him to see good habits from his mama.
4)It’s a challenge for me and Aaron to do together. Our health is our responsibility and I don’t want to take it lightly. It’s a big deal.
5) And most importantly this is my one and only life. I want to treat myself in a way that allows me to live a long healthy one. This program is totally out of my comfort zone and I think that’s a good thing.
So, all in all here is my why…
My people need me and I want to be the best me for them.
Before Whole 30
I approached my husband with the idea of doing Whole 30 the Friday before New Years. This meant that we had all sorts of candy, cookies and well you name it in the house from Christmas and there was more to come from New Years. After I told Aaron about Whole 30 and we did some research together he was all in, woohoo!! BUT, we agreed we had some damage to do first. I’m sure this is not how the Whole 30 folks would recommend you doing things and we may regret it later but what we decided to do is enjoy all the “snacks” we wanted for the next couple of days before starting the challenge on Tuesday, January 3rd. Our reasoning was that hopefully we would have all the junk food desire out of our system and it would give us time to prepare together. Since preparation is such a huge part of Whole 30 success. So, here is all the junk we munched on for a couple of days.
YUP, that’s a lot of not good for your food. I don’t know wether to be proud or embarrassed. I think I’m a little of both. But, that’s behind us! Moving onward! This food is now in a bag ready for the trash.
Prepping for Whole 30
We went out yesterday to replace all of our trash food with fuel food. Let me just say it was the longest grocery experience of my life. When it was all said and done it took us two hours. It usually takes me about thirty to forty minutes. I am so thankful Aaron went with me because I probably would have been in tears by the end of the experience if it wasn’t for his support. It was like we were grocery shopping for the first time. All of the “healthy” items I would buy in the passed are off limits due to added stuff like sugar, soy, or you name it. I never realized how many additives are in things until you’re actually looking at the ingredients and not just the nutrition facts. I mean I’ve heard it a lot but I guess I went with the motto ignorance is bliss on this specific topic. I try to eat healthy over all but this Whole 30 challenge is health on the tenth degree and I’m pumped! Here is our new view after our shopping that included Aldis and Pulbix. p.s. Aldi had a good amount of organic food making me fall a little more in life with my number one grocery store!
There were some items I had an especially hard time finding like:
- bacon
- sausage
- unsweetened almond milk (with a lot of added stuff)
- almond butter
- coconut milk
So, I plan to go on an outing to Whole Foods later this week to buy at least a few of these items. A friend of mine told me about this bacon and sausage at Whole Foods that is Whole 30 approved, so I at least need to get those items. You’d be surprised at home much sugar is added to bacon. Like all the bacon (or at least it seemed like it).
Let’s Go
We’ve been grocery shopping. I made sure to throw away all the junk food. I’ve done some meal prepping, so we are ready to go! I created this make shift (star trooper) board so we can write down an adjective for each day. I’ll give you board updates as we go. I also plan to share some of my journey in case you’re interested. I love to hear how other people did. In fact I’ve been reading testimonials like a crazy lady!
My Biggest Challenge
Before I sign off I want to tell you about what is going to be the two most difficult things for me to give up cold turkey.
- Diet Drinks
- gum of any form
Seriously, it may sound silly to you but these are both legit addictions for me. So, I know I’m going to have some withdrawal. Should be interesting. I’m jonesing for a piece of gum (or four) as I write this.
What would be the hardest thing for youth give up?
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