My friends, I did it.  I went for 30 days, actually more than 30 days, with no sugar, gluten, dairy, grains or legumes. Read – no peanut butter! For more than 30 days! Are you proud of me?

Let me recap for you:

The original objectives were (1) to change my habit of eating too much, especially while baking, (2) to lose some weight and (3) to understand if other foods than gluten and dairy were causing me dietary distress. 

The results:

(1) I baked so many cakes, cookies and slices, including many with peanut butter, and did not have a single bite, lick or taste. At all.  Yes, some were full of gluten and dairy to take away the temptation, but through the process I did develop other habits, like putting the spoon on a paper towel, rather than in my mouth, wiping my fingers on a tea towel rather than licking them, etc. I was so proud of myself – I found I was enjoying baking without the feelings of guilt associated with eating too much. And that was awesome – I was able to fulfill my love of making food for people and seeing their joyous expression with no regrets.

(2) I lost weight. 6 pounds to be exact. All of my work pants now feel like my ‘fat pants’ used to. Almost need a belt for them.  Almost.  However, my jeans and shorts that I used to wear when I lost a bucket load of weight about 5 years ago still don’t fit without having to squeeze into them.  Maybe that’s due to denim shrinking in tumble dryer (please say so!).

(3)  One of the critical parts of the Whole30 is the reintroduction phase – where you slowly reintroduce foods that were taken out during the 30 days, like grains, legumes etc.  I’m still in this phase right now, but let me just share without giving too much information that beans (i.e. black beans, chickpeas, kidney beans) have kicked my great feelings to the curb, and corn (just kernels tested so far) have not assisted in my digestive process.  For me, any dish that contains these ingredients will have to be so darn worth it for me to have them again (and Abby does a silent happy dance that I’m not going to pressure her to eat beans again!).

The BIGGEST thing by far, is knowing how I feel when I don’t overeat.  Eating just 3 meals a day.  Big meals.  Full of protein, fats and veggies.  And the very occasional snack when it’s been 5 hours between meals and it will be another 2 or so before the next one.  This has been the winner for me.  Knowing that I don’t have to feel bloated. Knowing that I can exercise because I enjoy it and not to make up for eating too much.  

The kids have both commented that I am more awake, more tolerant, more happy.  I feel better.  I feel healthy.  I feel happy.  Haven’t quite got the additional energy kick that some people have reported, but that may be due to a snoring husband and cats that sleep on my side of the bed, rather than anything food-related!

Summary:

If you feel bloated, always tired and worried about food/health – give the Whole30 a try.  It sounds restrictive, but I enjoyed cooking so much more, knowing it was good, healthy food that was going to make my body feel good.  See below for all the recipes I made that are Whole30 compliant:

Thanks for supporting me – would love to hear any comments/thoughts/suggestions!

Until next time, enjoy cooking at home!

Sarah