Warning: this post is going to be a bit more personal than usual, so feel free to click back to whatever you were doing before if you don’t want to step inside the workings of my mind!

I’ve decided to do the Whole30 for the month of October.  That’s a pretty big statement there, because I’ve just made myself accountable to you all.  But I’m determined to do it … and I’d love any support you can give me – thoughts, prayers, recipe ideas etc!

What is the Whole30?  

For all the information you could ever want to know, check out the website at http://whole30.com/.  But in a nutshell, the Whole30 is a ‘short-term nutritional reset, designed to help put an end to unhealthy cravings and habits, restore a healthy metabolism, heal the digestive tract and balance the immune system’.

Why would I want to do a Whole30?  

The reasons are pretty much two-fold:

(1)  Since we moved to the US just over 2 years ago, I have gained nearly 15 pounds in weight.  And I’m having trouble losing it.  And I’m still having digestive problems.  And I have very low energy levels that can’t totally be explained by lack of sleep at night or just getting older.

(2) My eating habits have gotten very poor.  This is pretty much the main reason why I want to do the Whole30, and here’s where all the personal, touchy-feely stuff comes in.  

I have joked around on quite a few of my blog posts and recipes about eating too much, and this is not an infrequent occurrence.  I can usually eat quite well and disciplined during the week, but when it comes to the weekend and I start baking, I have a tendency of eating way too much of both the preparation and the finished product.  And if I bake during the week as well, I can easily blow up with too much food.  You know the feeling that your stomach is never empty?  Yeah, I was getting that lots, rather than giving my stomach time to digest, I was just filling it with baked goods.

And even though I’ve made a concerted effort to reduce the amount of refined sugar in my baking, I can still eat way too much combinations of peanut butter, honey/maple syrup etc.  And I was craving it.  Every weekend … I’d get upset if I couldn’t go in the kitchen and bake (translation – eat dough).

I have tried a number of things – like calorie counting, working through an eating disorder app and talking to professionals – and every time I think I’m doing well, the weekend hits and I can justify to myself that I can be strong and not eat too much while baking multiple things.  I do feel that I’ve improved over the last month or so, but there are still too many times that I overdo it.

How does the Whole30 work?

So it comes to the Whole30.  Here’s the deal (from the Whole30 website):

• I eat real food – meat, seafood, eggs, tons of vegetable, some fruits and plenty of good fats from fruits, oils, nuts and seeds, foods with very few ingredients, totally natural and unprocessed.
• I avoid:
  • Added sugar of any kind, real or artificial
  • Alcohol
  • Grains
  • Legumes
  • Dairy
  • Carrageenan, MSG and sulfites
  • Re-created baked goods/junk food with ‘approved’ ingredients

This list of foods to avoid is to help to regain a healthy metabolism, reduce system inflammation and help discover how these foods are truly impacting my health, fitness and quality of life.  My main objective is to train my brain to not crave baking (and eating).  The secondary objective is to lose weight and become fitter.  The tertiary objective is to find out if other foods are affecting my stomach issues.

Sound simple?  Well, in case you missed it, peanuts are a legume.  Legumes are on the foods to avoid list.  And if you know anything about me at all, you will know that I LOVE peanut butter.  30 days without peanut butter, or baked goods???  That’s going to be the challenge.

Progress so far:

I was originally going to start the Whole30 this week, after a weekend of lots of chocolate and peanut butter left me feeling more bloated and heavier than normal, but as I started working through some of the normally considered healthy food I had in the house, which needed to be used, I realized that I needed to take a week just to get prepared.  Did you know that Craisins have sugar?  And that tuna often contains soy?  So this week I have used to get more familiar with the program and trying my best to adhere to the principles without worrying about a few green peas here and there.  I haven’t had anything with honey or maple syrup, or any baked goods this week.  And I made a cake for Henry’s birthday without tasting even the slightest amount of it (it was full gluten and dairy, which made it easier!).  

My stomach is feeling better and I am learning a lot about what I am capable of.  And I’ve started swimming again and loving it.

Don’t worry – I’m not going to forget you all during this month!  I’m bound to be creating new recipes for you to try and I’d love to hear any suggestions of what you recommend.  I’ve already discovered a number of new dishes that I’m dying to put up here for you guys … once I make them again and take photos!

Another challenge will be for me to still bake stuff, but get out of the habit of sampling as I go … so I’ll still be continuing to update my photos with recipes I make again.  Again, suggestions and comments on the photos are always welcome!

If you made it this far, thanks for reading all my brain dump.  I’m hoping this is the beginning of helping me to become a much healthier person.  Wish me luck!

Until next time, enjoy cooking at home!

Sarah