My Whole30 Experience

10 minutes ago marked the official halfway point of my first Whole30 experience. The end is in sight!

But what is the Whole30 you ask? It is a 30 day eating program that eliminates certain foods to help reset your metabolism and allow your body to heal. This site explains it all - no point reinventing the wheel here.

The science behind is all laid out in 'It All Starts With Food' by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. I am yet to read it but by all accounts, it's meant to be marvellous. You know my birthday is coming up right??


So, halfway there. 15 days of no grains, sugar, dairy, alcohol, legumes, and great tasting food in general. Pbfft...who am I kidding? I have been eating the most amazing and tastiest food I have had in a long, long time! Cajun chicken Maryland's, carrot and zucchini latkes, steak and homemade sweet potato chips, eggs and bacon, Asian-style chicken drumsticks, beef curry with cauliflower rice and the list goes on. Are you drooling yet?!  My diet was already rather 'paleo-ish' so it hasn't been that big of a shock to the system and these meals are pretty close to what I normally have anyway. There have been a few significant changes though...

The biggest difference has been breakfast. Because breakfast is meant to be cereal right Mr. Kellogg's? Or a baked treat of some kind. Or eggs. Lots of eggs. It took me a few days but I can now look at breakfast as just being another meal. It's just eaten in the morning. So yeah, I'm going to have steak for breakfast. Or curry. Or eggplant 'pizzas'.  Or a bucket load of eggs. And I'm going to enjoy it thoroughly. I have loved how the Whole30 has totally transformed my view on breakfast.

The second biggest difference, but probably the most challenging, has been snacking. I'm a snack addict. My old, death-defying habits consisted of numerous mini meals eaten all day. I'd literally snack whenever I felt remotely hungry and never ate big meals, because quite simply the snacking had filled me up. All that sugar didn't help either. So having to eat 3 main meals a day has been a real challenge. I have tended to have 4 meals a day, with an afternoon snack of either a smoothie or juice, or a handful of raisins and nuts. Sometimes a piece of fruit if the sun is shining and making me jump with glee about summer finally coming. I noticed that when I didn't have my daily Spirulina, I wanted to snack more. I also noticed I wanted to snack when I didn't eat a large enough meal or a meal low on protein. So I'm curing my snack addiction through big meals and Spirulina.

Another noticeable change is my overall health and appearance. I am no longer bloated, tired, grumpy (bar the first 3 days, poor boyfriend copped it sweet!), sore, head achy, the whole lot. I have more energy, I am (generally) able to get up and get going, my eyes are whiter and I'm recovering quickly from exercise. I haven't weighed myself (that defeats the whole purpose of the Whole30) but I have noticeably lost some weight. I am not overweight but rather slim, and I have been transforming my body from 'skinny fat' to 'healthy and fit' over the last 5-6 months.  But the Whole30 has allowed my abs to finally come through. Miraculous really. But that wasn't my aim. My aim was to give my body a chance to heal and identify (once finished) what foods are hazardous to my health. Though I'm definitely not complaining about weeks of Pilate's finally making a show..

I'm looking forward to the next 15 days. Its time to get a bit more creative with my meals and try something new. Hello paleo sushi! As for after the 15 days? I'm not going to lie. I'm celebrating with a glass of red and a piece of Loving Earth luvju raw chocolate. Ah, bliss...