Feelin' Great

We did it...we finished the Whole30!! Today is officially day 31. The last 30 days have been challenging yet rewarding. I would strongly recommend this program to anyone who is wanting to feel better, get rid of food cravings, improve your skin, lose weight, etc. Now, this program was not easy by any means but COMPLETELY doable...I promise. You CAN go 30 days without bread or milk or oreos (I know, even oreos!). Here are a few reasons why Brock and I loved this program and are so thankful that we stuck with it!

#1 You feel GOOD

I don't really know how else to say it...you feel good when you eat good! After just the first 2-3 days I could tell a difference in how I felt, especially at the end of the day. I always felt bloated and my stomach would rumble and lots of nights I would just go to bed miserable and mad at myself for what I ate or how much I ate. During this program I felt good all day and only felt bloated 1 or 2 times. 

#2 Your skin looks good

Yes...even mine! I have dealt with horrible acne since 4th/5th grade. I have taken every prescription med, used every OTC and prescription cleanser, and taken Accutane 3 times (yes, 3...and it was obviously not the miracle worker for me like it was for others) and with everything it would get worse at first and then be ok for a little while and then get bad again. My "good" days meant I only had 1 large cystic zit and several small ones. I would normally get a big one 1x a month and always had smaller ones to accompany it. This month, after about week 1, I only had 2 very small pimples that were gone in a day! My skin feels good and looks good!

#3 You learn to cook

Ok, most of you are probably much better at cooking on a consistent basis than we were. The last year or so we had fallen into a bad habit of eating out A LOT and when we cooked it wasn't always on the healthy side. This helped us realize that cooking is good and easy! We made plans a day or 2 ahead of what we were going to cook for lunch/dinner and we just did it...no questions asked! I also learned how to use spices (instead of the pre-packaged seasonings....ya, they all have sugar in it!). We've even been making our own salad dressings...I know, we're just outdoing ourselves!

#4 You eat good food

Yes, good food! I have eaten more vegetables this last month that I never thought I liked....and what do ya know....they're pretty good! If you google "whole30 recipes" you will find a lot of yummy recipes to break up the usual grilled chicken and salad. Over these 30 days I have created a much healthier relationship with food and how I feel when I eat it....and let me tell ya....you feel good when you eat good (did I already say that?!)!

#5 You have to go shopping

Yep...shopping. Why? Because your clothes will not fit at the end of the 30 days! Brock and I both experienced weight loss! Brock lost 16lbs and has had to take his suit pants in to get taken in and desperately needs a new belt! I lost 9.6lbs! I am finally under the weight I was when I was in high school, a weight I've been trying to reach for the last 10 years....and I did it just 5 months post-baby! I had to go shopping for new pants last weekend and dropped 2-3 sizes...so fun buying new clothes! And let me re-iterate, we lost this weight with changing our diet only. Neither one of use worked out these 30 day (except for 2-3 walks with Blakelee, the weather hasn't been too walking friendly). So, diet is definitely 90% of losing weight!

We had a great experience and learned a lot in these last 30 days! Now, what happens is we go through a reintroduction phase. They suggest to introduce dairy and see how it affects you over the next 2-3 days and then so on with the other groups of food. This way, you will know exactly how your body will respond to different foods and then you can decide if it's really worth eating "that" food. So, on to the reintroduction phase. I honestly would be just fine with staying whole30 but I know there will be instances where I will "treat" myself and that's ok. It will be nice to really know the effect different foods have on how I feel and look.

So, here are some tips from Brock and I if you plan on attempting the whole30:

• Just do it...now...don't wait! Give yourself a day to buy groceries and then start...there is no "good" time

• Get online. They have everything online! Read and print off The Whole30 Program and the testimonials (these get you excited about the results you hope to see in yourself). Print off this shopping list and The Official "Can I have..." Guide. READ the "Can I have..." guide...it will answer questions you didn't even know you had!! Be careful with the almond and coconut flours...acceptable but you can't make any sex with your pants on....haha, just read it! 

• Read the book It Starts With Food. I'm currently reading it and wish I would've read it earlier in my 30 days. It is SO interesting and gives you a detailed outline of whole30 and the reintroduction phase...definitely worth it!

• Clean out your kitchen! Get rid of everything you can't eat during the whole30...get it out of sight, that way it won't tempt you. 

• Have some food prepared. We tried to always have hard boiled eggs and ground beef or grilled chicken already prepared and ready to reheat and eat for a quick lunch or dinner. We would grill out about 1x a week and grill extra so we had a couple extra chicken breasts to eat throughout the rest of the week. We kept hard boiled eggs which were great for a quick lunch with a sweet potato or to throw onto a salad...we even took them with us when we went to Lubbock for the weekend and ate them for breakfast. I try to have at least 1lb ground beef precooked in the freezer, ready to go. It's nice to heat up and put in stuffed peppers, on a salad, mix with marinara over spaghetti squash, or in an omelet. I also made this yummy crustless quiche Sunday evenings and then we would have it to eat breakfast the rest of the week (and sometimes would heat a piece up for lunch!).

• Larabars. They are so good and are on the whole30 plan (well, some...you have to check the ingredients). They suggest you don't eat these unless it's an emergency snack because they are sweet and will still trigger your sweet tooth....well, we didn't follow this rule very well. You're technically not supposed to snack during the whole30. Personally, I didn't want to mess up my supply for breastfeeding, so I ate when I was hungry...which meant snacking. These are awesome snacks are a saving grace when you travel out of town...they even turned into lunch a couple times. Our favorites are Coconut Cream Pie, Cashew Cookie, and Banana Bread. I'm sure the peanut butter chocolate chip and chocolate chip cookie dough are amazing but they're not whole30 approved...I look forward to trying these!

• Google recipes! There are SO many out there. Experiment and have fun with your meals! Here are a few we've liked:

Chicken Tortilla-less Soup

Chocolate Chili

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Taco Seasoning 

(I used a few different recipes for this...all were good)

Beef Breakfast Sausage

I used this to season our hamburger meat to taste like breakfast sausage and put this in our Crustless Sweet Potato Quiche
Balsamic Vinaigrette
Garlic Cauliflower "Mashed Potatoes"
(I used a bag of frozen cauliflower, minced garlic, and coconut oil for this recipe)



Wish us luck as we start reintroducing foods and begin to live the whole9 life!!

Good luck to those of you who decide to do the whole30...you can do it! If you have any questions or need encouragement please let me know!