First off, let me start by saying that I NEVER had any interest in doing Whole30. I’ve been hearing about it for years now and every time another person would tell me they were doing it, I’d roll my eyes. Oh you’re gonna cut out grains, dairy, and booze? Sounds like a blast. It didn’t make sense to me because that’s not a sustainable lifestyle and it just seemed like a waste of time. I saw it as just another “get skinny quick” diet.
Then there’s my internal struggle of “but should I try to be vegan?” It’s honestly so hard to know what to do these days with so much conflicting information out there. You read one book that says grains are killing you and then you watch a documentary that says grains will save your life and meat is killing you. Then you look to a nutritionist but the documentaries and books are telling you that all of these professionals are brainwashed by big-business. CAN SOMEONE STOP THE MADNESS.
At the end of the day, I think you have to figure out what works best for your body. I’ve tried eating mostly vegan and have felt pretty good, but mentally it’s still a huge struggle for me. I can’t help it…I really like meat and avoiding it makes me feel deprived.
Then there’s the fact that I have Celiac Disease. With this autoimmune disease comes all sorts of fun side-effects–inflammation, fatigue, depression, anxiety, etc. I eat VERY STRICTLY gluten-free, but I don’t feel 100%. I’ve noticed in the past few months that I just feel tired all the damn time. I don’t ever wake up for work feeling alert and energized…I always feel like I need 4 more hours of sleep. On the weekends, I’ll sleep for like 10-12 hours and that’s the only time I feel pretty awake. But then I start feeling like I need a nap a few hours later! I thought I was maybe getting too much sleep and that was making me tired, but I’ve tested 7-8 hours and I still feel exhausted! Then once I finally drag my ass out of bed, I feel thoroughly unfocused and unmotivated. Getting myself to accomplish nearly anything productive takes A LOT of mental pep-talking. I’ve been on Zoloft for a while now and that has totally changed my moods! But this fatigue is just weighing on me. I also deal with some skin issues. I get quite a bit of redness and often my skin just seems irritated. Occasionally I’ll break out, but it’s mostly just the redness that drives me crazy. I’m also at a weight that’s higher than I’d like. I’m not even sure if it’s the weight or the fact that I just feel puffy and bloated. I want to just tone things up!
A couple of my friends/family mentioned doing Whole30 in the past month or so and, for some reason, I decided to look into it a little more instead of just rolling my eyes. Maybe it was because my sister-in-law decided to do it and she’s a woman of science (she’s a Veterinarian)…I figured if she trusted it, maybe I should too. As I was reading, I saw a lot of people with similar symptoms (or with Celiac) saying they tried it and it totally changed their lives. They felt mental clarity and energy they hadn’t felt before. Their skin cleared up. They no longer felt any bloating. They slept better. Their blood tests showed better overall health.
I also learned that Whole30 isn’t a traditional “diet.” It wasn’t created for weight loss at all. It was created to help people figure out what foods are making them feel less than their best. The authors did tremendous research into all the foods that could potentially cause people to feel less healthy and those are the ones you eliminate for 30 days. Then at the end, you can slowly add them back in one at a time to see if there’s any one food in particular that is causing you harm. THAT I can get behind. It made me curious! What if all this time, my body actually hates legumes or certain grains and just cutting back or eliminating them could change everything? It’s something I just have to see for myself.
So for the next 30 days, I’ll be eliminating all grains, dairy, soy, legumes, sugar (including artificial), and alcohol. The main areas I’ll be closely observing are:
- Energy levels
- Mental clarity and focus
- Skin changes
- Weight changes
At the end, I could feel exactly the same…but there’s the possibility that nothing will ever be the same for me again and I’m ready to find out!