I have survived 48 hours adhering to Whole30 principles.
Grocery shopping was a chore. Reading those labels is fatiguing; especially since I discovered nearly everything has sugar or soy in it. I narrowed in on Whole30 compliant canned tuna and salmon, found a compliant beef and chicken broth, stocked up on canned tomatoes and found a hot pepper pesto without cheese.
Adhering to Whole30 principles will require time and effort in making more food items from scratch such as tomato sauce, pesto, dressings and mayo. I had just two mayonnaise fails before I successfully emulsified the egg, lemon juice and oil!
Day one went by uneventfully. I made a tomato based sauce, browned ground beef and cooked spaghetti squash. However, I did have a conniption when I discovered my husband had eaten my sauce - the sauce I had slaved over - rather than the Barilla marinara sauce with the added ground beef. Cut me some slack. I was planning ahead and was going to use the compliant sauce for another lunch and dinner this week.
I did seem a bit more tired in the afternoon and was in bed asleep by a bit after 10 pm. I'm a night owl and am generally up until 11:30 or later. I was fast asleep as soon as I hit the pillow. Perhaps now is the time to try to shift my sleep and get to bed earlier and wake up earlier. But, I doubt it.
Day two was OK. It was strange eating spaghetti squash, ground beef, spinach and a fried egg for breakfast.
On to Day three which will be a challenge as I'm hosting our neighborhood women's Bunco night. I'll have nuts, fruit and veggies with homemade ranch, but it will be the passing up on the sangria that will be toughest. I have a variety of flavored LaCroix ready to keep me satisfied.
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Day Zero
I'm going to give it a try; The Whole 30 nutritional experiment. I've gone back and forth dozens of times on whether or not to embark on this reset experiment.
While my aches and pains aren't debilitating, they are increasing in line with my age. What if my nutritional intake does impact how my body operates? I investigated a few books and started by reading "It Starts with Food" by Dallas & Melissa Hartwig. The fact that Dallas is a volleyball player may have swayed me toward this choice. I also ordered its companion book, "The Whole30: The 30 Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom" by the Hartwigs.
I wanted to read the science behind nutritional concepts rather than simply following advice. So I read the book and discovered that our bodies are so intricately designed that each slight deviation from the originally intended source of fuel can potentially trigger a cascade of reactions throughout this complex system. It makes sense to me that God designed our bodies and provided the perfect fuel we'd need. This fuel is our food, real food. Each type of food or fuel serves a different purpose for us, and our bodies are designed to crave nutrients according to what we need. Once these nutritional needs are met, our bodies are satisfied and our brain tells us we're full.
Over time, companies have created a source of fuel or processed food and continue working to make it taste similar to the real food and nutrition our bodies require. Unfortunately, there are generally a lot more calories than there are usable nutrition in these fuel sources. So, we need to eat a lot in order for our bodies to get the nutritional impact they need to signal our satisfied status.
In this process, many nutrients are altered; either to taste better, be processed less expensively, or last longer. Some things are added, to make this 'food' a more appealing color, texture or flavor. Sometimes some of these additives or even some of the real nutritional components get into the wrong areas of our bodies and impact us on a cellular level. Over years, perhaps this can have cumulative effects.
The Whole30 is a 30 day reset where participants eat only real foods as God intended. No additives. No processed foods. No sugars. etc... Yes, it's similar to a Paleo diet. So, I decided yes, let's do it. Then changed my mind. No, I can't go without cheese, chewing gum, hummus, peanuts, wine..... Yes, you can! It's 30 days!
Here's why I'm giving this reset a try. I'm documenting this, so I will be able to make an informed analysis after resetting my body. This will help me determine if (for me) certain foods are negatively impacting my health and well being.
I have aches caused from inflammation which includes: right shoulder, left hamstring, left medial epicondylitis, low back, and left ball of foot causing toe pain. The back pain is from degenerative disc disease, so I don't expect much improvement there. But the others, we'll see. They are a nagging nuisance. Not anything I'm running to the doctor about. But, what happens in another 10 years? Will it be bad enough search for medical treatment? According to the book, legumes are a potential source for inflammation. I'm surprised by this because they always seem a good choice, and I really like legumes. We'll see what happens as we move forward.
I have tummy troubles. Bloating, gassy, sometimes leaking unexpectedly. While this isn't causing me to hide out at home and not participate in life's activities, I am interested in seeing if this area will improve.
Energy: I don't think I struggle too much in this area. I stay up too late (it's 11:45 pm now). While I'd prefer to sleep until 8:30 am, I get up before 7. I think my sleep is fine and energy levels seems sufficient. But of course, who wouldn't appreciate a higher level of energy.
Mind: I do seem a bit easily distracted. Seem to get off task easily. I also feel at times that I'm not certain if something really happened or if I experienced it in a dream. Thus, I'm not sure if I followed up with someone already or need to get on that.
I plan on entering a brief report each day to document my current status, and I hope inspire me to continue. I won't be able to complete a full 30 day reset, but I have about 27 days before we leave for Haiti. However, I really felt that if I were to ever actually do this, now is the time. So here I go. On to day one.
Good night.
While my aches and pains aren't debilitating, they are increasing in line with my age. What if my nutritional intake does impact how my body operates? I investigated a few books and started by reading "It Starts with Food" by Dallas & Melissa Hartwig. The fact that Dallas is a volleyball player may have swayed me toward this choice. I also ordered its companion book, "The Whole30: The 30 Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom" by the Hartwigs.
I wanted to read the science behind nutritional concepts rather than simply following advice. So I read the book and discovered that our bodies are so intricately designed that each slight deviation from the originally intended source of fuel can potentially trigger a cascade of reactions throughout this complex system. It makes sense to me that God designed our bodies and provided the perfect fuel we'd need. This fuel is our food, real food. Each type of food or fuel serves a different purpose for us, and our bodies are designed to crave nutrients according to what we need. Once these nutritional needs are met, our bodies are satisfied and our brain tells us we're full.
Over time, companies have created a source of fuel or processed food and continue working to make it taste similar to the real food and nutrition our bodies require. Unfortunately, there are generally a lot more calories than there are usable nutrition in these fuel sources. So, we need to eat a lot in order for our bodies to get the nutritional impact they need to signal our satisfied status.
In this process, many nutrients are altered; either to taste better, be processed less expensively, or last longer. Some things are added, to make this 'food' a more appealing color, texture or flavor. Sometimes some of these additives or even some of the real nutritional components get into the wrong areas of our bodies and impact us on a cellular level. Over years, perhaps this can have cumulative effects.
The Whole30 is a 30 day reset where participants eat only real foods as God intended. No additives. No processed foods. No sugars. etc... Yes, it's similar to a Paleo diet. So, I decided yes, let's do it. Then changed my mind. No, I can't go without cheese, chewing gum, hummus, peanuts, wine..... Yes, you can! It's 30 days!
Here's why I'm giving this reset a try. I'm documenting this, so I will be able to make an informed analysis after resetting my body. This will help me determine if (for me) certain foods are negatively impacting my health and well being.
I have aches caused from inflammation which includes: right shoulder, left hamstring, left medial epicondylitis, low back, and left ball of foot causing toe pain. The back pain is from degenerative disc disease, so I don't expect much improvement there. But the others, we'll see. They are a nagging nuisance. Not anything I'm running to the doctor about. But, what happens in another 10 years? Will it be bad enough search for medical treatment? According to the book, legumes are a potential source for inflammation. I'm surprised by this because they always seem a good choice, and I really like legumes. We'll see what happens as we move forward.
I have tummy troubles. Bloating, gassy, sometimes leaking unexpectedly. While this isn't causing me to hide out at home and not participate in life's activities, I am interested in seeing if this area will improve.
Energy: I don't think I struggle too much in this area. I stay up too late (it's 11:45 pm now). While I'd prefer to sleep until 8:30 am, I get up before 7. I think my sleep is fine and energy levels seems sufficient. But of course, who wouldn't appreciate a higher level of energy.
Mind: I do seem a bit easily distracted. Seem to get off task easily. I also feel at times that I'm not certain if something really happened or if I experienced it in a dream. Thus, I'm not sure if I followed up with someone already or need to get on that.
I plan on entering a brief report each day to document my current status, and I hope inspire me to continue. I won't be able to complete a full 30 day reset, but I have about 27 days before we leave for Haiti. However, I really felt that if I were to ever actually do this, now is the time. So here I go. On to day one.
Good night.
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