Here’s an image: me, trying to write while the youngest daughter makes herself a giant bowl of buttered popcorn and then sits down next to me. Sigh. Strangely, corn in any form is not allowed on Whole 30. I thought popcorn was a healthy grain! I’m bummed about not being able to eat it for 24 more days but hey, this is what I signed up for. It’s funny how deeply this particular snack has embedded itself so deeply in my life. I would feel sad and deprived if I couldn’t eat popcorn in a movie theatre, for example. It’s weird when you think about it. It’s just CORN! Why feel sad about a lack of corn in one’s life?
You are probably wondering how I’m feeling today. According to the Whole 30 timeline, I should be feeling some kind of inner rage. I can’t say that’s the case with me. My feelings towards my fellow man hasn’t really changed at all. I am not, however, feeling 100%. I hesitate to use the word ‘woozy’ because a couple of people reading this would immediately jump on the phone and tell me to eat some carbs, but perhaps a better word to describe it is ‘fatigued’ in a way, or like someone has thrown a wet blanket over my brain that comes down behind my eyeballs.
I am feeling better this morning, but for the last couple of days I have not been operating at full physical and mental capacity, especially in the afternoons. Does my body need more energy? Or is it reeling from the fact that I’m withholding sugar and most carbs at the moment? Case in point: I walked to a meeting yesterday and felt oddly low, and this was after a good-sized breakfast with plenty of protein. I have been telling myself that this feeling is just my body is working hard to digest fat stores from new places in order to power itself. This makes me feel hopeful.
Overall, I do feel a little less jiggly, but it’s hard to know how much weight I’ve lost because Whole 30 followers are not supposed to weigh themselves for the duration. BUT I do sense that my pants are a little less snug. I feel quite full after meals but not bloated anymore. This is a good thing.
That being said, the idea behind the Whole 30 isn’t necessarily about weight loss, it’s about hitting a reset button on eating habits and cooking more at home, which we are DEFINITELY doing.
Here’s a lunch I enjoyed the other day:
It’s spiralized zucchini tossed with a handful of coleslaw mix, bean sprouts, chicken breast, nutty “sunshine sauce” and topped with a dab of guacamole, cilantro, and cashews. It was delicious and so full of flavour.
Whole 30 hasn’t been easy so far, but it hasn’t been too hard either. I think this is because we started off from a relatively good place in terms of what we were already eating for dinner, which was almost always some variation of lean meat with veg.
We are not big pop drinkers at all but I have a feeling that people who are habitual (read: daily) consumers of soda/pop would have a much tougher time with this kind of healthy eating challenge. Regularly ingesting a burst of liquid sugar and (possibly) caffeine must wreak havoc on one’s system. What happens to a mind and body that is used to being fed a constant stream of sugar? I bet it is a tough habit to break.
If you’re wondering what I’m eating, I’m tracking it all on this page (with links to recipes if I have them).
