It was the wine that did me in. I went out with some girlfriends and could not resist a glass of wine. Then, like a downward spiral, I also had dessert and it was delicious! I was honestly surprised that wine is what caused me to "cheat" on Whole30. I like wine but when I had to give up alcohol for pregnancy, I never missed it. I rarely drink now days, maybe one or two drinks a month.
I think it was the social act of going out with friends and knowing that I like a small treat. I like the glass of wine and the dessert you share with friends. It's a nice way to hang out with friends.
I also missed cheese. I missed it so much. I started giving Molly more cheese than necessary because I wanted her to eat what I was missing. And eating out made all of this harder, so many things have cheese! I was able to work around my restrictions most of the time but after three weeks, I was weak.
I also started to feel spacey. I became forgetful and was dropping things. My blood pressure was really low which I'm happy that my blood pressure went down because it was always borderline high when I was pregnant. I wasn't happy to be spacey, forgetful and clumsy though. I added in one piece of bread a day and I stopped feeling spacey. Maybe it was all mental but whatever it was, I needed it.
It was also difficult being the only person in my family on this program. Scott wasn't interested and Molly is too young to discuss it with me. All the cooking and prep work took a lot of time too. There are no shortcuts or pizza deliveries on Whole30. I did my best to prep ahead for the week and I think that is vital to success on this program.
It wasn't all about missing dairy and feeling spacey though. I actually felt really good while doing Whole30 I dropped a few pounds and felt strong. I enjoyed eating more vegetables. In fact, I'm still eating more vegetables with a little bit of dairy and bread. I'm re-reading It Starts with Food and I'm planning when I'll attempt my next Whole30. Have you attempted Whole30 and did you do the whole 30 days? What were your secrets to success?
I've done one Whole30, and am gearing up to start another about a year after. Mark is casually interested, and I'm not going to cook two meals or tempt myself so everyone ate the same way (plus, I'm doing this because I think it is healthier, so why would I feed the kids worse?) I found it kind of hard (though I had previously limited grains and sugar quite a bit so it wasn't a huge step). At this point I think I have actually lost my taste for cream and melted cheese in most things. I would not have thought that possible. I had trouble at the beginning because I ate a *ton* of coconut to help fill myself, and increased my cruciferous veggies too quickly. Now I've settled into it a bit better, and adding kombucha and sauerkraut for probiotics helped a lot.
ReplyDeleteI largely kept the new habits in between, but got lazy on the sauces and things in "out" food. I also have slipped into more sugary and sometimes grain-based treats. Ice cream is the only dairy I ever have.
Something I just read that I think is going to really help is the tip to make up a bunch of the sauces and dressings at the beginning of the program. The commenter I saw made all of those listed in ISWF. I know that there were several recipes/meal ideas that I planned, didn't do because I didn't have the sauce, and went out instead while the food went bad.
Have you read Well Fed? It's a whole cookbook by the woman who advised the cooking plan in the back of ISWF. They both have some useful hints. WF suggests a lot of prep before the week and then throwing things together for just the last steps. It sounds intense, but once I read through and thought about it, pretty doable.
When you want to eat out, go for breakfast places or Hi Life. Both are very easy to stick to the plan (and you can't feel deprived eating at Hi Life. If anything, the food is more fantastic when you sub extra veggies for starches, and they are very kind about it.)
Molly
Well, that was longer than your original post. Sorry {blush}
ReplyDeleteMolly! This is awesome information! Thank you.
ReplyDelete