A Bloated Goodbye - Prepping for Whole30

Back in the USA again, probably somewhat hung over from daily poolside margaritas (albeit sugar-free with stevia only). For me this was like a 5-day binge, as although I didn't drink during the daytimes, I drank each evening. This 5-day vacation was a perfect way to kick off the next 30 days without alcohol; tequila and I had a nice long goodbye. I am happy to say that by the time I went through duty-free at the airport, the free tequila samples sounded AWFUL.

I knew upon getting home that my only assignment was to get to the grocery stores (plural) before they closed so I would be ready to hit it W30 Day 1 when I opened my eyes Saturday.

I also realized I'd better eat at least one thing that I will be formally saying goodbye to for 30 days. The only thing I could think of was Talenti Gelato Salted Caramel flavor. I don't really eat ice cream more than a few times a year, so this isn't a stretch to "give it up." But I didn't want to wake up tomorrow in regret - I just wanted SOMETHING decadent that would be forbidden within hours.

I took a digestive enzyme in preparation, settled into the couch with my pint and spoon while ironically browsing and bookmarking Whole30 recipes. Throughout an hour I ate about 80% of it before I just couldn't think of taking another bite. I threw the rest away down the sink, not wanting to see it in the morning trash. I noticed about 2 hours later that my tummy was truly BLOATED, like visibly bigger/rounder, puffier. Ugh. Perfect validation of why I'm doing Whole30, as I want to let my body rest from any effect such as this from food!

MY Whole30 Manifesto

Today I found the Whole9 Forum & posted my "New Member" bio. It was actually quite empowering to create this brief summary of where we are & why we are doing Whole30. It gave me a glimpse of why people consider me "really healthy" and knowledgeable about nutrition... and why I still want to keep raising the bar. Here it is:

I'm 45 years old, female, "healthy weight" according to "the tables," but I know I feel and look better at a lower body fat percentage. As an adult, I swing by about 20 pounds up & down the scale. I have good muscle built up & good cardio condition, but would really like to take it up a notch. I WISH I "loved" exercise; I don't, never have. But I've managed to stay active out of sheer "can't stand what happens when I don't." I have NO "out of bounds" health issues (all physical/biological test results of every type come out great) except one biggie:

I'm Type 1 (fully insulin-dependent) Diabetes for 31 years (since age 14), NO long-term symptoms present. (Although glucose levels have NOT been in tight control at all times, I am sure my stellar results are because I addressed the emotional patterning behind physical illness within a few years of diagnosis - see info by Louise Hay). I apparently arrested development too late to "grow back" the insulin factory that was destroyed, but no "expected" progression as western medical docs assume and warn. Having T1 has been a "blessing in disguise," because otherwise I would have been eating "healthy" Standard American Diet ("we don't eat fast food or white bread!") like my parents did, with the same poor results, not understanding why. But thanks to the T1 diabetes, unlike everyone else, I have been reading ALL labels since I was 14 and SEEING what happens to my blood sugar levels after eating items. Because my body doesn't kick in insulin to cover anything I eat (I manually put it in myself), I have decades of experience knowing how much or how little insulin is required to bring levels in my blood stream back to normal range, I have seen what acute stress does (spikes insulin for no "food" reason!), what moderate exercise does (brings b.s. down), etc.

We are winding down W30 Day 2. Bought the book "It Starts With Food" a few hours ago, already in Chapter 8. GENIUS in it's simplicity, "plain English," THANK YOU.

I'm going to summarize where I'm/we're (husband) at for my own records, I guess....

Before W30 we were eating primarily organic, proteins, veggies, limited fruit, almost no starches at home. We don't have bread, crackers, rice, pasta etc. as part of our home diet. Also don't use sugar, but definitely love to use stevia & a little agave at times. The only soda we drink, & in very limited amounts, is stevia-sweetened, beverages are water, organic coffee, herbal iced tea. No juice in the house. Dairy: We were eating cottage cheese & unsweetened Greek yogurt, hard & feta cheese. Breakfast for 5 months was always a protein shake using Jay Robb egg white PRO powder (clean & non-GMO but added stevia), organic spinach, ginger, cinnamon, organic coffee, unsweetened cocoa & a scoop of Greens First. We were drinking alcohol, mainly red wine, sometimes margaritas when out for Mexican. Just recently we found we really like dark, craft beers - uh oh!! (liquid bread). 

Biggest downfall was eating out... For ex, we LOVE Mexican. If I didn't know better, I might want corn chips, salsa & high-quality margaritas as a staple diet. Would still make "smart" choices at restaurants, (fajitas, for ex) as I just don't like feeling tired and crappy from bread/pasta/wheat tortillas, etc, but certainly much more lax on our intake than we are at home. We vacation a lot, we LOVE good-quality, delicious food, so that's where this W30 comes into play as being a very good "reset."

I think it will make a HUGE difference for my husband who has some very classic health challenges for his 61 years of age - he's only been addressing his diet since we met 6 years ago. Since then he's done a few cleanses, learned about nutrition, learned to enjoy healthier choices, etc - basically steered away from S.A.D. (the Standard American Diet). His cravings have decreased greatly, but he still struggles & has many of the classic symptoms from the book.

I'm excited to once again RAISE THE BAR on our lives!