Today I am finished with my first Whole30 experiment! Whoo I made it! I say experiment because I went into it as a test to see if I could do it honestly. I know a lot of people go on it for food allergies or weight loss and granted I was curious about those things too. What I found was that my skin did clear up some, I lost about five pounds, I think my sense of smell has improved, and I have a fructose sensitivity. I certainly never thought dried fruit was the enemy but hey that's good to know. I'm not the type outside of whole30 to chow down on trail mix so I'm not terribly concerned about that. I have learned some other habits which I hope to keep like using less sugar in my drinks, staying away from the processed junk, and adding more vegetables to my meals (even breakfast). I had a pretty clean diet before whole30 so it wasn't a huge change except ridding myself of all sugar.
It made me cook every meal except when eating left overs for lunch which made me get really creative. I have cooked and eaten more sweet potatoes in the last 30 days than I have in my entire life, and I learned to really love them! Pinterest is your friend, but you have to check the ingredients to make sure it's truly compliant. I tested probably twenty or so recipes from Pinterest and some were huge hits (chili with sweet potato celery and carrots), and others were not so great (chicken thighs with fennel). I definitely recommend making weekly meal plans! Keeping organized really helped me from panicking and having to make last minute trips to the health food store.
I wish I had stayed away from dried fruit more but it was hard to do with nothing sweet at all. I also wish I had taken measurements before I started. I can fit in jeans I haven't worn in two years so I know I have lost inches off my hips and waist. From what I can tell my bras still fit the same so that's good lol! My face looks thinner. I can see my belly is tighter and my arms seem smaller. I was doing yoga everyday during this process so it certainly helped me gain muscle and tone up.
As you can see above there is definitely a difference!
From here on I am going to reintroduce some foods and see how they make me feel. First up will probably be dairy when I eat my celebratory chocolate bar, then soy, corn, and eventually gluten. I am looking forward to my birthday cake next week, and some drinks with friends. I have already bought some new ginger beer I want to try! It's all about balance though. I don't plan on overindulging or going back to bad habits right away. I do plan to continue on a real food paleo diet that focuses around what foods work for me. I will also probably do another whole30 or maybe even whole45 in the foreseeable future. Either way I will keep blogging about my experiences!
No comments:
Post a Comment