Whole 30: And So It Begins!

From March 15th to April 13th, I will be doing the Whole 30 and recapping my experience every Monday with a post outlining how I'm feeling, what I'm eating, and how it is going overall. 

I talked about it and now I'm doing it. I finally started the Whole 30 on Friday, and I even recruited my mother along for the experience! Following my attempt at a detox last week, after I hit publish on that update post, I immediately ordered It Starts With Food, by Whole 9 founders Melissa and Dallas Hartwig, and read it cover to cover in record time. I easily could have started the program when I first thought to do so, but I wanted to do the program right. Reading It Starts With Food first gave me so much information and knowledge beyond the Whole 30 (like the amount and sneaky ways sugar is added into food,) that I am glad I took the time to do so. 

If you're not familiar with the Whole 30 program, here's what it is in a nutshell per its creators, Melissa and Dallas Hartwig:

Whole9’s original program designed to change your life in 30 days. Think of it as a short-term nutritional reset, designed to help you restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, calm systemic inflammation and put an end to unhealthy cravings, habits, and relationships with food. Since 2009, thousands of people have used our program as a jump-start to changing the way they eat for the rest of their lives.

In this post, I mentioned my reasons for needing a change: wanting to resume a Paleo lifestyle, to sleep better, gain my energy back etc. While a gut-wrenching (literally) piece of French bread is no good for my gluten intolerance, a sugar filled lunch is by far the non pièce de résistance. Me and sugar do not get along, dating all the way back to my morbidly obese days (which let's be honest, dates back only two years ago). While I've gotten the cravings and emotional eating mostly under control, as they, some habits die hard.  

My hope is that by the end of the 30 days, this habit (amongst others) will die, for good and that I will be able to slay as the Hartwig's call it, "the sugar dragon," once and for all. I have come to be the healthiest and happiest I have ever been in my life and I truly refuse to let things like gluten and sugar ruin that for me.

Here is a recap of the past three days:

Sleep Average, about 8 hours, with minimal difficulty getting up.
Activity Physical Therapy (elliptical, weights, etc.)

Breakfast Two eggs scrambled in duck fat with a dash of hot sauce.

Post Workout A sauteed chicken cutlet cut into bit sized pieces and topped with rosemary EVOO

"Lunch" A piece of squash, a grapefruit, cup of cinnamon tea

Dinner Cod fish sauteed in olive oil with onions and tomatoes, side of squash, baby spinach topped with more rosemary evoo...

Overall, today was not bad. I ran to the mall after PT and while Cinnabon usually doesn't appeal to me, the sweet, cinnamon-y smell had me mildly captivated. Then I went to Zara and lost interest. I also know I should have had a real lunch, but I was just not hungry-until it was almost dinnertime. Then I was starving.

Sleep A hot mess. Fell asleep around 10:30, woke up around 11, fell back asleep and woke up around 12, 2, 4.... Woke up officially around 8.

Activity 1.5 hours of ballet

Breakfast Two eggs wrapped in prosciutto (made similar to this recipe, sans the toast), one tomato sliced and topped with rosemary evoo

Post ballet A few olives

Lunch Salad of baby spinach leaves, half an avocado, and chicken cutlet in hot sauce. (True story, I love hot sauce!)

Dinner Cottage-Flower Pie by Melissa Joulwan, asparagus, salad

Despite the horrible nights sleep, getting up was not a struggle and I was surprisingly alert/not cranky from lack of proper sleep. I did get a bit hangry post-ballet running errands, so next time I will eat something more substantial than olives (I usually have yogurt). Dinner was AMAZING and I highly recommend the cottage-flower/shepherd's pie to anyone, Whole 30/Paleo or otherwise. 

Sleep Much better than the last few nights. Fell asleep around 11 and while I woke up at 7:30, I thought that was too early to be up on a Sunday, so I didn't get out of bed until 8:30/9. I also had multiple dreams where I ate sugary things by accident and had to start all over...

Activity Today was my rest day, so with the exception of light cleaning, nothing!

Breakfast One egg and one yolk (used the white for the previous night's dinner) scrambled with chorizo, one sliced tomato, sauteed mushrooms

Lunch Half an avocado, piece of chicken (meat removed from the bone,) topped with olive oil and Herbes de Provence, piece of prosciutto, half a peach

Mid-afternoon Cup of cinnamon tea 

Dinner Herb roasted chicken, a small sweet potato with a tablespoon of ghee, green beans, a small blood orange

  

I felt good for the better part of today. However, mid-day I started to feel a bit headache-y and lethargic and I swear I saw a chocolate chip cookie when I closed my eyes. I sure hope it's not the carb flu. 

Here's to my first full week! If you've done the Whole 30, I'd love to hear your tips and feedback!!