The Day After Whole 30

So today is the first day after Whole30. It was not much different than the last thirty days except I had cream in my coffee instead of coconut milk and will have some cheese in my omelette tonight.

I am feeling much better, physically and emotionally, than I did yesterday. Nothing has changed with my situation(s) but I guess I am just able to cope better today.

I have a good friend who always reminds me, “No matter how bad today is, tomorrow morning the sun will rise. And if it doesn’t, you will have bigger problems to deal with.” I knew there was a reason I love him. (Shout out to Andrew on the other side of the world!)

As a recap:

Pros

• Sleeping better most of the time
• No sugar/carb cravings
• PMS drastically reduced
• Feeling “lighter”, no bloating or heaviness in my stomach or limbs
• No morning aches
• No acid reflux or GERD
• No rosacea breakouts for the last two weeks
• Hair and nails growing faster and stronger

 Cons

• A lot of time for planning/prep
• More difficult to eat out / socialize
• More expensive grocery bill (because of buying so much more meat)

I feel that the pros far outweigh the cons in my case and this is a lifestyle I want to maintain. Definitely wheat and sugar are my triggers and right now, I have no desire to experiment with other grains or legumes.

Not weighing, measuring,  logging/counting calories /points has been daunting and a hard habit to let go of. It made me feel in control. If I could always know how exactly how much and what I consumed, I must be in control, right?

As I look back on that now, I am starting to think that it was not healthy for me to be so obsessed all the time with food. If I wasn’t eating, I was prepping, or thinking about it, or trying to figure out the best bang for my points.

This way of eating now does take a lot of prep work and planning but its different somehow, it’s not stressful. I’m not panicked or frantic the way I would sometimes get. It’s difficult to explain but it makes sense to me.

So I continue

• No grains
• No legumes
• No soy
• No sugar or artificial sweeteners
• No white potatoes
• No alcohol

Someone asked me if I would be “perfect 100% of the time”?

Honestly, I will say no.

I’m not going to stress about eating at someone’s house and they might not be using compliant oil or they might put sugar in their in marinade; or when I go to a restaurant I will continue to make the best choices I can because I can’t control how restaurant food is cooked. When I visit my mom, I will eat her homemade pasta that she makes from my Nonna’s recipe since I was a little girl; I might enjoy a vodka cooler on a patio on a hot summer night; or an ice cream cone at the beach; this is less about moderation as it is real life.

I will not eat processed pasta, take out pizza or crappy, fake Chinese food or chemical filled cupcakes for coworkers’ birthdays. These foods aren’t worth starting the spiral into carb/sugar cycling again.

When I cook for myself and prepare my own meals, I will be 100% perfect. I control what I put in my mouth and how much so the rest of the time I will make decisions case by case.

I will go back to my blogging on my main site now – Downward TrEnz.

Keep up with me there!