It's my I DID IT! post! And I did it! Hooray!
I finished the Whole30, and while I'm proud of myself for doing it, I'm more proud (and surprised!) by how easy it was. I thought it was going to be a form of self-torture, but...it was not that hard. There were challenging moments, but I was never holding a bag of tortilla chips and weeping because I couldn't eat them. I just ate something else instead...and then felt good about my choice and moved on to more important things in my day then my food choices.
As they say in the Whole30 rules:
It is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Birthing a baby is hard. Losing a parent is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard. You’ve done harder things than this, and you have no excuse not to complete the program as written. It’s only thirty days, and it’s for the most important health cause on earth – the only physical body you will ever have in this lifetime. - See more at: http://whole30.com/step-two/#sthash.cUOb5LDE.dpuf
It required more time in the kitchen - and sadly, more money spent at the grocery store - but I love spending time in the kitchen. Sure, it was sometimes challenging to find the time, but it's all about priorities.
I probably could have eaten fewer nuts and slightly more green vegetables on certain days, but especially considering my first client's long labor earlier in the month and my lack of a dominant arm last week, I feel like I did really well.
I feel fantastic, most importantly. I finally stepped on the scale (which is not allowed during the 30 days) and am almost at my wedding weight, which I never thought I'd see again! I honestly want to continue eating like this 90% of the time.
Now don't get me wrong...I have a gigantic glass of red wine with my name on it tonight and I will be having chocolate. But it'll be a paleo, just-a-little-honey-for-sweetener dessert that I make myself.
I'm figuring out the best reintroduction schedule for what I really want to pinpoint - my big question mark foods that I know I'm allergic to are corn, milk, and wheat (and also eggs, but I've been surviving fine without them). I'm fortunate that I'll get a chance to reintroduce everything, with Whole30-style days in between so I can really evaluate how each food/food group is affecting me, before heading down to SC to stay with my sister and soak up my beautiful Atlas and Zoe.
I'm a little nervous about spending a week putting the health and feeding of two other tiny people ahead of my own after being so hyper-vigilant with my diet for the past month and a half. Whole30 isn't exactly fast/convenient food! It'll be really disappointing and challenging if I find out that gluten/wheat upsets my stomach or dairy makes my eczema explode. If I find that out, I'll figure it out and do my best to work around it. But I will be having birthday cake, dammit. You only turn 1 once!
Overall, this was a fantastic experience. I could see myself doing this again in January as a post-holiday/birthday reset!
For tonight though...I am ready for my wine, please.
