I'm thrilled to say I'm done with Whole30!
Over the past 60 days, I've done 2 rounds of Whole30. In both sets of 30 days, I had some slip ups that I didn't realize, as well as just a few flat out "I know this isn't Whole30 compliant, but I don't care" moments. I'm not proud of those moments, but at least I'm honest :-)
Pros and cons of my Whole30 experience.
Pros
- learning what a spaghetti squash and butternut squash are, and am now able to cooked them successfully. I have enjoyed incorporating new whole foods into our diet more regularly.
- benefitting from the nutritious healthy fats in avocados! I've eaten more avocados in the past 60 days than I ever have in my whole life. I can't say that I like avocado now, but I eat a little bit almost every morning now with my eggs, and feel it helps me feel full til lunch.
- a slight improvement in my acne, but that could also be due to smiling more, drinking turmeric (yeah right), using a different face wash, or or even the weather. I really couldn't say if it was due to eating more 'real food' but perhaps it could be.
- a slight improvement in energy levels - I have a bit more stamina now than I did before.
- it fit my all or nothing personality - I'm an "all or nothing" kind of person, so having a diet plan that tells you 'Absolutely no' to certain things was helpful for me as opposed to a plan that says, 'just a little bit.'
Cons:
- my obsession over food - During my Whole30 experience, I started to think about food almost pretty much all the time. And I became a food nazi. It started out okay, but became more destructive than helpful. Ask my husband.
- failing my perfectionistic mentality - Because this plan worked well with my "all or nothing," personality, it backfired when I failed. When I failed with Whole30 unconsciously or otherwise, I was really hard on myself, felt like I would never do it completely right, and convinced myself that getting Whole30 right was somehow all of the sudden the ultimate goal in all of life!
- my need to plan, and my plans that fail- The goal is healthy food. And planning helps greatly with that. But when life demands a deviation from the plan and relationships are at stake, it might be wise to choose the "quick & still pretty healthy" option over the "it'll take forever to cook, but it's all organic and you'll surely have super powers if you eat it" option. I'm just sayin.
- my insane craving for sugar - In the Whole30 world, they call it the "dragon." I found that refusing to allow myself something sweet once in a while (like honey in tea), resulted in more anger and frustration than it was worth. Cutting out all sugar did reveal my 'dependence' on sweet things in an unhealthy way, and my plan moving forward is to limit these more than I did in the past. But I'm also going to allow myself some truvia in my cup of tea, and not feel guilty about it.
- my negative mood - Part of the reason I started Whole30 in the first place was to try and balance my hormones. I wanted to see if it could improve my mood, which generally has more lows than highs. If anything, my mood was worse the entire time I was doing Whole30. Other Whole30 followers shared that their mood never got better either, so I'm not the only one. Either way, my mood has been so much better since I stopped Whole30, so there's something to be said about that!
CONCLUSION and FUTURE PLAN:
I'm glad I did Whole30. I'm thankful for what I learned, even through the hard things. But I'm glad it's over and I don't plan to do another strict Whole30 process anytime soon. That being said, I'm still planning to limit dairy, almost all sugar, beans, and most gluten products, at least for a while. I will strive to eat healthy, but I hope to come out from under the control of food, and work towards a balanced perspective that allows for a little sweetness here and there :-)
Over the past 60 days, I've done 2 rounds of Whole30. In both sets of 30 days, I had some slip ups that I didn't realize, as well as just a few flat out "I know this isn't Whole30 compliant, but I don't care" moments. I'm not proud of those moments, but at least I'm honest :-)
Pros and cons of my Whole30 experience.
Pros
- learning what a spaghetti squash and butternut squash are, and am now able to cooked them successfully. I have enjoyed incorporating new whole foods into our diet more regularly.
- benefitting from the nutritious healthy fats in avocados! I've eaten more avocados in the past 60 days than I ever have in my whole life. I can't say that I like avocado now, but I eat a little bit almost every morning now with my eggs, and feel it helps me feel full til lunch.
- a slight improvement in energy levels - I have a bit more stamina now than I did before.
- it fit my all or nothing personality - I'm an "all or nothing" kind of person, so having a diet plan that tells you 'Absolutely no' to certain things was helpful for me as opposed to a plan that says, 'just a little bit.'
Cons:
- my obsession over food - During my Whole30 experience, I started to think about food almost pretty much all the time. And I became a food nazi. It started out okay, but became more destructive than helpful. Ask my husband.
- failing my perfectionistic mentality - Because this plan worked well with my "all or nothing," personality, it backfired when I failed. When I failed with Whole30 unconsciously or otherwise, I was really hard on myself, felt like I would never do it completely right, and convinced myself that getting Whole30 right was somehow all of the sudden the ultimate goal in all of life!
- my need to plan, and my plans that fail- The goal is healthy food. And planning helps greatly with that. But when life demands a deviation from the plan and relationships are at stake, it might be wise to choose the "quick & still pretty healthy" option over the "it'll take forever to cook, but it's all organic and you'll surely have super powers if you eat it" option. I'm just sayin.
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| Enjoying a few bites of guilt free fro-yo this past weekend with my handsome man! |
- my negative mood - Part of the reason I started Whole30 in the first place was to try and balance my hormones. I wanted to see if it could improve my mood, which generally has more lows than highs. If anything, my mood was worse the entire time I was doing Whole30. Other Whole30 followers shared that their mood never got better either, so I'm not the only one. Either way, my mood has been so much better since I stopped Whole30, so there's something to be said about that!
CONCLUSION and FUTURE PLAN:
I'm glad I did Whole30. I'm thankful for what I learned, even through the hard things. But I'm glad it's over and I don't plan to do another strict Whole30 process anytime soon. That being said, I'm still planning to limit dairy, almost all sugar, beans, and most gluten products, at least for a while. I will strive to eat healthy, but I hope to come out from under the control of food, and work towards a balanced perspective that allows for a little sweetness here and there :-)
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