I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For…. Kale? {My Whole30 Journey 2.0}

You know that moment when you look at the mountainous accumulation of laundry and absolutely cannot ignore it for another minute? Or the day you finally break down and scrub your shower, clean out your garage, or deep clean your refrigerator? Well, we had one of those moments a few weeks ago. I’m pretty sure it was over a delicious dessert (we’ve had a lot of those floating around lately!), when my husband and I finally decided it was time to do the Whole30 again. Not because we can’t abstain from dessert (in theory…), or cut carbs, or eat more veggies, but because we’ve lost appreciation for good, healthy, wholesome food.

This isn’t our first rodeo, we’ve ridden this ride before. Back in 2013 we tried the Whole30 as a detox for the first time and were amazed – no, I’m sorry…. AMAZED – at how great we felt, how doable it was, and how much we never wanted to eat bad food again! {Confession: Ok, well, the last one was a little bit of a stretch… I’m pretty sure we went to Chick-Fil-A our first day back to ‘normal eating’…} It not only made us feel great inside and out, but it taught us how to eat wholesomely, not just healthily. And that’s just what we did for several months, with exceptions for special occasions, of course, until life got too crazy. Moving, a newborn baby, a new house – the list goes on and on, and the last several months have found us not making our food a priority. It’s been more of an afterthought or a much-needed incentive to make it through the day so we can crash on the couch with a piece of cake. I’m telling you, it’s not like we eat McDonald’s 3x a day – we consider ourselves relatively healthy people! – but we both knew it was time for a lifestyle change. Or refresher course, rather, since we have done it before, and we still incorporate principles from the first time into our every day lives.

Enter, the Whole30. I won’t spend much time explaining it here, since there are oodles of resources available already all over cyberspace expounding on it in great detail. You can find all the information you could ever hope to want at Whole30.com.

Basically, it is a very strict detox program. I’ll repeat that, it’s a detox NOT a diet. Even the experts over at Whole30 say it’s not meant to be a long-term lifestyle, but a time to retrain yourself to eat well and cleanse your body. I like it so much better than the idea of going on a drink fast or buying expensive supplements to take for a month. You get to eat good, wholesome food for 30 days – that’s it! Animal proteins, most veggies, most fruit, most nuts and other good-for-you-fats, eggs and coconut… lots of eggs and coconut! In a nutshell (excuse the pun), no sugar, grains or gluten, dairy, soy, legumes or preservatives of any kind. This cuts out all processed foods and anything that could potentially contaminate your system. I know it sounds extreme… it is! And that’s why it works.

The Benefits 

• All intestinal issues were cleared up: for quite a while we had believe there was a gluten/dairy/sugar intolerance that would bring incredible pain and could be irritated by the smallest little thing.
• More energy: after the first week. Those first few days are tough as your body is adjusting, but after that the amounts of energy we experienced were incredible!
• Better clarity: I know it sounds crazy, but we found ourselves waking up ‘awake’ most days, not needing that caffeine pick-me-up, even though we were still drinking coffee, albeit black (thank you, Whole30, for coffee!).
• Better night’s sleep: I don’t understand all the science behind it, but it makes sense that when you’re eating well you’ll sleep well. And we did!
• Better skin: there were a few blemishes that came up the first few days, just like the lack of energy at first, but once your body adjusts, we found our skin clearing up without treating it with anything. Dry/oily/acne/blemishes – it all went away!
• Weight loss: we actually did not do the Whole30 (last time, or this time) for weight loss, although that’s always a fun benefit! We found we lost very little the first time we did Whole30, even though we were fitting in our clothes better and we didn’t have that heavy, bloated feeling that so often accompanies eating when you’re not eating clean. We also found, however, in reviewing our past experience to get ready for this time, that we weren’t as careful about our portion sizes the first time around as we should have been. We also snacked more than they suggest on nuts and fruit, two things they strongly suggest limiting in quantity. We didn’t go break it and we still felt amazing, but we didn’t lose much and that’s why.
• A new mentality: I can’t stress enough the effect this had on us! We were ‘healthy eating people’ before doing Whole30, and yet we still had a somewhat backwards way of looking at food and nutrition. Eating clean for 30 days not only opened our meal options up, but changed the way we looked at food and how we ate it. If for no other reason, this would have been enough of a perk to do it again!

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Overcoming Obstacles

So there you have it, those are all the reasons ‘why’. Now, over a slice of birthday cake, my husband and I discussed the best way to do it and what obstacles we would need to overcome to achieve our goal.

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Once we laid out our top three hurdles, we took some time figuring out how we could combat them. We got rid of all the excuses, and put the challenges on the chopping block. We were determined to do this no matter what! We found solutions and decided on a date.

Next came research (it’s surprising how quickly you can forget the details when you’re not doing it every day!), menu planning, shopping lists, and cupboard cleansing. Yes, this part was half binge/half trash party. If you know how to throw out perfectly good Oreos without eating them please, let us know. We will applaud your great abilities!

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So as introductions goes, I suppose this will do. I’ll be checking in periodically throughout the next month to keep you updated and share any tips and tricks we find, especially how we have managed to do the Whole30 on a strict grocery budget!

If you’re interested in knowing more right away, check out our first experience at My Whole30 Journey.

Have a great day!

❤ Jasmine

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