Thirty-two days ago, my husband, one of my best friends and I started the Whole 30 program. You know, that diet with no added sugar, no dairy, no booze, no gluten, etc.? I wrote about the start of our adventures here, and if you read it, then you remember that I felt pretty great. Fast forward to days 2-11 and I kept feeling worse and worse and worse. All day every day all I wanted to do was sleep, I was having a super hard time concentrating, I was constantly cold and I was losing weight, which is not what I wanted.
If I honestly believed that this program was making me healthier, I would have sucked it up and gotten through it by telling myself that I would come out better on the other end. But I eventually ended up throwing in the towel because I know enough to know that this wasn’t making me healthier. I had no energy to run, which is something I love to do for myself and I hated everything I was eating, which is a problem because I love food! I walked into Harvard Square one day and literally felt so weak and light headed that I almost walked into traffic. I felt increasingly restricted with each passing day not empowered, which to me is the mark of a successful way of eating. Let me stop right here and say that I really love the Whole 30 program and for the right person, it’s an incredible, eye opening, life changing experience. But at this point in my life, the Whole 30 wasn’t for me and I’m completely OK with that. So blah blah blah about me, let me tell you about the all-stars in my life that completed it.
One of the things that the program has you looking forward to, is this thing called “tiger blood”—you have more energy throughout the day and have no cravings for food. For some, it’s like a switch goes on after two weeks and you have more energy than ever, you are clear-headed and you feel like a superhero. For others, it’s more gradual and you notice that you have consistent energy throughout the day. Both my friend and my husband reported this increase in energy almost immediately. My friend wrote me one day saying that she stayed up late for the Patriots game, went to bed at midnight and jumped out of bed at 6am like it was nothing. My husband is a firefighter and works 24 hr shifts during the week, and he reported feeling a lot less exhausted when he came home. Both said they felt happier and as though they had more patience for those difficult people in their lives (read: children). Both were 100% compliant to the program, but they ate some foods that were borderline “SWYPO” (sex with your pants on—it’s an actual Whole 30 term-I promise!) My friend and my husband were both really honest with themselves that they wanted to get to day 30 but also make this a sustainable way of eating and to do so, it meant sometimes having snacks during the day, drinking smoothies and having RX Bars—all things that are generally discouraged, however, neither of them felt that this diminished their experience.
The positives of the Whole 30 are that you learn to label read everything, you food prep and cook more, and you become very conscious of what you are putting in your body and how that makes you feel. Both will tell you that it wasn’t always easy, but it never felt impossible either. My husband has said that he’s felt better than he ever has in his life and he doesn’t want to stop the program yet—he’s still going. Both of them will tell you if they can do it, anyone can. My friend is a mom of two young kids, who works full-time and is someone who really dislikes grocery shopping and cooking and my husband is a dad of young kids as well, had an unusually busy work month, and went on a few multiple-day off shore fishing excursions. And he is not someone who knows their way around the kitchen/supermarket at all! These two made it work and both came out on the other end better for it. My friend lost 10 pounds and five inches off her waist, and my husband looks like he’s lost weight but doesn’t want to step on the scale yet—he says there have been too many “NSVs” (non scale victories) and he doesn’t want to attach a number to it. To me, that’s the mark of a successful diet and I’m so happy that they both are where they envisioned they would be.
*****************************************************************************
If the Whole 30 is something that interests you or if you just want to a reset for your diet, shoot me an email: chloe@riversidenutrition.com and we can make a plan! If you aren’t close by, that’s OK too, I see patients virtually as well:)
