Whole30

My decision to try the Whole30 diet was not a quick one.  The first I ever heard of it was when my SIL did it last year prior to her wedding.  I thought it sounded a little crazy because I only knew what she couldn't eat.    As I posted in February, I have had a lot of skin issues in the years since having children (and I wasn't really a stranger to them prior to having kids) and have always turned to dermatology.  I started investigating the link to food earlier this year and after being really disappointed with the medications I am on, thought WHY NOT.  I could sit here and wonder if there was some dietary link, or I could actually test that hypothesis.

I did some research on the website and set a target date when my same SIL told me she was doing her second Whole30 in May.  Boom.  Ok. Sign me up.

I checked the book out of the library and became more familiar with "the rules".  I would say that the book is not necessary - their website is very comprehensive.

In a nutshell, the Whole30 means that for 30 days you do not eat any sugar, alcohol, grains (even quinoa), legumes, soy, peanut butter or dairy.  You also try to eat 3 (maybe 4) meals a day.  NO SNACKING.

On the one hand, I thought that this may not be too difficult because I have drastically cut my dairy consumption and have really upped my veggie consumption in the past two months.  On the other hand, I am a little nervous about a few things:

1. No legumes.  I generally eat a lot of legumes.  Chickpeas, black beans, white beans, lentils.  SIGN ME UP.

2.  Intersection of Whole30 and Running:  There are a lot of message boards about this, and my training partner for Boston is paleo so I know that it isn't impossible.  I am going to have swear off my tried and trusty Nuun sports drink though.

3. No snacks.  I eat all day long.  Truly.  Ask the people I work with.  I am not necessarily eating unhealthy things, but I am eating probably every two hours during the day.  That will be a hard habit for me to break.

4. No popcorn.  This was a "Surprise! You can't have that!" item for me.

At the time of writing this, I am 1.5 days in and have already noticed some challenges.

1.  I need to make my meals a lot bigger.  This is a common thing, based on my reading of participants.  Yesterday I only ate a bunch of meat for lunch and paid for it in a big way come 3:30.  Even after an enormous dinner, I felt so so hungry.  I was a little crabby because of it and my husband actually asked me, "Are you hangry right now?!".

2. Fruit is ok to eat and I am definitely using that as my sugar crutch.  Trying to incorporate fruit with every meal rather than binging on it at the end of the day.

Have you ever tried Whole30? If you have, I would love to know any tips or websites that you found helpful!