Whole 30ish

After talking to a handful of people and seeing another handful of my friends take part in a Whole 30 diet, I hesitantly told Jesse I wanted to incorporate some of the principles into our daily eating habits.  I sent him a link to their website, which briefly explained that the diet consists of cutting out grains, legumes, rice, sugars and dairy.  I say I was hesitant because while he will eat whatever I cook for him, I'm not going to just inform him that I'm cutting out his dairy options, no questions asked.  After a few questions about my how's and whys, of which I said I just wanted to give it a trial run to see how it goes, he proceeded to tell me either all or nothing: we do the entire 30 days or we weren't doing it.

So, why? 

Because it's there to be done.  We both realize we could eat much healthier, and it's really been aggravating to me recently how terrible our diet is.  Now, we eat better than many, but there's still a long way to go.  Really, my decision on this plan had several reasons:

1. I like how it sounds.  We have talked about going to a stricter, semi-paleo diet, but I didn't have the guts.  We don't have good grocery store options here, and I knew eating super healthy would take prep and planning, neither of which were high on my priority list, especially with kids.

2. We don't have to count calories or carb intake.

3. We still get to eat meat!  Even bacon!  But so far, we haven't been successful in finding any without sugar..

4. As crazy as it sounds, I like the idea of cutting out grains.  I'll explain that in a minute.

5. We need a kick start.  We both want to and need to have better diets in the daily food sense, and we need to lose some weight.  I hope and believe we will do better simply eliminating certain items instead of trying to track them.

6. Everyone I've talked to who has tried this diet has told me how awesome they feel at the end.  I'm all for feeling awesome.

7. We still get to eat real food.  Definitely a perk.

8. I love the idea of eating cleaner.  So much of what we eat could a day should be limited in our daily diet, and as opposed to decreasing amounts, I think I will be more successful at simply cutting them out.  Time will tell if I'm right! 

I may have stated the same idea several times there, sorry Jesse ;) 

And we'll be giving up what? 

Ok, so checking out at the grocery a few months ago, I was shocked and semi disgusted to see how many carbs we go through in a month.  That must be why they made conveyor belts, so you can see all your food items parade past.  Please know I am in no way an obsessive healthy eater: I hate those people.  Not really, but I'm so jealous of their time management to have things planned and ready to go, just waiting in the fridge to be used.  My brain just doesn't work that way, and as previously stated, we have mediocre grocery options for fresh produce.  We have gardens and farmers market during the summer, but that won't hold me over all year!  However, Jesse had explained to me how and why we should cut back on carbs, so watching the loaves of bread, bagels and pasta I had bought all go in a line was a wake up call.  And growing up, with Italian heritage, and busy playing soccer, pasta was our go to meal: quick, easy, delicious.  We had it weekly if not more often, and Jesse had to ask me our first year married to cut back on the pasta.  I didn't understand, doesn't everyone eat mass quantities of pastas?  Apparently not.  So while this will be a challenge with no breads either, I'm excited to try cutting it.

Sugar?  Ok, that one makes sense.  Plus with no self control, not even having it as an option for a "treat" will be good for me.

Dairy?  Now we're not so sure.. I have to give up cheese?  We'll see about that one.

No rice?  If we aren't having pasta or potatoes at a meal, there's rice.  This.. Ugh. Oh, and look: potatoes is on the list of things I can't eat.  Family, I know you all just fell out of your chairs in shock.

And snacks.  Apparently that's on the "avoid" list.  Jesse ordered me the book to read, I'll have to get back to you on this one.

And the sunny outlook..

I talked to my cousin briefly about this diet, as he and his wife have done it and adopted a variation of it as their daily menu.  He was very encouraging, and got me even more excited.  You read that right, more excited about cutting out food.  I think mostly for me, it's mental: I'm ready for a challenge.  Our meals had hit a routine slump, and you could probably figure out the day of the week based on what I made for dinner.  Maybe not that bad, but that's how I feel.  Additionally, we just need to do better, no other way around that.  I know Geoff has said he's never felt better in his life based on his food diet, and I'm looking for at least feeling better after I eat.  I'm craving a challenge, to be healthy, and feel good and I'm hopefully finding it this way and choosing to improve our eating habits.

After 30 days, 

We hopefully will continue with the healthier eating, with a few additions.  Until the next cycle, if we choose to detox with a strict month again, we may occasionally throw some rice, beans or a baked potato in, and we know I'll occasionally need some pasta.  But the goal is to continue with a much healthier eating style, and I'm excited.  Thank you, Pinterest, for inspiring many meals already.

So there you have it: I even blogged about it in an attempt to make sure I stay accountable.  And in case you don't like it when people post tons of pictures of food, just tune into a different blog for awhile, because I'm documenting this.  And, in an attempt to be honest and real, we aren't doing the whole 30 days right now.  We had vacation already planned and a few other things before I sporadically decided to "diet," so when we get back from vacation later this month, we will go all out for 30 days.  Until then, we are following the diet until our vacation.  So, maybe a we should call this Whole 30ish.  We WILL be doing the month, we just didn't want to wait several weeks to do it.  If you've done this diet before, please try and judge us easy, we are learning and the book doesn't come until tomorrow and like I said, we will be doing a full month after vacation.  Plus, we have 3 little girls to deal with, and my brain isn't always there.

Yesterday was Day 1.  It was delicious.  And really, for the first day, much easier than I anticipated.  My biggest problem was actually remembering I was on a diet.  I knew I was a grazer/slacker throughout the day, but little things like getting the girls a bowl of pretzels, I'd have one in my hand for me to eat before remembering.  That happened several times, I'd just go to grab an extra of whatever they were having.  That's a normal mom thing, right?  Other moms do this? 

For breakfast, I had an egg with pico de gallo I'd made for dinner the night before.  I'd have and more, but we only had one egg..

 I kind of forgot about lunch, as I was running around.  So it was 2 stalks of celery and an apple with almond butter, and a few handfuls of nuts.  Jesse lectured me that that wasn't acceptable, fear not, he took care of it.

Dinner, because we could, we had steaks.  Jesse grilled them, they were delicious, and we both decided we like this diet haha we also sauted asparagus and mushrooms in coconut oil and had a salad with homemade avacado dressing.

Jesse also sent me a link to portion sizes, so I'll be researching on that today.  Good thing we're practicing for a couple weeks before the real thing, we'll be much better prepared then.

I'm not sure if I will attempt a daily update here or a weekly one.  If it's daily, fear not people who follow the link from Facebook, I won't post updates daily and annoy your news feed.  People that get this directly emailed... Tough.  Fortunately, I know who you are and that you all love me, so I'm sure you'll bear with me, thanks.  And since you all made it to the end, pictures of the girls because I like them:

strong girls showing off their guns. and new suits. 

because she's adorable. 

That's about it!  If i get my act together, I'll actually post a life update soon..