whole 30 complete

made it! 30 days no cheese, no grains, no booze, no beans, no dairy, no potatoes... just meat, veggies and nuts. i feel pretty good, and i admit i didn't got totally 100%, probably more like 80-90, but still, good for me!

the stats

most dramatic change was in blood glucose. average am wake up dropped from 150 to 90-100. stopped taking insulin because i was getting low readings! post-breakfast was around 120-150. highs never made it over 200. still taking metformin, but 1 daily instead of two. and of course, no insulin! basically, if i can keep this up, my a1c should be about a 6, possibly even lower over time.

with better glucose control comes better energy. more stable energy throughout the day. less moodiness. almost no cravings, which is awesome! first few weeks were the hardest, but i plowed through. and of course, the office is always full of tempting goodies, but i held firm. and ate carrots

for UC, definitely less active, but i think i need more than 30 days to see more changes/healing. so while i won't be doing whole30 anymore, i will still avoid grains/dairy and stay paleo

the good food

found great recipes and cooked like crazy. finally got my kitchen mostly in order and got into a routine. sunday is shopping/cooking day. due to limited options outside my kitchen, i cut back on going out, which is good for my gut and my wallet. didn't feel deprived very often, except at my cousin's bridal shower at an italian restaurant, that had a candy circus theme, and there were twizzlers and other goodies everywhere!

the bad food

i'm hooked on applegate farms salami, and it's not really kosher for whole30. I probably also ate too much bacon. i used almond butter on celery, which has added sugar and is not ok for whole30. but it was good and i made sure not to overindulge. i made a delicious trail mix of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds and raisins, that was cool for whole30 but killed me due to UC. i cooked with wine twice. i had manhattan clam chowder once and ate the potatoes that were in it. there was probably butter involved in a few of the lunches/dinners out, but i tried to make the best choices without being that crazy lady that makes 100 requests. having done both atkins and scd before, i did not want to be that lady ever again. luckily, whole30 is easier than both of those. paleo is even more forgiving. i also weighed myself, which you are also not supposed to do.

and i forgot, no beans! which means no soy. and i totally had chinese food once which probably used soy and/or cornstarch. ok, so chinese food and japanese food are definitely tough places to go on paleo, especially sushi. i mean, i do like sashimi, but without soy sauce? no sushi? no rolls at all? i think i'll have to make a rare exception to indulge in some sushi or chinese food and really enjoy it, rather than try to healthify it and make it suck.

the weight

yup, apparently for me, it's easier to avoid simple carbs than to avoid the scale. i ended up losing 13 lbs overall, and i do wish it were more. but honestly, i was never really hungry. i ate well and usually my "hunger" was just cravings for crap, emotional eating, or bored eating. not being able to shove something convenient in my face made me think more about why i wanted to eat. if i were truly hungry, i'd eat something on plan. basically, i treated myself like my cats when they get picky about their food: when you get hungry enough, you'll eat it.

i probably eat too many eggs, but i have finally learned how to boil the suckers so they are easy to peel.

day 31

at the end of my 30 days, i actually did not run out to burger king and eat 5 italian chicken sandwiches like I thought i would. but i did find out how easy it was to go back to old bad habits and how quickly i felt like crap again. it started innocently enough, breakfast was the usual hard boiled eggs. then at lunch i had chicken alphabet soup, a pizza burger, and sweet potato fries. girl at work brought in cookies, so I had 2. in the afternoon, i felt snacky, so i had twizzler nibs out of the vending machine. went to the movies, ate twizzlers. dinner was manhattan clam chowder with potatoes, disco fries, another pizza burger (because i couldn't think of what else i wanted), chocolate pudding. i ate until i wanted to puke. ewwwwwwww

the next day I felt kinda icky, but not that bad. got mostly back on track, but felt kinda wacked out all day.

saturday, i woke up nauseous. ate applesauce. hit the road for paintball, stopped in wendy's and had egg/cheese/bacon on a bagel. it was pretty yummy. ate nuts, ham, salami, and apple during the day, went buck wild at night. went to texas roadhouse and they have hot rolls on the table, with cinnamon butter. ate like 3 of those. ordered ribs, half-slab, and a baked sweet potato. with butter, cinnamon and brown sugar. awwww yeah, carb-bender.

woke up feeling like crap today, guts NOT HAPPY. mood is shit. depressed all freaking day. weepy and crying and basically being stupid. eventually motivated myself enough to cook for the week. figured i could have a beer while cooking. all i have is wheat beer. I drank like half before i felt absolutely horrid, like I had been poisoned. ugh, nothing like learning the hard way.

the next 30

so heading into the next chapter, i'll be sticking with paleo and adding back some cheese to see how that goes. i really miss feta. i'm thinking next week making some spinach and feta quiche for breakfasts. cut down on the deli meat stuff. got celery and almond butter for yummy snacks. gonna try to put together a trail mix that doesn't blow up my guts. going to continue experimenting with booze because I love drinking but don't love feeling sick. more meats and veggies. maybe try thai next week, i'm in sort of a mexican rut. made barbacoa last week and this week and have a guac and pico de gallo addicition.

still struggling with fish. i mean, i love fish, but i fail at cooking it. and it stinks up the kitchen something fierce. and i feel bad nuking the leftovers at work. i got trout for this week, but maybe next week i'll just blacken the hell out of some catfish.

le menu

breakfast: hard boiled eggs
elevensies: celery with almond butter or salami/ham/turkey from applegate farms
lunch: burrito bowl with romaine, barbacoa, pico de gallo, salsa verde and guacamole
snack: carrots or nuts

Monday dinner: steelhead trout
Tuesday dinner: leftover trout
wednesday dinner: lamb
thursday dinner: kielbasa
friday dinner: steak