Whole30, Thin Within, Revelation Wellness: Tying it all together

I finished my Whole30 journey in mid-February, after reintroducing each food group (legumes, non-gluten grains, dairy, and gluten).  It would be great to say that I am eating mainly Paleo, but that is not how it turned out.  If I had to recap in just a few words what I got out of my Whole30 experience, it would be a new appreciation for vegetables, a distrust of processed foods, and the realization that I can, in fact, live without certain foods.  I am now trying to eat more of the healthy stuff, less of the unnecessary stuff, and as little as possible of the foods with scary ingredient lists.

Beyond this simplistic summary, there is a great deal going on behind the scenes.  This is the emotional and spiritual battle that I have been fighting for years--really, for DECADES.  I thought I would take a moment and delve into this a bit more in case it resonates with anyone out there.  

While I have explained how I arrived at the Whole30 plan in an earlier post, it helps to have the entire picture and where I think God has been leading me.  I hit lifetime status with Weight Watchers in 2005.  I stuck to the plan through my pregnancy with my 3rd child and lost almost all of my baby weight very quickly, and I was able to maintain a healthy weight for several years.  Then, about 18 months ago I started gaining weight despite not eating horribly and exercising 5 to 6 times a week, even training for and running a half marathon last year.  In mid-November, after being diagnosed with hypothyroidism but not seeing any weight loss on medication, I hit an emotional low.  I heard an ad on the radio for a weight loss program that promised to help me lose up to a pound of fat per day, and since I was at such a low point, I made an appointment for a free consultation.  I listened to the spiel, heard about the products that the company would sell me and the weight loss I could attain (20 pounds in 2 months), then saw the price tag--almost $1600, and even more if I did not pay it all up front!  You can imagine how well that was received at home!

My lovely neighbor invited me over that very evening to visit with her, her adult daughter and another neighbor.  I shared with them the shocking price tag of the ***amazing new*** weight loss plan, and they were as shocked as my husband had been.  My neighbor and her daughter then told me about the plan they were on--the Whole30, involving very drastic food limitations for a relatively short time in order to "reset" your body.  They told me how much better they felt on the plan, no cravings after the first 2 weeks, no bloating, more energy.  I was very skeptical--not so much about the plan itself but about my ability to give up entire food groups.  After all, one of the reasons I had achieved long-term success on Weight Watchers was because nothing was off-limits; instead, moderation was the key, and I had always found that it had worked.  Until lately, at least.  Now I found myself eating more than I wanted, losing control particularly in the evenings, and gaining weight even while training for that half marathon.

By mid-December, after praying hard about it, lying awake at night dwelling on it, and researching it, I had made up my mind that January would be my Whole30 month.  I read all of the Whole30 and most of It Starts with Food, which explains the science behind the plan.  My family knew what I was doing and they were supportive (if also skeptical); I planned my meals and made my store lists.  And if you have read my other posts you know that I made it through all 30 days without a single "cheat", and my reintroduction went mainly as planned, although I skidded a bit at the end.

So where does this fit in with my overall stance on reaching and maintaining a healthy weight?  That is a bit more complicated.  (Think of Shrek and the onion--LAYERS, Donkey!)  I am still convinced--perhaps even more so than ever--that God has created me with internal cues that should be my ultimate guide on eating, and that no plan man can develop is greater than this.  However, I do feel like God pointed me to this way of eating, primarily to help me break free from some of the strongholds that food has had on me.  Added sugar, refined sugar, is not a healthy thing, and for an entire month and a half I went WITHOUT ANY SUGAR.  This meant giving up coffee (I mean, seriously, the whole point of coffee is the cream and sugar!!); it meant putting away my beloved dark chocolate, cake, ice cream--all the stuff that has been an integral part of my eating habits forever.  

I am a big fan of Thin Within, which is very similar in the basic weight loss components as another faith-based plan that I had gone through years ago, but without the flawed theology.  (Thin Within) This program leads you away from eating for any reason other than one's basic, God-ingrained physiological need for food.  A post on the Thin Within blog led me to another amazing group--Revelation Wellness (Revelation Wellness). Alisa Keeton, the founder of "RevWell", stresses both the eating component AND exercise, and as someone who exercises almost every day of the world, I felt a real sense of kinship with her group. Alisa offered a "Clean Hearting" challenge in January, and it dovetailed so nicely with my Whole30 journey that I knew it was more than just a simple coincidence!  

In one of her daily posts during the Challenge, Alisa said something that really hit me:

As I said at the very beginning of this challenge, no one food plan heals and meets the need of all people, but eating whole food is a great place to start. Some of you are being called into a season of saying no to the things that seem to own you and consume you. To you I say, ask God to give you the grace to follow [her daily guidelines]. Do your best to turn your back on old habits and embrace the new. His grace is sufficient for this necessary time of healing and resetting.

Friends, this hit me exactly when and where I needed it.  I was struggling with giving up so many of the foods that I typically overate--foods that OWNED me--and to get this message was confirmation that I was on the right path.  I am not going to put a pretty face on it--now that I have reintroduced these foods, I still struggle with them.  However, having done without them, I feel more empowered to put them down.  And with the help of the incredible people in both the Thin Within and Revelation Wellness programs, I sense that I am getting closer to a breakthrough where these foods--indeed, all foods--are concerned.  I am also hoping to become a certified Revelation Wellness instructor, although this likely will not happen until 2017 (I am working hard at cultivating several fruits of the spirit, and patience ranks right up there with self-control!).

We must each travel on our own journey and walk down the path that God has chosen specifically for us.  What works for me might not work for you.  But I encourage you to be open to where God might lead you.

In His Peace,

Lisa

WHOLE30: ONE MORE DAY!!!

I think it is safe to say this now:

I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I have 24 more hours to go. And then reintroduction (another 10 days). But still, there were many people (including my very supportive husband, who knows my limited palate and my history of rebellion when given dietary restrictions) who were skeptical about my ability to reach Day 5, much less Day 29! However, the one person who did NOT have any doubts was, surprisingly, ME. I had made up my mind in early December that this was happening, I envisioned how it would feel to get to this point--as New Age-y and touchy-feely as that may sound--and I did it.  The right mindset makes all the difference in the world.  In the immortal words of Tony Little:

So how am I feeling today? I have mixed emotions, actually. Physical cravings have disappeared, but this week I have felt ... deprived. Not hungry, not wanting a specific food, but just wanting the freedom to eat whatever I want. It has taken more effort to stay positive about this, and I am not sure that this is "normal" for other Whole30'ers. I still was not tempted to go off-track, but there was definitely resentment mixed in. I've largely gotten over it--I mean, this way of eating has shown me so much about myself and my eating habits that it was worth it. The thought of 10 to 13 more days of this, though, to get through the reintroduction phase (and that's the FAST TRACK reintro!) has been a definite drag on my mental state.

Nonetheless, as I reviewed the logic behind the reintroduction plan in The Whole30 tonight, I got myself set straight again. I think. I hope. I have put myself through a huge cleansing, and to just give up now would kind of defeat the purpose. So, starting Sunday, I will begin the reintro period. The authors of The Whole30 recommend doing this in a certain order, starting with the least-likely-to-offend food group to the most likely, with one day of reintroduction of each food group followed by 2 strict Whole30 days. This was the sticking point for me--two days of 100% compliant eating between each food group, with four food groups (legumes, non-gluten grains, dairy, and gluten grains), plus a fifth if you want to introduce alcohol--for a total of 10 to 13 days of highly restricted eating.

Interestingly, they also suggest that if you are going to reintro alcohol, you do this first. Once I got over the fact that I really need to do this the RIGHT way, I balked at starting with alcohol. And honestly, I cannot say why, other than the fact that I do not believe wine will be a problem at all. As much as this past month has had me longing to unwind with a glass o' the grape, it is not the top thing on my list of missed foods. And by the way, that in itself is shocking to me. My nightly glass of red with dinner has become a habit, and while it never came anywhere close to being an actual "problem", it is truly miraculous that I am not already talking to Steve the Wine Guy at my local Kroger lining up a bottle to open on Sunday!

Anyway, it looks like I will be buying some legumes tomorrow to add to my meal templates for Sunday. I will be keeping a (non-computerized) food diary to see how I react to each food group--assuming I have any kind of reaction. If I see any reaction at all, I will be mildly surprised, as food itself has never felt like The Enemy; rather, my lack of control with certain foods has been a much bigger problem--something that the Whole30 folks call "food without brakes". My list of those foods seems to have gotten longer as I've hit middle age, which is the opposite of what I think should be happening. These are foods that I can recognize a bit more now that I have gone through this process, and that alone is worth the time, effort and ENDLESS COOKING!!

I have been giving a lot of thought to where I want to go with this from here. Long-term, I do not see myself becoming a self-proclaimed Paleo eater. Halfway into this process I would have told you that I was going to aim for an 80/20 Paleo/nonPaleo diet. Now I'm not so sure. I am still a firm believer that moderation is the key to any long-term weight loss success--although I will put in a HUGE plug here and say that Whole30 is NOT about weight loss, it is much more about ridding your body of foods that cause inflammation, an unhealthy gut, etc. I also know that God created us with a built-in mechanism for achieving and remaining at our intended size (hunger and fullness--"Duh!", as my 9-year-old would say!). Did God intend for any food to be off-limits? Probably not, but that does not mean that every food is healthy for us, particularly in anything other than modest amounts. And processed foods should be incredibly limited or avoided altogether.

Bottom line, I will pay attention to my body during the reintroduction phase and make a concerted effort to steer clear of foods that make me feel lethargic, bloated, or moody, and will definitely limit anything that might awaken my Sugar Dragon, which, thankfully, seems to be asleep right now, however lightly!

One Week Left!! I've GOT This!

Day 23, and I can see the end! Things have been going well, although I am definitely recycling the "easy" meals and not experimenting as much as I probably should. Is it easy? No, and it probably never will be completely easy. The time in the kitchen is still a bit of a pain, and while I am eating veggies three times a day, I do not crave them. Well, maybe sweet potatoes, but to be honest I have eaten more of those than I should have. And really, this is itself a big deal, since I would not even eat sweet potatoes without butter and brown sugar a month ago!

Here are the "ups" I have seen these last 23 days:

--Less between-meal hunger.
--Looser jeans (I'm even wearing a pair that I could not wear a month ago).
--Better sleep. Still not a solid 8 hours, but longer stretches. I made it until 4 a.m. one night recently!
--Overall more sustained energy.
--Ability to resist quick and easy (a/k/a NON-COMPLIANT) meals.

This last one was very evident last week when my hubby and I had to make an unexpected trip to the emergency room. We were there for over 5 hours and it was past 8 p.m. when we finally got kicked loose. In past times I would have run to the nearest drive-through, even though fast food is not a particular weakness of mine, just to get something quickly. Instead, we headed home and I cooked a relatively quick but completely compliant dinner.

I also ate out last week. That one was a bit tougher, because this particular restaurant has AMAZING bread that is served prior to the meal, complete with softened butter. It is also a place where I routinely order a glass of the house Chardonnay. No lie, giving those two things up was not easy. However, I ordered wisely--a spinach salad (without the bacon and with dressing I brought instead of theirs), topped with delicious, perfectly cooked tenderloin. I focused on enjoying that tenderloin and did not dwell on the fact that I was not sipping Chardonnay or stuffing myself with freshly baked bread. The result? I felt much better than usual after the meal and was proud of myself for sticking to the plan.

The funniest thing that happened the past couple of weeks occurred when I was preparing some veggies to roast in the oven. I spritzed them with olive oil, then started to sprinkle Lawry's Seasoned Salt on them as I always have. Then I stopped and looked at the Lawry's label, and sure enough, the second ingredient listed was--you guessed it--SUGAR! Who knew? I never would have guessed. My 9 year old said, "Oh well, Mom, you'll just have to start your Whole30 all over again!" NO WAY!! That was NOT happening! I quickly dumped the veggies into a colander and rinsed them off and then started over, this time using plain spices.

So here I am with a week to go, and while I do not look forward to another week of cooking compliant meals, I DO look forward to weighing in next Sunday. That alone is amazing! I do not have any idea how much weight I've lost, but I am guessing at least 5 pounds. Not stellar, and of course I'd like more, but the NSVs (non-scale victories) are pretty significant. If you are thinking about doing this but don't know if it is worth all the work, from my experience it is. If nothing else, just knowing that you have put NO added sugar or processed foods in your body is reason enough. It is only 30 days. You can do anything you put your mind to for 30 days!

Day 9, Still Plugging Away (subtitle: I Gave Up Coffee, Keep Your Distance!)

I really wanted to be able to check in today and say that I felt that glorious "tiger blood" coursing through my veins, but alas, it's just a bit too soon. The eating is going well. I made another batch of spaghetti squash with marinara, and it was even better than the first batch (or again, it may just be that healthy foods are tasting better to me at this point). My middle daughter, age 14, is wanting to start the Whole30 tomorrow, and eating last night's dinner with us made her pretty sure that if I can eat it, given my rather juvenile taste buds, she can eat it! She has always enjoyed a wider variety of foods than the other two, so it is not surprising that she would consider this. However, getting her to eat breakfast and taking a healthy lunch to school with her may prove to be challenging. Crossing my fingers and hoping for the best!

Here is what is NOT working for me. Coffee. In several places in the Whole30 materials the comment is made that drinking coffee black "Is. Not. Hard." Okay, maybe it is not technically hard, but after trying it for 8 days, including several days with coconut milk and once with cinnamon, I just cannot do it. So this morning, after my four-mile date with the dreadmill, I skipped my coffee. Not the end of the world--after all, I quit cold-turkey when I was expecting each of my children. But by early afternoon, my head was throbbing and I had the energy of a 98 year old. If that. Ibuprofen helped the head, a 15 minute snooze on the couch gave me a bit of oomph, and walking the dog in the brisk January air got me going enough to make it through the rest of the day. But seriously, this has been the hardest thing so far, perhaps because it was just the last thing to have to completely give up.

I am starting to make meals a second or third time now, and I hope Tony and I (and soon Elaine) do not get bored with the same things over and over. As my energy level wanes, though, my desire to whip up exciting new dishes--which was only marginal to begin with--is even less now. Maybe when I start perking up (with the aforementioned and much-anticipated "tiger blood", I hope!) I will gleefully run into the kitchen looking for new things to do with sweet potatoes, squash and chicken. Right now, though, I think I'll make more stir fry.

Days 3, 4 and 5 ... At Least They are OVER!

According to the timeline in The Whole30, Days 4 and 5 are when we will want to "kill all the things". Being the impatient one that I am, this started happening to me on Day 3. In a big way. As in, one of my family members is only now speaking to me again, and just barely! It was rough, and honestly I do not know when I have felt so cranky.

Food-wise, I did fine--no slip-ups, and honestly, I do not think that will be an issue for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm having monstrous cravings, primarily for chocolate milk. And today I'm craving Texas Toast WITH my chocolate milk, because some evildoer made toast at work today and that was all I was able to think about the rest of the afternoon! Seriously, isn't the smell of properly cooked toast one of the best smells EVER?? However, I am so committed to this plan that I simply cannot imagine going off of it for even a single bite. (I must confess here that I almost took a mindless bite of some Italian bread crumb chicken tenders that my eldest daughter made last night. It was unintentional and I stopped myself before it actually reached my mouth, but I am guessing that this type of mindless nibbling is part of what put me in the spot I find myself in now.)

Physically, Days 3 and 4 were super hard as I felt achy all over, with a monstrous headache to top it off. Advil helped, and today (Day 5! Yay!) it is not bad enough to even need the Advil.

The other not-so-pleasant part of the past couple of days is that I spent SIX WHOLE HOURS in the kitchen on Sunday. Six. As in, 5 and a half hours more than I usually spend doing meal-prep. The upside is that I have had breakfast, lunch and dinner already prepared for this week, at least most of it. I will likely make a chicken stir-fry tomorrow night as a break from the other dishes. Here is what kept me busy Sunday:

1) Roasted an 8 pound chicken.
2) Prepped the chicken bones for 24-hours of simmering to make chicken stock.
3) Made chicken salad.
4) Baked spinach, egg & (compliant) bacon bit "muffins" to have for breakfast this week.
5) Cooked the delicious Chocolate Chili from Mel Joulwan's "Well Fed" blog. It may sound odd, but the combination of spices was spot on, and I made a double batch to have some in the freezer. Check it out here: http://meljoulwan.com/2009/02/22/my-favorite-chili-recipe/

The silver lining in all this cooking is that I am learning to think outside the box--or rather, outside the recipe--to make dishes that I know will taste better to my palate.

For example, while I appreciate the flavor that onions add to many dishes, I will almost always use a sweet onion instead of the standard variety, and for some dishes (like the cauliflower rice, which I've made twice now), plain old onion powder tastes just as good to me. I am not a natural cook the way some people are. Give my mother 5 ingredients and she'll come up with a wonderful, filling, healthy meal (is it any wonder that "Chopped" is one of her favorite shows??). Give me 5 ingredients without a recipe and I'm calling our favorite Chinese take-out place!!

Another plus is that I am trying new foods. While I had seen plantains in the grocery store, I had never actually bought any--I mean, what does one do with a plantain, anyway? Well, I bought two and sliced them up tonight, cooked them in coconut oil, and after blotting them when they were nice and crispy, added a bit of salt. YUM!! I've bagged them up to take to work. I know those bad boys are loaded with sugar, and eating too many or having them on a regular basis as a snack would definitely derail me. But to have a few as a side with a meal is not such a bad thing, especially considering the highly processed and chemically laden foods I was eating. So YAY!

And here is perhaps the best thing to come out of these past 5 days. I bought a pineapple at the store last night, and as I was slicing it up and putting it into a container, I tasted a small bite. OH MY GOSH, that was the SWEETEST pineapple I have ever tasted. I honestly believe that my tastebuds are able to appreciate natural sugars so much more now that I am clearing out all of the super-sugared foods. What a cool thing! So here's a message to you, oh giant sugar dragon: PREPARE TO BE SLAIN! I have drawn my sword and will not rest until you are defeated!!

Two days in, going strong (well, still going, anyway)! #Whole30

Here's the recap from the first two days of this crazy venture called Whole30.

DAY ONE:

Yesterday was both exciting and daunting, and I spent half of my day cooking and the other half stressing about what I would cook. Despite how prepared I thought I was in terms of having the right food, when it was actually time to make lunch and dinner I freaked out just a bit. It turned out fine, but I think I was in the kitchen more yesterday than the entire month of December put together! (So no, I'm no gourmet cook--my family would attest to this fact. Party foods? Sure! Baked goods? Absolutely! But real MEALS? Not so much.)

Here's how it went. I had a pre-workout mini-meal of 1/2 banana with a teaspoon of sunflower seed butter, then hit the home gym for a 45-minute kettlebell workout.

Breakfast looked like this:

Scrambled eggs with mushrooms and spinach, with a side of hash brown style sweet potatoes (with nutmeg, cinnamon and walnuts). Pretty tasty!

Lunch consisted of salad greens with a small can of albacore tuna in a homemade cilantro lime balsamic vinaigrette dressing. (No photo, was too hungry to stop long enough to take one!)

For dinner I made cauliflower rice, since rice is definitely one of my top "I'm gonna miss it" foods. I LOVE rice--white rice, yellow rice, brown rice, red beans and rice, black beans and rice, fried rice--well, you get the picture. This was a time-consuming recipe, but worth it. To accompany this I made ground turkey with a hodge-podge of seasonings that somehow worked, including tahini paste, Chinese 5-spice powder, ground ginger, sweet onion, garlic, salt and pepper. I was not at all sure that the turkey dish would mesh well with the cauliflower rice, but thankfully it did, because at this point Tony (who is being the ultimate stand-up hubby and going through this torture with me) and I were famished.

I am not going to sugar-coat this for y'all (pun totally intended)--WE MISSED DESSERT. We both have insanely gigantic sugar dragons to slay during this process, so after dinner we were both looking at each other thinking, "Where's the cake??" If you are familiar with the Whole30 concept, you know that the point is to SKIP dessert, not try to replace it with something compliant. However, neither of us can go quite this cold turkey, so we each had two dates and a few cashews. Again, we realize that we need to get to the point that we are not seeking that sweet treat after dinner, but we're still miles ahead of where we were just a few days ago. (Please don't ask me about the Oreos. It was ugly. Really ugly.) We'll get there, one step at a time. And the good news--the AMAZING news--is that we made it through the entire day 100% compliant.

DAY TWO:

I did not feel all that horrible when I woke up, despite the warnings in the book that I might feel a bit like I had a hangover. I repeated yesterday's pre-workout mini-meal and then pounded out 4 miles on the dreadmill.

Breakfast was another yummy batch of eggs, this time with the addition of 1/2 an avocado, and no sweet potatoes.

Shortly before lunch, I had to get a few more groceries and wait for a prescription, and that's when the first carb-flu symptoms hit me. I felt like something hit me over the head, and I'm pretty sure I made absolutely no sense to the poor pharmacy staff! I couldn't wait to get home and make lunch to see if that would help, and it really did. Plus it was a tasty lunch--turkey burgers (we each had 1 1/2), topped with grilled avocado, some Whole30 ketchup that I made yesterday, and a portabello mushroom cap for a "top bun". (I just couldn't wrap my head around having two of those huge mushroom caps as a complete burger bun, as suggested in the book. Maybe someday, but not today.) We had salad greens with a few chopped walnuts and more of the homemade cilantro dressing from yesterday as our veggie side.

Time for a Public Service Announcement (along with a TMI warning): Be careful if you do this program and are suddenly filling your body with more vegetables in a day than you typically ingest in a month. You might find yourself in a sporting goods store, for example, and really, REALLY wish you were at home. 'Nuff said.

Dinner was a very nice surprise. When I brought home a spaghetti squash last week, Tony did not look enthusiastic, and this is a man who could eat yellow squash and zucchini every day of the week. My mother, also a die-hard veggie lover, indicated a similar dislike for this type of squash. However, I was determined to make spaghetti--a weekly staple in our home--so I roasted the squash in the oven while my homemade sauce with organic ground beef simmered on the stove. I wish I had remembered a photo of it, because it was quite yummy--Tony said he was very surprised at how tasty the squash was! I think it all hinged on cooking it to just the right consistency. Dessert was ONE DATE. Getting better!!!

I will not lie and say this is easy. It is not. And since the girls are not doing this with us, I still have to prepare something at least vaguely resembling a meal for them (thankfully the older two are fairly self-sufficient). And I miss chewing gum. How stupid is that? But seriously, I really miss my Orbit Wintermint! Old habits die HARD.

No matter how hard this is, though, I have already proved to myself that I CAN learn to like new foods, healthy foods. I've got this!!

Happy, healthy eating!

#Whole30??? ME????

If you have known me for any length of time, you know that my weight has always been an issue. If you look in the dictionary next to "yo-yo dieter", you'll see my picture--or at least you should.

However, in 2005 I turned it around for what I felt like was the LAST time. I was incredibly motivated and the weight came off, slowly and surely, and I kept it off, even through my pregnancy with our third child. Sadly, over the course of the last 18 months some of that weight has crept back on, partly due to hypothyroidism (which I am trying to control with medication), partly due to this wonderful "season of life" in which I find myself (I'll hit 50 in 2016), and partly due to horrid cravings (more on this below), and as a result I am absolutely MISERABLE. Our weight should never define us, should not determine our self-worth, or affect our outlook. But it does, without a doubt.


As a person of faith, I know that God has created within us a perfect system to maintain an ideal weight based on the simple concept of eating only when hungry and stopping when satisfied (NOT the same thing as stuffed, by the way!). Knowing this, though, and obeying it can be two entirely different things! I have struggled mightily with not eating past the point of being comfortably full, with terrible cravings, particularly for cheese and bread. One day last month after a particularly bad day, I decided to check out a new "system" being offered by a doctor who promises significant weight loss in a short period of time. The program sounded interesting and he said he could help me lose 20 pounds in two months (a bit more than I actually want to lose, but hey, why not, right??). Then he told me the cost--almost $1600!!! I do not think I need to tell you how my dear hubby reacted to that sales pitch! As fate would have it, a dear neighbor had invited me to come over that same evening, at which time she and her daughter told me about Whole30.

They were 19 days into the Whole30 plan and they were LOVING it. I laughed at the idea at the time--this was right before Thanksgiving and my birthday, and the thought of giving up all my favorite things was more than I could imagine.

But you know how these things go, right? The next day I was Googling Whole30 (and yes, it is as simple as Whole30.com). The following day I was seriously considering it. Two more days and I had ordered the book. That was over a month ago, and now I am 3 days away from embarking on this journey. By the way, my decision NOT to start a Whole30 during December is something that is supported by the Hartwigs, the creators of the program, because starting such a strict plan during the holidays is a recipe for disaster. Therefore, I have enjoyed all of the holiday goodies (perhaps even more than usual because of what is coming up), and now I am READY for this! At least, I think I'm ready. Okay, I'm mostly ready ...

I'll admit, this is a bit daunting. The Whole30 program calls for lean meats, healthy fats and LOTS of veggies (fruits are allowed, too). The problem? Vegetables are not exactly top on my list of favorite things. Well, to be honest, they do not make the list at all. Oh sure, I'll eat salad greens, but primarily just to have a place to put the "good stuff"--you know, cheese, rich dressings, croutons ... My taste buds just never grew up; I mean, seriously, how many middle-aged women do you know who still hide their peas in their mashed potatoes?

(Photo from http://www.personal.psu.edu/afr3/blogs/siowfa13/2013/12/)

So for me to even think twice about a program like this speaks volumes about where I find myself right now. The testimonials on the Whole30 website of the many people who have successfully completed the program have made me want what they have found: freedom from cravings, more energy, greater mental clarity, better sleep, clearer skin--the list of positives is amazing. The negatives? No sugar, no dairy, no grains, no legumes, no alcohol. So for someone whose four basic food groups are bread, cheese, chocolate and wine, this promises to be very interesting!

The Whole30 book outlines what most of the participants experience as they go through these 30 days, and I know the first couple of weeks are going to be rough--sugar cravings, fatigue, crankiness. In fact, I thought about getting the kids flak jackets for Christmas, and they may wish I had before this is all over. Those first 14 or 15 days promise to challenge me in ways that I probably cannot even comprehend right now. But you know something? I can do this. I owe it to myself.

Check back in January, see how it's going!