Hi. My name is Heidi. I’m a sodaholic. It’s been 43 days since my last Dr. Pepper.
I’ve reached the end of my Whole30 Challenge. Only meats/eggs, vegetables, fruit, and nuts for 30 days. No grains, dairy, legumes (including soy and peanuts), or added sugar—which meant I had to completely overhaul the way I interacted with food on a daily (hourly, minute-by-minute…) basis. I also had to go to the grocery store a few times a week and ignore 98% of the food for sale.
Here are a few things I’ve learned in the past thirty days:
- I have will-power and am capable of some sort of self-control over what I eat. This is an unprecedented and monumental accomplishment.
- Accountability: It’s a beautiful thing. I don’t think I could have done this without sharing the journey with my husband and on my blog. I wasn’t going to lie to you, and I did. not. want. to have to tell you I cheated or failed or quit.
- I cheated. We went out to eat at a buffet place on day 27. I ate meat and veggies. But I’m sure there were seasonings, sauces, or coatings that weren’t ‘legal.’ I passed up white rolls (would have liked about 10), mashed potatoes, soda, and dessert. Can I get credit for that?
- I don’t have to drink Dr. Pepper. I miss it (terribly). But I won’t die without it.
- Drastically changing how I ate was a great way to force me to think about food in a new way. It also was very effective in pulling me out of a junk food/sugar/soda/snacky/carb-heavy daily diet.
- I love to eat constantly and in large quantities. I’m always hungry. I think about food all the time. I don’t know how to change that.
- My boys will eat some foods that I didn’t think they would like. Sometimes they even shocked me.
- I CAN fix dinner every night. I CAN try new recipes and cook something other than spaghetti.
- I love dates. And sweet potato chips. And Larabars (which I never would have tried without Whole30).
- I have to decide whether a food is worth it before mindlessly putting it in my mouth.
- Good pizza is a ‘worth it’ food. So are homemade chocolate chip cookies. I really wish Dr. Pepper was.
- I hate cleaning up the kitchen after dinner.
- Burgers don’t need buns. They are perfectly fine with only dijon mustard, avocado, bacon, grilled onions, tomato, and lettuce.
- I need to work exercise into my day, but I can’t figure out how. I don’t have any me time, and I can’t figure out where to buy some.
- The easiest dinner is grilled meat and roasted veggies. If only I could remember to thaw the meat.
- Russ can get natural meats at a great price (wholesale) from one of his clients. Fabulous.
- Yams roasted with olive oil and sea salt taste like candy. Spiced and roasted cauliflower with almonds doesn’t, but it’s still really tasty. If you add Aidell’s Chicken Apple Sausage to roasted broccoli and almonds, it makes a fabulously simple meal.
- My headaches don’t seem to be food related. Sleep related, muscle related, chronic sinus-something or environmental allergy related…maybe?
- A good diet doesn’t replace sleep.
- I can plan ahead and take along good food if we are going to be out and about.
- The family I get eggs from is AWESOME. The last three weeks they’ve delivered eggs within 30 minutes of my FB message request!
- I like scrambled eggs. I can eat them for breakfast 30 days in a row, in fact. But when the boys put cinnamon raisin toast in the toaster, it sends me over the edge. And I really, really miss orange juice.
- I’m jealous of my husband’s job. He gets a salad bar and a kick-boxing class during his lunch hour (and he GETS a lunch hour!). But he also has to walk past the 25 cent soda machine…
- I fail at moderation. I can’t eat just one of anything. It’s all or nothing.
- I don’t yet know what my diet will look like on an ongoing basis. I’m thinking a roughly 80% paleo diet would be a great thing for me to aim for. I know that my eating has been so much healthier this way. Partly because I can’t stop once I start on bread, baked goods, and sugary stuff.
- I don’t yet know how I feel about dairy and grains in moderation. I think it will be interesting to see how my body reacts in the next week or two. I have many family members with celiac/gluten intolerance. I miss cheese.
- A 10 pound loss sadly isn’t very noticeable on (off) me, but I gained about 30 pairs of pants stashed on the top shelf of my closet.
- I’d love to lose 10-15 more pounds. And tone up what’s left. And get a tan. I’d also like to win the lottery.
- Forget my brownie recipe, just make Fudge Babies. Who knew a no sugar, no grains, no dairy, vegan, raw food dessert could taste SO YUMMY!!
- I’m buying myself some really good chocolate.
- The local farmer’s produce stand and I are going to see a lot of each other this summer.
- I am so thankful for the blog friends who have joined me on this journey. I’ve really appreciated your comments and encouragement.
- The science of food (well, science in general) boggles my mind. The amount of contradictory information ‘out there’ is so overwhelming. How do you decide whom to listen to? Sigh. I think I am going to go by what works for me and makes me feel my best, with room for traditions like birthday celebrations. Mostly, though, I want to eat real food from reliable sources, local and organic when possible.
Health and cheerfulness naturally beget each other.
~Joseph Addison