It’s funny, when Jon and I heard about Whole 30 from my sister and her husband, we were instantly drawn in by the science of it. I want to eliminate sugar and see what my body tells me! How cool!! But months later we still hadn’t committed to doing it. I could make so many excuses, but at the end of the day, both of us just didn’t want to give up what we loved to eat so much. I can’t eat Milky Ways for over a month?! No cheese on ANYTHING?!? Nah, I’m good with my sugar overloaded nutrition.
As our jam-packed schedule barreled towards Easter, Jon and I were on the serious struggle bus. We moved Harper to a big girl bed and one of us lays in there with her each night. She would be climbing the walls if we didn’t, Lord help us. Jackson was also suffering from night terrors, which are no joke, let me tell you. We were in a perpetual state of exhaustion, fueled by an abundance of sugary soda, bags of candy, and cups of coffee. You know, the things we tell ourselves will help keep us awake and functioning, but actually only make the problem worse. I was plagued by headaches and suffered from some serious afternoon crashes. Jon wasn’t doing much better. We looked at each other one night after crawling into bed like a couple of 80 year olds and decided something had to change. The next day we bought a copy of Whole 30 and committed to making the changes we needed to feel better in our own skin and keep up with the curve-balls life was throwing at us.
For those of you that are saying ” Well sure Courtney, but what the heck is Whole 30?” Simply put, it is a food elimination program. For 30 days you commit to cutting out all sugar, dairy, soy, grains, legumes, and alcohol. Then you do a reintroduction phase for each of those foods to determine whether they have any negative effects on your body, i.e. headaches, mood swings, bloating, etc. I know it seems extreme, but it’s not as difficult as many think it is!
WHAT WERE THE SYMPTOMS
Day one was great, I felt excited and ready to do this thing! We’d committed to doing it and I’m stubborn when I set a goal for myself. No cheating! Now I won’t lie, there was some serious whining from my corner before we got started, but Jon would just laugh and say that I’m a stubborn girl and that he’d be to sneak something before I would. So it was a surprise that there was quite the pendulum swing for day two. I was tired….and not just a little tired, but the foggy, hard to focus exhaustion most only experience when it is the middle of the night and you have an inconsolable or clustering feeding infant. I also felt mean. Jon would say hello or ask me a simple question and I wanted to punch him in the throat. I was achy, so achy I’m surprised I didn’t creak getting out of bed. Luckily this only hung around until day 3-4. Once we got past feeling awful and into the groove of things, we had a good time experimenting with new foods and brainstorming new meal options we knew we’d enjoy even after we’d finished the 30 days.
SO THAT’S WHAT CAUSED THAT….
A lot of people were confused when Jon and I said that we were doing this. “You guys are so skinny already!” Or “I can’t believe you think you need to diet!” While Jon and I have never been big weight wise, we’ve had health issues that have plagued us for years. I have struggled for years with migraines. Debilitating ones that leave me cross-eyed, crying for a dark room so I can lose myself in sleep because no drugs have the power to get rid of it. And then leave me stumbling around in a foggy head state for days. Jon has snored for as long as I’ve known him and suffered with what we think is a mild case of sleep apnea. He’s scared me plenty of times at night where I hear him stop breathing in his sleep until I shake him awake. And the more weight he gained, the worse the snoring and the apnea got.
HOW WE MADE THE CHANGE
It’s crazy, but once we committed to doing this it wasn’t hard. We started researching. We had a date which consisted of leaving the kids with daycare and heading to our favorite grocery stores and reading food labels. Romantic, right? We took pictures, Googled SO many words to see if they were a form of sugar, and studied our Whole 30 book while we roamed the aisles. It was eye-opening to realize how much sugar we’d been consuming every day. It’s certainly helped us both more aware of what we’re eating daily.
AFTER 30 DAYS, HERE’S WHAT I CAN TELL YOU….
I’m sticking to it…eating a diet with less sugar has been eye-opening and oh so frustrating (man, did I miss my after dinner chocolate!), but it’s also been a powerful reminder that I can do anything I put my mind to. That my health is something that should be a priority, not something that should be thrown on the back burner.
I have more energy, I don’t suffer from afternoon crashes (unless the kids put me through the ringer), and I’m more productive around the house and in my business than I’ve ever been. Are we going to completely keep sugar out of our diet? No, but we’re going to continue making healthy decisions as far as what we’re buying and the sugar content in it. We’re going to steer clear of what makes us feel bad and continue enjoying some of the others in moderation. Because nothing beats feeling this good!
Much love friends,
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