Here it comes. The Whole30.
14 months ago I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. As many of you know pregnancy and then nursing is super easy on the body. Right? I don’t think I was quite prepared to be where I am today. Mix 6 years, 5 pregnancies, 3 kids, years of nursing, one surgery and you get one not normal functioning body. Those that have birthed children can understand the strain this miracle is on the body. Some changes you get used to because that is just how life is after producing and carrying a life or two or three. Other changes leave you looking to change.
I kept thinking that as soon as I stopped nursing everything would go back to normal. My hormones would balance, my energy would come back, my waist line would find a closer version to its original form and my digestive system would be in sync. Surprise! Those things didn’t happen. A friend and someone I look up to greatly posted about her family’s Whole30 Journey. The success they had combined with my great respect for the things she posts prompted me to dig a little deeper and do some research about this program on my own.
I started off reading through the web page and then downloaded the book “It Starts With Food”. It made sense. The whole premise, the concept, the methodology. Cleanse your body of the junk for 30 days eating whole foods, reset your system and slowly add back foods to find your trigger foods. Yes as much as I pick on my husband for being a nerd I too am one. I love psychoneuroendocrinology. The study of how your brain, neurons, and endocrine system all work together. The book fueled my love of this. It does a fantastic job explaining different response our brain gives due to foods that we eat. Food, brain, health…sold!
Whole30 is still “new” and I had trouble locating scientific studies that would support the claims. It also made sense based on the years i spent in college studying biopsychology. I looked at other diets, programs, books and there were too many negative studies to support their claims.
The Whole 30 web page and book both say to plan in order to be successful and rid your house of quick fix foods that you can grab in a moment of weakness. We took two weeks to slowly weed through our pantry and finish stuff we had. One last hooray of junk food at the lake for a family birthday party and we are ready to go full force when we get home.
To prepare I did what any normal, modern day person would do. I went to pinterest to plan my Whole30 board. Complete with recipes, blogs, and planning resources. Mapping out my menu for a week, three meals a day 7 days a week was next. Followed by a visit to the best grocery store ever web site to write my shopping list and see what my damage was going to be.
The next decision was what about our kids. Will they do this 30 day journey with us? The answer is kind of. Great answer right. Our 5 year old will match us step for step to see if this helps with some digestive issues. Our 4 year old and 14 month old will do a modified version as I am not a short order cook. Amen!
Yes the hubby is on board! I am not dragging him begrudgingly along but rather he is joining in willingly. The program makes sense, it isn’t forever and he is as well interested to see how he reacts with different foods after not having them.
I can’t wait to start! Starting September 3rd we will kick off our 30 days.
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