My Whole30 Experience

For the month of January and close to half of February, I did Whole30. If you're unfamiliar with what that is, it's a science experiment/elimination diet that is meant to test your body's sensitivities, and monitor its performance for 30 days before reintroducing certain foods and/or food groups over the course of a couple of weeks or a month (the reintroduction period is up to you how long you want it to go). Although the texts and website will tell you it's not hard and that you can do anything for 30 days (which, yes, you absolutely can - I'm a BIG testament to this), it is still a challenge to cut out gluten, dairy, legumes, grains, alcohol, and added sugars for 30 days if you've been surviving off of them for a while.

But, spoiler, I DID THE THING, and I am so proud of myself, and I wanted to share what I learned along the way. Not only about my body, but about my eating habits, my mental process and relationship with food, and what I'm going to do now that it's over. I am really grateful for this experience, and feel like I've learned so many things about food and myself that I will carry with me forever.

Leading Up

It was a mix of things that led me, some time in November, to realize that I had been feeling pretty awful for a long time. For one, I ate fast food regularly - at least three times a week. I felt bloated, my clothes were tightening, and I had zero energy. Looking around at my family members, I seemed to be headed down the same path they were: heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure (which I was already dealing with), problems regulating cholesterol, etc., etc. My grandfather has also been in an assisted living home since late summer, which has been a sad and exhausting experience on my family. It has left me feeling empty of emotions and energy some days, like crawling out of bed was the biggest chore. But, I needed something to change: I hated feeling like this, and I knew I would be the only person to make it any better.

When I decided to do this in January, and told people about it, I got the same response: "Well, I'm sure you just feel this way because of the holidays. Everyone goes a little crazy over the holidays." And, to that, I shrugged and nodded because: fair. You should indulge a little bit around the holidays. It's the two or three days of the year where your plate can contain an entire stick of butter and all the food be white, and it is totally fine. But the problem was that I had been eating terribly leading up to these holidays, on top of baking and eating a lot of bread. And desserts? Don't get me started. I mean, literally, don't let me start because I wouldn't be able to stop myself. I couldn't stop at one Christmas cookie or one corner of fudge. I ate more and more fast food, junk food, sugar-laden food, inflammatory food. All without exercise and without motivation to be better. So when I stepped on the scale on January 1, I was ashamed but not surprised to see that I had reached my highest weight yet.

I had heard a lot of great things from a few of my friends who had done Whole30 100% and came out on the other side with better eating habits, a better relationship with food, and a whole new view of what they were capable of. So, starting on January 1, I committed to doing the thing for the full time required, at 100% effort.

That First Week

On January 1, I decided to do a tweet a day so I could follow this crazy journey. And looking back on those tweets, that first week in a word was definitely crazy. I started to get a sugar-deprivation headache at the end of day one, and it lasted on and off in pretty intense waves for the first five days. I also learned that I sought something sweet after almost every meal - even breakfast. I had read beforehand that cravings only last for 3-5 minutes, and if you can power through that, you should be alright. Thankfully, having the bigger picture of my health in my mind, and viewing sweets as things that won't disappear permanently from this earth, really helped suppress those urges. "It's not that big a deal" became a tagline during this week. And, if those cravings followed me all day, which only happened once or twice, I ate a couple of medjool dates, which seemed to hit the spot.

By the end of the first week, I was experiencing some moodiness and realizing I needed to eat big, veggie-fueled meals in order to stay full and happy. My husband and I chatted a lot about how we hadn't even realized how little fruits and vegetables we had been consuming until doing this, and vowed to incorporate way more into our meals in the future. And, probably one of my biggest breakthroughs: if my stomach was growling in between meals, that was actually my body telling me I needed water, not food.

Middle Days

My middle days were consumed with thinking about food - mostly food I missed. Once things got into a routine at the end of the second week, I began to miss Pizza Fridays, Taco Bell, and ice cream. I had a dream that I deep-fried cookies in butter, which was only one of a couple crazy food dreams I had. Another one later on in the month involved me eating a piece of cake with only days left on Whole30 - it was so real, I woke up devastated thinking I had given in. In order to curb some of these cravings, my husband and I ordered Whole30 bowls from Chipotle one night, and we were severely disappointed by them. We weren't given a lot of lettuce, which sat in a soggy lump amid salsa, chicken, and veggies. It's just not the same without rice and/or beans. I was also getting pretty tired of having chicken or beef for every meal, so we tried to throw in more seafood, which helped a lot. We made a chili without beans which, like Chipotle without rice, just felt wrong. And, probably my biggest surprise of the month: I went to a concert on a Sunday and only ate one meal all day. While obviously this isn't a good thing, I was most surprised that my body maintained a stable blood sugar level all evening - no shakes, no mood swings. Granted, I was pretty hungry when I got home, but my body had me covered and kept me at a pretty normal place all night.

In these middle days, I also understood the frustration of not taste testing what I was baking, which included bread recipes I was making for the first time for both my husband's birthday, and for my grandfather. I technically indulged in "mindless snacks" in the form of Whole30 ingredient-approved plantain chips, and realized I was most likely to reach for them when I was having a lazy day or feeling emotionally tired. This was very important for me to recognize. And, lastly, I realized that I hadn't experienced any heartburn since starting this. I suffered from it quite a bit leading up to this, and was pretty happy that heartburn was no longer an issue.

End of the Month

By the end of the month, my husband and I had comfortably talked about pretty much every bodily function we had. Stool chat was normal, and my period was a point of conversation too. I started my period early, and experienced a headache on the fourth day. However, the headache I had was barely noticeable, which is a big difference than the monster headaches that come and stay around for two or three days normally on my period. I, disappointingly, didn't notice a big change in my sinuses, which I took oregano oil daily to help with before Whole30. I stopped taking the oregano oil in January, and noticed more sinus discharge than normal. So, I will be starting to take them again soon. I am also really grateful for the honest, important conversations about food that came up while doing Whole30. When I openly shared my reasons for doing it, I received not only a lot of genuine support, but people were willing to share personal things about their food journeys with me. It made me thankful for the good people I have in my life, and for the meaningful talks we had.

By the end of the month, choosing fruits, vegetables, and whole foods at celebrations was easy. I still missed having ice cream (a tiiiiiny bit), but was overall pretty proud of how little other food options affected me. I was getting tired of eggs because, between my husband and I, we were averaging about two dozen eggs a week, but giving them a rest for a few days helped. I was surprised that Brussels sprouts made me particularly gassy, and pork sausage upset my stomach. But, at the end of the month, it was a big mental hurdle to look at sweets as treats I could have in moderation. I no longer looked at Oreos and thought about eating a whole row, or truffles and was tempted to eat a handful. I could gladly savor one, and enjoy it maybe even more than I would if I ate five.

The last big thing I noticed this month had nothing to do with my body, but with my wallet. Not only was I saving a TON more money by not eating out several times a week, but going to the grocery store wasn't that bad either. Spoiler: you can find delicious whole foods that don't break the bank at your grocery store. While a lot of Whole30 and other similar meal plans encourage people to buy organic, grass-fed, or wild caught produce, those prices can rack up quickly and are unnecessary if you're on a budget (which, WHO ISN'T???). My husband and I noticed, especially on more vegetable-heavy meal weeks, that our grocery bill stayed pretty low and we weren't charged any tax on the products we chose. Making meals ended up turning some nights into date nights because we would help each other prepare and cook dinners, especially when there were a lot of steps or a lot of chopping. I do feel required to say that we didn't buy a lot of beef or pork, and stayed mostly to chicken and seafood - my husband and his family deer, duck, and goose hunt, so our deep freezer is usually well-stocked with wild game protein (which helped keep costs low too).

Reintroduction

My Day One reintroduction was legumes and, unfortunately, added sugar. Back again! I kept it simple to just peanuts and navy beans as I already am aware that black beans don't sit well with me. I had peanut butter with breakfast, french fries in peanut oil for lunch, and baked beans for dinner. French fries (*ugly crying*) were the only thing to immediately upset my body. My stomach was cramping and my digestion went into hyper drive to get them out of my system. Peanut butter? Fine. Baked beans? Great. But french fries fried in peanut oil? No ma'am. This simply means that from here forward, I'm going to have to either weigh my options and decide if french fries are worth that physical pain or try to avoid peanut oil-fried things altogether. I will reintroduce soy, chickpeas, and other legumes once I'm off Whole30.

Day four involved non-gluten grains. I had overnight oats for breakfast with a slather of peanut butter, vanilla coconut yogurt, frozen blueberries, blackberries, banana, chia seeds, cacao nibs, and almond slices. It was filling and delicious, and my body did not react. For lunch, I had corn tortilla chips with some guacamole along with the rest of my meal, and for dinner, I had white rice. The only reaction I had all day was maybe five minutes' worth of heartburn. I'm pretty sure the heartburn was from the tortilla chips - another fried food but this time, in vegetable oil - so I'll have to evaluate them again moving forward.

Day seven was dairy, and this was probably the most dramatic my body reacted to anything I introduced. I had less than a quarter cup of whole milk in my tea in the morning, which brought on some lower abdominal cramping and a fleeting headache. Then, I had some cracker cuts with lunch, followed by two Lindt truffles. That afternoon, my gut was having a fit: rumbling, making noise, and cramping. I was in and out of the bathroom all afternoon and evening. This was even before we got to dinner - what I was looking forward to the most - deer tacos with sour cream. I don't want to go dairy-free permanently, but I really disliked how I felt, so this is a huge item that I'll have to do some thinking about: how often do I want to include or exclude it from my diet? What would balance for this look like for me? Is it even possible if my body handles it this vehemently? What foods would I deem "worth" the bodily pain? A friend suggested the dairy ladder to me, which I think I'd like to try this month just to see if dairy is permanently off the table.

Day ten was gluten. I was most nervous about this one because I've recently taken up bread baking - something I really enjoy doing and learning about. I did learn, while on Whole30 and just from reading more books on bread, that I had been severely overeating the bread I was baking. Sourdough, unlike the processed breads we buy at the store, is obviously healthier for you and contains more good things for your body that keeps you full and satisfied for longer periods of time. And that means a thick slice of it contains way more calories and dense nutrition than even two slices of the store-bought stuff. Knowing this put into perspective my constant bloating in the week(s) after I baked bread - I'd easily eat several slices of bread a day. So, when I baked bread with my neighbor over the weekend, I made sure to eat a little bit: a half of a small bagel after we baked, a thin slice of rye bread for breakfast. The verdict? I'm not gluten intolerant. What a blessing.

At the end of reintroduction, when I went "back to normal," I finally tried the Oreos we'd bought in the beginning of January, and I bought a pint of dairy-free Ben & Jerry's that I have promised myself to take slow and savor. Maybe not-so-surprisingly, I haven't craved alcohol, although I did have a celebratory glass of wine with my friends and husband. And, after eating a couple Girl Scout cookies, I had a headache that could've knocked out an ogre, and led to me taking my first Excedrin in over a month.

I'm not craving fast food or sweets. When given the option to eat out after it ended, I chose Pho and legitimately wanted all the veggies. Trying to navigate restaurants and having to be the person to avoid dairy for the time being isn't something I'm looking forward to, but I'm still feeling pretty great so . . . I'll take that risk.

Conclusion

At the end of all this, I'm going to answer some FAQs to wrap this up, and give you more insight if this is something you're thinking about doing.

Was it worth it? Yes, 100%.
What was your biggest lesson learned? I had a really unhealthy relationship with food. When I was bored, stressed, happy, etc., I didn't emotionally deal with those things and instead turned to food. I learned what triggered me to reach for chocolate, ice cream, fast food, etc., and then learned what to do emotionally and mentally to reframe my mind. This was huge. Along with that, I also learned that my body tells me when it's thirsty, often. I needed to be drinking much more water than I was. The next biggest thing I learned: I could do hard things for a long time.
How did you give up everything "fun" for a whole month? I have a really strong "why." Both sides of my family struggle with diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke, heart disease, high cholesterol, etc. and I do not want to deal with those things when I get older. I don't want to feel terrible walking down the hallway, and it all starts with the food I put into my mouth and the relationship I have with it. So every time I wanted to give up for a piece of chocolate or cheese, I stopped myself with that reason. It's not a fear tactic for me - this will be my reality if I didn't fix my relationship with food.
Did you want to quit? Of course. But, thankfully, a few things helped with this: knowing that cravings only last for a short amount of time, knowing that 30 days in the bigger picture of my life isn't that long, and my mantra of "it's not a big deal."
Did you cheat? Nope! Not at all - unless you count "mindless" snacks like plantain chips, which I still ate portion sizes of.
Would you recommend it? Yes, but with a disclaimer. I think you need to have a strong reason for wanting to do this, otherwise it really can be difficult (although the book will tell you it's not) and can lead to failure/a dangerous mental cycle. There are so many diets out there and diet culture is mega confusing and can lead to serious depression and unhealthy mental feelings. This literally takes you back to the basics: whole foods. It's not meant to be permanent. You will learn so much about yourself in the process.
Did you lose any weight? Yes. But if that's your motivation for doing it, don't do Whole30. I mentioned heavy weight gain in the beginning of this post. For some people, that can be a good thing. I know my body well enough (and my recent habits) to know that was very unhealthy for me, and can contribute to long-term health problems down the road. Every body is different!
Do you feel better? Yes!
Did you exercise while doing Whole30? No. Because food is such a big struggle for me, I wanted to focus 100% on building up good eating habits during this time. I've been on and off the exercise train for a while, and I know at some point, I will want to pick it up again. But for January, and as I transition into my new normal, I want to focus on developing this as a long-lasting lifestyle before trying to introduce something else.
I'm vegetarian/vegan. Can I do Whole30? Well, kind of. There is a whole section in the Whole30 book about this, but I didn't read it because it didn't apply to me. I think you'd get to keep legumes and a few other things in your diet, but you'd still have to give up dairy, gluten, etc.
Any foods you won't be eating/drinking now that it's over? I realized that coffee without the sugary additives isn't something I really enjoy, and probably will minimize how often I drink it. Brussels sprouts don't sit well with me, and neither do french fries (well, probably anything deep fried in peanut oil). Alcohol isn't something I craved often anyway, but I'll probably limit my consumption to special occasions, and even then, in limited quantities. Sweets aren't something I crave much anymore. Junk food or fast food I'll probably avoid from now on (except maybe Taco Bell, lol).

Non-Scale Victories

These are based on the list provided here. Some of these, like identifying cravings vs. hunger, I knew but ignored in the past. Some I feel like I won't fully know until I'm back to eating regularly for a while (like no longer using food as a reward, for comfort, etc.). But I can at least be able to identify what I'm doing much better than before!