The Whole30 | Life Happens

So, my plan was to blog my way through the Whole30 journey and be happy, creative, and inspiring throughout the entire process. Everything was all planned out and just waiting to be typed up and posted.

However, life happens.

On Days 2 through 7 of the Whole30, I had the worst headache of my life. According to the Whole30 book, that was my body going through sugar withdrawal. They say that the severity of the “sugar hangover” is directly proportionate to how much junk a person eats before starting the Whole30. I didn’t realize how poorly I had been eating until I had to start saying “no” to so many things. So I trudged through those days maxing out on Ibuprofen, learning how to cook healthy meals, and staring longingly at cookies. And muffins.

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6 Reasons Why Working Out is Totally Worth It

I am not athletic. Okay, well I was a little athletic during high school, but that was ages ago. I go through spurts of time when I feel motivated and on fire and ready to work out and eat healthy everyday. Those spurts of motivation are usually followed by months of sitting on the couch eating cookies and binge-watching Grey’s for the hundredth time.

I lost twenty pounds over the summer by eating healthy and exercising a few times a week.   Now it’s October and I haven’t been to the gym in about two months. First my excuse was that I got transferred to a new store for work and now the drive to the gym was too far out of the way. Then my excuse was that I got my wisdom teeth out and couldn’t exercise. Now my excuse is that… I don’t feel like it?

Well, this morning I finally got off my lazy butt and took my puppy for a jog. And you know what? That’s all it took to break me out of my slump. When I got back from the jog I felt energized and i wasn’t ready to stop working out. So I did yoga outside in the sunshine. Then I made myself a healthy breakfast of eggs instead of chocolate chip pancakes. One little jog was able to spark my motivation to live a healthy lifestyle again.

So here’s a little list of motivation for those of us non-athletes who need it.

Starting the Whole30 Journey

A couple weeks ago I was out for coffee with my best friend Mimi. Mid-conversation, she said, “Hey, let’s do the Whole30 program.” And I said, “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” I’d heard of Whole30 before and I know some people who have done it and loved it. So I thought, how hard could it be? We decided to start after Memorial Day so that we could still enjoy our pie and alcohol and other bad yummy foods.

I didn’t give Whole30 too much thought again until Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Mimi and I were at the Market gathering produce for our new diet and we started talking more about this Whole30 thing that we were about to start. She said, “You know you can’t have dairy, right? No milk or cheese or anything. And no added sugars, no grains, no baked goods.” I stopped dead in my tracks. I love sugar, chocolate, carbs, milk, cheese, and wine. I love all the foods. “Maybe I should go read the Whole30 book and figure out what I’m getting myself into.”

So I ordered the book on Amazon and then I had four days to prepare myself for this Whole30 journey. I studied, I went grocery shopping, and I did a little meal-prep for the week. To be honest, this seems hard. Hard and not very fun. But I know it’s going to be worth it.

 

So what is the Whole30?

Whole30 is not a diet, a weight-loss program, or a “get thin quick” fad. The book says, “Think of the Whole30 like pushing the reset button with your health, your habits, and your relationship with food.” We tell ourselves that we have to have certain foods. We have to have warm bread and butter while we wait for our food at the restaurant. We need to add sugar to those strawberries or they won’t taste as good. But the truth is that we don’t need any of those things. Whole30 is about giving your body only what it needs, not what it craves. The Whole30 makes you spend 30 days breaking your addictions to cookies, chips, grease, whatever it is, and redefine your relationship with food. Losing weight has nothing to do with it (the book even tells you to throw away your scale while on the program); It’s all about health.

Blueberry Lime Health Boost Smoothie

As part of my resolution to live a healthier lifestyle, I’ve been trying to drink smoothies for breakfast as a way to start the day off on the right track. This smoothie is probably my favorite one so far! It’s loaded with ingredients that have important health benefits and taste amazing.

What It’s Like for a Former Anorexic to Join the Gym

Not too many people know this about me, but I struggled with an eating disorder through much of high school. I wanted to be thin and perfect, and I never felt I was good enough. I suffered in silence, starving myself until my fat melted away and my skin clung to my bones. I felt my heart getting weaker both metaphorically and physically. I was an athlete and nearly collapsed at swim practices because my body was so weak. I hated myself, I hated my body, and I hated who I had become. Things didn’t get better until one night I sat in my bathroom crying, and I realized that if I didn’t change, I was probably going to die soon.

I recovered in relative silence, too. I slowly stopped skipping meals and started eating more. I learned to find my identity in Christ rather than in my body size. My new boyfriend showed me that I was worthy of being loved. It’s simple really; It’s all about love. Love from God and from people washed over me, and I learned to love myself. Love was all I really needed, and now I’m healthy.

I’ve gained 45 pounds since high school. I’m a curvy Puerto Rican young woman, and I’ve learned to embrace that.

That being said, I decided to join a gym in August. Not to “lose weight” necessarily, but to be healthier. I want my body to reach it’s potential. I want to be able to do those crazy yoga poses you see on Pinterest, run a mile without feeling like I’m going to die, keep up with my future energetic kids, and whatever else I feel like doing. I want to love my body so much that I enable it to do amazing things. (And I’m very proud of that last sentence, because it shows me how far I’ve come since the days of hating my body so much that I forced it to wither away to nothingness).

Berry and Green Tea Smoothie

This is one of those smoothie recipes that came about as the result of grabbing random items from the fridge. Luckily for us, it came out tasting delicious.

Ingredients:

• Handful of blueberries
• Handful of raspberries
• 8 oz. of vanilla yogurt
• 1 cup of Pomegranate Green Tea (we used Trader Joe’s)
• 2-3 tbsp of raw shelled hemp seed
• 1 cup of ice

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This recipe makes two servings and is best enjoyed with a friend 🙂