My hubs and I are doing another Whole 30 starting on January 2nd.
Or 1st.
I'm not really sure.
He keeps saying we're starting on the 2nd.
I keep saying that we have no plans on the 1st, why not start on the 1st??
We'll see.
Regardless, we are for sure starting our second Whole 30 later this week.
I couldn't be more excited about it.
No sarcasm.
I am thrilled. And excited. And geeked. And I just can. not. wait.
And lest you have that instant thought of "oh, this is their New Year's resolution"...you just hesh your mouth. Or your brain. Whatever.
Really and truly, this isn't just a New Year's resolution for us.
We did a Whole 30 in March/April of 2013 and loved it.
Like love, Love, LOVED it.
And then we finished the Whole 30.
And we were really, really good for the first two weeks-ish.
And then we were sort of good, with some really good days mixed in.
And then we just went back to our old ways, with days mixed in where we talked about how much we missed how great we felt when we were on the Whole 30.
And that's just silliness, when you really think about it.
"Hey! Remember when we ate really healthy food, and felt so great? And we even lost weight! And remember how much we loved that healthy food? Yah...that was so great. Too bad we can't ever do that again."
Silliness, right?
And both of us have come to realize that.
So, we're doing our second Whole 30...
But we're really looking at it like more of a "gateway diet."
We're looking at it as a gateway into a paleo style of eating.
Now your eyes just got really big, and you're trying to figure out whether to finish reading this post, or to just close the page now and chalk me up as one of those nuts.
No.
Listen.
Just hear me out.
We already know that we feel great when we eat right...when we eat the Whole 30 way of eating.
We already know that we actually miss that feeling...and truthfully, we miss that way of eating.
So, really, it just makes sense to go back to it.
But we don't want to end up back here again.
Back where we're talking about how good we felt, rather than how good we feel.
Am I saying we'll eat paleo for the rest of our lives?
Nope.
I don't even think that we'll eat paleo 100% of the time post-Whole 30.
But I firmly believe that the knowledge we gained from our first Whole 30 combined with the negative experience of reverting to our old way of eating and tossed in with the careful thought and planning that I've put into our second Whole 30, will enable us to form a much better ongoing plan once we're done with this second Whole 30.
The fact that we are using the Whole 30 as a gateway into the paleo style of eating is something to keep in mind. We aren't doing the Whole 30 to get to Day 31 and stuff a Krispy Kreme in our face. We're doing the Whole 30 to figure out the balance of making this a sustainable lifestyle choice.
We've already done a purist, no-cheat, no ifs, ands, or buts Whole 30.
I'm not saying that this Whole 30 will be filled with cheats. That totally defeats the purpose of the Whole 30. However, we are trying to make this sustainable. We want this to last. If that means that occasionally I drink a smoothie (they're highly discouraged on the Whole 30--even though the ingredients singularly are Whole 30 approved), or eat kale or sweet potato chips (homemade, of course), or use almond meal to make a crunchy topping for zucchini noodles...I won't feel guilty about it. Because I'm trying to find what works for us for the long haul, not just for 30 days.
And while I'm at it, I may as well 'fess up about one other little detail.
We're kind of doing a Whole 15...then a 4-day break...then a Whole 30.
That ok with you?
Good.
My birthday is in January and we're taking a weekend to celebrate it.
I know, I know, I know.
I could celebrate it on the Whole 30. And I probably should celebrate it on the Whole 30. But right now, I'm just not that good.
And I'm ok with that.
And we're not really being disingenuous because we are doing a Whole 30...for an actual 30 consecutive days. We are just doing it after my birthday weekend. But we wanted to get on the healthy train right away...we didn't want to wait until after the birthday weekend. Hence the 15-day mini-Whole 30 before the real 30-day Whole 30.
Whew!
I'm worn out from explaining all that.
You get it, right?
Good.
Moving right along...
Big difference already between this Whole 30 and the last one...
I actually went grocery shopping specifically for our W30 meals!
Yah.
Our last Whole 30 we started cold turkey one morning with little else in the house that was compliant other than our fresh eggs.
And thank goodness, we pretty much always have those on hand.
I've made a few trips to Trader Joe's over the past month or two, gathering lots of their Christmas goodies...some for me, some for gifts. While there, though, I've also stocked up on several of our W30 compliant favorites, in anticipation of our January re-boot.
Today, I did our regular grocery shopping for the week at ALDI. I'm thrilled with the selection of W30 compliant foods that ALDI has begun to carry. It seems like every time I'm there (which is fairly often--usually once every two weeks or so), I find new products that will work with this style of eating.
I'm a little blog-design-illiterate, but I want to make a Whole 30 page and keep y'all abreast of my finds. I think it'd be so nice to have a list of W30 compliant foods for certain stores...that way you could just print it and off you go! I promise to do my best to get that up and going.
I'm also going to do my best to post our daily meals/recipes on here. A foodie/food-blogger I am not. I'm especially inept at food photography. Have you ever tried to take a picture of chili?? or meatloaf?? Ugh.
However, I'd like to post our meals and recipes so others could have a basic plan or at least general ideas to work from.
I'm not turning this blog into a health/fitness/Whole 30/paleo/weight-loss platform. I'm not.
But for the next month or so, it really might feel that way.
Bear with me.
Please?
I really am so excited!
xo
