Kirra

@RachelR Right! I wonder how many former pop drinkers have a similar experience... Even the Whole30 book says that it is 34% worse for people who drink a lot of soda. My boyfriend never drinks any pop, and we've had very similar experiences thus far. Maybe one mild headache each in the past 10 days (and that might not have even been Whole30 related). Makes me wonder what percentage of people actually had that worse, withdrawal experience that you and I were both expecting.

@Contessa I just copy-pasted your reintroduction plan onto my computer. LoL. Will definitely be pulling that up again for ideas in a few weeks. Thanks! And congrats!!!

Those of you who are following this tale will be relieved to hear that we are still going strong! Today is Day 5. I won't bore you with a 5-day long list of all the meals (not that that information is boring! but for anyone who is interested, you can turn to page 196 in The Whole30 book because these total newbies are sticking to the seven-day plan that someone else put together for the first week, because anything else was too daunting!). Also, I have the Whole30 Journal and am documenting all meals, snacks and drinks in there. I'll definitely log the highlights in the weeks to come, though! Miracle of Miracles: I. Have. Not. Had. A. Headache. I was bracing myself when we started and fully expecting an immediate future FULL of headaches, days and days of headaches and all the accompanying crankiness and I-can't-be-bothered-to-do-anything-right-nowness that goes along with it. Due to quitting Dr. Pepper cold-turkey, of course. (I have had caffeine headaches before from just skipping 2-3 days of soda pop.) I'm sure the 1-2 cups of pre-noon coffee with coconut milk is the reason for my headpain-free bliss. But I also think that my pillow has something to do with it. Yes, my pillow. I read in some medical article that 80-90% of headaches start in the neck (don't quote me on the percentages; it's been awhile - I do know it was the vast majority)! This is my third pillow I've tried in the past couple months. It is a "cool-touch" pillow (kinda like memory foam, but I don't think it is memory foam...), and it is working wonders! I'm sleeping much better. I felt compelled to share this due to the title of my story and just in case anyone else is dealing with headaches. Surprisingly, it isn't Dr. Pepper that I'm craving, it's the SWEETS! I went to bed on Day 3 thinking about brownies and cookies and woke up on Day 4 thinking of cinnamon rolls. But I have resisted their siren call, and these Whole30 meals taste amazing! @MadyVanilla and @Contessa thank you for the kind words of encouragement!

Wow! That is no small feat! What a great NSV. Every workday, without fail, I hit the "2-4 Slump," in which I really really want a nap, but can't have one and am therefore half as productive as I could be. This gives me hope that this miracle might happen to me, too! LoL. Good job yesterday!

Hello MadyVanilla! I am a Whole30 newbie on Day 3 of the program. I'm checking out the forums for the first time today. I was skimming through yours, and I want to tell you that you are an inspiration! Good job on making it to day 28 of 60! You are so ambitious to go for a Whole60; that's a Long. Time. In one of your early posts, you are beating yourself up about not doing the things you know you should do and reading and playing video games instead. That definitely resonates with me! Adulting is HARD! LoL One thing that I found helped me was setting little (and few) goals so as to not get overwhelmed. DO ALL THE THINGS is wonderful, but I'd get burnt out, and feel like a discouraged failure if I did some of the things and not the others, the ones I know I'm putting off.. I found a "To-Do List" where each page is TWO THINGS. You could check off two boxes and know that you accomplished something and celebrate the little victories and small steps (like your ice cube example!). So "Work Out EVERY DAY" turned into "work out for 30 minutes today" or "go on a long walk." A list of 30 things turned into a list of the two I knew were reasonable but NEEDED to happen. And this was progress. More progress than before. It was a good start. Something as opposed to Nothing. On my less ambitious days, this is what I need. Also, as to the books, video games, and journaling, there's definitely something to be said for limiting time and doing other necessary and healthy things, but also... "Time you enjoy wasting is not time wasted." Don't be TOO hard on yourself. Thank you for sharing so much! I look forward to reading some future posts.

Once upon a time, at LEAST two years ago, my mother-in-love told me about this interesting food thing that her sister had done. Where you cut out sugar, bread, dairy, and alcohol for a whole month just to reset your body. Then, by slowly reintroducing them to your diet, you could see how certain things you are putting into your body are affecting you. I was instantly intrigued. I've never gone on a diet or even thought about going on one, as I've never really struggled with weight (lucky genes, I think- my father was a beanpole at my age). BUT I've never been able to fully get rid of my acne, no matter what topically solutions I tried. So the idea of what I'm putting INTO my body potentially being the cause of acne coming OUT made all the sense in the world. You don't know what you don't know. Then there was a lot of normal Life that happened: crazy-busy jobs, travel, buying a home for the first time, switching jobs, family stuff... and Whole30 never happened. I shamefully told my coworkers each week, "No, we haven't started yet." ...until they stopped asking all together. Fast forward to now. IT IS FINALLY HAPPENING! We started on July 1. I had expressed my skin frustrations to boyfriend at the beginning of June, and he said "Let's do this!" We spent the month reading, learning, and prepping... and then we actually started!!! We are now on Day 3! My work schedule has been insane, so boyfriend has been doing pretty much ALL the cooking so far (he's a school teacher and has the summers off). Thank goodness for that, or else this might have Never happened. Healthiest month of my life, here I come! NSVs: 1. Clearer skin/less breakouts 2. Kick my daily Dr. Pepper habit (it is the sweet, sweet Nectar of Life) 3. More energy/less tired (examples: after-lunch slump, exhausted on a weekday evening after a long day of work, more energy to ride bikes and workout) 4. Be more active! (see above) 5. Get up in the mornings (It is a struggle, man. If people were meant to pop out of bed, we'd all sleep in toasters. I'm a proud Night Owl, always have been, but it'd be nice to be better at mornings when I have to be, to NOT hit snooze 10 times, and to have a stomach that is awake enough to eat breakfast at 7AM.) Wish me luck!!!

Meli, we have the same start date!!! (except for this is my FIRST time doing the Whole30, so total newbie here!) One of my biggest NSVs I'm hoping for is clearer skin, so I feel your pain there. So excited for you. Good luck! You can do it! (I'm gonna go start my own log now - this online community is very cool)

Hooray! Thank you, Shannon! :-) We recently got a carbonating machine (before we even decided to do Whole30), just to spend less money on sparkling water and those flavored "Ice" drinks. Glad to know this is Whole30 compliant - I like drinking different flavors from time to time. Also, I'm really excited to try those mocktails! Thanks for the link.

Looking for something to drink that is less boring than water. The orange juice contains: 100% Orange juice, calcium hydroxide, citric acid, malic acid, and vitamin D3. I know I'm not supposed to just drink fruit juice, but if I put a lot of water and a little OJ and carbonate it, would that be okay? Specifically, I am wondering if calcium hydroxide and malic acid are compliant with the program??? (I know that the OJ, citric acid and D3 are fine.) Thanks!