Tevenie

Ugh, so due to circumstances out of my control (a death in the family), I had to give up on this last week. I did however, keep to no sugar and no alcohol. Which is pretty good under the circumstances. So, moving forward, starting again, pressing on, I need to do this so badly. I AM SO TIRED. and I know it is rubbish carbs - bread mostly. I was going to do some painting this weekend, but I think I will rest and regroup. And dream of tiger-blood. Hope everyone else is doing well.

Well, I am going to start on Monday so I have cleaned out the fridge and freezer. (I may have eaten the contents, not telling). Everything is on for shopping tomorrow, but now my Mum has decided she wants to come and stay with me for a while so that is going to mean a bit of managing to make it all Whole30 and also to produce food she likes too. Still, forewarned is forearmed. I have a load of Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and Vegetarian cookery books so I will spend this evening by the fire (it is FREEZING here in Ireland) picking out good recipes. I made Briam (Greek Roast Vegetables) last week and I literally couldn't stop eating it - it was a 'stuffing it in whilst standing in front of the fridge with a fork' type meal so I will get plenty of ingredients for that - there are far worse things I could be shovelling into my mouth. Hope you are all having/had a great day depending on which time zone you are in.

Gosh, I love peanut butter! I can totally imagine eating a whole jar in one sitting. I think peanuts are my actual favourite food. I can't wait to see how you do on the healthy eating habits and making good choices. Please do come back and post what happens, I need to hear that it is possible!

That sounds like the actual perfect day! I so want to see the cupcakes, can you post a link?

Can I come over?

@ShadowInTheKitchenThat is an excellent idea about ordering expensive cupcakes, not only are there no leftovers but also no half packages of ingredients just begging to be made into more cake. And anyway, you deserve super fancy cupcakes!

Woohoo! It is getting like a proper gang in here now! I am going to print this out and post it on my fridge because you are right, we are strong and we are committed and we are taking control. I will be 54 in November and I will NOT spend another year being unhealthy, lethargic and miserable!

Yay, @madyVanilla I so need to be part of a tribe at the moment.

Haha! I was full of self-righteous rubbish!

What a load of nonsense this was, I fell at the first sugar hurdle, wrapped my arms around the dragon's neck and went on a joy-ride!

Thank you, I was just reading your log and I wanted to come to your house and take you by the shoulders, look you in the eye and tell you not to fall down my slippery slope! (not in a weird stalkerish kind of way, just in a supportive way ) Your loss was brilliant even though I see why you are disappointed. Us humans be crazy! Peas! I danced around the kitchen when I saw Melissa's email about peas, even though I was off round. I feel a bit excited about starting again now.

Well, I ate the chocolate cake and I drank the wine. And I ate more chocolate cake and drank more wine, you know how this story ends, right? So I am back here. The same weight I was when I started, exhausted, not sleeping and wondering what the hell happened. I was lying in bed this morning wondering how I could get back to feeling as energised as I did when I finished my Whole30. It is really not rocket science, is it? The only way to get back to feeling like that is to do it again! So here I am, back, rereading what I said in my final post. And committing to doing this AGAIN. Roll on tiger blood!

I DID IT! I DID IT! Well, I did it apart from the great pea debacle. I feel really well, MUCH more energy, better sleep, my head feels clear. I have always thought the brain-fog I suffer from was due to the Multiple Sclerosis, but now I think it is probably the sugar and the bad carbohydrate. I certainly wasn't perfect, I have snacked too much on fruit, I haven't always kept to the meal template, but I feel like I have done a 'time in motion' study on my eating, and indeed, living habits and I can really see where my danger points are; what my weaknesses are; and, also, the good habits I have. I do most of my own cooking and that's great. My basic diet is pretty good -my problem is, and I never realised this before, that I eat to blot out my emotions - boredom, loneliness, anger, frustration. I need to address the root causes of all these. It is my birthday this weekend and my (82-year-old) mother is making me a chocolate cake and there is no way I am turning that down! So there will be cake, and there will be wine. I knew before I started that my reintroduction was not going to be perfect. Life, what can you do? But that's the whole point of food freedom really, isn't it? I can't begin to tell you how well worth it the last 30 days have been and how happy I am to have completed it. Tevenie PS - I lost 10lbs - if I am honest I started this with weight loss as my primary motivator, but somewhere along the way I forgot about the scale and my motivation became something, bigger, better and more important - my health.

Oh, thank you so much for that MadyVanilla, I hadn't seen that. It has taken me a while to feel good on this - it was really only yesterday I suddenly started to feel good so I don't want to stop. I am hoping I have lost weight, I am certainly less bloated - I am wearing jeans today that I haven't been able to wear for a while because my belly was causing the zip to come down. Never a good look! So I am certainly not going to stop now. I will see how I feel about it at the end of the 30 days, which is next Thursday I think. But at present, I am just planning to keep going.

I ate peas. I cant believe it! I am devastated- day 19 and I just completely forgot they were legumes. So stupid of me. Still, as screwing up stuff goes I guess eating peas on a whole 30 is not the actual end of the world. I have decided to just keep going because if I stop now it will just be a licence to shovel cake in my mouth.