CaseyD

Hi, I'm not new to the Whole30, I go back to it (in shorter bursts) to keep my food freedom in check, but I have seen a major increase in autoimmune flair ups this summer and a doctor has suggested I try doing the AIP (which is similar to Whole30, plus a few more eliminations) along with being very on top of reducing stress. I have started and stopped this a few times, but realize it does seem to help when I'm on it. I really need to work on the stress part, too. So, I will piggyback on this big September Whole30 as motivation to keep going on days I just want to be lazy (because for me, that's what it is) and eat something more convenient. This is to say, I will follow the W30 rules with a few other eliminations per doctor suggestion. To those who are doing their first W30, I'm excited to witness your journey. I hope we all post regularly during September! The Whole30 really changed my life, in a profound way. I don't doubt you'll get something meaningful from this experience as well.

This allergy season has been particularly bad. Both my daughter and I ended up with allergy-induced pink eye and my son's turned into a sinus infection. Too much medication has been needed this year. Hope your symptoms have improved! Today is also day 1 for me. Doing a Whole30 with an online group makes it more enjoyable for me, and helps with accountability. I would love to hear updates on how everyone is doing this month!

I'll give you my husband's experience. He takes Adderall for ADHD and has done a Whole30. He stayed on his medication the entire Whole30 because he did not intend to stop it or stay paleo. He was humoring me. ;-) I did notice he had significant improvements when he did the Whole30. He was happier and had massive improvements in executive functioning and handling stress/mood shifts. Truly, he was a different person. He didn't experience his medication becoming a problem with this way of eating, but I don't know what would have happened if he had stopped taking it. He does take days off of it and I noticed that I couldn't tell when those days were anymore. So maybe that says something. I've also seen massive improvements with our daughter who has ADHD eating this way, but my daughter has even more dramatic results when her carbs are lower, so that is something to consider tweaking after your Whole30 if either of you feel the need to. For her, a Larabar can send her into a hyperactivity sensory seeking adventure - she's that sensitive.

Focus on little improvements - not a huge overhaul. Can you eat a Whole30 style breakfast everyday - or at least x-amount of days a week? Do that and then when it feels like a habit, maybe focus on lunch or changing some other smaller thing. Don't convince yourself that it has to be 100% or nothing at all. I fell into that trap for years - wasted years. Change small things and keep consistent with those small changes, and they will add up to a big change. Perhaps you will find your food freedom gradually this way, instead of yo-yo-ing through hard shifts and total train wrecks. p.s. I hate the idea of trying to be inspired by people on the internet. You don't get the full story and most importantly - none of these people are you. Inspire yourself by finding your big whys in your own life. :-)

It is possible you picked up E. coli in something you ate. Scientists have linked a strain of it in chicken to UTIs in humans. A UTI is an infection, not an irritated bladder, so it is unlikely it started with something you'd be intolerant to. However, if you have IC, that can be irritated by certain foods - but that is not an infection.

I started today also! I use Whole30 occasionally as a reset at this point. There is just nothing that comes close to how much better I feel on Whole30. I hope you experience the same! I'd love to join you on this journey! It took me a long, long time to get to a place with sugar where I don't need it anymore. My sugar addiction got very severe at one point. I really credit doing repeat Whole30's for getting me to the place I am. Now, even when I start to derail with it, it is nothing like a binge and I can easily get it under control again by just going back on my reset for a couple of weeks. You should definitely read Food Freedom if you haven't already. It really works if you work it. One day you'll cringe at the thought of having sugar with breakfast. :-) You can do this!!

From one sugar addict to another, let me give you some advice on that end: Do not quit sugar using fruit and sweet potato. Quit it using bacon, avocado, Whole30 mayo, steak, eggs - basically fat and protein. If you are going to eat a little extra of something for a bit to quit sugar, this is what you "overeat". Eating sweet potato and fruit just hits that craving and it is soooo much harder and longer to get through. I know, because I've done it both ways! Yes, it will suck more at first, but the suck will no last as long. It is hard to be 15 days in and STILL be craving sugar like it is day 4 because you're using fruit and starches to feed the dragon instead of telling it to shut up with fat and protein. So, eat your carbs at times when you are most definitely NOT craving. It is really worth the short amount of suck, I promise you. Also, I hope you take the no weighing rule very seriously. It is truly life changing to stop weighing yourself and helps change the way you see both food and your body. I'll be looking forward to your posts!!

I have an alternate opinion. Don't rely on your friend. You two can do it at the same time (or overlap most of it), but don't make when you're ready based off when this person is ready. That leads to needing the other person to succeed so you can succeed. You have to do this for you, so if your person isn't starting on the day you agreed to, it doesn't mean you have to delay. It just means they start a little later. It sounds like you were ready to start, but then life gave you an excuse that your cravings latched on to. And, no, it isn't somehow easier to track if you start on the first. That's just another excuse to keep eating the things your primal brain doesn't want to give up.

Thyroid disorders can be very hard to diagnose. Most doctors don't run a complete lab and miss it as a result. You said she was carb free. So, is she doing low carb or keto? If so, try upping her carbs (but make sure if her fat intake is significantly high that it comes back down to Whole30 recommended levels). Some don't do well with very low carb, and typically it is women who have more trouble with it.

If you're still not convinced, you should read "The Big Fat Surprise" by Nina Teicholz. She heavily researched the science behind the dietary recommendation of lowering fat intake and her book shows how this recommendation not only came to be, but why it is utterly wrong. Remember, our dietary recommendations were born out of politics, not science. It is really worth spending a little time researching this topic. Your health likely depends on it. In the meantime, trust the Whole30 advice and don't cut out fat.

This was an excellent documentary. But, it is very frightening and sad. It makes me want to work extra hard at helping my kids understand the foods they put into their bodies so they can make informed decisions about their diets. Even to the extent of understanding how food industry actually bring scientists in to formulate their food to hit our brains hard. Just disgusting, and shameful how that's even legal. So, food companies are allowed to try to make their food addictive... On that note, I really like the parallel between tobacco and food products that was made. We were at a birthday party today and there were several babies just over the age one, of course all with their sippy cups. The babies were shuffling them, and most of the moms were like, "(name), don't drink that, it's not yours!" While I had to be very on top of it because all the other sippy cups had Kool Aid in them. Seriously, blue sugar water they were just letting these babies drink. My poor son was crying the whole drive home because he did end up drinking out of a couple of them before I got to him. It is frightening how o.k. parents are with just giving sugar to their kids all day long.