CaseyD

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.

Thanks. Yes, I know you don't have to eat pastured, but I also know that Whole9 has a manifesto on bacon that talks about only sourcing your bacon from pastured sources. So, I didn't know if on this one food, they would only put the stamp on pastured or not? I also personally won't buy factory farmed pork, so I didn't know if this was factory farmed or not.

I've noticed bacon at our Whole Foods that is stamped with a "Whole30 approved" stamp. Is it only because it does not contain sugar, or is it also pastured pork? Just wondering if anyone knew about the bacon(s) that get this stamp if they were both or not!

I just wanted to add to this thread because I have seen paleo work firsthand for a kid. My daughter's friend, who is 9, was obese and diabetic (type 2), and last year was put on a paleo diet with moderated fruit and starches (so she can't just constantly snack on these). She lost 70 pounds and is no longer diabetic. She is now a healthy, happy, normal weight 9 year old. Totally different kid, honestly! No measuring, no counting calories or carbs. They moderated the fruit by only buying a set amount each week and telling her upfront that this is all she has for the week. She learned quickly to moderate her fruit on her own! I don't know how necessary that is for kids, but they were dealing with some scary health issues and this is what their doctor recommended. She does have paleo treats from time to time (they didn't do a Whole30), but she's been eating this way for close to a year now. So, it works and is sustainable for kids. Also, I saw mentioned in this older thread a desire to improve ADHD symptoms. My daughter is ADHD and mildly autistic. We've had her do the Whole30, and then we've tried to do mostly paleo with a little bit of added in things like corn tortillas, cheese, and sometimes sweets like ice cream (no gluten and no food dyes ever). There is a big difference (not to be confused with complete remission) when she is 100% on the program. It doesn't take much "off plan" for her symptoms to come spiraling back.

I worked with a fantastic health coach who sees her personal food freedom as choosing to abstain from certain foods. (She also talked about Rubin's work). I also have a couple of people in my life that can totally pull off the moderation thing and think everyone should, and it does make me question myself from time to time. But, I have worked hard (even once with a coach who is trained in the psychology of eating) to try moderating and I cannot make it work for me. I'm like you, black and white rules work for me, when I let them. The only time I've ever felt real food freedom is when I followed food rules, 100%. So, I like the saying: "99% is a B, 100% is easy." For me, that is very true. The trick is to get over the mind games you play with yourself that convince you there is something wrong with you for needing to abstain. That can be hard to do when someone is telling you over and over that your way isn't the best way for you. You might benefit from looking up books that deal specifically with sugar/food addiction. Learning that there was nothing wrong with me for needing 100% abstinence from certain foods has been really empowering. It also gave me the tools to navigate these less than helpful people in my life. I've learned there isn't one way to food freedom. For some, going through the mental checklist really works. For others, it just doesn't.

Yes, it does mean that the product was made in a facility or even shared equipment with the allergens listed. This is really for those who have severe allergies or Celiacs and cannot risk being in any contact with the food they are allergic too.

Don't worry, you're not crazy starting this with your husband out of town. When my husband goes out of town I find it easier to eat clean! Remember that kids go through the same adjustment phase we do, so if you're changing anyone else's diet, they may complain a lot the first week but it gets better and they do start liking the food. Enjoy the journey!!