EmmaSthlm

I will be starting my third W30 April 1. It has been more than a year since the last one, and I must admit I have fallen out of all the good habits. Unfortunately, I have a good reason. My teenager came back from a year as exchange student with an eating disorder and an exercise addiction - and all kind of diets, whether healthy or not, had to be banned. The clinic was very clear about that there could be no food restrictions in our home - and I fully agree. I immediately stopped eating according to W30 and went back to eating everything. Today, teenager is more or less recovered. Or at least in remission. And in April we will be away from each other two weeks, which makes it easier for me to sneak in another W30 and get back on track. Because I do miss eating healthy and working out a lot, as I used to do. So April 1st it is. Anyone wants to join?

I hope you are feeling better. I am on day 30 and I am experiencing the same thing. I am in much worse shape now then when I started W30. I long to go back to my normal 80% Paleo-eating, and work out hard again. Especially the high intensity cardio becomes difficult for me, while I am on W30.

Sorry, this should probably have been posted in the "For Athletes-forum", but I do not understand how to move or even remove it...

I am doing my second W30. Both yesterday and today I have been working out really hard, and both days the same thing happened. And when I look back at my log from my first W30, I can see it happened then as well. When I work out really hard (high-intensity interval training yesterday, spinning today), I run out of energy completely. I feel like I will faint, puke, or die after about ten minutes. I hit a wall. But then it changes and the energy returns. 45 minutes into the spinning class today, I had more energy than usual. It is like my body does not know where to get its energy from; as if the step to the "second wind" is higher than ever. But finally, after having looked around for a while, the body finds the energy - and then it uses it more efficiently than ever. Am I the only one encountering this? Are there any explanations?

I am doing my second W30 and I am having a hard time with the three meals a day. I work out and walk 90 minutes every day and I eat late dinners. I really need a snack in between. So I do three meals and a snack a day, and I am OK with it. I usually end up eating 7.30 - 12.00 - 4.00 (snack) - 8.00. I do think we are different. I have extremely low blood pressure and I easily go low on blood sugar. I cannot go eight hours without food, no matter what I eat. It makes me faint, literally. But I must say it has been fantastic to turn to W30, because I never have the temptation to eat more than my one snack in the afternoon. Good luck!

I have one too, but unfortunately no one will be able to read it, since it is in Swedish. But if there are any Scandinavians here... http://emmaswhole30.blogspot.se/

It has been almost four months since I finished my first W30, and I am amazed how easy it is to keep the good habits. I still: - avoid all dairy - and almost all my anxiety, which I have struggled with all my life, is gone! - avoid wheat, but I eat a piece of unsweetened, organic, whole grain bread every morning (I am still Scandinavian...;-) - avoid sugar - limit legumes to perhaps three times a week; mainly lentils and beans in vegetarian dishes; - limit alcohol to vacations, when I will have a glass of red wine with dinner; - never eat processed food It is of course not perfect, but it is good enough, and it feels like it is a way I can eat for the rest of my life. I am no longer worried about travelling; I know I can handle it. I sleep a lot better than before, 8-9 hours per night, and I am a lot happier. I have lost another two pounds since I finished W30 and my BMI is now a healthy 24.5. Still, I am in for another W30 in March. I am curious to see if I will feel as good this time. And I feel like "decluttering" my body after this long winter. I might not do another reintroduction, though, since I feel like I have already found such a good way to eat for the rest of my life. Or should I? Could there be different results after another W30? Anyone who has tried?

I look forward to hear more about this Paleo/Ayurvedic hybrid. I guess I am looking for the same, but with a Scandinavian twist. Perhaps a Paleo/Ayurvedic/Scandinavian version...:-) I have legumes (Ayurvedic) from time to time, and some whole grain bread (Scandinavian) every day. Otherwise I am all Paleo and I do not do dairy, for example. It is interesting with these hybrids; food is of course not only a physiological issue, but also a cultural. I think we need to look at both the physiological and the cultural aspects, when we choose what to eat and not.

Russia was easy. A little bit of Smetana in a fish soup one day, but otherwise so Whole30 that it was incredible! I love that country! Best thing? The hotel had complimentary access to a cross-fit box! A real cross-fit box, with hundreds of kettlebells (kettlebells are Russian, after all) and the fittest guys I have ever seen. Kaliningrad is base for the Russian navy and they all seemed to be doing cross-fit. Working out with the Russian navy was an interesting experience... and let me tell you, they were strong!!!! Since then I have also been off to Denmark, twice. It was easy as well, although I could not stop myself from having some of their whole grain bread from "Lagkakehuset". It is the best! And in Copenhagen you can buy it both at the airport and the train station. Great thing about Copenhagen: I stayed at two different Radisson Blu-hotels, and they both had complimentary access to a fitness chain, fitness.dk. I love when hotels work with real gyms, instead of having their own little room! I had some great workouts in Copenhagen as well. And the food has been going so well. I am sticking to my plan. I do not eat dairy any more, I avoid sugar and white flour, but I eat a piece of whole grain bread in the morning. And I have legumes, red wine and dark chocolate every now and then. I try to eat as unprocessed as possible. It is my own version of Paleo, and I think I can follow it for the rest of my life.

I agree with the above: be careful in the beginning. I loved Kombucha the first time I tried it and had far too much. I was sick for a week afterwards, really sick. But the doctor had heard about "the kombucha sickness", and just told me to wait - and then start again SLOWLY. Now, I am fine with drinking one or two bottles of Kombucha a day. And yes, I still love it, but it is much more expensive and difficult to find here in Sweden.

Finally I made it to the plain white rice. The very last day of November, my reintroduction month. No reaction at all. I will not eat rice in general. I never make it at home, and I can easily skip it when I go out. However, it is a good thing to be able to eat in India. Both since it can be considered snobbish and rude to not eat rice, and since it is considered good when you - for sure - get sick at some point. So I will eat rice in India, but not in Sweden. This week I am off to Russia. I am not sure how Whole30-compliant it will be and sometimes it is a bit difficult to communicate. When I travelled through Russia many years ago, a friend of mine, who was a vegan, had a lot of problems, to say the least. She had a note written in Russian that she handled over to all waiters, but in Novosibirsk or Irkutsk or wherever we were, they once did the absolute opposite and brought in ONLY milk and eggs. Ha, ha... we laughed like crazy. I will learn how to say no milk in Russian: нет молоко. We will see how it goes. I am not travelling to main tourist areas like St Petersbourg or Moscow, which are easier, so it might go really bad.

Are you sure you only want to test it during one day? I felt it was good to do at least two days, before I made a decision. The first day some things tasted kind of strange, so it was easier to tell the next day.

Reintroduction has become a little bit less structured. This week I have tried some wheat, which went fine, although I will still try to avoid it. I just do not think it is beneficial in any way. Last night I also had some dairy again at a dinner party. Not a lot, but some butter and even a little bit of cream in a soup.This morning I woke up stuffed and bloated. But alive, so I guess I will not have to freak out if someone serves dairy. Perhaps I might not even tell in advance when I go to private parties. I will just try to avoid it myself. The plain white rice is still to be tried. It is not something I miss, though, so I imagine I will not eat a lot of it in the future. Perhaps only in India.

I changed my plans. Instead of trying plain white rice, I am trying wheat. Not that it is something I will eat every day, but I wanted to try. I had a wrap from the health store for lunch, a lovely one with salmon and veggies. It felt just fine. It seems like dairy is my main problem, but that everything else works well. But that does not mean I will eat everything every day. I will still stay away from wheat, sugar, and alcohol, except for special occasions. And I will always stay away from dairy and processed food. And I will reintroduce plain, white rice before I leave.

Back from France. It was much easier than Switzerland and much more fun! I had a glass of red wine and a piece of dark chocolate every night. The first night I also tried a small piece of goat cheese, but that did not go well. I got congested again, so even goatmilk seems to be out. It is unbelievable what a strong reaction I get from dairy! And no, no croissants. I was not even tempted. I also skipped the chocolate mousse, the cakes, all the bread, and everything else that was not compliant. I practiced yoga every morning and went for walks every day, so it was a perfect trip! Next trip: Russia. It will be more difficult. But before I will do another reintroduction: plain, white rice - in order to prepare for India.