jenna3232 Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Hi all, This forum is an ode to my personal challenge of being grain free, dairy free, processed-food free, and alcohol free for one year - starting today, July 6th, 2013. I hope to be the healthiest person I can be one year from now. To me that means having a healthy gut, consistent energy, lean composition, and great performance. I am a 20-something female who crossfits and eats paleo 80% of the time. I absolutely love the positive effects of eating clean but it is too easy to fall back into old habits especially around holidays or during stressful times. When I eat clean, I love the consistent energy, how I feel full but not stuffed, and the fact I do not have to count calories. Friends and family balk at how "restrictive" paleo and Whole 30 rules are, but its nowhere near as crazy as the cookie diet, slim fast, or juicing for a month. Its good eating until you're full. It's that simple. From eating paleo, I know my greatest challenges will be: - Eating clean while on the go. I need to plan ahead! - Diet pepsi. I'ts my ultimate vice. - Alcohol. It's always nice to have a drink or two while out with friends. - Keeping food exciting and varied. I'm a bit worried about eating salads and meat...all the time. Yay for amazing bloggers like Juli at PaleOMG. - Family and friendly gatherings where I might feel pressured to eat mom's cooking that she spent ALL DAY making for her lovely family. I'll keep you posted. Got to go! Day 1 COMMENCED! -Jenna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derval Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 good luck Jenna! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lainey Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Sounds amazing - I look forward to reading your updates! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenna3232 Posted July 12, 2013 Author Share Posted July 12, 2013 Week 1 update: I plan to do weekly/monthly updates as daily logs would be too much. I plan to be super busy tomorrow (day 7), so I figure I'd blog tonight. I would classify this week as a roller coaster oh high and low energy points. Throughout each day so far I've felt both increadibly energized and moments later as if I need a nap. I have noticed that each morning I wake up a tad bit more rested. I am excited to experience the deep sleep other participants feel. I haven't cheated once! Although there were several temptations (ie Reece's cupcakes, beers out at boyfriends birthday bash) I haven't caved...and that's ok. I hope to plan a bit better this week with food so that I am not constantly scrambling for snacks. I think I'll check out Robb Wolf's store, WellFoods.com, to see if there are any Whole 30 compliant, non-SWYPO options. I also want to be more budget conscious when planning and shopping for meals. Well that's it for my update! I promise to write a more comprehensive post next time! I'm on my phone which takes forever to type. Best wishes w30 peeps! No cheats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenna3232 Posted July 12, 2013 Author Share Posted July 12, 2013 Week 1 update: I plan to do weekly/monthly updates as daily logs would be too much. I plan to be super busy tomorrow (day 7), so I figure I'd blog tonight. I would classify this week as a roller coaster oh high and low energy points. Throughout each day so far I've felt both increadibly energized and moments later as if I need a nap. I have noticed that each morning I wake up a tad bit more rested. I am excited to experience the deep sleep other participants feel. I haven't cheated once! Although there were several temptations (ie Reece's cupcakes, beers out at boyfriends birthday bash) I haven't caved...and that's ok. I hope to plan a bit better this week with food so that I am not constantly scrambling for snacks. I think I'll check out Robb Wolf's store, WellFoods.com, to see if there are any Whole 30 compliant, non-SWYPO options. I also want to be more budget conscious when planning and shopping for meals. Well that's it for my update! I promise to write a more comprehensive post next time! I'm on my phone which takes forever to type. Best wishes w30 peeps! No cheats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snailytrail Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 Wow, a whole year! Good luck and I hope you feel all the benefits you want to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenna3232 Posted July 12, 2013 Author Share Posted July 12, 2013 Update: It seems like all products at WellFood.com has some sort of sugar in it Time to get a dehydrator if I want to make jerky! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenna3232 Posted July 12, 2013 Author Share Posted July 12, 2013 Thank you Derval, Lainey, and snailytrail for your support! Yes, 1 year is crazy long but crazy necessary to set good habits. I think I need to be realistic that there may be some instances where cheats are needed to prevent insanity. For example, in october I am taking my BF to Leavenworth, WA for his birthday for Oktoberfest. Perhaps I will have some sort of acoholic beverage or do tiny sip tastes to get the whole experience. Life and food are to be enjoyed. If at any point I feel like this diet is so restrictive that is starts to negatively affect my life, mood, or become disordered eating/thinking - I'll have to reconsider being W30. But it just doesn't seem to make much sense that all of us go through 30 days of adjustment and then strait back to the standard american diet. That's why I wanted to set a long term goal of a year. Before I did so, I hadn't heard of W100...perhaps I could have been easier on myself lol. I've been doing 80%-99% paleo for about 5 months and know at this point that wheat causes digestive inflammation when reintroduced and dairy causes acne. Together they cause bloat and food coma symptoms. Yuck. There is really no need for them in my diet. Dairy is significantly more tasty and enjoyable than wheat which makes it hard to give up. But gluten = the devil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanniek71 Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 Found your year challenge and figured I'd come check it out! You can do it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenna3232 Posted July 22, 2013 Author Share Posted July 22, 2013 Thanks Vannie! Will post an update soon Hows it going? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanniek71 Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 Good so far other than sleeping through my alarm to go to the gym. Got a nice caffeine withdrawal headache (I drank 3 2-liters of diet soda yesterday lol) but other than that doing well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenna3232 Posted July 23, 2013 Author Share Posted July 23, 2013 Update Evening of Day 16. WOO! Lets just say hooray for making it to day 16 without throwing in the towel! Before I get to update the interwebs on how fabulous I feel, I do have to say... I cheated. One morning (day 9 or so..), I had toco bell. The cheat stemmed from frustration after A) going a little bat crazy with obsessing over Whole30 feeling like in a way I was out of control. I wasn't simply tempted by "good tasting food", I needed to cheat so that I could show myself I was still in control. The big bad whole30 rules were not ruling my life. So I ordered my cheat meal. Ate it. My burrito tasted really fake. The tortilla tasted like paper. It was gross. I felt bloated later. It was a great lesson about how fake food tastes gross and real food tastes good. I'm not going to beat myself up about it because that's how disordered eating starts. Live and learn. Other than that cheat, I've been 100% complaint. I read a really great article by the Robb Wolf, Paleo Solution, crew: http://robbwolf.com/2013/07/11/9010-8020-4060-whats-paleo-percentage/. It is a great read on eating a more strict paleo diet and diving into the question of what 80/20 really means. So how do I feel on day 16? Really good. Sure, I've found that going out is a tad hard. You can't really eat your favorite means (teriyaki chicken, Cajun tater tots, a nice hard cider), so I am starting to really be smart about prepping when I go out (eat a large meal before so you can order a compliant snack) or just avoid it if possible. My energy in the morning is great, as long as a I get at least 7 hrs of sleep. I just pop out of B-E-D My skin is glowing and smoother than normal My performance is great at the gym. I went from RXing my wods once a week to RXing almost every workout. THAT IS AWESOME My digestion is better. No smelly gas. Some constipation but perhaps that's from eating too much protein? Not sure... My tastebuds have normalized. ISWF talks about training yourself to get used to eating real foods, not supercharged fake foods. Even a larabar before or after my workout is too sweet. I had a sip of compliant kombucha and it knocked my taste buds out a bit. Whew. I also planned a lot better this past week. Had almost all my food cooked, only 1 or 2 takeout meals. As far as fat loss...WOW. This way of eating is crazy at shedding fat. When I was "sort of doing paleo" (still drinking hard cider, eating french fries, eating SWYPO foods), I saw slower, more gradual leaning out. In the past two weeks, my body has gone through some crazy transformations. I am starting to see my obliques and I have no doubt in my mind that I will very close to seeing a six pack by the end of this month. CRAZY. I haven't seen my abs since I was 4. HAHA. OK well that's the end of my update! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenna3232 Posted July 23, 2013 Author Share Posted July 23, 2013 Vannie, Yeah, those first days are brutal. At the start of this Whole30, I could have side-tackled someone for a diet coke and a nap... As you know, its only up from here What do you like to cook? Do you have a stellar meal that you love to make. I just realized that a breakfast scramble of compliant sausage (I get mine from an organic meat counter), roasted asparagus, and avocado is a breakfast of champions. Curry chicken salad is good too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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