Credibility

[mandykath]

I completed my first Whole30 in February, and overall it was a positive experience. I lost a couple of pounds but the best part for me was how great my sleep became. I awoke really energized in the mornings, a typically troublesome time for me.

Right after it though, I got a bad cold, and in my pathetic state made some less-than-ideal choices, and then came St. Patrick's Day and Easter, all of which, again, entailed less than perfect choices, and the good nights sleep & general good vibes went right out the window again.

My post 30 disappointment/learning experience was that I feel like it's important for me to be a little more judicious with what I choose to eat when it's a "cheat". Part of it is a credibility thing. If I tell my family & coworkers that I don't eat gluten and then eat a cookie they brought in, I come off as flaky. It's hard enough to explain Paleo to people without giving them a "But you ate a cookie that one time! why won't you partake in the doughnuts I brought in?" excuse and not offend them by refusing their (kind) offerings.

I feel like I had this mentality where I earned a Whole30 badge and became healthy for life. Now I know how easy it is to undo the progress, and am keen to get back on track. I'm currently in the middle of another Whole30, as next month I have a huge event for work where I will be running around working for ten 12+ hour days and may or may not get to eat regularly. From past experience, it's easier for me to miss the occasional meal without becoming a raving pyscho when I'm not addicted to sugar and coffee, and I'll need all the high-quality sleep I can get.

[Renee Lee]

Part of it is a credibility thing. If I tell my family & coworkers that I don't eat gluten and then eat a cookie they brought in,

THIS!

There are very few occasions in my post Whole30 life that an easily available treat is worth the snark/harassment/passive aggression that I would receive from my coworkers or close family. It has made me a lot pickier about when, where and how I indulge in non-Paleo goodies. I believe I've successfully avoided at least 15 slices of family birthday cake in the last year and a half because of it, and a bunch of celebratory work treats (ice cream, cupcakes, candy, etc).

I want to ENJOY the off-road. Not be irritated or be made to feel like a fraud/guilty about it

[Johnny M]

I love your perspective on this and I think you hit on a really great point. Everytime I have lost some weight following a whole30 or paleo type diet and gained it back, someone has argued with me that my "fad" diet was to blame. One of the things I love about the Whole30 is it sort of dances around and avoids the "diet" label and while many perspectives on nutrition are not necessarily diets, they end up called that, and eventually someone will accuse you of falling victim to a passing fad. I absolutely refuse to let someone reduce my whole30 experience to some trivial passing fad so I'm acutely aware of how everything I eat is perceived by those around me. Similar to Renee, I try to never let my cheats be things that happen by accident or random circumstance...i try to make them planned experiences that I control and I let people around me know that so they can't question my credibility.

[SarahFancy]

Wow, this post hits the spot for me. I'm in the middle of my first Whole30 after toying with paleo (and 50 other diets). I feel like my poor husband can't even keep up with the eating method of the month. The last one was vegan. Anyway, this time I feel so much more committed and really want to prove to myself that I can stick to this way of life. I feel better and am losing weight. And I don't want to blow that by eating something just because it crosses my path. Part of it is also the "fad" thing that Johnny was talking about. I want my family to see that this approach is good for me and makes me happier and healthier.

[dana]

i'm 37 now but was a vegetarian for a decade or so (probably til my mid-20s...then transitioned into eating fish).

one thing i've encountered is people still remembering my diet from years ago and thinking i've done an about-face over the past few years (during which time, i gradually and naturally (i.e., in a largely unplanned way) went from eating a little meat to eating meat almost every day. they also saw me go from eating rice as the basis for every meal to eating no grains.

sometimes people will ask--totally out of curiosity, it seems to me, NOT with negative intentions--about these changes, which to them seem dramatic. what i tell them is that for me they aren't so dramatic. first: even while vegetarian, i avoided processed foods, ate organic whole food as much as possible, and only rarely ate bread (though i ate rice as the basis for practically every meal--and do still miss it). second: the transition in food choices unfolded organically, influenced by what i was learning, what i was exposed to, and what i was doing. even now, i crave daily hamburgers because i'm lifting heavy things; if i switch into only doing yoga for weeks, i stop craving them and start craving more vegetarian/egg dinners with fish/seafood every other day or so. (i'm not saying this particular example applies to anyone else--but the point is that as my lifestyle and physical activities have come to incorporate new things, my body has responded by wanting/needing different foods.)

and yet, having to explain this is exhausting. i'd rather just eat what i eat. let others observe what i do or not as they wish. plus, when i "cheat with a treat" i totally agree with Renee in preferring to do so alone. for me, it's less about any negative reactions from others and more about them then assuming i'll do so regularly, which i won't. there's this thing i'll call "cheat creep" that i want to avoid and which i find others are VERY apt to encourage once they see you cheat once.

BUT, sharing info with people who are truly curious and interested and asking can bring wonderful outcomes. before visiting my mom, i told her all about my diet--she hadn't seen me in a couple years and i knew she'd want to cook up lots of delicious food for me. i pointed her to WellFed as a cookbook we could try out together (she's a stellar cook; i suck but want to learn). she ordered it and it was waiting for me when i arrived--as were some delicious whole30 lunches and dinners. that was enough for me--but it went further. since seeing what i eat and talking to me about my diet, my mom has taken up a nearly-whole30-compliant-version of primal eating herself. in the past month or so, she's dropped pounds and pant sizes. no longer eats bread and feels way less bloated. she's so fricking excited about "my" diet and gives me tips about what to eat! it's been great.

so, guess i'm just saying the explaining can be difficult but can go a number of ways...

[mandykath]

When I started my first Whole30 in February, curious friends and coworkers inquired about why I was making these changes and when I explained it, most thought it was admirable. I heard the typical "I could never do that!" response quite a bit, but most agreed that it was a worthwhile endeavour. Having a pregnant coworker helped a lot - she was off of caffeine, alcohol, and sugar as well.

The problem is that I feel like because of the work-cookie incident, I have cheapened my paleo street-cred. Next month while my office is traveling and working out of hotels and such, I foresee myself making a quite a few special requests at restaurants - and while everyone I work with is pretty easygoing, I think they would take me a lot more seriously had they not seen me eat sweets weeks before, you know?

[Johnny M]

Yeah it's tough. People get over it though. I have 3 or 4 coworkers who have jumped on board

[MeadowLily]

Most gluten-free paleo snacks have replaced the gluten with some form of sugar.  Snacks trigger the primal drive to overeat and they are play foods.  Honor your hunger with real food carbs (root vegetables), proteins, good dietary fats for 30 days and the cycle of constant snacking can be broken.

 

As I cleared out the clutter of "healthy snacking" SWYPO's, the desire went away with it.