Did you find yourself sweeter and kinder after Whole30 reintro?

[MeadowLily]

Hindsight is 20/20.   I thought I needed a compliant 90 days in the beginning.  I did that.  

 

ISWF,  30 days are just right with a reintro that immediately follows.  The original way is the best way for me. I completed the Slow Roll reintro and created a positive food management plan.

 

Making plans for a food explosion on Day 31 is not the way to go. You want the rewards for all of your hard work but not eating all the things/old food rewards in one day's time.

 

I removed Whole 90 from my signature.  There's no such thing as a Whole 365.  I was wearing my days like a badge of honor.   This is not a competition.  Challenges can become about competing with others.  

 

We can't compare or judge ourselves with anyone else.  Our fingerprints are unique. Whole 30 is not about the number of compliant days you can complete beyond 30 days, it is about changing and understanding your relationship with food.  

 

There's no such thing as the Finish Line for that. 

[MeadowLily]

I've been studying UP... the French way of life with food.   The biggest takeway, the French don't diet. The Greeks don't either.   

 

It's only when they abandon what comes naturally to them that they run into troubles.  Our ways. 

 

With all of the food messaging, dieting, food delivery programs - we have the most messed up relationship with food in the world.  They don't get it but when they adopt our ways, everything goes to hail for them, too.

 

The French and Greeks know all about the nitro fatty acids that naturally lowers blood pressure and protects the heart.   It's only when they go for our processed foods that they become prey for our problems.

 

I see alot of tourists from all over the world.  I was in the store observing some Norweigans in the candy aisle.  They were all excited and handling my trickery triggers.  Gummy bears.  I couldn't help but listen.  The language of sugar is universal but I couldn't understand one word they were saying.

 

They were all jacked up and handling the merchandise.  Just like I used to do.  I smiled.  They were young and fit as fiddles.  Tall specimens of health.   Jerking that candy out of their hands and pointing my finger wouldn't have worked.  

 

Sugar is the universal language.  It speaks loudly.  They were going to fill their backpacks up with that multi-crap.  I understood.   I felt like I knew them personally.   

[MeadowLily]

There is a difference between self-control and moderation.   

 

When an alcoholic has to give up alcohol,  for real,  it may cause them alot of angst.  But they know it's the only way to go.  They can't take that chance of getting into their vehicle while under the influence. They're risking everything and everyone.  

 

The food addict or compulsive eater can recover but old haunts and triggers have to be dealt with.   I am not a moderator or abstainer.  Neither one.  

 

Moderate amounts of alcohol may kill the alcoholic.   Moderate amounts of corn syrup may slowly kill the diabetic.    

 

Some people come by self-control naturally.  It's in their DNA.  No matter how you word it, they have it. 

They can take small bites of everything and walk away.   They've stayed at their optimum setpoint for most of their life....naturally.   That's a gift.  

 

They don't view food in a compulsive way and never will.  It's just not going to happen.   That's magic and optimum and something that most of us admire.    They don't secretly eat or stash food away like a squirrel.  They've got the world by the tail. 

 

Self-control is the ability to make conscious choices and weigh the consequences.  That can happen in the blink of an eye for those who have the gift.   For others,  like me, we have to think it through.

 

It's my two-year W30 anniversary.  It's not the amount of compliant days or years that make the difference - it's the knowledge that you gain.

 

How do you know when you're fully recovered from food addictions and thrill eating.  When you don't do it anymore.  When peep pressure no longer affects you anywhere on any given holiday or outting. 

 

When you no longer get on the scale because you know that constant weighing actually causes more of a stress response and messes with your head.

 

How do you know when offing or off roading is a so worth it moment.   When you can weigh in on the consequences. 

 

I didn't log my food.  I didn't track a single thing.   I took full responsibility for every area of my life.  You can't make huge rationalizations about everyone and everything and keep repeating the UP and down cycles.

 

If you have children or babies or spouses or siblings...you can't blame them for your food addiction. That's not fair and you will find yourself right back on the gerbil wheel and restarting all over again after another cycle of rebound weight gain. 

 

If you're making huge rationalizations about a stressful year of this and that - people all over the world have been stressed out of their comfort zones since the beginning of time.   There are people who are dodging bullets every single day.  For real.    They're hanging by a thread for survival.  

 

So how do you know when you're fixed.   I know the stats,  my eyes are wide open.  I'm living in the present.  

 

I will always have to weigh in on my choices and consequences.   That gift of self-control that comes naturally....that ship sailed a long, long time ago.    I messed that up when I started dieting.

 

I know the appetite control center is in the brain.  I've learned much over the last two years but like water seeking its own level,  my body chemistry is balancing out.   All I can do is keep my head on and consistently know that I really can change what I eat and how I think.

 

Over-thinking everything is for the political pundits.   Meh. 

 

I sat down with someone.  Face to Face.   I had to face the music.   Don't blame anyone for food addictions or thrill eating.   Don't make huge rationalizations about everything.   There's one thing I can do.   I can hear it when others are now doing that.   It's  a flag.   I know if they don't quit blaming others they're going to find themselves starting all over again before you can say...."I don't think I'll bother with a reintro."   I was secretly dieting all of the time,  the weight is gone and now I can just magically go back to my old abby normal.  

 

It doesn't work that way.   

 

There is no Finish Line for choices and consequences. 
 

[MeadowLily]

Sun-gazing.   

 

Natural sunshine is good but living at high altitudes we know all about snow blindness, snow burn and skin cancers.  You can't live on sunshine.   Good food fixes everything.   

 

Sun worshipping is older than ancient Egypt.  There's really nothing new under the sun.  Nothing.

 

It's a thing now to worship the sun and gaze into the sun.  Moving to the sunniest places on earth doesn't fix high rates of crime or cure depression.  If that was true, depression wouldn't be found in every sunny state, along with crime and dodging bullets. 

 

Natural sunshine is good but too much of anything can burn the retinas out of your eyeballs....and it may not cure brain chemistry.   There's all kinds of Paleo extremes now.  Tanning beds may not remove the SAD.  Natural sunshine is better.   

 

Sun gazing is not the ultimate cure for depression or anxiety even in the sunniest of places.   Good whole foods can be the best remedy for cabin fever and everyday SAD.   

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

Paleo american sunglasses  - been around for at least 2,000 years. 

 

 

http://www.beyondbuckskin.com/2012/04/some-history-slick-inuit-shades.html

 

 

Many styles of snow goggles were worn across the Alaskan and Canadian arctic. The goggles are traditionally made of a piece of bone or ivory pierced with slits but new ones may be made with wood. 

 

The goggles fit tightly against the face so that the only light entering is through the slits. Gunpowder or soot mixed with oil and rubbed on the outside cuts down the glare even more. 

As the amount of sunshine increased in late winter and spring, people wore goggles to protect their eyes from the painful snow blindness that occurs when strong ultraviolet light reflects from snow and ice, burning the retinas. The Inuit technology of the shades reduced the amount of glare reaching the wearer’s eyes, while still providing a wide range of vision. The greater the width of the slits the larger the field of view. In addition, the goggles helped focus the wearer's vision like a permanent squint to improve visual acuity - in a sense, giving him superhuman vision. 

[MeadowLily]

Someone put a bison calf in the back of their vehicle because they thought it looked cold.  Let the buffalo roam in their home.  Oy vey.

 

 

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

Leptin Resistance.   If you're always hungry and have considerable weight releasing to do..like I did two years ago:

 

Fat cells release leptin but for those with leptin resistance/diabetes - excess fat storage releases too many leptin receptors, more than the cells can handle.  When cells are overloaded, they shut down their leptin receptors.

 

Leptin no longer goes to the cells to tell the stomach it is time to stop eating....even after eating enormous portions of food. 

 

The leptin resistant is always hungry.  Eating any sugar, corn syrups make the brain even more resistant to leptin.   

 

Don't give up hope.  Eat healthy fats and fish, fish, fish. 

 

Overeating keeps priming the pump for leptin resistance.  Carbs, sodas, highly engineered to be craved foods.  Until the weight releasing is done, there's an internal battle with leptin resistance and abby normal hunger.    

 

You don't know what it feels like until  you've been there.  You can eat large plates of food and still be hungry immediately after eating.   Leptin resistance is going to fight you tooth and toenail and it's true.....

 

The fat wants you back.   If you've been fighting with leptin resistance for years,  the fat cells/storage have a memory.

 

It's going to take months and months before your body finds its own level and balance.  If you go back to the refined foods and sugars,  leptin resistance will return and help you eat it all back within a very short period of time.

 

Hungry all of the time no matter what you do.   Fight.  Fight.  Fight.   

 

Hang in there with your healthy fats.   They're the ticket out of Leptin Resistance hail on earth.  Let your healthy fats literally scare the hail out of leptin resistance.  You can do it but you cannot go back to your old ways.

 

All of the metabolic sickness will return with refined foods.   Budgeting the weekends for refined food thrill eating..no can do.   When leptin resistance knocks on your door, that wily coyote, fox in the henhouse, wolf at the door, sneaky snake in the grass has to be dealt with.  

 

There's no going back.  Not when that old goat has taken up residence in your body at any particular time.   It takes true grit but the battle can be won. 

 

Don't get on the scale.  Remember what T.D. says.  Scale hopping scares the fat and leptin resistance. He fights even harder to hang on.  You have to have your game face on and battle strategy.   Outsmart that wily coyote, old goat, fox in the henhouse, wolf at the door, snake in the grass mentality. 

 

Leptin resistance is metabolic sickness.  Constant hunger no matter what you do - stay the course.  It will take longer than 30 days to deal with it. 

[MeadowLily]

Fish, fish, fish.  The hostess with the mostess.  The protein food with nature's healthy fats. Ahhhh,  you can't go wrong with fish.  

 

I start my day with deluxe proteins.  There's a  recent study about those who eat the BAB.  They found those who ate the BAB  maintained a large weight releasing far and above those who do not eat the BAB. 

 

Seeing Leptin Resistance in the rearview mirror is the greatest reward for all of this hard work. Maintaining a sharp edge against the struggle and angst that it brings into your life.

 

I don't get the whining thing.  Whiny hiney doesn't even compute with me.  Leptin Resistance is tough. Whole 30 is not.   You want to find your way out of that hail on earth.   

 

Metabolic sickness.  Now that really gives me a serious pinch.  It's everywhere now.   Highly engineered to be craved foods have caused leptin resistance.  Years and years of eating them.   Hooked on candy and gummy bears.  It's all corn syrup.  

 

I was highly allergic to corn syrup as a child.   At some point,  I just kept forcing it on myself until I developed an imaginary tolerance for it.  I think we crave what we need the least.  I found myself in constant hunger hail.  That's leptin resistance.

 

It's a set up for a hook up for more binge eating.   As my doctor tells me,  show me a binge eater in youth and I'll show you someone with diabetes down the road.   Metabolic sickness.

 

Constant hunger for sugar and refined foods.   Don't give in.  Your cells are screaming for it because the signals are all messed up.   Eat your healthy fats. 

[MeadowLily]

I don't binge on fruit.  Never did.  I avoided fruit because of 'dieting' but ate the refined foods instead. That makes no sense to me now.  

 

I can take it or leave it but I'm not leaving it.  Eliminating the widest variety of foods is another set up for a hook up for binge eating.  Reducing your life and foods down to a small nub mentally messes with your head.  Deprivation.   

 

Fruit loose.  That's me.  It keeps me hinged.  I don't feel sorry for myself when I have beautiful berries used as a condiment and nuts for a decoration.   Over-restriction everything is the way to slide right back off the goose. 

[MeadowLily]

BAB study.  Big &$$ Breakfast - 8 month study.

 

BAB group.  Ate plenty of protein, real food carbs and fats.

 

Zero carb group.  

 

Bottomline.

 

ZC - released 28 lbs in 4 months.

BAB - released 23 lbs

 

After 8 months:  

 

ZC   - regained 18 lbs

BAB -  released an additional 16.5 lbs

 

BAB  - released a total of 21.5 % body fat

ZC    - 4.5% body fat  total and rebound weight gain

 

BAB  - ate protein to thwart hunger, right kind of carbs to keep insulin in check and were consistent.

Endocrine Study,  San Francisco. 

 

Nothing new here.  It's what we've known all along.  When you over-restrict for long periods of time there is an appetite reckoning.   Especially if you have constant hunger with leptin resistance.  Until that metabolic sickness is healed,  the appetite reckoning can cause rebound. Then you're starting over again and further in the hole with your metabolism. 

 

Going slow is the way to give LR a TKO.  Technical Knockout.  Without rebound.

 

Stick that landing.  Boom.
 

 

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

I'm helping a close relative do a W30.  It's so much fun and I'm all jacked up just helping her with all kinds of tips.  Trying not to overwhelm her with everything.  I don't want her to overthink the process.

 

But as you can imagine,  I have so much I want to share with her because I want her to find WINNING and whopping boatloads of success.  I'm giving her all I've got and believe you me, after 2 years of non-stop Brain Training....I can help her Hit that Reset Button.  BAM!

 

I'm going to help her create a Positive Food Management Plan that she can live with for the rest of her life.  I know the way without whey and weigh.  I really do.

 

I will help her with Reintro.  There's no way I would encourage her to plan for a food explosion on Day 31.  We share the same genetics, everything.  I know the Leptin Resistance/metabolic sickness she's dealing with.  

 

I know how those frickity frick frick fat cells scream for more corn syrup.  But I know how to tell them to just shut the hail up.  Ayup.  Everyday,  I will share with her the inside secrets that can help her overcome defeat and throwing the towel in.   I was there.  The appetite control center is in the brain.

 

There's going to be some rough patches but I'll be there to help my Soul Sista.  I'm going to help her pull that plane out of a tailspin.  Her rivets are popping loose and about to sheer off.  I've been talking to myself for a couple years now.  Nothing's changed.

 

She can learn the ropes, too.   I share T.D. tips...the best.   2 Brazil Nuts.  Don't get on the scale - it scares the fat.   Many more.  I like projects that include others.  Taking your mind off yourself is good medicine.   Helping others get there is transcendent. 

 

I am all jacked up, my theme song.   Again.   She's in for a real treat when the  Tiger Blood gets here. It's the reward for all of the hard work.  So many so worth it moments.

 

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

Rationalization.  Huge rationalizations about everything.  Those have got to go.  

 

Multi-crapOmeter.  That stays.  Regular multi-crapOmeter status reports keep you honest and true.

 

There is nothing about eating 3 great meals aday that makes one puke, gag, or dump on a regular basis. That's abby normal or it could be side effects of WLS.  Regardless,  it's time to see a doctor.  For real....if that's happening.

 

On the WD30 plane, I don't recall much whining or complaining going on.  The pilot would have done more than shoot us an annoyed glance, the pilot would have thrown us out of the emergency exit.

 

Ruthlessly prune all excuses from your databank.   They no longer serve you.  Slap yourself silly if you hear yourself dragging them back up from the archives.  You cannot blame your babies, kids, family members, holidays or celebrations.  

 

So prune everything and get straight to the plot.  All of my female heroes kick @$$ rather than whine about micro food minutiae.  There's something here for everyone.  

 

Showing rather than telling is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal.   Show others what you've got.  You've got to have verve to hook others,  whining won't get anyone there. 

 

Don't let yourself get buried under too much backstory and set up.  Get past the prep work and let's see some ACTION.  

 

[MeadowLily]

I have another member added to my small  W30 group who wants to do a vegan one. That's going to be really, really tough.   I've been traveling the backroads of this forum and reading all of the manifestos looking for options.

 

She has diabetes now and still wants to live on bean burritos. She thinks beans are a protein. They're a carb.  They do not become a protein when mixed with grains.  That's imaginary.  Nuts are not proteins. They're fats.   It's difficult to convince someone that beans are carbs and nuts are fats. 

 

If you do what you've always done you will get what you've always gotten.  I'm being sweet and kind but it's marshing my mellow as I want her to WIN.   I'm edging slowly up on her and trying not to pounce like a tiger on her deeply felt principles.

 

Helping others is giving me new energy and vitality.   I'm pulling up my bootstraps but not bopping them over the head or slapping them silly.  I want to but I can't.   I will remain humble, sweet and kind.  

[MeadowLily]

Time for the cluegun.  There's no crying in baseball and there's no crying on my W30  watch.  Nuh huh.  

 

When and if it really sux,  time to embrace it.  I don't do KAT or whining or bawl baby. Embrace the sux. Sux means something exciting is happening internally.  Brain Training.   If the wheels aren't turning, you're standing still and not moving forward. 

 

No yellow-bellied lily livered sapsuckers along for the trail ride.  

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

My group needs this today.  I'm pulling up T.D.'s greatest hits that have made a huge impact on my life. They need it and I like to remind myself where I've come from.   

 

Posted 23 November 2015 - 07:33 AM

Human bodies are a lot more complex than most explanations of them. 

 

It Starts With Food explains how human bodies and food interact really well and you owe it to yourself to study the book carefully.

 

Many explanations of fat adaptation and blood insulin levels would suggest you should never eat starchy veggies or fruit because these explanations take into account too few variables, ignore context, and rely on testimonials of a limited number of people whose bodies are in a different place than many other bodies. The reality is that I ate as many as two large sweet potatoes per day and became fat-adapted roughly two weeks into beginning to eat Whole30-compliant. I no longer eat two large sweet potatoes per day because I create more varied meals now than I did then, but my eating lots of starchy veggies did not stop me from becoming fat adapted quickly. I would not recommend that anyone follow my specific example unless they are engaging in a very high volume of physical training, but even though I was not following what we now consider best practices, my body still adapted.

 

Any time an explanation assumes that the body is at risk if you don't follow a very narrow eating plan, the explanation is wrong. Now by narrow eating plan, I do not mean the Whole30 because the Whole30 allows you to eat every veggie on the planet and all animal, bird, and fish protein. By narrow plan, I mean one that says you will suffer terrible blood sugar issues if you eat a banana. It just is not true because the human body is very well designed to deal with eating a banana and a sweet potato and a parsnip, etc. The human body is not very well designed to deal with a dozen donuts per week and a dozen bagels and a constant stream of pizza, but those things don't grow in a field.