Does anyone stay pretty much clean?

[Demobhappy]

Hi everyone. I finished my first Whole30 a couple of days ago, and am staying compliant for the time being. Reading some of these post-W30 blogs, it seems like a lot of us struggle to maintain clean eating. Is anyone still comfortably paleo, and not getting back into junk food habits/cycling between junk food and W30? It would be really encouraging to know that there are people who can maintain this way of eating reasonably painlessly!

I've spent years giving up sugar, feeling better, having some again and spiralling back into out-of-control eating, so I know how calamitous it would be for me to add sugar back into my diet again. I haven't had any sugar for a couple of months, and really want to keep it that way. Some inspiration would be great

[LadyM]

I stay pretty much compliant except for deliberate and rare off roading that doesn't spin me out of control. The trick for me is to immediately return to 3-meals-a-day template eating with no snacks immediately and to stick with it until the next deliberate off road, which is never more than once a week. An off road may look like a piece of my favorite dark chocolate, an ear of sweet corn slathered in ghee and sea salt, fish tacos while vacationing at the ocean, a glass of wine or a cocktail, or a turtle sundae. Setting limits and seeing and treating the off roads as rare occurrences are what have worked for me.

Good luck. The way you choose to transition is crucial!

[JJB]

It's definitely doable for me if I stay away from wheat. My W30 was well over a year and a half ago, and I'm still pretty much paleo. I do add grass-fed butter to my coffee daily, and I go out to eat 3-4x a month -- I don't worry about added sugar in sauces/bacon, cooking oils, etc. I have corn chips once or twice a month and rice every couple of months. I have also been fine with small desserts up to several times a week. It's when I open the door to wheat that everything falls apart, every time. If that's what sugar does to you, then I certainly recommend you don't attempt the 'moderation' route. I had to learn over and over that it's not possible for me (with wheat). 

 

P.S. my old diet consisted of tons of processed/diet/frozen food, 3-4 cans of diet soda daily, fast food/pizza at least weekly, uncontrollable snacking, and lots of sugar at or after every meal. I'm still pretty amazed and impressed by my transition. 

[Demobhappy]

Good to know! Fortunately(?) I'm sensitive to wheat and haven't been able to eat it for years - you would have thought I'd have stayed pretty healthy without it, but regrettably there are a lot of evil gluten free treats out there nowadays

[GlennR]

Six months now with pretty minor offroading.

[MeadowLily]

I don't think of foods as clean vs. unclean.  All or nothing...bingeing or dieting.  I'm happy this is the first book, It Starts With Food,  I've ever had about building a normal relationship with food and exercise.

 

Building a normal relationship with food.    That's the change I wanted. 

[leahcarn]

I've been paleo for a year and a half, and stayed so between my first and second whole30

[amy3509]

It has been about 6 months for me and I feel more stable in my eating patterns than I ever have before.  After a whole30 last winter I decided to continue with a set of personal guidelines (mostly focused on cutting out sugar, honey, maple syrup,stevia etc, but also avoiding most grains entirely, with very occasional offroading for things like rice and potato chips ).  I do eat dairy (yogurt, cheese, cream) because Ive removed it several times over the last 5 years and find reintroduction uneventful.

 

Before this 6 months span I had tried to go paleo so many times since 2009.  Generally it would start with a whole30 or a challenge of some sort and would work for a couple months and then eventually spiral.  In my case, the difference between those times and this time has been three main things.  First, giving up sugars was key.  Sugar affects me in such a profound way (linked to depression, foggy head, binge eating, addictive behaviours) that it needed to be gone entirely.  The second was removing the moral and value judgements I was making about food.  The guilt, trying to be perfect and good, etc etc was a thought pattern that was hurting me and leading to binges.  Now I try to view food as just something I make daily choices about and avoid feeling morally superior when I eat so called good food and like a failure when I dont.  Its just food after all. 

 

The third thing was the most crucial of all.  I decided to learn to love my body.  As is.  Not 30 lbs from now.  I had spent my whole life with daily negative thinking about my body.  I linked my body size to my self worth.  I judged, criticized, and worried about it so much.  It was such a part of who I was that I didnt realize how frequent these thoughts were.  I still find this a struggle and I slip back into old thinking regularly still, but now I recognize it as unhelpful and actively work at it.  My personal commitment to change has been aided by reading blogs in the same vein and talking about it with likeminded others.  Im peeling this back in layers.

 

The key to lasting change is different to everyone, but I would suggest that anyone caught in a binge-restrict cycle would benefit from a change in thinking.  Until it truly feels like a choice unburdened with guilt, moral judgments, obsession, etc, change is tough to maintain.  Those people that I know who went paleo and never looked back tend to be the types who arent thinking of it this way.  The ones who havent struggled with weight or body image, and see food as unconnected to self worth.

 

Let me be clear . . . I still have times where I fall back into old patterns (like a night when I am dealing with difficult emotions - lonliness or whatever - and I end up eating to soothe myself.  I am aware, though, and it doesnt become a true binge and I try to learn from each experience.  There have been very occasional times (maybe 3 times in the past 6 months) when I ate too many plain potato chips at a party and wished I hadnt had more than one or two.  I learn and move on.  Despite these things I have not spiraled.  I trust that this is a life long process and beating myself up it not going to serve me in any way - quite the opposite, beating myself up will lead to the spiral.