Hanging On but....

[Caryl]

I am on Day 12 - have been doing really great, feeling great....but today..... all day, I felt like I was on the verge of just giving up and landing face first into junk food. But I didn't... and I am now writing about it to mentally get myself through this.

Today, we were at the mall doing some shoe shopping (NEW Crossfit Shoes YEAH!) and the smell of the pretzel store was almost more than I could bear.

But I made it past, and came home and ate right. Glad I did.

I just came across a blog post, Day By Day Whole 30, and it did make me feel a lot better.

Especially this part:

Days 8-15: Boundless energy! Now give me a damn Twinkie.

Hurray! The slump is over! Your energy levels are better than normal – you're downright Tigger the bouncing tiger! But something weird is happening. You're dreaming. Not crazy nightmare or strange surrealist dreams, either. Incredibly normal and realistic dreams – about donuts. Or Twinkies. Or Snickers.* In your mind, sometimes you get caught and feel guilty. Sometimes you just brazenly eat the contraband. But then, the feelings start following you into the waking hours. Suddenly, you're craving things you don't even like. (For me, it's Diet Coke and Twinkies, for Melissa Hartwig, it was fast-food cheeseburgers!) Your co-workers; heads transform into giant Girl Scout Cookies as you gaze on in disbelief. Seriously, you've almost hit the halfway mark, and now this?!

All joking aside, though, this phase gets really intense and for some people. This is the part of the program where our minds try to drive us back to the comfort of the foods we used to know. Our food relationships are deeply rooted and strongly reinforced throughout the course of our lives and breaking through them is really big deal. Journaling can be especially enlightening and helpful during this phase, and helpful for reflection later. Take some time to jot down what you're craving, how you're feeling and what tools you're using to work through the cravings.

It's crazy - I HAVE been having those dreams. Today, I dreamed that I ate Nutter Butter Cookies and Ice Cream. It was SO real!

I guess I'm doing something right, since I seem to be right on track with the Day by Day stuff. I just needed a little encouragement! I want to do this. I can do this.

Please tell me this.

[Snappy Shark]

Day 9 here. Yesterday morning, on my way to get my groceries for the week, I found myself absent-mindedly fantasizing about what I REALLY wanted for breakfast (this is after I had eaten a nutritious breakfast already), and settled on a sausage pizza with chocolate chip cookies and diet Coke. I didn't even eat those things prior to starting the Whole 30!

I figure Melissa and Dallas know what they're talking about, and this is just something to weather for the next few days. Experiencing junk food through your nose only is difficult (I walked past a Jewish bakery yesterday -THAT was hard) but hang in there! It's simply NOT worth it. =)

[Keri W.]

Congrats on making it through day 12! Hang in there...things will get better. Consider how you'd feel if you had given in to your cravings. You should feel terrific for not giving into the pretzel store. It helps me to remind myself of all the positive things that I gain by not giving in. Do not settle for less! Make sure that you are eating plenty of protein right now, so that you don't feel hunger pains that could catch you off guard during a craving. You can do this!

[kew]

In a previous experiment with paleo that was not the Whole30, I sometimes found that I could talk myself into finding walking past the bakery a good thing. Not in an "I'm so strong, look at me resisting" way, but oddly enough, letting myself take pleasure in the smells, enjoying them fully, letting them, somehow, satisfy the cravings just through the nose. (After all, so much of our taste experience comes through smelling, not just the taste buds).

This might be a disastrous idea for some, but it was strangely satisfying for me to realize that I could enjoy the smell, perhaps in part because there was no doubt about whether I would put any of it in my mouth. I was not in the anguish of indecision, and perhaps that helped me enjoy the non-forbidden smell without conflict.

Now, however, that I'm on Day 8 of the Whole30, I find junk food smells a bit nauseating, so I'm not sure my nasal experience will transfer over, and your mileage may vary, as the saying goes. Either way, I'm rooting for you!

[Snappy Shark]

I can't wait for the day when I find junk food smells nauseating. There's a container of cupcakes in the office kitchen today and I haven't been so much as tempted - mostly because I am not letting myself get anywhere near them. =)

[Elleon]

In a previous experiment with paleo that was not the Whole30, I sometimes found that I could talk myself into finding walking past the bakery a good thing. Not in an "I'm so strong, look at me resisting" way, but oddly enough, letting myself take pleasure in the smells, enjoying them fully, letting them, somehow, satisfy the cravings just through the nose. (After all, so much of our taste experience comes through smelling, not just the taste buds).

This might be a disastrous idea for some, but it was strangely satisfying for me to realize that I could enjoy the smell, perhaps in part because there was no doubt about whether I would put any of it in my mouth. I was not in the anguish of indecision, and perhaps that helped me enjoy the non-forbidden smell without conflict.

Now, however, that I'm on Day 8 of the Whole30, I find junk food smells a bit nauseating, so I'm not sure my nasal experience will transfer over, and your mileage may vary, as the saying goes. Either way, I'm rooting for you!

This is an interesting approach... so many times the appearance and the smell of the junky food is more appealing than the flavor anyways.