2 Weeks of an Uninformed Whole 30

[libby2]

All my life, I have never felt pushed to diet to lose weight, perhaps because my regular diet included no beef, processed or chemical sweeteners, soda, chemicals, excessive processing of grains, or milk or ice cream for 25+ years to relieve my IBS symptoms.

During the last few years, several disturbing health challenges like burping, gas, extreme soreness after exercise, muscle cramping, acid reflux, swallowing issues, insomnia, osteoporosis, osteopenia, joint inflammation and allergies led me to a holistic nurse practitioner who prescribed vitamin, hormone and mineral supplements. Although acid reflux, swallowing and muscle cramp symptoms improved, I was still struggling with the other problems and also my pants were fitting too tightly.

12 days ago my daughter told me she was struggling with cravings on the first 3 days of her Whole30 Food Plan and I jumped at the chance to join her, mostly to support her effort, but also because I wondered if it could help me based on what she said Whole30 could do to eliminate inflammation. But, I didn't fully research the plan until today, almost 2 weeks in to my change in diet. 

I have to say that I truly didn't need to make as many drastic changes as many since I already was restricted, but, the fact that I had to give up whole grains, legumes and cheese was very difficult since they were a huge staple food for my regular diet. So, yes, the first 3 days were extremely difficult perhaps emotionally more than physically.

I found that I needed to plan more and work hard at having healthy available choices. Now that I'm 12 days in, I've noticed that I have almost eliminated the gas and burping that had become so obnoxious. Also, I'm sleeping better or more anyway. It used to be so hard to sleep more than 6 hours a night and now I find myself sleeping 8 or 9 hours. I also have lost the allergy symptoms. I still feel aching and inflammation in my joints but I'm hopeful that it can improve in time.

I used to bake treats with all kinds of naturally sweet, whole grain and dairy substitutes to satisfy my cravings and not feel so deprived so I could feel more like a 'normal' person but now after studying the website, I understand why I should just let that go.

[libby2]

Dang it! Last night I made this delicious stir fry... I was feeling so proud of myself because I made it without soy sauce or any kind of sweetened Asian sauce. I used garden vegetables and mushrooms and a bit of mango it taste saucy. But then within 15 minutes of dinner I started having all the gassy symptoms I have had before starting the Whole 30 diet (warning: IBS sufferers often go into disgusting detail with our symptoms!).. burping, sharp pains of gas and gas out the other end, followed by an IBS attack. So, I thought, what happened??? I went and looked at the Asian spice blend I had used and sure enough, it had coconut with sugar and soy sauce with soy and wheat! Argggghhh! So back to the drawing board. But this certainly was a testimonial of how important it is to read labels and also that this Whole 30 eating plan is important for my body!

[jeanbean]

It is interesting how the wrong food can make us feel like junk! I think about all the toxins I have put in my body and then wonder why did I feel

So bad? Crazy, how I justify it in the past becuz it tasted so good.

[libby2]

So here I am now, after 3 weeks on the plan. The weekend before last, I went on a camping trip with my husband to celebrate our anniversary and we had sausage dogs wrapped in romaine lettuce one night and shish-kebobs the next and eggs and bacon both mornings so it turned out great.

Then last weekend I went on a trip to San Francisco to give my son a car. It was great! My sweet husband grilled 4 chicken breasts and I cut them each up and put them in a plastic bag, along with a bag of roasted sweet potatoes with onion and peppers and peppery spices and also brought a bunch of carrot and celery sticks and romaine lettuce. These were wonderful options for many of my meals on the trip.

I also brought some sausage dogs for a bbq but my son and his roommate are cooks and upped the ante to shish-kebobs with shrimp and chicken and veggies. I ate breakfast out and had eggs and potatoes and peppers and bacon two times and then one night went out for Chinese food and asked them to make me steamed vegetables and chicken. I made tuna egg patties with onion and peppers for breakfast on the day before I left and that was really yummy too so I took two of them and froze them in preparation for my trip and popped them out of the cooler and they also worked out great for a lunch! Surprisingly, I didn't feel hungry and enjoyed myself.

Thinking about it now, I realize that the bacon probably was cured with nitrates and sugar so I should have avoided that but most of the time I was able to be compliant and enjoy myself greatly on the trip. I guess I should probably extend to 50 days at least because of that. Honestly though, I react so quickly to foods with my IBS that I almost think I could stop at 30 and start the reintroduction and I would quickly find out what foods are causing inflammation and sensitivity for me. 

The great thing is that I'm finding that I am no longer gassy and the swelling in my joints seems to have gone down!