CTGeorge Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 Hi, all! My name is Crystal and my husband and I are starting the Whole30 on July 1st. Just in time for those Fourth of July cookouts, right? I am not very computer-literate, so I'm hoping to be able to learn how to navigate this website with as much ease as I do when browsing social media outlets. That being said, I am really nervous about my Whole30 journey and can really use all the support I can get; therefore, I will probably be here a lot. Hopefully I'll get to know this website fairly quickly. My husband bought me It Starts with Food for Mother's Day (my request), and I've read through it several times already. I am ready to start this journey,but I know I'm going to need a lot of emotional support. A few years ago my husband and I started CrossFit and the Paleo diet at the same time, and we both had success and amazing results with it; however, we ended up quitting CrossFit because of a number of different reasons and stopped doing Paleo shortly thereafter. So I KNOW that I am capable of success with the Whole30, but it's more of an emotional journey for me. Here are some of my biggest concerns: I was recently officially diagnosed with body dysmorphia, and I'm now realizing it's something I've struggled with since I was a child. I can't seem to get over the number on the scale, so not weighing myself is definitely going to be a challenge. I do not like to cook, mainly because I'm impatient. Cooking is something I've tried to pick up since my husband requested I at least TRY, and I have made some improvements, but I can honestly say I do not enjoy cooking. I am hoping this journey will change that for me. I work in public safety and my shifts are at LEAST 12 hours long, but a lot of times I end up working 15-18 hours/day. This is the biggest concern I have because I snack A LOT during my shifts, and I read in the book that they want to try to eliminate snacking. Any tips on the above bullets would be really helpful! Especially on the last one. My husband is my biggest supporter and I feel like he can help me the most with the first 2 bullets, but any support/advice on them will be great also. WHEW! That was a lot. Thanks for reading! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators ShannonM816 Posted June 18, 2017 Moderators Share Posted June 18, 2017 Hi, Crystal! For your 12 hour or longer shifts, you're definitely going to need to eat more than you might if you were just working an 8 hour day. Try to eat breakfast within an hour of waking up, and then plan meals every 4-5 hours after that, so however many of those meals would fall in your work shift, plan to take that much food with you to work. The not snacking thing isn't meant to be some kind of torture -- if you're hungry, eat. But don't eat mindlessly or graze all day. So when you're hungry, plate up a meal as described in the meal template, and eat. Don't just grab a handful of nuts or grapes or whatever every few hours. If it works out that you need a little food between meals, have a mini meal with some protein, fat, and vegetables, or at least two of the three. Good things to keep around in case you have longer days than planned or someone eats your meal out of the work fridge or whatever are cans of tuna or salmon or sardines or chicken, olives, jerky if you can find some that's compliant, maybe keep a bottle of olive oil if you have space for it -- if you have these, then you've got something to tide you over if you just need something to eat quickly, and they're handy if you ever forget your lunch because you can almost always find a place to pick up a plain tossed salad that you can add them to to have a meal. For cooking, you never have to enjoy it, although I hope you at least don't hate it too much. You might look at doing a weekly cookup type of thing, so you do the bulk of the cooking once a week and don't spend as much time in the kitchen during the week. There's a basic description of that here, and an actual week's meal plan done that way here. You don't have to use her recipes, obviously, it's just to give you an idea of how it would work. If you don't want to do that, at the very least, always make sure you cook enough to have leftovers. If you're grilling steaks for your dinner one night, throw some chicken or burger patties on the grill too for future meals. Baking a potato for the meal you're about to eat? Bake a couple extra, it doesn't take much more time or energy to do them, and then you've got them to take for lunch the next day. As far as the body dysmorphia, no one here is an expert, and while we believe that Whole30 is a healthy way to eat, we also know that for some people, especially those already struggling with different issues, the strict nature of the program can trigger unhealthy ways of thinking. I hope that you've sought professional help to overcome this and will continue to seek such help if you need it. You deserve to be healthy, not just physically, but emotionally/mentally, and sometimes we need an unbiased party to help us figure out how to get there. I don't know how helpful they'd be to you, but there are some articles on the Whole30 blog written to address various eating disorders. If they speak to you, great, if not, that's okay as well, but the takeaway should really be, if something about Whole30 is making things worse for you, don't feel like you have to finish the Whole30. Do what makes sense for you and what makes you healthier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tami Frank Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 Hi Crystal, My name is Tami and my husband and I are starting Whole 30 on July 1st as well. My sister and her family have been following the Whole 30 program for two years. They both rave about how much energy they have. My sister struggles with health issues and the Whole 30 program has helped her a lot. I am working on planning and preparing now. Good luck!!!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon Wade Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 Hi Crystal and Tami, I will be starting the Whole 30 for the first time on July 2. I am hoping to get my husband on board too. I am reading a lot now and hoping to really prepare myself mentally. I struggle with sugar cravings something horrible. I binge eat sugar and often secretly. I am hoping to really tame the sugar dragon. I am worried about the meal prep as that is usually my biggest weakness. I really don't love spending time planning my meals but I don't mind cooking them. For instance, if someone showed up at my door with ingredients and recipes, I would be super happy! LOL. Anyway, I hope to support you and gain support from you as we take on July! Shannon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawna Tabaks Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 Hello!! I am starting on July 1st, and hopefully my husband with me. One of our friends is doing it as well. It is nice to have a group of us for support! It is all of our first time and I am excited to try this! I am not the biggest fan of cooking, but I have been wanting to meal prep, so why not with the Whole30 diet as well? Shawna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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