Feeling frustrated

[ek4734]

So it’s Day 14 of my Whole30. My energy levels are so much higher, so I’m happy about that. But, I’m feeling a bit frustrated. I’ve lost some weight, which, being a naturally lean person, is not the best. (I’m allergic to nuts so getting fat into my diet is challenging; avocados are my best friends.) But my biggest concern is that I haven’t seen ANY improvement in my knee pain. I have some sort of undiagnosed autoimmune disorder that causes constant knee pain, and through these past few days my knee pain has gotten worse. I know that it’s probably going to take some more time to see improvement, but I’m getting a little impatient due to how hard I’m working to eat/live Whole30. Any suggestions on how to keep positive?

[Jihanna]

Keeping positive can be difficult when you're looking for improvements and not seeing them. I'm sorry for that, but it really comes down to mind over matter for me when that happens -- reminding myself that this is a limited-time experience and that on the other side I will have more information on how foods affect me and how to achieve a better "feel" in everyday life.

Regarding your "undiagnosed autoimmune disorder" comment, though... are you following a "stock" Whole30, or have you been tweaking it to cater to what you believe are autoimmune issues? There are a number of resources available, some through the official Whole30 website and some from a variety of bloggers (like Mel Joulwan and Michelle from Unbound Wellness), that can be found easily by Googling "Whole30 AIP". If you aren't already following an AIP-specific plan within Whole30, I definitely recommend it, because there are foods that are perfectly compliant for Whole30 that would normally feature pretty heavily in many Whole30 plans but can totally wreck a body that's sensitive due to autoimmune issues. Just avoiding nuts may not be enough for you, because of that.

If you want to share a list of what you've been eating for the past few days, we can try to look it over and see where there might be problem foods, but the very best thing for you to do would be to work with a doctor to try to pinpoint what's going on with you so you'll have a diagnosis to help you move forward in learning how to cater your diet to your body's needs.