Well hello to my old friends. I bet you forgot I existed. It has been so long that I couldn’t remember my password! I fail to understand why, as much as I love to write, I cannot blog on a regular basis. I guess it goes hand in hand with my inability to stick with anything! Diet, exercise, resolutions, etc. My weight yoyos like crazy. When I exercise, it is down, when I am highly stressed, it is down. Anything in between and I begin to look like a hippopotamus! I don’t seem to be able to find a happy medium. And so, I am starting to work on a new me all over again! Is that a collective groan that I hear from my readers? I don’t blame you in the slightest. Nonetheless, I am going to give it a shot. And since it is spring, this is an apt time for Springcleanedmom to do some spring cleaning!
What exactly are you doing, I hear you ask? I don’t usually do things in half measures so I am throwing myself into a Whole30. Yes, me, the anti-high protein, -low carb girl. Yes me, the anti-paleo girl. I couldn’t care less what my cave-person ancestors ate and I don’t believe that today’s diet should reflect what they ate. I know, I know, this doesn’t make sense at all. Well, here is what I like about Whole30. They are not advocating for a caveman diet. They are advocating for a healthy diet. A good deal of what they say makes sense to the scientist in me. And a part of it is plain desperation.
It all started when I was a wee-little lass. The “sick headaches”, the fatigue, the anxiety, the depression, and the insomnia. And it only got worse through my college years, partially because I discovered alcohol (actually, that discovery was a little earlier than college). My 20s were the worst years for depression, my 30s for migraine. My 40s haven’t seen much in the way of depression, but pain has been my companion for a very long time now, as has insomnia. I started running in my 30s and although this new-found love went hand-in-hand with a healthier lifestyle and weight, it also went hand-in-hand with chronic hip pain. While surgery fixed some of the hip problems, it hasn’t been the complete answer to my troubles. Every so often I have major flare ups which require steroids. And in the past two weeks I have had shingles and debilitating back pain. Out of shear desperation, I have turned to the internet and as luck (or misfortune) would have it, I stumbled across the Whole30 program!
Anyone who knows me, knows that I love to eat. I am addicted to food. While I am fortunate enough to enjoy healthy foods, I am a potato chip addict. If it wasn’t so bad for me, I’d live on a diet of dips, chips, and red wine 🙂 Who wouldn’t want to do that? As you can imagine, I don’t feel so good when my diet consists largely of fat and sugars. It is time to detoxify. I am also treating this as a migraine elimination diet. I have started many of these over the years but have a hard time sticking with them. Why do I think Whole30 will be different? Because it has an end date. They even have a plan to add foods back in to the diet after the 30 days. The one problem for me is that I am scheduled to have surgery mid-way through. I thought about starting the “eating plan” after my surgery, but why wait? If I cannot stick to the diet during my overnight stay in the hospital, so be it! Technically, the folks who developed the 30 day plan would require I start over. I will wait and see. I am highly unlikely to beat myself up about eating something “off-plan) while in the hospital. The two weeks of healthy eating prior to my hospital stay can only be of benefit.
Today is Day 2 for me! Day 1 was a breeze. Today I am lacking energy but given that I am on pain killers and muscle relaxants, I don’t think the diet is soley to blame! I am looking forward to the morning when I wake up with the “extraordinary energy” that so many Whole30 and Paleo folk describe. I am not hungry. That is a good thing. I do want something sweet but I can handle that. I am feeling rather positive about this new journey even though I have never experienced a diet-induced change in how I feel.
How about you? Who has made a significant dietary change and reaped benefits? I’d love to hear your stories!
springcleanedmom 
Welcome back! You know I love your stories… always so real. I have made some minor changes in the past few years. I’ll admit, I’ve always been a reasonably healthy eater, but working in weight loss really made me change my game. I think I’m lucky too because at 40, let’s face it, we need to be more careful. This plan you are doing sounds like a good one. I’ve found that maintenance is the hardest part, so I constantly monitor myself (mostly as an experiment) to see what works for me and what doesn’t. I can tell you that when I have sugar or a lot of carbs, I can put on 3-4 pounds in a single day! That’s it– it’s the sugar. I’d be curious to see if some of your pain goes away while you are on this program. Sugar/carbs cause insulin to be released, and insulin is an inflammatory marker. So the less insulin, the less inflammation in your body. I’ll be curious– you’ll have to let me know!
It is so nice to blog every six months and always have you there, Lolabees 🙂 It is a bit like coming home. I have been reading your posts but am a bit behind. I am hoping the inflammation goes away. I am not hungry at all on this diet but I think I will struggle to maintain good nutrition. If I cannot be bothered preparing something, I tend to not eat at all. A big part of this plan is that you eat a minimum amount of food. I need to go and catch up on your posts. Every time I have tried to comment, I have been required to login and couldn’t remember my password. No excuses now, hey!
I’m loyal, kind of like a dog! And just so you know… I don’t get a chance to comment often. 😉 Hang in there this next week with your plan! I always tell my clients the #1 key to success is to be prepared.