getting ready for a whole30, the easy way

First, may I say I'm starting a Whole30 on March 1 and invite you each to join me in this?

This approach to simple, healthy, and ultimately tasty eating is the best I've encountered, and believe me, I've tried lots. This is not the only approach; it's just that it's my favorite, so I'm sticking with it for awhile. This will be my second Whole30, and while I do not pretend to be an expert on the subject, I have found a few tricks (for lack of a cooler word) and tips for focusing on the good stuff and abandoning any sense of deprivation. I'd also like to share some money-saving ideas.

I don't know about every one of you, but I'd venture a guess that you are no more fond of spending more and more and more while you work toward your health and fitness goals than I am. The Whole30 and the information you need to complete it are completely free of charge. (If you'd like lots more detailed information, check here.) Yes, there's a Success Guide that you can purchase, and no, it is not needed to get results you will love. The whole cost thing can be scary, and protein, fresh vegetables and fruits, and healthy oils can be a bit pricier...unless you spend a little time in the kitchen. And I do mean a little; you won't have to live there unless you choose. What I have noticed is that when our purchases of processed foods and ready-to-eat meals decreased, so did our overall spending. I'm not suggesting any of you are buying junk food, though I have certainly been known to do that myself at times. Some foods that do not really do much for our bodies have somehow made it into the indispensable category for many of us. If you're not buying cheese or ice cream, frozen entrees, or jars and bottles of sauces and spreads for awhile, there's a lot cash freed up. I'm not even addressing cookies and chips. If you've been adding gluten-free or Paleo "treats" to your shopping cart, your savings will be even greater.

You won't be needing sugar or other sweeteners, processed foods, grains, beans, potatoes, juices, sodas, or liquor. If leaving some of these items behind sounds scary, remember this is the Whole30, not the Whole365, as its creators, Dallas and Melissa, often point out. You can do this for 30 days. We can do this for 30 days.

Now for the fun and easy part. We'll be eating meats, poultry, seafood, eggs, piles of fresh vegetables, some fruit, and healthy fats like nuts, avocados, coconut oil, olive oil, lard, and tallow. The food is good, really good, because it is comprised of your favorite things from this list. There's no reason in the world to add something you don't love. Okay, very few reasons and none really compelling. Still, don't like fish? Don't eat it. Like beef but not pork? You choose. And the very best part is there is also no significant reason to be hungry. Good fats are healthy and filling, and if you've ever done a low-fat diet, you know first-hand how hard it is to get really full on low-fat stuff. Goodbye, deprivation.

Next post will cover in detail some of my suggestions for making this as easy on yourself as possible. And, yes, it will be in plenty of time to get ready to start this with us on March 1.

the whole30, day thirty

Yep, I'm feeling rather proud of myself today. Though I still have the annoying sinus issue, I am much more focused on my completion of The Whole30.

That said, I'm really not sure what, if any, changes I'm inclined to make, right now anyway. I like the results, so far, and I want more. I will, most likely, welcome back my bathroom scale. While I have experienced no food cravings in this 30 days, I have missed the scale. I may have mentioned that once or twice. I don't quite know how I'll react if my weight hasn't changed, though weight was not my motivator in undertaking this. I would guess that it's dropped by the way my clothes fit and what I see in the mirror, but that's not always the case. As we all know, muscle weighs more than fat, and I sure hope it's fat I'm losing and not muscle. We shall see.

On a somewhat lighter note, I've often, maybe way too often, mentioned that, like GK and Coco, I am a creature of habit. I like to call them rituals, but semantics is not in my favor here. So today, my Day 30 of the Whole30, I am somehow making my own coffee. That is not the way it works here. I cook, he cleans and grinds beans to make coffee every morning and brings me two cups of strong, black coffee. That is the plan, the routine, the ritual. This is seriously wrong, yet here I am, impatiently waiting for the brewing to be done, cream in his cup, nothing in mine, so that I can take him coffee. This is an anomaly; it is most definitely not the beginning of a new ritual.

Breakfast, a few hours after the coffee, was quick and none too exciting. Mine was small, one scrambled egg and a leftover pork chop, a pretty dry, flavorless, though not overcooked specimen. I'm thinking of calling it quits with pork for awhile. It is just so hard to find any with flavor or enough fat to make it palatable. I buy only meats that at least claim to be raised humanely on small or smallish farms. I avoid factory farmed meats and grocery stores, and it still is barely edible. I should mention that live in central California; those of you in other parts of the world may have very different sources and experiences. I'm thinking of sticking to ruminants, a little bit of poultry, and responsibly caught wild fish.

I will not be wrapping up my experience with the Whole30 today. As I transition out of this, if I actually do transition out of it, I'll do my best to pull the different aspects of my personal experience together here. I've learned a lot more than I'd expected, and I'm a lot less anxious to move on than I'd thought I'd be at this point. Next time I post, I will have completed these 30 days. Guess I'll be taking it one day at a time for awhile.

Since we all have different takes on this and reactions to it, it would be wonderful if anyone who's doing this or something similar would add your thoughts and experiences, as well. Thanks.