Whole 30 is a Wrap

I have successfully completed the Whole30 program and it was an amazing experience.  It was hard but well worth all the lessons I learned and healthy habits I developed.  I had an entire basket of Halloween candy bars sitting at my desk today and I chose to walk to the break room to get my sliced apple and pecans.  Honestly, even I was shocked.  So let's start at the beginning.

This is my pre-diet (while I'm calling it a diet here, it is honestly more of a lifestyle change) swollen belly.  I began this diet approximately 15 pounds over my usual weight and no matter what I had tried I wasn't able to shed the post surgery pounds and swelling.  Endometriosis is an inflammatory disease so cutting out the foods that can cause an inflammatory response in your body seemed pretty logical to me.
So what did I eat you ask?  LOTS of organic fruit, veggies, meat and seafood.  Here are a few of my absolute favorite recipes. 

Breakfast:  A handful of fresh spinach and kale, Bolthouse Farms Carrot juice, Naked Green Machine juice, Frozen tropical fruit and frozen apple slices.   I put all of these in my GE single serving blender and let it blend until smooth.  Please don't let the color put you off.  I promise it is delicious.  I usually accompany this with a hard boiled egg for breakfast.  yummo

Lunch:  I'm not much of a morning person so I would either take left overs from dinner of eat shredded chicken with avocado slices and a side of unsweetened applesauce.

Dinner:  My favorite!!  I used the The Whole Family Strong blog for a lot of meal ideas.  The Spicy Shred and the Coconut shrimp are out of this world!  I also discovered this amazing spaghetti sauce.

How does one eat spaghetti when no grains are allowed you ask?  I know that spaghetti squash is the usual substitute but I prefer french style green beans topped with meat sauce.  I could honestly eat it every night.  But I feel obligated to warn you that you might never get the jar open.  I bought probably 8 jars of this over the last 30 days and each one was a complete production to open.  Picture me trying to get dinner done before my dear husband gets home ... first I try just twisting it with no luck.  Then I tap the sides of the lid on the counter, still nothing.  Then I tap the entire freaking lid upside down on the counter and nothing.  Then I get the rubber lid gripper thing and make awful faces and grunting noises that appear to increase in volume ... STILL NOTHING! Seriously who seals the bleeping jars?!!  Out of complete desperation I hold the jar upside down in hubby's boiling noodle water, and repeat all of the above and voila ... jar is opened with so much force there is sauce splatter all over.  But it's open!  So Caution: Do not purchase without extreme patience or a husband at home to open.

Snacks:  It really seemed like snacking was all I did the past 30 days.  I enjoyed pecans, pistachios and sunflower seeds.  I ate fruit salads and unsweetened apple sauce.  Check out my Paleo Please board for a few snack ideas I got from Pinterest.  It really is possible to snack all day and lose weight.

 

Now the moment you have all been waiting for.  After the 30 days I feel fantastic.  I can tell that my body is functioning the way it was intended.  At the end of the 30 days I've lost 12 pounds, I have no indigestion, no aches or pains, no unmentionable digestive problems and most importantly no swelling!  See for yourself.

If you are up to the challenge I recommend tackling it with a friend for support.  The first week is pretty rough.  I had a hard time with sugar withdrawal and got some intense headaches.  If you are in the habit of snacking on junk food that is also a difficult habit to break.  Having someone else to help hold you accountable always helps :) 

I'm sure you are also wondering what I plan to do now that the 30 days are up.  At first I was excited about being able to reincorporate the food groups that I had cut out cold turkey but it only took one meal to show me what a bad idea that was.  I tried grains first and my belly swelled up almost immediately.  I got on the scale the following morning and I hadn't gained a pound it was pure inflammation.

It looks like the Whole30 is going to be more of a Whole lifestyle for this mama to be.  If you have any Whole30 or Paleo recipes you would like to share email them to me.  I am always looking for new ideas!