It's Friday! I'm linking up with A Little Bit of Everything, Grace and Love and Momfessionals today to share some favorites from the week.
To be honest, this is likely because I have a long, sordid history with too much focus on calories, fat, the scale and body image. That obsession took over much of my teens and twenties. I credit God and my having children with saving me from myself in that area. For some reason, once they showed up, I was able to live life without being utterly self-focused and scared of food. It wasn't a magic moment, but one day I looked up and realized that it didn't have the hold on me it once did. Praise the Lord and thank you, Joe, Kyle, and Drew Skinner. :-)
Having said all that, it's a slippery slope and I think it can become easy to fall back into that cycle, so I'm going to talk about some of my favorite things about the Whole30 program today and then I'm going to shut up about it. I'm guessing you've heard of it because it's been very trendy for the past few years and trends do get really annoying if people act like they've discovered the best thing since sliced bread. (Which this progam is not. It was really beneficial for me, but let's be honest, sliced bread is so much better.) So, if this makes you want to roll your eyes out of your head, I'll see you next time. I feel ya, girl.
At the outset I want to say that this program is not about weight loss, although I did lose weight. It is not a program that you are supposed to live on for the rest of your life. The folks who developed it make that very clear. It's about finding out how your body reacts to certain foods by eliminating pretty much all the things you love and then re-introducing them to determine what kind of food is best for you. There is a focus on real, God-made food which is so much better for you than processed food and I don't think anyone can argue that point. Still, I'm not a doctor or a nutritionist. I'm sure there are lots of criticisms of this program out there as there are of any program. I would never assume that any eating plan is best for everyone.
I can tell you that for me it was really, really hard at times, but there were some definite benefits. I have had some stomach issues over the years and those issues are much improved after this month. I did lose 6 pounds, so there's that. I didn't have anything else miraculous happen like I've seen mentioned by other Whole30 enthusiasts. I didn't suddenly have the energy or the skin of a 20 year old. My body still feels like it's 49 years old. I slept well, but I don't have too much of a problem with sleeping as it is and when you can't have a glass of wine with your husband and watch tv at night, you just go to bed because HUGE BUMMER. For me, the best part was just that I set my mind to it and I did it. In full disclosure, I did have one adult beverage during the month and one diet Coke, so the Whole30 people would say that I did not do the program. You're supposed to start over for another 30 days if you have even one thing off the program. I didn't start over. Whatever.
If you're interested in the Whole30, don't listen to me. Go to the website and read up on it. If you decide you want to try it, here are some of my favorite things I ate or drank this month that helped me make it through without jumping out a window.
1. Homemade Mayo
2. Emergency Food
You really can have food that is exciting and tastes great on this plan. It doesn't have to be lettuce and grilled chicken. The problem is you have to work real hard to chop, season, and cook that stuff. Convenience foods for when you're so tired you cannot fathom lifting your cutting board or when you are away from your house are hard to come by, but there are options. Many purists will scoff at these types of snacks, emphasizing that you have to be prepared with fresh cut veggies and carefully measured out nuts and you won't have to succumb to these. I understand that you shouldn't eat these every day, but I promise you these items were the only things that saved me from falling head first into a bag of cheetos many days. They are compliant and really good.
There are lots of different flavors, but you need to check the website to see which are compliant. Some are not.
Same thing here. Most, but not all are not compliant. My favorite is the Lemon.
This is not something I ever thought I would eat, but a girl gets desperate. I ended up throwing some of these on salads like bacon bits. Again, some, but not all are compliant.
3. A Drink Besides Water
If you weren't aware, on the list of the most important things in my life, Diet Coke comes in at a solid #3 behind Jesus and my family. Diet Coke is not allowed on this program and neither is wine, so basically there was zero joy in any of the beverages allowed. I had to find something and although this stupid drink tasted like anger and bitterness for the first twelve times I drank it, I actually came to look forward to it. I still think it's the dumbest drink ever.
La Croix
I like tolerated the cran-raspberry and the cherry-lime flavors
4. A Compliant Cooking Fat
According to the plan, one is only allowed clarified butter - whatever that means. I still don't know. You can apparently make your own at home, but after making my own mayonnaise, I thought making my own butter was a bridge too far. Therefore, I bought this. It's called ghee which is a term I had never heard in all my life. You can also use olive, avocado, and coconut oils.
So weird.
5. Please Don't Make Me Drink Black Coffee
One of the deal breakers for this thing for many people is drinking black coffee. No, thank you. I just can't. And I can't live a day without coffee. The problem for me is that my coffee has always been about 1/2 chemical laden creamer and 1/2 actual coffee. There is a semi-solution and it's called Nutpods. (That's even a dumber name than ghee. I'm guessing the guys in the marketing department hadn't had their coffee when they came up with that.) Nothing compares to the Chocolate Caramel Sea Salt Creamer from our friends at Coffee Mate, but this will do for 30 days.
6. Whole30 Recipes on Instagram
The Whole30 Recipe feed on Instagram is taken over by a different chef each week. I got tons of recipes from that page and most of them my kids and husband really liked. This was crucial to my staying on the program.
Lastly, I'd say if you want to try Whole30, you need to have lots of chicken, meat, fish, eggs, all the vegetables God ever created, garlic, olive oil, salt, coconut milk, all the spices you can find and a really good knife.
Well, that's it. Again, please don't take my word on this. This program is likely not for everyone. I found it challenging and a good experiment for me to help me understand my body's reaction to certain foods. I'm planning to really be careful on this reintroduction phase so that I can pinpoint which foods I should try to steer clear of in the future. The last time I did that I basically ate every single thing I'd eliminated on the first day after it was over. Not smart.
I'm going to be real honest and say that I'm pretty sure diet Coke will not be something I give up forever. I think I'll have no problem with skipping it many days in a row, but I'll never fully give it up. I had one yesterday and despite folks telling me that after this long without it, it would taste terrible that was absolutely not the case. It tasted like a can of heaven spiked with the tears of angels.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Disclosure: The View From Behind Home Plate is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affliate advertising program designed to provide a means to earn small fees by linking to amazon.com
2 comments:
GIIIIIIRL, I'm all about WHOLE30! It is the best!
Clarified butter is really easy to make. It sounds complicated, but it's not. You just melt butter in a saucepan, and as it's melting, a white foamy layer will form on the top, and you skim that off and throw it away. The part that remains is the clarified butter.
I've never tried Whole30, but I'm allergic to a lot of different foods, so I have to make almost all of my own food from scratch. And I understand about needing snacks. Any time I find any kind of packaged food that I can actually eat, I buy some and keep is as an emergency stash for when I get sick of cooking everything.
I've never tried the Lemon flavor of LaraBars. I'll have to try that so far. Out of the ones I've tried so far, my favorite is Blueberry Muffin.
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