What I Am Taking Away from Whole30

Whole30 is done today!  *angel choir sings*  and it's going to take every ounce of self control in me not to stop at the bakery this morning and not to FILL my grocery cart with all the goodies I've been missing this past month.  I want to ease back into our normal diet.  I'm excited to be done but I also feel like I've learned a lot about myself and my relationship to food so I don't want to just throw that all away and eat bread at every meal today!

Wish me luck because I really do have to go grocery shopping and I really do have to drive by at least three bakeries to get there!

I will be including most of the "forbidden" foods back into my diet... but in moderation.  Bread, dairy, alcohol... all these things can be easily over-indulged.  I'm still going to limit refined carbs, but boy am I going to enjoy the crap out of that melt-in-your-mouth brotchen when I eat it.  Or bakery treat.  Or pretzel.  Or beer.  I am living in Germany after all!  Bring on the brie with toast!  But yes, Whole30 did teach me that I might be more sensitive to processed foods than I thought. And I don't have to eat them! If something makes my tummy hurt after eating it I will take note and limit it in the future.

I don't need milk and honey in my coffee.  I will probably keep drinking it black.  Though lately I've been adding 1-2 drops of peppermint essential oil when I want to kick things up a notch!  It gives it a delightful zip and reminds me of a peppermint mocha from a ritzy coffee shop!

I will keep getting creative with breakfast.  I get easily bored of eggs every day.  And some days I'm in a hurry.  But my default is to grab some toast and fruit.  Whole30 taught me to open my mind a little and consider leftovers for breakfast.  Soup was a very satisfying morning meal.  And super fast to reheat and enjoy!

I will continue to eat mindfully, keeping mealtimes slow and distraction-free.  And though Jesse is often unable to eat meals with us, I am trying to instill in the girls a sense of family time whenever we sit down to eat together.  It's not just about the food... it's about the experience.  Savor.  Enjoy each other.  Enjoy your food.

I will snack less.  I don't consider myself a snacker, but apparently I crave an evening munchy more often than I thought. Perhaps it was just the fact that snacking was discouraged on the diet so of course I wanted to snack more.  But I did realize I like to have something at night before bed.  And I learned that a nice cup of tea is a perfectly good substitute for a snack that I'm probably only wanting because I'm bored and tired.  (I could also just go to bed.  That helps, too, when one is tired.)

I will strive for a more balanced view of how I look at sugary treats.  Jesse and I had a lot of really great conversations about food this month.  And I realized I might be too extreme in my view of sugar... NO SUGAR. EVER. might be a little intense.  (Who me?  Intense?  Noooo.)  So anyways yeah maybe I need to lighten up a little.  Just because sugar is unhealthy doesn't mean I have to banish it to the far ends of the earth holidays only.  It's the sweet things in life that brighten our days.  Perhaps a weekly homemade dessert to look forward to sharing as a family isn't going to kill us (Jesse's idea!)  It might seem weird that I'm considering adding MORE sugar to our lives after doing a zero-sugar-30days.  But I never bake for my family.  And maybe Jesse's right... having some homemade cookies to look forward to on Thursday night might be just the incentive he needs to say no to the candy bar at the store on Tuesday afternoon?  We'll see ;o)

Increased protein and veggies increases my energy level.  It might be a coincidence because right about the time we started Whole30 the sun also reappeared in Germany, but I felt much better on this diet.  I was a little surprised, actually!  I noticed that I still felt awesome and ready-to-conquer-the-world, even on the rainy days.  I found myself able to stay up later working on things in the evenings without dragging too much the next day.  And I felt very clear in my mind... focused, excited, creative, etc.  It was an interesting observation.  Again, not sure if it's coincidence or not.  I am solar-powered, after all, so any time the sun comes up I immediately zing back to life!

So in conclusion, I still love the book .  Jesse and I each lost some weight.  I noticed that I feel a bit more toned (just from my normal yoga workouts in combination with the diet.)  And we're going to keep loading up on veggies.  All in all, a great experience.  I highly recommend!

Now where's my BREAD?  I'm dying of miss! ;o)