Years of yo-yo dieting, counting calories, tracking points, soups, liquids, insert trendy diet name here, all ended up with me in the same scenario, a failed diet attempt.
In 2010 I tried the paleo diet and I was convinced I had finally found the answer to what would help me lose weight! Eat real food, the carnivore diet, what our ancestors ate, I was pumped. It seemed to be a good fit for me and as I read more and tried new recipes I felt better and I knew I was onto something.
Then, the honeymoon was soon over and I didn’t feel it was “working” anymore. But, I didn’t understand why. I felt like I was actually starting to gain weight and to my “diet culture” brain, that didn’t make sense and I was devastated yet again.
2012, insert the Whole30. “Another diet to try” I thought. Who knew it would totally transform my life. I think that’s one of life’s greatest lessons, never give up, keep searching, hoping, researching and discovering what works best for you. We are all our own science experiment.
“But isn’t the Whole30 the same as Paleo?” Guess again. The Whole30 meal template helped me realize where my paleo days went awry. I had been focusing too much on protein instead of filling my plate with vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, etc. Turns out too much protein didn’t agree with me and learning to portion out my plates by filling them with veggies first really helped me refocus my meals.
Having set of program rules for those 30 days and a planned reintroduction was the structure I needed. As hard as it was, I appreciated having those rules in place to guide me along. I was glad I didn’t have to count calories or points or track anything, that felt very freeing.
After those 30 days, the reintroduction is the most important part. (If you’re reading this and you’ve skipped the reintroduction phase, I strongly encourage you to try again!) For me, reintroduction highlighted just how many foods were having a negative reaction on my body and how poorly I had felt. As tough as it was to discover, it was also a huge “light-bulb” moment for me as to why I hadn’t felt good for so long and my body, mind and low energy was evidence of that.
For me, dairy, legumes and grains all had significant impacts on my system from hives, foggy brain, itchy skin, unpleasant stomach issues and overall low energy. It was a tough pill to swallow seeing as some of my favorite foods belong in those food groups! Not everyone will have these intense reactions, in fact some people have no reactions at all. That’s why it’s important to really try it for yourself.
After everything, I felt amazing. I identified which foods didn’t agree with me and I was on my way to food freedom! Right? Not so much. Food had a larger hold on me than I wanted to admit to myself and I slipped back into my old habits over time. Some new habits stuck, but the food cravings proved to surpass my willpower.
So I tried a second Whole30 months later, except this time my brain/ego knew I had completed it before so it pulled out every trick in the book to get me to fail at my round. And much to my disappointment, my brain succeeded and I threw in the towel.
8 years and 9 Whole30’s later I’m currently living my food freedom. A lot happened in those years, lots of trials and errors, successes and failures. The best part is that I know what food freedom means to me and I love sharing that with others and helping them to navigate this crazy thing called life and help them to achieve their own version of food freedom. There is no such thing as a perfect food freedom, and there’s a plan in place for any slips or if I feel the need for a reset.
I became a Whole30 Certified Coach so I could encourage people on their Whole30’s and help guide them to their food freedom. I wish everyone would attempt a Whole30 to truly experience real food, NSV’s (non-scale victories), and learn a lot about themselves in the process.
If the Whole30 is something you’re curious and you’d like the support of a coach who’s been through it all, I’d love to support you on your journey. Click on the “work with me” tab for details on my coaching packages and feel free to message me with questions! The Whole30 program details are free at whole30.com.