I know that there is a huge crowd of people who started going to the gym this month, and began a new diet. If that's you, good for you! I find it incredibly inspiring to see people working out, getting back into working out, or trying it for the first time. It's easy to keep doing something you've always done. It's a lot harder to change your lifestyle, your habits, and your daily routine. I'm not usually one for New Years resolutions, but seeing that I began my efforts to quit caffeine last year, and now with the start of the next thing, maybe I just like the sense of hope and freshness that a new year and new goals bring.
While I'm not starting a diet this January, I am trying something a little different. Over the holidays, I read the book It Starts with Food. The Whole30 concept is that there are many large food groups that could be making you feel tired, draggy, irritable, or just sick in general, and it's impossible to find out what (if anything) is affecting you unless you eliminate them completely, then slowly add them back in. While I don't have any food allergies (besides mangoes), and I don't necessarily feel sluggish or drowsy during the day, I like the concept of cleaning up what I'm eating to see if there's something that affects me negatively.
So with that, I began my own Whole30 Journey on January 1st. I waited until then because I didn't want to be a drag on the holidays and not be able to join in on all of our Christmas dinners. Since I have overall good health, I thought I would enjoy the month of December without making a big deal about what I eat.
Whole30 is, honestly, both restrictive and freeing. It's restrictive in the sense that you can't have ANY sugar, dairy, legumes (including peanuts), gluten grains, and non-gluten grains (like oats or corn). It is freeing in the sense that the purpose of it is not to go on a diet or lose weight - it's to be clean and healthy from the inside out - and within those boundaries, you can enjoy the food that's there without worrying about what you're eating. Of course it's always unhealthy to overeat any kind of food, but the approved Whole30 foods are very hard to overeat.
I'm excited for these 30 days, and for how my mind will (hopefully) change in regards to food. If you have gone on the Whole30 program before (or Paleo, which is pretty close), then send some recipes my way! And comment below if you've tried it - did you like it? Was it awful? Did it help you think differently about food? Let me know what you thought!
