Whole 30 'Experiment'

                                   
above is the list I made for the 'yes' foods and the 'no' foods that were/n't part of my 21-day detox last summer.  as you can see, it's a pretty restrictive list, but it wasn't bad once I got used to it.  I felt really good, in fact, noticing increased energy, better sleep, less tinnitus and skin issues, fewer aches and pains...

since I went to the doctor on Monday, and she told me the pre-diabetes I was ignoring was actually diabetes (I guess each doctor interprets the numbers differently?), I decided that was the sign I was waiting for to light a fire under my own butt, and get my self/life/eating habits/lack of exercise in check. I guess I was waiting for something more dramatic, like collapsing in public and needing to be rushed to the hospital via ambulance, or something, because simply having her say the word to me feels sort of anti-climactic.  it's not like I have any real symptoms that can't be attributed to simply aging - I feel the same as I always do, which is admittedly not as good as I used to when I was younger, but I am staring down the barrel of turning 50 in less than a year.  I just shrugged and told her that I wasn't interested in taking any prescription medications, that I'd just lose some weight, and start moving more.  I know I can do it, because the detox was pretty rough, but I got through it on my own, so this time, I'm going to use The Whole 30 as a guide to help keep me on track.

I have A Lot on my plate, right now - figuratively speaking - as I know we All do, but I cracked the book open when I got home from getting my blood work done this morning (Thursday), and read through page 13.  not enough progress to be patting myself on the back, yet, but it's a start, and I DO - like all of you - have other things I need to do with my time.  right now, I have some urgent and important paperwork to attend to, but I also need to eat something since all I had after 'fasting' since 10pm last night was a banana at 11:30am.  here it is an hour later, and I'm nursing a headache, so I'm guessing that paperwork is going to have to wait until after I've fed myself something for lunch!  but I came to this page to hold myself accountable by keeping a public food journal, so here we go:

Thursday
11:30am - banana
1:15pm - cream of tomato soup, grilled cheese sandwich
6:45pm - carrot & hummus
7:00pm - tortellini, marinara, and Parmesan
8:30pm - 4 home-made chocolate chip cookies (I use 1/2 the sugar called for in the recipe)
8 - 10 cups water

Friday
8:30am - 1 ch. ch. cookie
3pm - banana
1:40pm - 1 ch. ch. cookie, 1/2 cup milk
between 7pm & 11pm - 2 bowls pasta w/marinara & parm, salad with balsamic dressing, 2 slices bread, 1 ch.ch.cookie
8+ water

Saturday
12:35am - potato chips
1:30am - pasta, red sauce, parm
10:30am - 2 store-bought pb cup cookies, 1/2 cup milk
1:30pm - potato chips
5:15pm - salad:  mixed greens, carrot, red onion, cucumber, parm, croutons, creamy Caesar dressing.
9:30pm - plastic cup of wine (classy!)
8+ water

Sunday
1am - pasta, butter, mozzarella; 2 cookies
11am - slice of Italian bread
between 12:30pm & 10pm - glass of wine, pasta salad x 2, cheeseburger on a bun, buffalo chicken w/cheese sauce x 2, bun
10:30pm - doughnut & munchkins
11:30pm - pasta w/pesto & mozzarella.
> 8 water

so there it is - proof that I eat like crap.  to be fair, I don't usually eat some of this stuff, but a friend brought the chips & cookies over, so we ate them.  and we went to a barbecue yesterday were there was so much yummy food, I chose to enjoy some of it, knowing that in just a matter of days, I'm going to be restricting my diet.  I still need to read more of my Whole 30 book before the 1st, so I have a better handle on what I mean to be doing, but I'm up to page 23, and have been eating all the food that I can't have during the 30 days just to get them out of the house!  I know - it's a real sacrifice, protecting myself from all those cookies, chips, cheeses and pastas...oh, and the cheeseburgers!  I had the one cheeseburger at the barbecue yesterday, and it was so good, I wanted another one all day/night long, and was still craving one by bedtime.  it made me think how insidious whatever it is that's floating around in my gut is - how my systems are so used to the 'garbage', they actively desire it even though my rational mind knows it's unhealthy.  I also thought about how pleased I've been that the teen seems to be eating more salads lately, until I thought about the fact that it's less about the veggies, and more about having a base to hold his dressing and croutons!  when I mentioned it, he said he'd eat salad without the dressing, but I've yet to test that theory, so we'll see how that goes, and if he chooses to join me in my food journey over the next month or not.

more to come, stay tuned ~