What is life after Whole30?

I'm asking because I don't know yet! Before Whole30, I considered myself a "moderator." I can eat just one or two bites of something sweet, I'm just not always going to choose that. It drives Marcus crazy that I can have a dark chocolate bar in the freezer and nibble on it for months. Yes, months! I'm like a mouse when it comes to nibbles. I had never really put much effort into anything elimination diet-wise, so I thought I was a bad "abstainer." Any time I've tried to cut something completely out of my eating, I immediately wanted it. And it wouldn't be long until I caved to it, rationalizing the decision because I "wasn't good at abstaining." Pssh. What a copout!

I think Whole30 gave me the definitive timeline I needed and the scientific reasons as to why I was eliminating things enough to stick to it. I would say overall, more days were easy than hard. I only had a handful of bad days, and I attribute some of those to a clingy baby! Just. So. Needy.

Going forward, I need to read the Food Freedom Forever book without a doubt, because I'm not sure what my nutrition is going to look like, but I'm not scared. I'm pretty well armed at this point with how certain foods affect me, mostly emotionally. I don't seem to have any real intolerances, although I will say cheese is iffy and will likely be few and far between in the future. But I do see how I have an irrational desire for some foods, and it's those feelings that I really want to stay on top of. Some foods, I'm super likely to overindulge, so why would I even begin on them if I know I can't stop at a reasonable serving? Pasta, hummus, chips & dips... those are things I'll need to be super aware of. Desserts will likely be easyish because we don't typically buy those sorts of things at the grocery store. If Marcus or I am going to have a sweet treat, it's usually at a restaurant or a special trip out for it. We aren't in danger of polishing off a half gallon of ice cream because it won't be in our freezer. Luckily, we agree on that. Marcus is a threat to eat ALL of something, no matter what it is, so better safe than sorry with grocery shopping for him.

The only thing we haven't technically reintroduced yet is gluten, so we'll see how we feel with some bread and maybe pasta on Friday! I will say we had a few beers last night (classy Valentine's, we know ;) and I did NOT feel great this morning. I felt achy and a little sore all over, almost flu-like. Breakfast and coffee fixed me right up, but I didn't feel as good as I usually do when I wake up. Luckily, I'm a sparse beer drinker anyways.

All this to say, Whole30 did help us figure out how we should be grocery shopping and eating most of the time. I don't think I knew how to exist on purely whole foods before this, so it was a phenomenal learning experience. I love that very little of what we're eating even has a label. Yes, I will indulge in something in the near future, but only when I have made a very conscious and intentional decision to do so! I was very tempted by Valentine's treats, but I also am stubborn and didn't want to indulge just because I was surrounded by it. That didn't feel like a good reason. I'm feeling like my first "worth it" moment will come soon in the form of a blueberry fritter from our local donut shop after a good run. That sounds awesome!