Day 1

Day 1 of Whole 30 challenge.  That's right, I'm going in!  Last night I finished reading the book "It Starts With Food" by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig.  It really got me thinking about the food I eat and my relationship with food.  Carbohydrates in particular.  This is going to be hard, I'm not going to lie.  But I have been struggling in a big way with sugar especially and according to this book this 30 day plan will help with cravings.  The science behind this plan is amazing and if it can help me kick start my weight loss again well that's not a bad thing either!  One refreshing thing is there is no tracking or weighing or measuring.  You just eat healthy foods.  Let me tell you what I am NOT going to eat for 30 days.

1. Dairy - Yes this will be hard for me.  I quit drinking milk quite awhile ago but I eat greek yogurt almost every day for lunch.  I love cheese and of course there's ice cream and frozen yogurt.  Don't get me started!
2. Grains - This won't be too bad because I'm not a big bread eater as such but don't get me wrong, I do like my grains.  Almost every morning I have been having a bowl of oatmeal with fruit and almond milk.  Not to mention rice, and quinoa.  This will be interesting.  I will be building my meals around a protein source and a few vegetables instead of adding a starch.
3. Alcohol - No problem.  I usually have one (sometimes 2) glasses of red wine a week.  I can drop that.
4. Sugar and sugar substitutes - WHAT??  This will be a challenge.  I use flavored coffee creamer in my coffee and I love it.  But I can do it.  Today I used unsweetened almond milk and it was ok.  Not great but ok.  I may actually drop that and just drink it black.
5. Legumes - Not too hard for me but I will have to find a good Paleo Chili recipe with no beans.  Chili without beans?  I'm sceptical for sure.  I can do this. 

So by now you're probably thinking "she's crazy, what the heck is she gonna eat for 30 days?"  Well, let me tell you what I'm going to EAT for the next 30 days.

1. Vegetables - I love vegetables!  Supposed to be organic when possible.  No potatoes, only sweet potatoes.  
2. Meat, seafood and eggs - Grass fed meat, wild caught seafood, and free range eggs.  This won't always be possible but I'll try.  
3. Fruit - I love fruit but there's a catch.  If weight loss is one of your goals you aren't supposed to eat a lot of fruit.  Which makes sense, lots of natural sugar.  And if possible should be eaten with a meal. 
4. Healthy fats - Coconut, Avocado, and Olive Oil.  Nuts and nut butters.  Not peanuts, apparently they are a legume.  Who knew.  

Then at the end of 30 days they suggest adding things slowly, like dairy and see how your body reacts.  This isn't a lifetime plan but a way to get your body used to eating good healthy food without additives and sugar and to help with carb cravings, etc.  So we'll see how it goes.  I'm planning to blog every day to chart my progress.  I weighed myself today and took measurements.  You aren't supposed to weigh yourself until the end of the 30 days.  This will be a challenge!  I will try.

How did day 1 go?  Actually not bad.  I was off today.  I got my workout in this morning.  It was -43 C with the windchill factor so I was very thankful to have my Body Pump kit at home from beachbody.com  I have the weights and the videos.  If I can't get to the gym, or if it's really cold and I don't want to go I can do it at home!  I wasn't really hungry but after supper I did have the sweet craving thing going on.  I had an orange.  It helped for sure.  One of the rules is that you really aren't suppposed to eat between meals.

So here I go.  I'm going to try my hardest to make this work.  What could you give up for 30 days?