Whole 30: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Hi friends. What's new? I've been keeping up with my fitness! Holla! I recently joined a bootcamp program near me which is much better than the bootcamp I went to last year. Last year, I paid $170ish a month for 8 sessions a month. If I missed a session, too bad, that was the only time I was allowed to go. A lot of times I would have evening commitments for work, and I wasn't able to make it, so I ended up paying 170 something dollars for 5 or 6 sessions. Woof. My current bootcamp is 150 a month for 3 times a week, and you can go ANY time you want. They offer classes at 6am, 9am, 4pm, and 6pm pretty much every day. It's awesome. And the workouts they have are definitely more challenging than what I was used to last year. Each day, the workout is posted on the board and we all get to complain about the number of burpees we have to do.

I've been stuck in a 150 rut (it's a real thing! I swear! My friend's been dealing with the same thing!), and can't seem to get under that. I've managed to get around 148 but then bump around 149 and 150 even when I'm keeping my calories pretty low. Then I broke down and ate a bunch of Stacy's pita chips and skyrocketed up to 157. Hellooooo, salt! And now I'm back to 150. Where does the weight get stored? How does it leave? What is the deal? Unsolved mysteries. However! In general, I feel stronger, leaner, and I'm able to keep up more with my bootcamp classes. When I first started bootcamp, I could only do 6 burpees in a row without stopping, and now I can do 10! So I'm focusing on those wins and trying not to stress about the scale.

I recently read the book It Starts with Food, and to try something fun and different for April, I started the Whole 30 diet. It's similar to the paleo diet, although it has a few key differences. On the paleo diet, a lot of times I would try to recreate non-paleo foods - how can I make paleo bread out of almond flour and coconut oil? How can I make a paleo granola bars with sunflower butter and coconut flakes? Is honey paleo? Are larabars paleo? Is all-natural local-bee-produced honey paleo? What about agave nectar? Etc etc. Whole 30 encourages giving up these psychological cravings/responses and focusing more on: lean protein, healthy fats, fruits, and vegetables. And that's it.

This means no dairy, no legumes (peanut butter or soy beans included), no alcohol, and no grains. The whole shtick is that grains, dairy, soy, sugar, etc, all trigger very terrible hormonal, psychological, and digestive issues in your body. A lot of the research seems pretty legit. I also recently watched Fed Up, a movie about the ill-effects of sugar on our bodies. Interesting stuff.

However! Today is day five of Whole 30 for me and I already have some few issues with it. First off, the restrictions are insane. You can't eat ANYTHING "off plan," and if you do, you have to start over at day one. It's either all or nothing. I've already should have started back at day one about four times already. I don't do well with that type of black and white thinking, especially when it comes to food, so that's one strike.

Second, I feel like I've turned into a Betty Crocker machine - well, minus all the delicious baked goods. When I am in the apartment, I am cooking. I can't tell you how many dishes we've racked up over the course of five days, and when you live in a teeny tiny apartment with no dishwasher, well, it's annoying to say the least. There are no pre-packaged snacks at the ready - anything you eat, you have to make first. While I do actually like that it's forced me to cook more, it's just way too much for me to keep up with.

Thirdly! You're not supposed to track any of your food, or your weight, or any measurements while on Whole 30. And taking measurements is a key part of my bootcamp "curriculum" - in fact, I'm getting measured again for progress in about 10 days. And I love MyFitnessPal for tracking food. I am actively trying to lose a few more pounds (I have a dress fitting in 34 days, not that I'm counting or anything). But for the past four days, I haven't tracked anything, because I'm not supposed to. And as such, I've gone ham on a jar of almond butter because hey, it's Whole 30! And I'm not supposed to track anything! Woohoo! Which is very against the idea of Whole 30, and against me maintaining a waist line.

The fourth issue is that the Whole 30 book keeps talking about how if you have asthma, or diabetes, or IBS, or gingivitis, or Lyme disease, or migraines, or anything else, then Whole 30 has the ability to reduce your systematic inflammation by removing these bad foods like grains and dairy and soy, etc, and therefore cure you of any symptoms you may have associated with these diseases. But I don't have any of these issues as far as I know, even when I eat all these "bad" foods. The Whole 30 people would say, "but systematic inflammation is silent! You don't know how great you actually can feel until you actually do a full 30 days! Give it more time! You are ruining your body with all these foods that trigger these negative responses in your body!"

While I can agree with a lot of this - that sugar isn't good for you, that vegetables and fruits are great for you, that frozen lean cuisine meals aren't the best go-to lunch, and that eating unprocessed whole foods is something to strive for - I just can't get past the fact that I'm not allowed to eat edamame, greek yogurt, and peanut butter anymore. I feel that these foods are healthy for me, and they should make up part of my diet.

Should I give it more than five days? Maybe. Whole 30 folk would shake their heads and say I didn't give it nearly the shot I should have.

I will say that reading the book was very enlightening. It definitely has given me a new outlook on eating dessert or simple carbs (hello, Stacy's pita chips from last week that made me feel like junk.) I don't argue with the fact that sugar is pretty darn bad for you, no matter how many ways you slice it.

This coming week, there is a school-wide no-sugar challenge, and I am going to try it! That means eliminating the obvious stuff - candy, brownies, froyo, sodas. But it also means eliminating other foods that have sneaky added sugars, like pasta sauce, bagels, and crackers. For right now, Whole 30 isn't happening, but No Sugar 10 sounds more manageable! And I can still have my edamame and (unsweetened) greek yogurt. Winning.

What are your thoughts on Whole 30? I know some people swear by it. Has anyone tried it with positive results?