Whole30 Challenge: Autumn is Coming
Today marks one week to go before I begin the Whole30 challenge. In true American style, that means that I have been eating all kinds of stuff I won’t be able to eat for 30 days. Basically, give me all the cheese, grains, and (to a lesser extent) wine! GIVE IT.
Wes and I are visiting some people that we met at Atlanta Poly Weekend a few months ago this weekend, hence why I decided that September 2nd would be the day to start this whole thing. We’re going to a beer festival for goodness’ sake. Basically it would either be unrealistic or torture to try and do this while in Georgia. Of course, this also means that the withdrawal portion of the challenge (that first week where your body is all “YO, I usually have a much easier time getting sugars and energy from you. What gives??? EAT A CANDY BAR FOLLOWED BY CAKE AND A LOAF OF BREAD WITH ALL THE BUTTER ON IT.”) all the harder as I have been eating all that crap and will be coming off a weekend where I simply don’t care what I’m eating.
But like I said, Autumn is coming and the game will be afoot:
I’ve been thinking a lot about resolutions lately with this impending challenge. I notice that I am always primed to make “new year resolutions” in September, and this year is no different. September is, for kids who went to school in my area (and many other areas in the US), when the new school year starts so for me September always marked a new year in general. By the time January rolls around, I have been dealing with the new year for a few months and the first of January is pretty arbitrary. I don’t have any goals in January that I haven’t already been working on since September.
And I realized that of course I found out about the Whole30 when September was right around the corner. When Autumn is starting to approach, I always start to feel inspired to make some more changes to improve my happiness and health. I have been pretty consistent about doing that (and sticking to that) for the last few years, so it would appear that the time is right to move on to a new set of goals. Finding out what eating well means for me and what kinds of exercise I can actually motivate myself to do consistently are two very worthwhile goals!
As with most things like this, I will be approaching it as scientifically as possible. I know that there will be some psychosomatic stuff going on. I’m going to journal everyday about how I’m feeling , what I’m eating, and all that (not on here…who on Earth would want to hear about that?! I'm sure someone, but I can't be expected to wittily talk about headaches and the lack of cheese for 30 days straight, you know?) and then at the end see if I can pinpoint trends. I’ll be reading a lot about how human bodies best absorb various types of nutrients (in what forms and why) and about the gut, which if you didn’t know, is pretty fascinating. Everyone’s gut is populated by completely different bacteria, which seems to be why there is no wonder diet for humans as a whole. Our guts are as diverse as our genetics!
So, I am hopeful that I will be able to pull this off, especially since Wes will be doing it with me. I hope I actually learn something about my body that I didn’t know yet. And hopefully the headaches and lethargy will be a thing of the past soon!