Whole30 Day 7: The Dog Days Are Almost Over

Hello! I have successfully stuck to the Whole30 challenge for 7 days and I think I'm about out of the "Oh my goodness, body, I know, you want sugar...you're just going to have to enjoy this damn pineapple, OK?!?" stage of things. Other than some physical blechness and a few days of irritability and stress, I have adjusted to this way of eating pretty readily and I'm enjoying it. As it turns out, this timeline is really accurate. I definitely had some moments on day 4 where I thought I was going to resort to screaming , stomping, and possibly throwing things. I managed to not do that and ate a banana instead.

Years ago, I did a stint of the Atkins diet with Wes and it was a nightmare the first time because we were just replacing things we like with weird alternate versions of them that contain fake sugar and alternate ingredients, none of which contained any nutritional value. I got really stupid one day and remembered that I hadn't had, like, any sugar in a week and my brain was turning into a glucose zombie. "Glucossssse...GLUCOSSSSE". I ate a candy bar and was able to read words again. The second time we tried it, I went the vegetables and meat route (no substitutions for bread or candy or whatever), and kept my blood sugar even with cheese (seemingly). Still, on Atkins, you have to stay away from most fruit in order to keep your carbs at a ridiculously low level.

I am enjoying this because it's not a weight loss plan. It's a nutrition plan and while fruit is still high in sugar content, it's not banned. It's just not number one on the list of things you should be eating. Veggies are number one, meat/eggs/nuts are number two, and fruit is number 3. And what I've learned is that this isn't quite as restricting as I thought.

Granted, it makes going out to eat sort of useless. Wes and I are actually enjoying that because we are spending way less money. I never budget properly for eating out and always spend way more than I think I'm going to. So this challenge has had that added benefit.

I am enjoying this because it's inspiring me to try new things. I'm not a picky eater, but I am not necessarily motivated all the time to try something new from the produce department. I went to find recipes and have been having a grand old time cooking with things like lemongrass and fresh ginger and Thai green curry. These are flavors that I enjoy in restaurants, but have never really done anything with at home and I love having a reason to branch out. It is especially inspiring in the slow cooker arena, since most of my Crockpot cookbooks have fifteen different recipes for beef stew and not a ton of variety.

One of the more entertaining things is that coconut is apparently the wonder plant in this world. In my kitchen, I currently have coconut oil, coconut milk, coconut vinegar, and "coconut aminos". Coconut aminos is sort of like soy sauce and is actually pretty tasty and useful. It has been fun learning how to use different things and how to bring out more flavors.

So yes, I think things are going well. I'm still a little headachey, but my ibuprofen consumption has decreased. I think my brain is stabilizing and working more efficiently now. I haven't been going nuts about little things and I totally don't feel like stabbing anyone in the face. So wins all around.

So I might start feeling amazing in a day or two. I will keep you posted!