What’s YOUR story?

Why are you doing this? Why are you doing Whole 30? What changes are you hoping to see?

I honestly can’t remember the first time I did Whole 30. I think this is my fourth of fifth time to go through W30. It gets easier. The reset is happens faster. It takes a few days for cravings to vanish and for my mind to reset.

The first time I eliminated sugar and processed food was somewhere around 2008. Robbo and I started reading Mark’s Daily Apple … which is still one of my favorite and Go-to sites. Robbo stumbled across MDA in the middle of the night when he was searching for answers on how to overcome insomnia. At 2 am he started reading MDA. He read that site for a few weeks before introducing me to Mark Sisson, founder of MDA. We would read the daily posts, read previous posts and read comment after comment from fellow followers. We bought The Primal Blueprint book. And, 3 months in, we FINALLY decided that maybe there was something to this way of clean eating and overall healthy lifestyle.

MDA promotes Primal Lifestyle. Not only does Mark (and his team) educate on eating whole foods; high fat; no grains / no sugar / no legumes; no processed foods; Mark also addresses the rest of our lifestyle. The importance of sleep, coping with stress, being active every day (but not in a chronic over-exercising kind of way), lift heavy things, and go outside, feel the earth, get some sunlight. These are all ways to improve our immune system, our longevity, our overall wellness, and even happiness.

So, Robbo and I did Mark’s 21 day Challenge. THAT was HARD. That was the sugar detox. Headaches, carb flu, hungry, grumpy, acne, poor sleep, and cravings that I weren’t sure would ever go away. Robbo remembers it was a full 3 weeks before finally feeling better.

If I’ve given you handouts about nutrition at an office appointment, the articles about Why Grains are Unhealthy; The Definitive Guide to the Primal Eating Plan; How to Succeed with the Primal Blueprint … are all printed from Mark’s Daily Apple.

After doing The Primal Challenge 10 years ago, we continued to follow Primal Lifestyle principles. One thing I learned from MDA is the 80/20 rule. Aim for 100%, but be OK with hitting 80%. Over the past 10 years, we have tried to live by the 80/20 rule. Are we even 80% all the time? Not even close. But, we know the rules, we know we feel better, we know how to reset.

Life will always get in the way. Big life changes, and little life changes can throw you off kilter and all of a sudden you are back to eating pizza and Oreo’s (that is still my cheat meal).

MDA just posted a great story from a Primal Life Coach who talks about his own experience in how life stressors threw him off course, and he’s a Primal Life Coach! … Read The Primal Hippie’s story here.

So back to our story …. Before finding MDA, Robbo and I were stuck. No major health issues, but we knew we weren’t at our best. We were eating low fat, low calories, whole grains and following what we thought was the “healthiest” way to eat. We were working out at home, doing some really fun high intensity interval training. Nonetheless, I couldn’t lose weight. My periods were crazy (more like non-existent). I had asthma and allergies, and acne. Robbo had a sensitive stomach with IBS type symptoms, struggled with depression, sensitive skin, terrible insomnia.

After the 21 day Challenge …. we felt better.

I started to lose weight. My skin cleared. My periods became totally regular with hardly any PMS. Robbo began sleeping better and his stomach issues resolved. Noticeable improvements. Noticeable enough that we knew we should eat like this all the time.

Trust me, when we first started reading about primal eating we thought “no way could we give up bread and pasta.” IMPOSSIBLE. We read MDA posts for months before we finally decided to try. I know that struggle. I also know the reward. After other challenges and food eliminations, we are healthier now than ever. I no longer have asthma. We know how to get back on track.

I’m doing Whole 30 again. To reset my own cravings and my own food relationships. I’m an emotional eater. I celebrate with food for the good days; I console myself with food for the hard days. I’m working on this … seeing food as nourishment and a source of wellness helps. Melissa Urban Hartwig, founder of Whole 30, also wrote a book called Food Freedom Forever. I love this book. It’s one to read over and over for the insight and reminders why healthy eating matters and how to overcome the struggles … social eating; cravings; whether or not to choose to eat cake on your birthday. Food should not be seen “good” or “bad.” AND … me choosing to eat pizza and Oreo’s doesn’t make me bad. We have a choice to eat foods that will bring us health, nourishment, longevity. Every bite is a choice. Every meal. Every day. Somedays, I’m going to choose the Oreo’s. But, most days, I know that real food will make me feel better today and tomorrow.