My Whole30 Challenge In Progress {Part 1}

Has definitely been an adventure!!

I'm not finished.  I'm only on day 15. 
I wanted to make sure that I was going to "really" do it 
before I blogged about it.  

You can read more about the Whole30 Challenge here.

The book is called It Starts With Food. I didn't even get the book until I was on day 7.  That's just how I roll.  Basically, the idea is to detox your body.  To get back to the basics of good food and to find out what food triggers unhealthy reactions in your body.

For me, I was overwhelmed with sugar cravings and grain/BREAD cravings.  Seriously, I wanted sugar ALL THE TIME!!  Of course, it was even better with some sort of bready thing.

I'm not kidding....

So, I've been hearing about this Whole30 thing.  It's a lot like Paleo eating. I've followed Myra at My Blessed Life, she did the Whole30 Challenge.  I read a few other bloggers who did it too. 

They said that their sugar cravings just disappeared. Right.... 
They're just saying that.

I wasn't buying it. We shall see!

Ok, I'm going to get a little personal here...

I've struggled with food most of my life. Not with food disorders, just eating too much of it.  Grandma always rewarded with food.  And, yes, I was part of the clean your plate generation. My weight has fluctuated up and down.  After I had my son, I lost almost all of the baby weight.  Yet, after my daughter.... I didn't lose ANY of it! I gained! Of course, I kept it on for quite a while, too. 
My daughter is 7 in this picture.
I can't believe I'm going to do this, but I am. 
I looked like this! Uh... that's me on the left.

Let's not even mention the horrible hair cut! Blech!

Unbelievable! In 2004, I decided enough was enough! I worked hard and lost 40 lbs. It was definitely a start!  And I kept it off! Then in 2009, I did some Weight Watchers at home and lost another 10 lbs.  
Last year, when hubby lost 50 lbs.  I lost another 10 lbs. 

Now, that last 10 has fluctuated over the last year.  More up than down.

I had no problem with the working out part.  
It's the food part.

My addiction to sugar, Oh, and I forgot soda! 
Did I mention that I LOVE Diet Mt. Dew? Yeah.  
Let's just throw that one in the mix, with the sugar and the bread.

I've been praying that the Lord would help me eat healthier.  I believe this was His answer for me.  I was drawn to read more about the Whole30 Challenge and thought now was the time.  I mean, I'm 47, I'm not getting any younger and I just want to be healthier.

This challenge is pretty drastic.  Not for the faint of heart.  I really wasn't even sure I could do it.  But I can! I am doing it!
First off, I had to drop practically everything out of my diet.
No sugar/sugar substitute
No grains
No dairy
No legumes
No soy
Let's face it, all of that was pretty much what I put on my plate most of the time.  I did eat veggies and fruit but not like I'm eating them now.
My plate now is filled with things like eggs, meat, fish, veggies and fruit.
Yep, that's pretty much it.
I've been doing this challenge for 15 days.
I'm doing this kinda "loosely".
I'm definitely not all "organic" and not all of my meat is from "grass fed" animals.  I did get some cage free eggs from a local country market.
If I've had one of the "no's", it was probably in something that I didn't check the label, or wasn't able to.  I'm not hung up about that.
What I am hung up about is how I have been feeling.
In this second week, my energy levels have NOT been crashing in the afternoon like usual.  I feel steady throughout the day.  That is good!  I would usually start to crash in the afternoon and reach for my Mt. Dew.

This is turning into a very long post so I'm going to do this in parts.... I plan on sharing more on the challenges/changes I've experienced and what I've been eating.  I guess, we'll just see where this takes me.  
I'll end with this.  
In the book, it says you aren't supposed to weigh yourself.  Well, because of my weight problem in the past, the scale has been my friend.  
I knew I would lose weight, that was a no brainer.  
Yet, I have mixed feelings about this, because for me the weight isn't as 
important as the healthy changes I've made. 
But, in the past 15 days, I've lost 10 lbs.  

More to come....
Blessings,
Lori