Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Doing The Whole30



First, thank you all for your holiday orders!  What fun I had baking up a storm for you and my family, plus preparing my home for the season.  This year it was just the four of us at our new home with the tallest Christmas tree we've ever had!  Oh, the joys of a cathedral ceiling…I never knew!  

My plan was to start the http://whole30.com/ program on January 1, 2016, and I did.  Here I am, almost at my halfway point.  Life without sugar, dairy, grains and a slew of other items has been different, interesting, and challenging…but not hard.  As they tell you in the book: This. Is. Not. Hard.  It is, however, new.  And new is not always bad.   The Whole30 requires more thought, preparation and planning on the part of each individual, but honestly, that is what we all should be doing all the time when it comes to eating since it is a huge part of how healthy we are (or aren’t).  I’m no longer just opening my mouth and putting in whatever is in the fridge or the cabinets or what’s listed on a restaurant menu and telling myself one of the following ridiculous things:

1.             Well, it is a special occasion
2.            It’s not as bad as eating (fill in the blank)
3.            I’m hungry and this is the fastest way to not be
4.             I have a lot of baking to do and it will be easier if I’m not hungry
5.            I’m sad/glad/mad/exhausted/agitated/blah, blah, blah & yada, yada, yada

You get the idea


Day three was the day I wanted SUGAR, SUGAR, SUGAR!!  Eeeyow, did I want sweets.  As a baker I had plenty of options but passed on every single one.  It was NOT fun.  It wasn’t hard, but it was not fun.  Nonetheless, as delicious as I know my Orange Cranberry Rolls are (my favorite), I stuck with the Whole30.  I did not want to start over and for the first time in a long time I did not want to disappoint myself.  I like that thought: not disappointing myself.  I’m the one who has to live this life, and I have to do it in this body.  Not the body I remember from back in the day, but as it is right now.  The one that needs better care and attention.  The one I’ve decided to take responsibility for again.  The one I’ve decided is worth all efforts to sustain it in a respectable, kind and thoughtful manner every day.  So I’m sticking it out until I get to that brighter day of my weight being in proportion to my height again, and all my lab work levels are where they need to be.  It will take several Whole30 applications to get there, but I will. Smiles!!

Once the sugar desire left the building (real location: my mind and it required the harshest of evictions), the next deep rooted craving?  Coffee.  Here’s the real problem:  I don’t miss coffee, I miss the additives.  As they say in the Whole30 book, if you don’t like the taste of black coffee, maybe you don’t really like coffee.  I had never thought about it before, and for me it turned out to be true.  I tried using extracts, coconut milk loaded with vanilla, and flavored coffee grounds.  Nope.  As it turns out, coffee is just a vehicle to get hazelnut creamer in my mouth without using a spoon.  Another facet of this program?  The things you learn about yourself.   I’m currently planning to drink coffee on day 31, but might change my mind.  After 20+ years of not smoking I know I would never start up again because I would NOT want to quit again.  Now THAT was hard!

To paraphrase The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: “Water, water, everywhere, but I used to refuse to drink.”  Oh, how I did not like to drink water prior to the Whole30.  I wanted additives (I’m seeing a pattern here, how about you?) and the more the better.  Caramel coloring, aspartame, sugar, carbonation, on and on and on.  My first attempt at a solution was to buy La Croix flavored waters…but, ick…just ick.  Never could take the taste of tonic or sparkling water.  Next brilliant idea was to make my own.  Now, this is a keeper!  One whole, fresh pineapple peeled & cut in chunks, add to a pitcher of flat water and muddle, then let sit overnight in the fridge.  Amazing refreshment awaits your taste buds!  This was a great way for me to add water to my diet and was the gateway step to also drinking plain water.  I’m sipping from a bottle of plain water as I type this.  Try it out for yourself! 

Yours in good health &, strength,


Katie Connally’s granddaughter