I survived my first Whole 30!

The 30 days are over! Find out what I learned below!

I’ve never actually done the Whole 30 program before. I had done other 21 day “cleanses” (Standard Process 21 Day Cleanse and the Lurong Challenge), but after doing the Whole 30, I realized none of those programs actually 100% eliminated added sugars. Sugar, or as the Whole 30 calls it, your Sugar Dragon, is one of my biggest problems. After reading labels again and being super diligent, I realized one of the reasons why I was addicted; it’s in EVERYTHING! Ketchup, bacon, bread, pasta sauce, sriracha, bbq sauce, almond milk, and more. No wonder I felt addicted to sugar. I was getting a dose of it with everything I ate and drank, causing me to want sugar throughout my entire day. I’m not saying I ate donuts for breakfast, my biggest issues was wanting something sweet after lunch and dinner, during stressful situations, when I felt lonely, when I wanted to feel good, etc. Sugar was my go to comfort and reward treat.

Another difference with the Whole 30 that gave me a light bulb moment was that you aren’t supposed to “recreate desserts”. No other program mentioned this, or I ignored it, but I would just make compliant desserts with gluten free flours and coconut sugar/maple syrup, because it was “compliant”. After reading the Whole 30 book, I realized that recreating compliant desserts wouldn’t actually break my dessert habit, and I’d eventually let those desserts back in after the program ended. Will I never have a dessert again? Fat chance! But, I will once again be more mindful about my choices.

• More energy—less mid-afternoon crashes

• Better sleep—waking more rested, and before my alarm

• Tiger blood—”Days 16-27: Tiger Blood. Goodbye cravings, hello Tiger Blood! This must be what everyone is talking about. You’ve hit the downhill slope of your Whole30 and life is beautiful. Your energy is through the roof, you’ve kicked the cravings, you’re experimenting with new, delicious food, and you’ve finally got the time to notice that your clothes fit better, your workouts are stronger, and you are generally more awesome.”—YEP!

• Clearer complexion-less redness and puffiness in my face

• No bloating—clothes fitting better in my waist

• Minimal cravings—still an issues with stressful times, but less strong than before and they typically only last 3-5 minutes, then the feeling has passed

• Saved $—eating veggies and fruits and clean meats is much cheaper than buying boxed/processed foods. No daily lattes from the coffee shops also saved $

• Reset unhealthy habits—Over the past 1.5 years, I slowly let EVERYTHING back into my diet (I was previously gluten and dairy free). I wanted to celebrate and indulge all the time and got really off track. My thyroid levels went haywire and hopefully at my next blood draw, things will have normalized. I feel like I’ve “tamed” my sugar dragon for now and am excited to keep eating clean again.

My First Paleo Thanksgiving

After being diagnosed with an autoimmune condition last year, this was my first gluten/dairy/soy/corn/peanut free Thanksgiving!  What that means? No boxed stuffing, canned cranberry, etc.  Everything will be made from scratch, and I think it will be even better tasting!

I got the smallest organic turkey I could find and planned ahead and found recipes beforehand.  My biggest fear was all of the extra time it would take to prepare freshly made fixings, but isn't that what the holidays are about? Taking the extra time to make a good tasting, healthy meal?  Things made from scratch always taste better, don't they? And they didn't take that long to prepare either!

The biggest changes were dairy free green bean casserole with freshly fried onions, homemade stuffing with gluten free bread, dairy/gluten/soy free pumpkin and apple pies, yams/mashed potatoes with ghee and coconut milk.  We'll see if my guests can taste the difference! 

Here's what I made! (Everything was so delicious, I forgot to take a picture of the fresh green bean casserole!).  Making the fresh mushroom soup with coconut milk was actually super quick and easy!

Freshly fried onions in coconut oil, homemade mushroom soup, gluten free homemade stuffing, organic turkey!

This is the one item that I purchased! A vegan apple pie from New Cascadia gluten free bakery in Portland!

*Main image source: http://i.huffpost.com/gen/2303832/images/o-PALEO-THANKSGIVING-facebook.jpg

Fresh onions fried in coconut oil!

Crispy and delicious!

Why I'm Still Eating Meat

The latest hot topic in the news is about meat consumption being linked to an increase risk of developing colorectal cancer.  If you would've asked me a few years ago, I probably would have agreed with that.  I became a pescatarian a few years ago, and eliminated all meat from my diet.  I thought I was doing the right thing for my health.  I was consuming large amounts of lentils, legumes and soy products to try to get enough protein in my diet.  But, after being diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, my diet had to change.  The amount of soy I was eating was actually making my condition worse, and the lentils/legumes were making my already weakened and inflammed digestive system work even harder.  There is a huge difference in meat products out there.  "Eating clean" has become a popular phrase in the nutrition world.  Eating meat, and eating clean meat, are 2 different things.  Where your food comes from matters; buy cheap, get cheap.

• The study wasn't performed specifically on humans, nor did it look at the consumption of vegetables with the protein.  It did not look at what people eat with their meat (is it french fries and soda, is it cheap bacon on an Egg McMuffin? Or vegetables and healthy carbs and fats?)
• "the association of CRC risk with processed red meat may be stronger than that with fresh red meat" (Santarelli, et al., 2008)
• The WHO (World Health Organization), released in a statement the other day that, "Processed meat refers to meat that has been transformed through salting, curing, fermentation, smoking, or other processes to enhance flavour or improve preservation" (AKA: adding unhealthy, unnatural flavors and chemicals to give "meat" a certain flavor.  This can mean adding gluten, loads of salt, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, nitrates, nitrites etc.)

• Here's a link to a full text study that was used in the recent published statement from the WHO: Processed meat and colorectal cancer: a review of epidemiologic and experimental evidence

Previous news also stated: (which have been proven false):

• to reduce your cholesterol intake and take a statin
• choose low fat products (remember Snack Wells!?) (Low fat and low carb diets have been proven not to be effective long term)
• don't eat egg yolks; reduce cholesterol
• eat more whole grains; 6-11 servings per day of bread, cereal, pasta, rice (this is what the current food pyramid suggests!)

What's wrong with processed meats:

• nitrates
• curing
• added sugar
• smoked flavor
• high temperature smoking techniques
• nitrates/nitrites
• soy/gluten/corn are often added to processed meats (those are bad!)
• when you eat meat, you're more likely to eat cheese, french fries, drink beer/soda, and have no veggies included with your meal, and no, ketchup doesn't count as a vegetable

What I eat for protein:

• Clean Meat!
• uncured, no sugar added organic bacon
• no nitrates or nitrites
• organic hormone free chicken
• organic grass fed beef
• nothing with gluten/dairy/corn/soy
• organic, cage free brown eggs
• wild caught salmon/shrimp
• a wide variety of vegetables, fruit, lactose free ghee, and healthy fats

I'm finally getting enough protein into my diet, I feel better, and my autoimmune condition is under control, with the food I eat.

What you choose to put into your body can have countless effects.  If you prefer to eat junk food and low nutritional value foods, you can expect some risks to come along with that type of lifestyle.  I choose to eat a relatively clean diet, as mentioned above.  My autoimmune condition is under control, I have tons of energy and am not on any medications.  Food can be used as medicine!  Always check the ingredients and make smart choices as much as possible.  Do your research and question where your food is coming from.

*Main image source: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2015/01/shutterstock_151420331.jpg