To Do Or Not To Do? The Whole 30 That Is..m

I need a kick in the pants, nutritionally speaking that is. One can work out all one wants, but without proper nutrition, one (and by one, in this case, I mean me) will not see the results one wants, rather desperately, to see.

See, there's something that happens when one eats well. I know I have mentioned this before, but I think it warrants saying again. So many other things fall into place when  healthy eating and living are a focus. Time management? Yup. You can't eat well without planning ahead. Sleep better? Naturally. Have more energy? Duh. See faster results with exercise? That too.

So, do I go back to my initial experiment of 30 days of nothing but whole, fresh foods, the majority of calories from plant based foods, or do I try something different?

My mom and sister are doing an eating plan called "The Whole 30." From what I can tell, it's a paleo-based way of eating. What does this mean? No grain. No dairy. No legumes. No sugar or sugar substitutes. Nothing processed, pre-packaged etc etc. One thing I would need to alter a little is, no table salt. I HAVE to have iodine. So what CAN you eat? Meat. Veggies. Fruit. Nuts (but not peanuts, they are technically a legume). Seeds. Eggs....yeah that about sums it up. Apparently doing this for 30 days can render some impressive results. One area it's supposed to help is with inflammation. I could use that right now.

This is really similar to what I did before, except I allowed myself grains at breakfast, some legumes, protein mixes from plant sources, no sugar but I did eat stevia and a little honey, and minimal amounts of dairy (milk at breakfast, a little bit of cheese, and yogurt, no ice cream.) I ate (and still do for the most part), foods whose ingredients my grandparents would recognize. I saw some great results! And I saw them really quickly. I occasionally eat sugar now, but am realizing that pretty much ANY refined sugar is too much. I eat more grains than I did during my 30 days of experiment. I can honestly say I am not eating as many veggies as I need to be. And I am starting to see that it is making it harder for me to lose weight, my allergies are getting worse (is it seasonal, or diet related?), and I don't have as much energy. My skin still looks good but not as good as it did, and I am not managing my time or money nearly as well. Slackin'.

Clearly, I would benefit greatly from going back to that way of eating.

My ponderings lately include: Would I see MORE benefits from the Whole 30 than from what I ate? Do I have it in me to do the Whole 30? Can I afford it? Will it be THAT different from what I already did and would I see better results? I don't know. Would I like to see fast results in a reduction of belly fat (a change that fans of this ways of eating claim to see quickly)? Uh, yeah. Most women I know would. And the other benefits I hear about would lovely as well.

Frankly, I just don't know if I can afford it, and I don't know if I can give up yogurt, cheese, breakfast grains, and stevia. But just for 30 days? Maybe...

(On that note, I have a second interview tomorrow for a higher paying job. How much higher? Don't know yet, but if it's high enough...The Whole 30 would be a much more reasonable option.)

Anyway, I am thinking about doing it. It's NOT a "no carb" way of eating. Fruits and many veggies have carbs. It's just a minimalist way of eating.

All I know is, I need to change what I'm doing. Things are stagnant and I do not like that. It's unacceptable.

(this is rambling so...I'm just going to end now and go think off-line...)