Good news, despite what my absence might make you think, I didn’t disappear or get kidnapped! Rather my senior capstone course, “ad lab” has dominated all my time (and brain space). But today is the first day of spring break, which means a little more time on my hands.

Today I’m sharing the start of a very cool journey. I’ll be doing the Whole30 for the next 30 days.

What is it?

The Whole30 isn’t a diet. It’s a 30 day focus on eating only whole foods that nourish your body and helps reset hormonal imbalances. It’s a way of examining your health through nutrition and finding out how your body is affected by different types of foods. The plan is based on the book “It Starts With Food.” The basic philosophy is “the food you eat either makes you more healthy or less healthy.”

If you’re curious here are the rules & shopping list

It eliminates:

• added sugar of any kind or artificial sweeteners
• alcohol
• dairy
• grains of any kind
• paleo-fied junk food
• legumes
• white potatoes

What can you eat? As a pescatarian I’m still not going to eat any meat so for me this means:

• Seafood
• Vegetables
• Fruit
• Nuts & Seeds
• Good fats from fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds

Another big part of the Whole30 is eating 3 meals a day with limited (to no) snacking.

The hardest things to give up:

• Oatmeal
• greek yogurt
• granola/energy bars
• frozen yogurt
• soy milk
• jam
• peanut butter

Why are you doing it?

Trust me, I have been skeptical of this “paleo” thing. I’ve read dozens of articles promoting and discrediting the philosophy, but this is much more about resetting versus never again eating a bite of anything with sugar in it.

I want to learn more about how the foods I eat affect my body through energy levels, skin, sleep, athletic performance and digestion. It’s not about losing weight at all. In fact, I haven’t stepped on a scale in months and I don’t plan on doing it any time soon. If I happen to lose weight in the process, great. If I don’t, great.

As I’ve alluded to in other posts my energy, motivation, and overall happiness have taken a nosedive (which I’m blaming on the weather) but I really hope this can help me figure out where food fits into all of this.

How are you doing it?

Luckily, I have my best friend by my side! Together Fran and I are conquering this challenge together. We’re pretty much the same person, so I’m sure we’ll go through very similar experiences and I’m so happy to have someone to experience this with. She writes an awesome food blog over at Frantipasto <cute name right??!! And she’ll be documenting her journey alongside me!

So it begins:

Today is my first day on the Whole 30. Yesterday I went grocery shopping and it was really interesting! I haven’t bought fish myself before (weird?) so that was new. My shopping cart wasn’t too different from most weeks besides the lack of yogurt, soy milk, and energy bars.

I’ll keep you in the loop about how I feel and what I learn in the next 30 days.

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