I am officially done with the Whole30 - a whole month of cutting out all forms of added sugar (and sugar substitutes), corn, soy, legumes, grains, and alcohol.
Food
I will say that I got a bit of food-boredom around Day 20 and my appetite waned because I just didn't want to eat any more of the same things, but that was quickly overcome with the addition of a few new foods. Experimenting with new foods is key, I think!
Most of my foods ended up being frozen for convenience, since I am a single person. So I relied heavily on frozen chicken tenderloins, as well as beef, buffalo, and turkey patties without added junk for my protein sources. It's easy to just cook up a single-serving of frozen food for dinner rather than cooking in big batches for me usually, and avoids me getting iffy about leftovers. I can rotate through each of those proteins and only eat the same thing twice in any given week, which was really nice and kept boredom at bay.
I also relied heavily on frozen veggies - cauliflower rice, artichoke hearts, and broccoli.
The fresh produce I ate included - cut pineapple (BOGO at my supermarket that week, couldn't resist!), strawberries, blueberries, and nectarines. However, I moved on to frozen fruit quickly as it was (1) cheaper and (2) kept longer. Frozen dark sweet cherries and frozen pineapple chunks became a close friend and an accompaniment to almost every dinner.
My fresh veggies included - potatoes (not really a veggie, I know) russet & golden, which I ended up preferring over the russets; and cole slaw mix that i used for egg roll in a bowl.
I also had a few canned items - hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, and palmini, which is just pasta-shaped hearts of palm that my assistant told me about excitedly when I told her I was doing this (she is paleo).
I got creative with seasonings, including TJ's mushroom powder, my own umami magic mushroom powder, seasoned salt, and 21-seasoning salute. I was liberal with salt throughout the last month, probably because I was eating less carbs overall and my body wanted SOMETHING to hang onto water, if not pasta and bread.
I also switched from drinking TWO LITERS OF DIET SODA PER DAY to La Croix and coffee and water. You can pry bubbles out of my cold dead hands, so the La Croix (provided gratis by my office in almost every flavor) stays. Two coffees per day with nutpods plant-based (almond and coconut) creamer also stays. I don't think I will be going back to diet soda, so this experiment was completely worth it if for no other reason than it broke me of that habit.
Hardest thing to give up:
Was probably sugar/artificial sweetener. I was (and probably still am) legitimately addicted to Coke Zero. I had dreams about guzzling diet Mt. Dew. It's not a good place to be in. I wanted sweets. In fact, my crazy-brain purchased candy knowing full well I couldn't have it. Why, brain? So I have my favorite licorice (strawberry, I'm not a monster) in my cupboard at home, and it's been there for about two weeks. I honestly don't have a desire to eat it so I'm not sure why I bought it, other than maybe subconsciously I was hoping that buying it would somehow help the craving. (Hint: It didn't.)
I still relied too heavily on fruits (I way upped my fruit intake on Whole 30) and ate frozen fruit after dinner on most nights, emulating dessert. Not unhealthy, but kind of contrary to the Whole30 process. I'll work on this.
Second hardest was dairy. I love cheese. But now after having eliminated it for 30 days and suspecting that it was not doing good things for my skin, I don't think I'll have a problem cutting way back on it.
Easiest thing to give up:
Pasta/bread. I don't eat much of it anyway, so that wasn't a big deal. Especially since I could eat potatoes.
Exercise
My exercise remained consistent throughout the last 30 days. I work out an average of 4 days per week doing HIIT (a 60-minute session of 45-45-10 weights/treads/rowing) and my performance was more consistent than normal, I think. Additionally, I finally broke the plateau from power-walking-and-running-hybrid to running for 23 straight minutes for the first time in my life. Coincidence? Maybe.
Social
This would have been difficult if I were more social. I had to forego several office lunches with my coworkers that I would have otherwise attended, but I knew this was short-term. I also didn't go out to restaurants and had to forego some lunches/dinners with my family. They were supportive, so no big loss there.
Weight
I'll weigh in tomorrow morning to get the final weight loss count. I am definitely slimmer and my clothes are a bit looser, so I expect that I lost somewhere around 3-4lbs this month.
Reintroduction
I am likely going to transition to a "primal diet" after this, but want to reintroduce each food into my diet to see what's been causing what. The plan is to take the next 10 days to reintroduce foods.
Day 1: Legumes - spoonful of PB, black beans with dinner. Back to Whole 30 for two days to see if any effects.
Day 4: Grains (non-gluten) - White rice, corn chips. Back to Whole 30 for two days to see if any effects.
Day 7: Dairy - Skyyr or unsweetened yogurt, cheese. Back to Whole 30 for two days to see if any effects.
Day 10: Gluten - whole wheat bread, pasta. Back to Whole 30 for two days to see if any effects.
Then sugar. I don't plan on reintroducing artificial sweeteners.
