Hey everyone!  I’ve been a little MIA again!  I’ve been really tired so just haven’t been getting up that early to blog.  I love to joke that I just know ya’ll are DYING to hear how my health & fitness journey is going?!?  Right?!?  lol

Well, if you keep reading, you must at least be curious, so here’s my latest!

I shared on my fitness page that the CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis a few weeks ago was clear.  It was awesome news and definitely a relief.  BUT, I’ll admit that I was prepared for them to find something….maybe even hoping they would find something….so at least I knew for sure what I was dealing with and I could stop feeling like maybe I’m crazy lol.  So, without a concrete diagnosis/finding it’s common practice to treat my symptoms as IBS (irritable bowel syndrome).  I’m on a medication called Bentyl and the good news is my pain and cramping that was pretty much a constant is virtually gone.  I continue to have other issues, however.  And, there are some annoying side effects from it like being really tired and I already was and crazy dry mouth lol.

Anyhoo, I love my doctor.  She’s patient with me.  She takes a lot of time and even visits over the phone.  She has kinda laughed at me a few times when I’ve came to her with something I’ve read that I wonder if I have…..like adrenal fatigue and leaky gut (which honestly I’m still not convinced I DON’T have because I have so many of the symptoms).  While I know I shouldn’t try self-diagnose myself, I’m pretty desperate for answers and relief and at the end of the day your health is YOUR HEALTH and I think researching and talking to people is important.

So, when more than one thing and a few awesomely helpful people pointed me to taking another look at gluten and dairy, I started researching nutrition even more.  And, ultimately I took a closer look at something called Whole 30.  I will admit that I’ve been curious about it before but I didn’t take the time to actually read what it really was.  I honestly assumed it was a low-carb, Atkins-type “diet” that was all about meat and therefore wasn’t really interested.  But, after reading several Whole 30 success stories of people who have similar symptoms, I knew I had to read the book finally.  And, I’m so glad I did.  It also led me to a book that actually I should’ve read even before Whole 30 but I found out about it thru the Whole 30 book.  The book is called It Starts With Food.

I don’t wanna throw a lot of details at you and I’m honestly still learning but I wanna give a few highlights (and I’ll be sharing more as I venture thru these 30 days).

• Ever since becoming a coach, I really don’t like the word “diet.”  This is not a diet.  Yes, it is a strict 30 days but the principal behind the timeframe and the premise behind the book is actually not about weight loss.  It’s more about food elimination to try to pinpoint inflammation triggers in your body.  I list below what you cut out but everything you forego are foods that CAN cause inflammation in the body.
• I don’t like to do temporary changes in my nutrition and I love eating clean and I love grains and beans and all natural pb and greek yogurt AND my vegetarian food (sadly my vegetarian food contains both gluten and soy).  BUT, again, I do believe the reasoning and the science behind this elimination plan and I’m going to try trust the process.  And, of course my goal is to incorporate long-term changes ~ and if that means gluten and dairy free, than so be it.
• If you take one bite of something non-compliant….have even 1 tsp of coffee creamer….you start over.  I’m willing to make some changes but I don’t wanna have to start over lol.
• You cut out gluten, dairy, legumes, soy, sugar and alcohol for 30 days.  And, like I said, I’m still learning, but from what I see eliminating these is more to determine how sensitive your body is to each.  After 30 days, you begin reintroducing one at a time and see how your body responds.  You then go back to Whole 30 for 2 days to again see how your body responds.
• It’s not HARD.  This part of the book really stuck with me.  They talked about how we shouldn’t dare call these 30 days hard.  Beating cancer is hard.  This. Is. Not. Hard.  Wow, now that’s a legit statement.  Makes me think about the last time I did a round of the 21 Day Fix and called that hard.  Um, yeah, no.
• Fat is not the enemy.
• Whole 30 is not low carb.
• The book says you don’t have to count calories or weigh anything, which is AWESOME news!!  But, I do still plan on using my handy-dandy portion-controlled containers.  I honestly can’t be trusted with portions without my containers yet.  I’m getting better at eyeballing foods but I like to track and I like to have a guideline of how much of things like sweet potatoes and fruit I can have because I DO still believe you can have too much of a good thing.  Yes, while I don’t believe anyone ever became overweight from eating too many bananas, I do believe you can eat too much fruit!
• You do NOT weigh yourself for 30 days.  This might be a challenge for me.  I have been weighing in once a week with my Biggest Loser peeps BUT I’m gonna be a good girl and just follow the rules.  Again, the thinking is that this isn’t a weight loss plan.
• There is hidden sugar is WAY more things than I ever realized.  This book and looking even closer at labels than I’m used to has been an eye-opener.  I had a bag of sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds in the cupboard ~ YUP, both contain corn syrup!  WHAT?  And, my turkey bacon?  Even regular bacon??  Chicken sausages?  Yup, yup, and yup.  So, this part has already been challenging to me and I’m only 2 days in.  And, since I need to stay away from peanuts, I have to even watch for peanut oil.  I had some nuts that had peanut oil in them so I’m sticking to raw nuts for the duration.
• Shakeology isn’t Whole 30 compliant but I follow a few other coaches who have done Whole 30 and who follow Paleo and they believe the benefits of Shakeology outweigh having pea protein and Stevia 🙂  So, I decided to stick with it!

Ok, so here I go!  I was down to 169 a few weeks ago but just like things have been going, I gain and lose 5 to 10 lbs. from week to week.  I’m really REALLY looking forward to not dealing with these crazy weight fluctuations.

I wanted to cheat the day before I started….which was a really bad idea because day 1 yesterday was ROUGH 🙁  BUT, it was fun to go to my fave place with my fave girl!  Basil for sushi after church!  She absolutely LOVES this place!  The edamame (also which I can’t have right now) and vegetable lo mein with a Japanese soda are her jam!

And, this is literally my fave thing on the menu.  AND, it MAY even be WHOLE 30 compliant!  I’m not sure what’s in the sauce, tho ~ it likely contains soy ~ but dang it’s so good my sister & I joke we could actually DRINK it.  It’s made with tuna, mango, avocado and little orange things (caviar?) that I LOVE!  It’s called an ahi-tini if you’re ever in the Williston, ND area! #yummo!

This is what I wanted for lunch. #imeanhaveyouTRIEDbutterfingerpbcups???

This is what I had!

Vegan Tropical Strawberry Shakeo, unsweetened cashew milk (apparently I should be making my own cashew or almond milk on Whole 30….I’m not sure I’ll be doing this one #justkeepitreal ~ I don’t think I have the time or budget to do some of the suggested things), an overflowing cup of spinach, fresh blueberries, almond butter, and a couple tsps of coconut oil blended into a nummy, earthy smoothie.  (1 red, 1 yellow, 1 green, 1/2 purple, 1/2 orange, 2 tsps)

Ok, so, there you have it!  I’m praying for answers ~ praying for relief ~ and very hopeful this is a good next step!  I’m not working out right now because of a foot issue and will have a separate post about my workout plans coming up and how this latest issue has derailed me!  AND, after the Whole 30 my plan is to do Beachbody’s Ultimate Reset to do even more of a detox.  I actually was going to do the Reset first but my kit didn’t make it here in time and I really needed to make a change!  And, then I head to Nashville for Coach Summit!  I can’t wait!!!  And. then when I come home, depending on how my body is doing, I think a Paleo lifestyle may be in my future!