More Thoughts on Whole30

I think one of the most important factors for me in my Whole30 journey has been doing it with a friend.  My friend Julia was the one who first mentioned it to me on New Years Eve.  When I heard about it, I thought it sounded like a huge challenge, but told her I thought I was interested (hm... looking back, this was probably two or three drinks into the night...).  We had planned to start on January 22.  Suddenly that day was only about a week away and I realized I hadn't done any planning, or even read the book yet.  I knew I couldn't just jump right into Whole30 blind.  It was becoming apparent that you have to be very intentional about doing this.

So we set our start day for February 2.  I read the book, did my research, collected recipes.  I was VERY overwhelmed, but knew I had committed to this and I was going to do it.  I spent a day cooking a bunch of recipes (a MUST, especially if you work long hours).

February 2 rolled around uneventfully.  I woke up, made some eggs with avocado over spinach, and drank some water.  It didn't feel hard, of course, because it was only the first meal.  I went for a run, took a nap, and later that night ate my dinner.  It was at work that the headaches began... and I knew it was from the lack of processed carbs and sugar.  I already was regretting the decision.  But a cheerful text message from Julia, excited that we had completed our first day, and suddenly it didn't seem so hard.

We work together, so we've shared meals, exchanged meals, and last week even spent the day cooking together.  This made a HUGE difference for me because I had reached the burn-out point for all that cooking.  Honestly, I feel like if I could cook each day what I need it wouldn't be so bad.  But the long hours I work mean that I have to prepare a lot of food ahead of time, especially if I want there to be variety.  I did that twice by myself, and just reached a point where I was frustrated and tired of it.  So doing it with a friend, music turned up... it was so much better than doing it alone!  Plus it's just fun to do anything with a friend, so it's win-win!

I'll admit, today I'm actually pretty frustrated with it.  Not exactly having a good day.  So it isn't all easy and awesome (well, it's never actually been "easy" per se).  I am starting to get a little bit tired of not being able to have ice cream or bread or even a damn tablespoon of half and half in my coffee (especially considering the circumstances... it would kind of make me feel better right now).  But I'm reminding myself, thirty days just isn't that long of a time.  It's really not!  And I've already made it more than half-way through, which at the beginning seemed pretty insurmountable!