Part 1- The Realization
It all started three days before August 1st. I had spent a good part of the day baking and I was testing different simple syrup amounts on my lemon blueberry pound cake. Each slice I ate had been soaked in a different amount and I was trying to figure out the best ratio of simple syrup to pound cake. It wasn’t until after about the fourth slice, when I started to feel sick. My stomach was feeling sick from the high amounts of sugar I was consuming and my mind was feeling sick at the fact I was just stuffing my face with slice after slice of pound cake.
I got home that night and felt disgusted with myself. I knew I had to do something about my eating habits. To be honest, I had been feeling like I needed to change my eating habits for the last few weeks but, I kept shutting that voice up with doughnuts and cookies. The truth was, I knew I had a sugar addiction. I would eat processed sugar several times throughout the day and if I didn’t eat something sweet the second I started to crave it, my mind would fixate on it, to the point where it would be all I could think about. I would hide sweets in the back of the fridge and in my desk at work so when I wanted to satisfy my craving, I would have something to eat. On top of all the sweet treats I was eating, I would pour BBQ sauce on literally everything (I mean shit, I even brought BBQ sauce to Europe with me) and I would put honey on my fruit and in my tea. It was like every chance I got, I would somehow eat some form of sugar.
That night I looked online to see if there was something I could do to detox my body of sugar and give it a reset. I came across the Whole30 and knew it was what my body needed. I knew if I just eliminated sugar from my diet, I would end up filling that void with something else so I needed a diet that would really detox my body and cut out processed foods. I made the commitment to myself that I would go grocery shopping the next day so when August 1st rolled around, I would be ready. I also told myself that I only had two more days to eat whatever I wanted so I had to go big or go home. This two day binge included pizza, fried rice, ice cream, bundt cake, coconut cake (which I don’t even like, but go big or go home), cookies and a doughnut (future reference, do not eat every sweet that is an arms length two days before you are going to cleanse you body because let me tell you, you are going to pay for it later).
That next day, I managed to go to Trader Joe’s, Publix, Sprouts and Sam’s Club to stock up on Whole30 approved food. I managed to read the back of well over 75 items to see if they had any added sugars or any other unapproved Whole30 ingredients and guess what?! 95% of them had some form of added sugar. I mean I looked at freaking roasted green bean chips and guess what?! Fructose was one of the four ingredients other than green beans, salt and oil. LIKE ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! WHY!!!!!! I spent the rest of the day eating pizza and every dessert I could get my hands on while planning out my meals for the week and mentally preparing myself for the days to come, really I should say weeks to come.
PART 2- And So It Begins
Day 1
The day before I started Whole30 I went to Dunkin Donuts and got a large latte and a doughnut (shocker there). You could imagine on day one, I was feeling great. When I woke up my body was already starting to fixate on eating a hot cinnamon roll with cream cheese icing and it was incredibly disappointed when I drank some beef bone broth (yes bone broth) and mixed fruit with almonds. It wasn’t until around 10 am when my head started to feel like it got hit by a train. That was followed by horrible body aches and tiredness only an hour later (yeah probably shouldn’t have consumed all that sugar those last three days, whoops). You can only imagine how great of a day I was having. I actually took an Epson salt bath when I got home in an attempt to make myself feel better. I took some Advil and managed to crawl into bed and go to sleep.
Day 2
Still craving a cinnamon roll and/or a doughnut. Oh wow, no less than an hour after I get to work I get a pounding headache followed by some more body aches. The sweetest thing I ate today was some bing cherries with my delicious lunch that was comprised of chicken breast and roasted veggies. Gag me.
Day 3
There were Publix sugar cookies at work today, my favorite. Pretty sure a little part of me died when I was walking away empty handed. Ooh another pounding headache, lucky me! The highlight of today was covering my chicken with hot sauce (Whole30 approved hot sauce obviously). HA! What has my life come to.
Day 4
For some reason I thought I would be craving sweets the most on day 1 but boy was I wrong. I would seriously cut a bitch for a fucking teaspoon of honey, you probably don’t even know what I would be willing to do for a cookie. Plus the headache saga continues!
Day 5
My most challenging day on the Whole30 so far. My boyfriend and I went to the beach and out to dinner to celebrate some family birthdays so I knew I was going to be basically surrounded by delicious food, smelling the goodness without being able to eat any of it. The hotel had freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, which everyone was eating so that was cool. Please don’t mind me in the corner drooling, I’ll just eat my tasty Chicken Epic bar. I ate some food before dinner, knowing that I would only be able to order like 2 things off the menu. In front of me on the table was: fried calamari, fresh bread, pasta and to top it off, a red velvet bundt cake. All I ate was a fruit strip and some shrimp wrapped in prosciutto. For some reason I feel like I am being punished for something.
Day 6
Damn, I survived dinner and I didn’t cheat or feed into my cravings. Let me just go on an 11 mile bike ride in 100° weather because I am unstoppable. Then reward myself with an acai bowl because guess what, I fucking deserve it! The rest of the Whole30 is going to be a breeze.
Day 7
HA! Rest of the Whole30 being a breeze, still hoping doughnuts will magically fall from the sky and into my mouth. If I put one more piece of roasted chicken breast in my mouth, I will seriously vomit. I do have to say, I’s feeling pretty proud of myself for finishing my first week and thankfully I am not getting headaches anymore.
Read about all of my diet experiences (including the Bone Broth Diet and Keto Diet), here!
