Day 31- Mission Accomplished

Woohoo! I made it to the end of the Whole 30! Over the past couple of days, I’ve been thinking about the idea of reintroducing foods like dairy and grains. I stood at the refrigerated section of the grocery store, thinking about what I should get- some garlicky cream cheese? Greek yogurt? Fancy apple wood smoked cheddar?

I couldn’t decide, and felt somewhat uneasy. Every time I looked at an item to buy, I remembered how unpleasant I feel after I eat a large amount of said dairy delight. I figured this was a sign that I’m just not ready to get back on the dairy train, and thought I’d give myself some more time to think about it.

I have been reading my copy of “It Starts With Food” about reintroduction, and realized that there are quite a few foods that I don’t really miss. According to Dallas and Melissa, if you don’t miss something, don’t bother to add it back. This has made me really consider more deeply what I really want my diet to look like now that the Whole 30 is over.

Over the past 30 days, the foods I craved most were largely sugar-related. That was my biggest hurdle, and I really don’t feel that I’ve fully slayed my sugar dragon. I am getting better at it, though. The days I don’t eat fruit or sugar I feel physically better, have fewer evening cravings, and tend to eat a bit less.

The things I missed most were sugary, creamy coffee drinks and fatty, gooey desserts. Sure, I missed the grainy goodness of cookies, cakes, and pies, but I didn’t really miss eating a slice of toast. Yes, freshly baked bread will break my heart with the beauty of its delicious fragrance, but without it in front of me, I didn’t feel any deep yearning for it. Pictures of macaroni and cheese are enough to make me want to cry, but when I think of how it feels after eating it (as though there’s a huge rock in my stomach), poof! Goodbye, taste for macaroni.

I weighed in this morning for the first time in over 30 days. Honestly, it’s been a really nice break to be free of the scale for a decent chunk of time. I didn’t think I would have lost much, since I’ve had problems with sugar in the form of fruit in a big way. I’m only down 3.5 lbs, which makes sense to me. But I also have to keep in mind that I’ve gained significant (for me) muscle tone, as I’ve been doing regular yoga classes over the past month (it’s Day 5 of my 40 Day Yoga challenge!) My clothes fit me much better, and I feel that if I continue with this style of eating, and if I really work on properly eliminating sugar, I will slowly lose more without being obsessive about it. I’m calmer about food. I don’t have the same dietary guilt plaguing me. I don’t want to give all of that up.

I think the right next step for me is to continue with a paleo diet. By paleo, I don’t mean grain and dairy-free but with lots of sugar in the form of maple syrup and agave. Oh boy, no. I want to keep eating lots of  fish, meats, eggs, vegetables, minimal fruit, mushrooms, roots, and nuts. I am going to keep avoiding grains, legumes, dairy, potatoes, sugar, and garbage oils (canola, etc). It should go without saying that I will be avoiding honey, agave, and any other sweeteners. I do really miss popcorn, so on rare occasions, I may indulge (being sure to use coconut oil or butter instead of any junky oils).

I will try to continue selecting foods based on whether they will make me more healthy vs. less healthy. I’m really looking forward to getting even more practice with paleo cooking, and I’m already creeping the paleo sites to get ideas which I will hopefully be sharing here. I’m not even close to done with this way of eating, and I’m very much ok with that.

I am really proud and impressed with myself for sticking to this, and seeing it through. I didn’t really have doubts that I wouldn’t, but I thought I’d be a lot less dedicated than I have. Yes!