Whole30

I love the creativity and possibilities that come with meal planning, grocery shopping, prepping ingredients, cooking and more than anything - sharing a meal with those you love.  The kitchen is my happy place.  My mom is an unbelievable chef (co-authoring a cookbook while I was in high school), and her love of cooking has rubbed off immensely on my sister and myself.

Despite this passion, I have to watch what I eat and be very diligent about exercising.  We grew up in a healthy household so making good decisions generally isn't hard for me.  I like healthy food.  I grew up playing a ton of sports and love the feeling of a good sweat.  I am a big believer that diet is 85% of the puzzle and exercise 15%, and typically find this works for me.

Unfortunately over the past few months, I have been out of balance.  Coupled with a few glasses of wine more nights than not, bread, dessert, whatever - all of a sudden - Houston, we have a problem!!  I've tried making minor adjustments to my diet here and there to try to get the results I wanted, but it wasn't happening.  I need a shock to the body to get things back on track.  After reading It Starts with Food, I have challenged myself to a Whole 30.

The Whole 30 challenge is simple.  Focus on those foods that are good for you - good proteins from meats, seafood, and eggs, vegetables, fruits, and good fats.  What I love most about this program so far is that I can still cook meals that actually taste good, while feeding my body the nutrients it needs.   More of less the strictest form of paleo, all alcohol, dairy, grains, legumes, and sugar are prohibited.  (Of that list, I don't know if I should be embarrassed to say this or just brutally honest but I think alcohol will be the hardest... followed closely second by cheese.)

I'm currently on day 3.   I don't really look at this as a diet - but more of a nutritional reset for my body.  The program emphasizes whole foods, so your body can naturally detoxify and purify itself of all the junk we put it in while restarting your metabolism and resetting your immune and digestive systems.  Participants report an average weight loss anywhere from 6 to 15 pounds, more energy, better sleep, and clearer skin.  That all sounds pretty good to me!

Obviously posting this fresh out the starts gates for blog 2.0 is a little raw and nerve racking.  But it's not a secret and I'm sure at some point in life, everyone has experienced their own low moment.  And that's okay.  Life is about balance.  There will be peaks and there will be valleys.  

So, I'm excited to see what happens!  Thankfully, I have a great support team including my sister who is doing this along with me - along with Lash in an adoptive way to suit his residency lifestyle.

I'll post our meals and recipes, and updates as we go along.  27 days to go!