I made it. Day 30.

I wish I could say I feel amazing. I wish I could say my energy level is through the roof. But the truth is, I don’t, and it’s not.

Full disclosure: I’ve had a scratchy throat today which has gotten progressively worse. I feel like crap, and that is not the fault of Whole30, as much as I’d like to lay blame on it. (I’m grumpy and I want to blame all the things.) I am sick and that is likely why my energy level has been low the last few days of this challenge. It’s a very real possibility that I’ve been fighting this for a few days and that’s why I never got to “tiger blood.”

This article on tiger blood was helpful and showed me that maybe my expectations were too high. I was waiting for that “switch” when I started feeling focused, energized, and more stable (emotion wise). I never got there. At least not where I wanted to be. There were benefits and small victories, which I’ll share in a sec.

My plan on day 31 was to start slowly reintroducing foods to see if I had any reaction. I have a container of natural peanut butter in the fridge that has been calling my name all weekend. I am so ready for an apple smothered in peanut butter.

But now that I feel so crappy, I’m worried that if a certain food impacts me negatively I wouldn’t be able to tell. I could have a scoop of peanut butter and not know if I feel like crap from this sore throat or from the legumes. I hate to have done all this work and not find out if specific foods are treating me badly.

So I’m going to do a few extra days of Whole30. I’m going to wait to reintroduce foods until I start feeling better. It’s probably not a bad thing that I’ll be dosing up on fresh fruits and veggies while I’m sick. And who knows… maybe that tiger blood is waiting to rear it’s beautiful head.

To wrap up, I wanted to share my pros and cons of Whole30. I’ll start with the cons.

• Time. SO MUCH TIME. Between meal planning, grocery shopping, cooking, and clean up, I feel like I spent about 80% of my month in the kitchen.
• Expense. Eating healthy is expensive. I haven’t tallied up my total grocery budget for the month, but I know I went over my allotted amount.
• Eating out. I HATE being that person at the restaurant who has to ask a million questions. Just flipping order. Who cares what oil they use to cook their eggs? Oh, apparently I have to care. And ask about it. And be annoying. Please don’t hate me, I promise I will tip well.
• Cravings. I still want a damn COOKIE! Cravings were supposed to go away, but man, have I been craving a chocolate chip cookie.
• Strict rules. Being so concerned about what oil things are cooked in, being absolutely paranoid that something might have soy or dairy or gluten… I’m over it.

Pros

• Connection. I feel more connected with the food I’m eating. It’s refreshing to know what I’m eating, to know that it’s whole and healthy.
• Cooking. As much as I kind of resented the time spent cooking, I also really enjoyed it. I love cooking from scratch but don’t do it enough. I had no choice to cook from scratch and really, it was fun. I like having my hands in all the prep and even making a mess.
• Fun new foods. While Drew poked fun at some of the weird stuff I brought home, I definitely found some new foods that I will be incorporating into future meals. I’m looking at you, spaghetti squash.
• Being intentional. I had no choice but to be intentional about my meals and plan ahead. That is a good thing for me. If I don’t plan ahead, I will grab a banana and granola bar and try to convince myself that’s enough for breakfast. Clearly it’s not, with how hungry I get all the time.
• Cravings gone. Okay, I know I said cravings hadn’t gone away. Actually, some did. Not my sweet tooth apparently, but other foods. The one that really surprised me was cheese. Now I see shredded cheese and I think, “Nah, I’m good.” I’m sure I will still eat it in the future, but it’s good to know I can live without it.

So, Whole30 wasn’t as magical as I had hoped, but there were good things. I did find increased energy and focus on some days, just not consistently. But that’s okay. I have learned some valuable things about myself, my food consumption, and my food habits. And that is not a bad thing.

How do I plan to move forward? Assuming I don’t have any severe reaction to a particular food group, I intend to incorporate it all back into my diet. Bread, dairy, rice, pasta, sugar… bring it on. But I expect that my portion size will be different than it used to. Rather than a heaping pile of pasta and a small side of broccoli, I intend to reverse those proportions. I hope to keep the veggie consumption up and keep the other things in moderation. And I will probably still make zoodles on occasion, cause it’s kind of fun.

One more thought: this challenge made me think of another food challenge that Drew and I took part in several years ago. The Food Stamp Challenge. It is basically the exact opposite of Whole30. You purchase food with the monetary equivalent of what a family would get from food stamps. I remember eating crappy food and feeling undernourished. I remember feeling NOT GREAT. Although I may not have hit tiger blood on Whole30, I definitely never felt undernourished. And it makes my heart break that there are many people that cannot afford nourishing food.

I know that there are organizations in my community that help to provide families with food. I will be looking for ways that I can donate, beyond canned food drives. I know that money is the best way to donate, as that can used to provide things like fresh produce rather than canned green beans. I plan to start with Second Harvest. Do you know of any good local organizations that are working to combat hunger?