Doing the Whole30

Last Thursday I decided to start the Whole30 Challenge, cold-turkey.  I had been contemplating a drastic diet change for a while, owing to quite a bit of stubborn baby weight and numerous minor health problems that all added up to = a pretty constantly exhausted, overweight, out-of-shape me.  After I seemed to hit a particularly low point last week, energy-wise, I decided something had to change.  So I made the plunge.  Before I talk any more about it, though, I should probably tell you what "it" is.  But before I do that, I should give a few disclaimers, as well.

The Whole30 Challenge is based on a Paleo/Primal view of eating, whose premises I actually completely disagree with.  Their take is that we should be eating the foods our ape-like ancestors ate back in the hunter-gatherer days when no one (supposedly) would have used grains (not having the means to harvest them) or dairy (because they were too busy eating meat from cows to bother milking them, presumably), or numerous other foods that require a higher level of intelligence to obtain.  Something like that.  Basically, they say, we should be eating the foods that helped us to evolve to the state we are at.

Well, I think that's a bunch of hogwash.  But coming at it from a Creationist perspective, I still arrive at similar conclusions.  God created food, and it's very good the way He made it.  As soon as we add ourselves into the equation, though, we can mess things up.  And, of course, the Fall has made some of us more susceptible to allergies and such.  It makes sense that we should be eating food as naturally as possible most of the time, because that's the way God made it, and I'm sure He's better at making nutritious food than I am.

However, I don't think it's wrong to process and cook foods and change them from the way He created them.  He loaded the foods He created with all kinds of nutrients and benefits that we can sometimes access only  by processing and cooking them.  He didn't create the food and just hand us knives and forks and tell us to have at it.  No, we have to process animals to even access the meat, and we pretty much have to cook it to be safe.  Many fruits and vegetables are more digestible after being cooked.  Some nutrients are more easily absorbed from cooked foods.  He gave us the dominion mandate for a reason - we are to use the  minds He endowed us with to figure out the best ways to utilize the food He created.

I do not believe that natural foods are perfect.  There is no such thing as "nature's perfect food."  Because there is no such thing as perfection in a fallen world.  So some foods may be good for some people and not good for others, depending on blood-type, mutations, and genetics.  I don't believe there is an end-all, be-all, cure-all diet out there.  Part of the dominion mandate would involve figuring that out for ourselves - through trial and error and the experience of others.

So I think God meant for us to enjoy wheat, dairy, sugar, and all the other "bad guys" of the crunchy nutrition world.  He declared it as a blessing for the Israelites to be going to inhabit a "land flowing with milk and honey."  I don't think He would have said that if He never intended for us to eat those foods.  He also said, "Eat honey because it is good," but cautions against having too much, because it will make you sick.  Job asked, "Is there any taste in the white of an egg?"  It has long been in the human condition to want food to taste good, and elevating "health food" to the point that we lose tasty food would seem to be completely missing the point for me.  God made food to be good, and He made us to enjoy food, and that is a good thing.  I am not prepared to label wheat, dairy, sugar, legumes, or any other type of food as something that no one under any circumstances should eat.  We are all different.  For those who can tolerate wheat, by all means, eat all the pasta and sandwiches and tortillas you want, and I will try not to envy you.  We are not all the same.

So, that being said, I am all in favor of eating wheat and dairy.  But it makes me sick if I overdo it.  Perhaps I need to look into soaking my grains and buying raw milk, but I haven't gotten around to it, yet.  If there is an alternative to giving it up entirely, I am so on board with that!

For now, however, I am aware that certain foods that should be good make me sick.  I have numerous seasonal allergies, and seem to be prone to get sensitized to foods if I overindulge in them.  If I can cut the sensitizing foods out and then add them back in on a more controlled rotation, I might be able to get away with it. 

There.  Disclaimer's over.  Now onto the Whole30.  I stumbled across it while on vacation a few weeks ago, when I had some time to surf around and think about diet changes I should make.  I was intrigued when I came across it via Pinterest (my new addiction favorite site).  The basic idea is that you eliminate all foods that have a history of causing inflammation, as well as all processed foods of any kind, for a period of 30 days.  It would be easier to list what you can eat: meat, fruits, and vegetables.  Basically, that's it.  You can use healthy oils, vinegars, spices, etc. to dress it all up.  And you can have eggs.  But here's the Don't List, taken from the Whole30 site:  (I am reluctant to link to it owing to my rather strong disagreement with their premise, partly because I don't want to officially endorse them and partly because I don't really want to go starting fights via linkbacks.)

• Do not consume added sugar of any kind, real or artificial. No maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, Splenda, Equal, Nutrasweet, xylitol, stevia, etc.  
• Do not eat processed foods. This includes protein shakes, pre-packaged snacks or meals, protein bars, milk substitutes, etc.
• Do not consume alcohol, in any form. 
• Do not eat grains. This includes (but is not limited to) wheat, rye, barley, millet, oats, corn, rice, sprouted grains and all of those gluten-free pseudo-grains like quinoa.  
• Do not eat legumes. This includes beans of all kinds (black, kidney, lima, etc.), peas, lentils, and peanuts.  No peanut butter, either.  This also includes all forms of soy – soy sauce, miso, tofu, tempeh, edamame, tamari and all the ways we sneak soy into foods (like lecithin).
• Do not eat dairy. This includes all cow, goat or sheep’s milk, cream, butter, cheese (hard or soft), kefir, yogurt (even Greek), and sour cream.
• Do not eat white potatoes. It’s somewhat arbitrary, but they are carbohydrate-dense and nutrient poor.
• Most importantly… do not try to shove your old, unhealthy diet into a shiny new Whole30 mold.  This means no “Paleo-fying”  less-than-healthy recipes – no Paleo pancakes, Paleo pizza, Paleo fudge or Paleo”ice cream.  Don’t mimic poor food choices during your Whole30 program!  Those kinds of food miss the point of the program entirely.
• One last and final rule.  You are not allowed to step on the scale during your Whole30 program.  This is about so much more than just weight loss, and to focus on your body composition means you’ll miss out on the most dramatic and lifelong benefits this plan has to offer.

And there you have it.  I actually completely forgot about the last rule, but who cares?  I'm fine with weighing myself.  I've lost 4 pounds already and I'm glad I know it because otherwise I probably would have quit the diet.  Why?  I'll get to that in a minute.  First, why did this appeal to me?  Because I think in some cases it is a good idea to do some kind of cleansing - where you cut out all potentially irritating foods and give your body a chance to recover.  And you might find that you feel so much better that you just want to keep eating that way! 

So I started with high hopes of success and am now 7 days into my challenge.  And as I mentioned, I've lost 4 pounds.  I am ecstatic about that part!  But I almost gave up because I felt horrible - until today.  Totally exhausted and shaky and ravenous and like I was operating in a fog.  I'm sure I've been detoxing, and I was getting increasingly concerned about whether it was healthy for me as a nursing mom.  But today was much better.  I had read that many people struggled with adjusting for the first week or two, but then had marked improvements in their health.  There are accounts of people getting over seasonal allergies, chronic fatigue, asthma, Crohn's Disease, arthritis, diabetes, endometriosis, hypoglycemia, IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), Lyme disease, and migraines - all from following this diet.  Most of them had their symptoms return if they went back to eating as they had before.  Well, with my minor issues of allergies and fatigue - and accompanying sinus infections - oh, yeah, and weight loss - I am hopeful about what it might do for me!

And now you know - why I'm trying the Whole30.  My original intent was to blog about each day as I did it, but since I started a bit unprepared and spent the first two days basically foraging until I managed to get a decent amount of food cooked up...well...it wouldn't have made the most interesting blogging.  But I have at least one recipe I want to share that I found via another blog - spaghetti and meatballs with Whole30-friendly noodles.  What could it be, you ask?  It starts with a "Z."  And it's much easier than you'd think. 

Stay tuned.