In Whole 30 circles people use shorthand to talk about where they are in the Whole 30 and how many times they've done it: a newbie one week in might title a post R1D7 for Round 1, Day 7. I finished my eighth Whole 30 yesterday, and I am in the same place I always am when I finish it.
Pro: I am productive and happy and I've lost half of the pounds Donald Trump loaded onto my behind with his figurative Bobcat of incompetence and would-be autocracy (and money-laundering racist sexual-assault-justifying WHOA I MIGHT NEED A LITTLE RESCUE REMEDY HERE).
Con: I am ready for a little more variety in my diet, and my family is even readier.
The Whole 30 is deeply weird. I've said some version of this before but I think it every dang time: it just doesn't make sense to me that the lectins in my legumes are keeping me from being my most productive self. And yet-- something in that combination of restrictions unchains Productive Jamie from wherever she lives in between Whole 30s, and says to her "go get 'em!"
My husband is more supportive about all this Whole 30 business than I would have predicted, but he thinks it must be a placebo effect. I...don't buy it. One day during my second Whole 30 I was dealing with a particularly stressful iteration of the unbloggable issue most likely to launch me face-first into the Pit of Despair, but I had no urge to sit on the couch and eat Pringles by the handful until I felt marginally better. Instead I marched upstairs and brought down the mending pile, and I angry-mended until I reached the bottom and felt marginally better. You guys, there were, like, strata in that mending pile. We're talking years' worth of mending. The geologists are probably still irritated with me for disturbing a relevant artifact. Does Productive Jamie care about hypothetical geologists? No, she just wants the mending done.
Here is another weird Whole 30 con: Productive Jamie is not necessarily the most understanding version of me. In general the Whole 30 makes me sweeter and more even-keeled. I can say, hey, it's no big deal to spill a glass of water at the dinner table. I made brownies for the kids tonight because I knew I wouldn't be tempted to eat them. But a few years ago when my husband agreed to write the parent portion of an Eagle Scout application I was furious about what seemed like procrastination. "Why is this taking so long?" huffed Productive Jamie. In hindsight it is obvious to me that if you ask someone who hates to write to complete a writing task with a very soft deadline, some delay is normal.
So. Onward. I have restraint issues with sweets, so it works best for me to avoid them entirely except on special occasions. (Like Christmas-and-Easter corporate special occasions, not like I-finished-the-grading solo special occasions that then morph into I-read-two-emails-that-totally-counts special occasions.) I hate to say that I think gluten makes a difference in the way my brain works, but alas, I think gluten makes a difference in the way my brain functions. So I'll mostly avoid it, but not worry about legumes and brown rice.
The priority is being a calm and happy version of myself, living out my vocation faithfully. I also won't complain if the remaining Donald Trump weight disappears.
Every time you talk about Whole30, I want in on that action. As not-the-primary-food-preparer in our household though, I shy away. But I should probably get over that and try at least once....
Posted by: Kathy B | February 07, 2018 at 07:46 AM
I find it so interesting that it makes a productivity difference for you. I've done (and am in the middle of doing, again) the Whole Life Challenge, which is somewhat similar to Whole30. I will have to see if I feel more productive by the end. What I notice, usually, is that the getting-out-of-bed and going-up-stairs aches and pains disappear.
Posted by: el-e-e | February 07, 2018 at 11:03 AM
I have done the Whole 30 once. I started a few days before Halloween. On day one I was packing up goodie boxes for my college sons and I was salivating. I almost ate some with the thought of starting the next day. I held fast and taped up the boxes. Five days into the Whole 30 was Halloween. The same stuff that had me nearly giving in now had absolutely no effect. As I put the candy in a big bowl for trick or treaters, I could have been handling marbles. For me, this is big since my brain cannot register the phrase "too sweet." When I hear someone say, "This is too sweet for me," it's a feeling I have never had.
I had tons of energy, restful sleep, no aches or pains getting up, and my chiropractor said working on me was easier. I also swear my eyesight was better. Almost 10 lbs fell off.
Having said all this I just cannot do it again. I've tried twice. I want to do it again. I guess I have to just make it happen.
Posted by: Lynn | February 07, 2018 at 11:30 AM
Your description of not being the most understanding version of yourself -- the annoyance at things taking for-freaking-ever -- is the *exact* feeling I have when I take Adderall, get to working on a project, and then have to stop that project to focus on something else (like, my kid, or really anything unrelated). The feeling is "Why are you interrupting my flow? I finally have a flow!"
So...congrats on figuring out a natural alternative to amphetamine? If the Whole30 did that for me, I might do it all the time and be a weirdo Paleo freak.
Posted by: _etteloc | February 08, 2018 at 09:47 AM