As we began preparing for our Whole30 we talked about the pros and cons of a program like this, as well as what we hoped to gain (or in certain cases, loose) through this project. We also talked about setting ourselves up for success, planning ahead, and trying to outsmart the temptations that we knew would come up.
We picked our dates strategically. A block of 30 days where we had no special occasions taking place, no family or friends scheduled to come stay with us, and no other foreseen special events on our calendar. We blocked off our dates to be February 24 though March 25, and we chose our dates this way for a couple of reasons. First, by committing to our dates almost a full month in advance, we gave ourselves plenty of time to research, prepare and mentally gear up for this. We love our friends, families, co-workers, etc. but we didn't want our challenge to make them feel restricted, nor did we want to loose focus due to other more tempting distractions. These dates will allow us to have a pretty consistent structure in which we can focus on what we are doing and why we are doing it.
While we chose our dates somewhat strategically, that doesn't mean our daily lives cease to exist. We will still have to work our full-time jobs, keep up with housework, errands and the like as we would any other 30 days of the year. I think this where most people seemingly get overwhelmed by a program such as Whole30. The idea of choosing to engage in a restrictive set of food rules while carrying on with work, school, kids, extra curricular activities, company outings, and so forth seems like there will be constant obstacles to avoid. And there probably will be, but keep your eyes on the prize. Remember why you are doing this to begin with. Sure, if we could isolate ourselves to the comforts of home where only compliant foods were within sight and didn't have to worry about or focus on anything other than feeding our bodies the nutritious and healing foods of the program, then yes, it would probably be much simpler. But no one ever said it was simple, and if it were, everyone would have already done it by now.
Much of It Starts with Food emphasizes the importance of planning ahead. The Hartwig's stress how potentially self destructive you can be to your own success by letting yourself get caught off guard and unprepared when hunger strikes. They recommend planning our your meals, doing as much prep work ahead of time as possible, and always having nutritious, compliant foods at the ready in case you feel a snack attack coming on. You can see what my meal planning strategy looks like on the Meal Plans page. In our family, we have a joke about how some of us get "hangry" if we don't eat when we need to. In our world, "hangry" refers to the irritable, tense, shaky and sometimes even nauseous feeling that comes over you when your body has been deprived of food and is not happy about it. I personally have had to leave a nice restaurant while waiting for our table to get some crackers from the 7Eleven down the street. Not my proudest moment, but I knew that I had already held out beyond my level of reasonably hungry, and that my blood sugar was beginning to rapidly drop. 2 crackers and a bottle of water later and I was content and able to enjoy my meal that followed within the next hour. Seems dramatic, but it happens, and it happens to many people. Our bodies are designed to signal us when they need nutrients, and when we shake those signals off because we are too busy, in a rush, or the rest of our party isn't hungry yet, sometimes disaster can strike. Moral of the story, don't let yourself get to the "hangry" phase.
Remember earlier when I said this would be much easier without having to go to work each day and carry on with our normal routines? Well, I wasn't kidding.
But if I can do it while surrounded by that kind of temptation eight hours a day, then I have full faith that you can as well!
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