Here I am writing about The Whole 30 – The Completion.  Can you believe it?  ????  Do you think we made it?  I’m currently typing so I for sure didn’t perish over the last 30 days.  Some of the questions I’ve received over the last month will finally be answered:  How did you do?  Was it hard to follow?   What will you take away from the Whole 30?  Would you do it again?  Did you lose any weight?   Did either of you commit homicide?  ????  Well, I’m here for the last check-in of the Whole 30.   ????   Read why we picked the Whole 30 plan as a detox from junk food, update 1, update 2, and update 3 if you haven’t already.

The Whole 30 – The Completion

Before I go any further, there is something that happened at the end of Week Three that I have to explain.  I haven’t said anything on the blog, but told my friends over on Instagram.  Without turning this into a crying post, I wanted to briefly mention this because it affected our last week of the program.  My little sweet pea, Ivy (read her rescue story here) got diagnosed with a fast growing cancer on her leg that is most of the time deadly.  By the time this post is live, she will have had surgery for it to be removed.  I will keep you posted for sure.

Basically, the entire last week of our Whole 30, all I wanted was to be comforted over her diagnosis.   I wanted to stay right on my couch with our little family of three, eat warm comforting foods, and drink some wine.   As you all have read, I’m vegetarian and Deb is not.  So, basically the only animal product that vegetarians are allowed to eat  on the Whole 30 are eggs.  And, I’m sorry, but a big glass of ice water and a bowl of vegetables with scrambled eggs on the side isn’t comforting to me. ????

***Update:  Miraculously the vet called back with her path report and said he, himself, is completely shocked.  The cells under the microscope appeared to be a Mast Cell Tumor.  He thought for sure it was Mast Cell Tumor when he removed it.  It was a benign growth.   ????????

Q:  How did you do on the Whole 30 program?

As I mentioned above, I just needed something comforting after that blow to my heart.  And, I needed more during that last week food wise… not just from her diagnosis.  I was actually getting to the point where I wouldn’t eat.  To think of another meal of vegetables and an egg was so disgusting to me.  I would rather skip my meals.  It would be like you meat eaters eating chicken every day for 30 days.  I don’t care if you roast, bake or fry chicken, it’s still chicken.  And, it gets really old.

Therefore, a few days into week four, we caved.  We ended up having a couple of glasses of wine and felt pretty darn good about it.  It took the edge off of trying to deal with my heartache and I got the comfort that I needed.  I know that’s not the way to deal with it, but we did.  And I don’t feel bad whatsoever.

My plan all along after the 30 days was to go on my tried and true weight watchers program.  I ended up starting weight watchers during the last week and adding beans and quinoa back into my diet.  And let me tell you…. it was delicious.  I felt like I opened up a whole new world.

Q:  Was it hard to follow?

I think the Whole 30 plan itself is a fabulous idea for everyone.  It’s basically how we all should be eating.  I believe it’s a wonderful plan as far as not feeling hungry all the time.  Once you take all of the junk food and sugar out of your diet, you don’t have the sugar ups and downs that create that hangry feeling we all know.

The plan itself is perfect for meat eaters because you get a wide variety of foods to eat.  Deb complained every now and then of being hungry but she thinks it was more of a bored feeling.  The Whole 30 plan for a vegetarian is pretty rough.  I’m not going to lie.  As I said above, eggs were getting on my nerves… BAD.  We have chickens, and I caught myself saying, “OK…the chickens have to go… can’t deal with them.  They remind me of eggs.” ????????

Q:  What will you take away from The Whole 30?

Coffee Creamer:    While Deb learned to enjoy black coffee, I still haven’t mastered that ability.   I can drink it black but it’s not my favorite, to put it mildly.  I switched to Nutpods creamer this past month and I just received my second order of it.  It takes the bitterness out of coffee without all of the nasty chemicals and calories.  I believe there are only 10 calories per tablespoon.  That habit will stay for me.

Mayonnaise:  The Whole 30 recipe for mayonnaise is another thing that we will continue.  The ingredients in store-bought mayo are pretty disgusting.  The only ingredients in the Whole 30 mayo is an egg, olive oil, dry mustard, salt, and lemon juice.  And it literally takes 3 minutes to make.  I just made another tub of that last night.

Sugar (aka Satan):   We will definitely be staying away from satan because ain’t nobody got time for that.  I’m NOT getting addicted to that shit again.  No way…no how.  I didn’t eat sugar for 15 years so I know it’s possible.  Don’t get me wrong, I would enjoy a piece of birthday cake, in that 15 years, here and there, but wasn’t fully addicted like I was in the last couple years before this Whole 30 gig.

Dairy:  We survived the Whole 30 without cheese and shockingly we didn’t miss it at all.  My post nasal drippage has lessened dramatically.  Although, I’m unsure if that is the lack of dairy or the apple cider vinegar shots we’ve been taking.  Either way, dairy is going to remain limited.

Bread:   Since bread is a big no-no on the Whole 30, I bought my favorite 80 calorie buns to eat avocado sandwiches during the last week while I was starting weight watchers.  About two hours after I ate the first bun, I had the worst acid reflux.  My reflux sitch stopped as soon as I took away processed foods this month.  So bread will be another thing I keep eliminated from my diet.  Deb swears bread makes her bloated.  So she is keeping this habit, also.

Q:  Would you do the Whole 30 again?

This is an easy answer for both Deb and I.  And that answer is MOST DEFINITELY.  This month, the Whole 30 helped us accomplish exactly what we wanted it to do.  We are off of all processed food and sugar and we both feel great.  Our blood sugars leveled out and the hunger we feel while eating healthy is a totally different hunger when our diets are filled with junk.   We felt genuine hunger which is very easily tolerable.  (No hangry-ness here in this household… Deb used to be the queen of hangry.)

Q:  Did you lose any weight?

Having hypothyroidism, it’s a little more difficult for me to lose weight as it is a sloooooooow process.  I went into this Whole 30 using it as a detox and said that if I lost five pounds, I would be thrilled.    Deb lost at total of six pounds.  I lost eight.   We are both thrilled with our results.  Not only did we lose a little weight, but I’ve had several people tell me my complexion is better.

Did either of you commit homicide?

Deb thought about it the first week but didn’t follow through.  I had no thoughts of harming anyone.  ????

Final Thoughts

For any of you that want to genuinely feel better and get off of junk food, I highly recommend using the Whole 30 to accomplish that task.  If you think about it, it’s 30 days of your life.  You have to focus on each single day and not the 30 consecutive days as a whole.  It’s such a short time to help you feel dramatically different.  It’s real food and it’s the way we are all supposed to be eating in the first place.  Just do it!!!!!  (P.S.  I’m not getting paid for any of this…just being truthful.)

I say “thank you” every time you read my posts.  But I really don’t think the words “thank you” are strong enough.  You have no clue how much it means to me. ❤ I started this little old blog of mine, my Facebook page, and my Instagram account on a whim.  And it’s blossomed into way more than I ever thought it would.  Maybe I will have to make up another word for “thank you” that is more appropriate.  ????   I pledge my love!

Buh bye, now!!!

Danelle