WHOLE30 - MY EXPERIENCE

So it is NOT over.

30 days passed so quickly and it literally changed my life. Those online reviews and promises do not lie.

And as Robb Wolf says: "Paleo works, but only if you DO it."

I DID it. And I will be doing it for the rest of my life. There is no reason for me not to do it. I am healthy, happy, strong, energetic and that is more than I was expecting to experience. 

But let's start from the very beginning.

PAST: Me, young female, never really active, but never overweight, short and average weight, never had problems with how I looked. Discovered the beauty of a movement a year ago, before that I was not even able to do one proper pushup or run without immediatelly going out of breath. Low blood pressure and lack of iron in my blood made me dizzy and weak all my life. Performing my job sitting didn't help my bigger butt at all. No activites what so ever, poor eating habits and lack of self respect. Smoking A LOT. Having potato chips for dinner. That was me. It seems like forever ago :)

THE BIG CHANGE NO. 1: Quit smoking 529 days ago. Did my first bodyrock workout 363 days ago. Never felt better about myself, gained a lot of strenght in a very short time (no wonder, it is true that beginners improve a lot faster, and I was less than a beginner, haha), but didn't see any weightloss progress.

THE BIG CHANGE NO. 2: Started to pay attention to my diet. Eliminated dairy and all pastry. Still wasn't able to find a ballance, loved chocolate, hated meat and veggies.

THE MAJOR CHANGE: Broke up with my husband, got rid of everything that was holding me back, started to LOVE myself and LOVE my life. Found out about Paleo diet (thanks, Jos!!!) Bought blender, food processor, learned how to really cook, how to buy and cook MEAT. Bought Paleo Solution book by Robb Wolf and started to study Whole9 website to learn about Whole30 Challenge. Monday 18th July was my first day of Whole30, Tuesday 16th August was my last day.

PRESENT: My thinking completely changed, when it comes to food. I like what I eat and I enjoy it so much. Food has always been a pleasure for me, I love to eat, I just changed what I eat. I know now that I do not need a thick sauce made of butter and milk (the one that turns into jelly in the fridge, haha) with dumplings that have no nutritional benefits for me, and they don't even taste good and make me feel exhausted after lunch. I eat A LOT, probably more than I used to eat before going paleo. My dishes are fun, tasty, fresh, colorful, various tastes and smells, it IS a pleasure now. I feel light and satisfied after a meal, I am not hungry between meals and I do not have any stomach problems anymore. I feel full enough, but never stuffed. It just feel so right and so natural. And also EASY. I never did any diets in the past, because I though a) it is too expensive to eat healthy and b) it is so hard and time consuming. None of this is really true. Yes, it is a little more pricy to buy really good, fresh, quality products, but so is buying super expensive medications for various healthy issues I might have in the future. Feeding myself with potato chips and chocolate maybe didn't show anything negative till today, but it certainly can show up in the future, and I don't want that. I do not regret going to the market and buy eggs that are twice as expensive as the ones in supermarket. I am willing to invest in myself and my health, it is ME, nobody else can do that for ME. I am responsible of what goes into my stomach, so I am the one who is making all these choices every day. And I wanna make sure I am making smart and healthy choices. 

FUTURE? Not only can I imagine eating paleo from now on, I really plan to do it. I got used to it so quickly and I really SEE it is working. How? There are things I can see (visible fatloss, skin improvement, overall "glow" from inside out, haha) and stuff I can feel (no stomach problems, good mood all the time, high energy level, better workout performance, different attitude towards everything). I seriously never felt better and I don't want this to stop. Along with other life changes I made lately, this is how I wanna live my life and the only thing I regret is not starting this earlier. I am reading Paleo Solution now and after that I have Everyday Paleo and Primal Blueprint ready in my Kindle, Paleo Comfort Food cookbook pre-ordered and waiting for Mel's cookbook to be released. I wanna cook, learn and LIVE. 

SIDENOTES: I started this thing and my mom was curious about it. I explained to her, she loved the idea and I am proud to say she did this with me, she also has her Whole30 over and she also wants to keep going. She eats meat again and got rid of the yoghurt addiction. Makes me happy :) I still get weird looks and comments from people around me (family members, people at work), but I don't care. I gave up explaining, I don't need to explain myself, I can't wait to be GONE with completely new people who knows nothing about me and have no need to bring me down or negatively comment on my eating habits. And I hope I will meet some people with similar lifestyles, so I can relate to them and share stuff. 

FINAL SUMMARY: Whole30 (and the whole paleo thing in general) DID change my life. It made me happy and healthy. It made me feel alive, it tought me to love cooking, it though me that veggies are GOOD :) and that I am worth a little effort :) It made me go to my first farmers market today (more about that amazing experience later). It helped me to lost some fat and even though I still have some more to shed, I know HOW and I know I CAN. So let's close it with the same quote again: Yes, Paleo works, but ONLY IF YOU DO IT.