I’m happy to say I completed my first Whole30 a few days ago! Here’s how it went…
I. Feel. Awesome.
I have felt fantastic the past few weeks! After the initial shock to my system, I began feeling progressively better and better. The Whole30 folks call this Tiger’s Blood, and I can certainly see why. My skin was clearer, my pants fit better, and I had more energy (which is saying a lot considering clients have previously compared me to the Energizer Bunny)!
Whole30 Chicken & Apple Sausage, Sweet Potato, & Baked Egg Hash
Effortless Weight Loss
Although it wasn’t the only reason I chose to try Whole30, I did hope to drop some of the weight I’d gained the past year or so. Unbelievably, I lost 13.5 pounds while on the program! The Whole30 program strictly forbids weighing or measuring yourself during the 30 days, so it was an incredible shock when I stepped back on the scale that next morning! I truly couldn’t believe how effortless the weight loss felt and how I wasn’t as concerned about the number on the scale as I was my overall health.
Whole30 Poached Eggs, Avocado, & Hash Browns
Who Knew? I Like Cooking
Last week, I joked that the Calphalon cookware set my mom gave me for Christmas a few years ago was the best present she’d ever given me 5 years too early! I truly think I’ve used it more in the past 30 days than the years prior combined. Even though I’m not a morning person, I have cooked eggs 29 out of 30 mornings and have become a much better egg poacher! Dinners were more fun to plan knowing I’d be making further progress toward my health goals. I’ve come to enjoy the challenge of grocery shopping while avoiding sugar and artificial ingredients. In the beginning, I kept meals incredibly simple, but became more adventurous as time went on. Doing dishes will always be the bane of my existence, but cooking no longer is.
Whole30 Baked Eggs over Zucchini Noodles with Chicken & Apple Sausage
Slaying the Sugar Dragon
Learning the secret places sugar is hidden was eye-opening. I found it in everything from bacon to milk products to chicken! I also didn’t realize how addicted to sugar I was. After being off Whole30 for a few days now, I added sugar back into my morning coffee and was surprised how much I didn’t miss it. The true test was that I finished Whole30 the day before Halloween… and I was easily able to pass up candy without even thinking twice about it.
Whole30 Hazelnut Crusted Salmon with Garlic Mashed Cauliflower
The Big Picture
Perhaps most importantly, Whole30 caused me to really think about how I fuel my body. I can honestly say that after 30 days, I see food differently than I did before. I know much more about ingredients I want to avoid and know how well my body reacts to cutting them out. Of course, I won’t continue to live strictly Whole30 now that I’m done, but I will take the things I learned and my newfound desire to cook to make healthier choices moving forward. I will likely do another Whole30 after the holidays to help reset some of the inevitable bad habits I pick back up between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
A Parallel to an Organizing Principle
If there’s one thing I learned from this experiment, it’s that all those little daily decisions add up. Each choice I made for 90+ meals the past month was a healthy choice and that culminated in big results! Of course, as an organizer, I immediately drew a parallel between this and de-cluttering. If every single day, you spent five minutes picking up some clutter, you’d remain mostly clutter-free. On the other hand, if you piled even just a few pieces of mail on your desk each day, eventually you’d bury your desk in it. Those daily piles of clutter together can be hard to come back from. This is the exact reason many of you have heard me call your household drop zone your “Sunday basket.” Every Sunday (or Friday afternoon or Monday morning or whenever makes the most sense to you), catch up on the week’s delayed decisions and you’ll find it a much more manageable task.