It’s amazing how 30 days of clean eating can affect your body!

Well, it’s finally over! As you may know, I’m always trying to be healthier and do more for my body, my mental, and emotional well being. I know I’ve talked to many of you about this Whole 30 challenge that my gym (Cross Fit DeCo) is doing, so I wanted to share my experience of eating strictly whole foods for thirty days.

I had originally thought I would do a modified challenge, because I really didn’t think I had the drive or organizational capacity to do it full force. But I did it! I ended up doing a 100%, strictly compliant, Whole 30 challenge: that means no sugar, processed foods, dairy, grains, or legumes. Basically, I ate fruit, veggies and meat for thirty days straight.

It did seem very daunting at the beginning: grocery shopping was a bit of a chore, since I had to inspect all the food labels to check ingredients. Unfortunately, sugar is in everything! I spent a lot of time cooking and it was fairly expensive. The breakfast meal was the hardest for me because I’m not a huge fan of breakfast food, except yogurt smoothies and cereal, which I couldn’t have. But the results are in and I feel great!

I’m down 12 pounds, 50 points in fasting blood sugars, 6.75 inches total in my waist, hips and rib cage.

But the best part about Whole 30 is my energy, motivation and productivity! I wake up when my alarm goes off, bright and alert and don’t snooze for an hour anymore. Every night, I fall into a deep, restful sleep. I don’t feel exhausted at the end of the day, though, wanting only to crawl into bed and do nothing.

I’ve accomplished many things on my ever growing “to do” list, even though it seemed for a while that all I did was cook. After being on Whole 30 for a few days, the first change I noticed was that my sinus stuffiness went away after about three days. I also discovered that my cravings for sugar and chocolate were not physical but more mental and emotional, which gave me the opportunity to do some inner work on that.
Now that I have completed the Whole 30 challenge, I can gradually reintroduce foods (one item at a time) to see what affects me negatively so I can know what my body doesn’t like. This is going to be the hard part. I really want to eat twelve chocolate chip cookies right now! But I’m not going to do that. I mean, why do all this work for nothing, right? So tomorrow I’ll reintroduce Greek Yogurt so I can have a breakfast smoothie, and we’ll go from there.

I did find a easy, cool place to get help with the cooking. My Wildtree consultant, Allison, (simple, healthy, natural foods) actually had a Wholesome 30 line of foods that made the last 10 days of my challenge a lot easier, less time consuming, and the meals were really good! I also found a favorite snack food: roasted curried cashews. This was my go daily go to, and especially yummy when I couldn’t have popcorn at the movies. (Recipe below – I do 4 cups cashews, only soak about 15 mins, and it took me about 2 hours to cook. They will harden up after they come out of the oven. )

Thanks, as always, for your support of me, my challenges and my business! You all are awesome and I really appreciate you! If anyone is interested in trying the Whole 30 challenge and wants some advice, feel free to reach out, or come see me for a massage and we’ll talk all about it!

 

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Roasted Curry Cashews

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Time: About 3 hours, mostly unattended

2 tablespoons salt

2 cups cashews

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

1. Dissolve ½ tablespoon (1½ teaspoons) salt in 3 cups water in a large bowl. Add the cashews. Soak the cashews for 2 hours, then drain and let sit in the strainer for 10 minutes to get rid of excess liquid.
2. Heat the oven to 200°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Return the cashews to the (dried) bowl and add the remaining 1½ tablespoons (4½ teaspoons) salt, the curry powder, the cumin, the cayenne pepper, and the paprika. Toss to combine, and let sit for another 10 minutes.
3. Spread the cashews evenly on the baking sheet and roast, stirring every 20 minutes, until evenly browned, about 1 hour total. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store leftover nuts in an airtight container for up to several days.