Hoping the sun will make my bangs grow….

Caught the little buggers sleeping together!!!

The first thing I should point out about this review is that it’s not actually a Whole30. It’s more like a Whole21 with a little floundering throughout. Although I did stick to the premise of the diet for the most part, I decided at various intervals to bring back certain pleasantries given their minimally invasive effects on my health and their maximal improvement on my overall sense of sanity.

So, I’ve had a few glasses of wine, and for the last week I’ve been indulging in 1 teaspoon of Stevia per day, just so I could have that morning coffee. Oh, speaking of which, I’ve also added back store-bought almond milk (for said coffee), and I’ve even had a 2 Pure Protein bars when I just felt like I had to eat SOMETHING with a crinkly wrapper or I might die on the spot.

Other than these few discrepancies, I’ve done quite well and I will admit, I feel pretty damn good to. I have a steady, consistent supply of energy and I have only had the 3pm slump once, and that was when I experimented with a morning bowl of oats. Okay, yeah, I had oats once too.

But overall, I think I’m ready to start experimenting with “potentially toxic substances” like tofu and lentils. I’m so sick of fish and I fear I might have depleted the tilapia population from here to Japan, so I need to start integrating more plant-based and personally conscious forms of protein. I will continue with my humane certified eggs though as I absolutely adore them.

The drabness that has become my every meal.

I also don’t want to feel bad when I have a glass of wine. I’ve certainly dialed back the volume of my favorite bad habit, but when I do indulge, I don’t want to feel like I’m cheating myself out of some higher level of living as I don’t think a glass here and there is bad for me. Quite the opposite actually.

What I do think I’m done with is sugar. I haven’t even missed it in the last week. Well, most of the time I don’t miss it. Sometimes as I’m having my wine, I crave something to go with it (hense my breakdown with the protein bar), but that only happened once.

I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be doing dairy again, but I’ll reserve confirmation of that assumption until I try bringing it back into my daily diet again. As you may recall, dairy is really only a recent thing for me, and to be honest, the more I ate it, the more tired I was. I didn’t realize it at the time, but if that feeling of exhaustion comes back, then dairy will stay out.

I’m also contemplating going without whey protein, and sticking with a pea or rice blend like Vega. I’ve been experimenting with some Isagenix Isalean shakes in the last few weeks, but this has also mysteriously correlated with an onset of bunny-like poop. I know, TMI – but it is what it is.

So as I enter this last week of the Whole30 challenge, I’ll actually be testing out my tolerance to dairy, gluten, soy and legumes (oh, my beloved peanut butter, please don’t disappoint me!). Sugar will not be making a come back, but small doses of stevia here and there are still aokay by me.

Overall, I would highly recommend anyone giving this challenge a try. Even if you don’t want to go for 30 days (which I personally think is over kill), even just a week might make you take a second look at your food choices, which at the end of the day, is the best takeaway of the Whole 30 program.

Are you interested? You can check it out here.

Everything I love the most on a single kitchen bar stool

Week In Review

• Lifted weight 4x, cardio 2x, yoga 1x
• Food prepped twice
• Finished Write It Down, Make It Happen: Knowing What You Want And Getting It – Great book, highly recommend
• Started Wishcraft: How to Get What You Really Want – recommended by author of book I just finished
• Suffered a pretty significant setback on the business – still processing these thoughts
• Ate like a Paleolithic rock star 85% of the time
• Saw “The Big Wedding” with bff on Wednesday – cute, albeit bizarre movie
• “Whipper snapped” the lawn – it’s in such a state.
• Watched Life of Pi last night. Cute, yes. Life changing? No.
• Surpassed the 40,000 word mark on my book project! Over half way there!
• Started a second memior class and signed up for a course on how to get published

Weekend To do’s

• Plant some freakin flowers in my hideous excuse of a garden already
• Head to the Muddy Leek for date night dinner!
• Yoga, followed by some shoulder-centric weights
• Write, write, write.