Accept for doing Weight Watchers a couple times, with no real success other than losing 10 lbs in the first week and calling that a success and gaining it all back a few weeks later, I've never really attempted a weight loss program. Woops....not actually a weight loss program, although the result is weight loss, it's not why we did it. We did it, to change many habits and not just our eating habits, although that was the primary focus.
It started with a year end message at church. You can see that message here. Where both Ron and I.....more so Ron, had some "ah-ha" moments. I could relate to much of the story being shared. Being overweight, relationship with food.....I'd heard it a million times....but this time was different. There was a God aspect to it that I hadn't given much thought. I am fully aware that ultimately God is in control of EVERYTHING. But does that mean I am willing to surrender EVERYTHING to him? Ha Ha Ha.....NO. Does that mean I recognize when God is trying to talk to me, often screaming at me.....and I hear him.....UM NO. Theres just somethings in life we hold onto with both hands with a very tight grip. A lot of people aren't willing to admit food has a crazy strong hold on us.
Enter the book.....It Starts With Food. I'm not much of a reader. Since giving birth, I've probably read maybe 10 books in the past 15 years if that many. And when I do read I am a sloooooow reader. This book I plowed through because it was fascinating and I could relate to it and the science stuff about food was not in anyway over my head. Ron read it to, and once we completed it we both agreed to give the Whole 30 a go. Ron never agrees to anything this crazy, or this restrictive.
When I say restrictive I mean RESTRICTIVE. I knew we wouldn't go hungry, but giving up food that had such a stronghold on us was going to be a challenge. And I'm a women, and you know what happens to women and hormones......they don't go away now matter how healthy you are eating.
We rid our home of all non-compliant whole 30 foods. After a couple weeks we referred to those foods as "poison". The first few weeks I stocked up on meat and veggies from Whole foods and trader joes. I soon learned that wasn't necessary. I soon learned to find almost everything I needed on the outside edge of Kroger. It's true all the processed foods are in the middle. Basically Whole 30 is Protien, veggies, fruit and healthy fats. Go to the website for more details. After the first week, it became easier and easier. We just had to learn to read labels, prep a head of time, and we pretty much couldn't eat out during whole 30. We did only 2 or 3 times, and that was to a Steak House, and to Chipotle.
Our results. Our relationship with food has completely changed. We aren't being as strict as the whole 30, but we are eating the same way pretty much. We almost never eat sweets. We don't eat pasta, or rice. I've not bought a loaf of bread in nearly 2 months, probably won't until we go camping. I've actually stopped missing bread. (truth) We rarely snack at night and if we do, it's fruit, and in small amounts. Occasionally I'll have a teeny tiny bowl of popcorn from Perry (he was only whole 30 at dinner time) seriously he's a 15 year old boy.....he probably would have lost his mind.
Ron has lost 25 lbs and I've lost 23. We haven't started working out. We wanted to get out eating in check before we conquired physical activity.
What else has changed? I love Mango's! Ron's eaten spaghetti squash and didn't die. Ron's learned how to cook his own food from scratch. He's learned it's not hard to bake some chicken, and he loves salad. We learned that by reading the labels you learn that all processed food contain a whole lot of CRAP. And it's shocking how much food contains some sort of soy......ugh including teabags??? We are probably done with processed food for forever.....I may never buy Helmans mayo again ever.....or Miracle Whip. Homemade Mayo is easy and way better.
