Whole30 Starts Now

Whole30? Whaaaa?? I wanted some sort of clean eating plan. The kind where you eat actual, real unprocessed living or once-living things that you cook yourself. As a Crossfitter at DC's 202strong, I've heard all about the now-famous paleo diet and have followed it off and on for a couple of years. But let's face it. As with all good eating plans, and the best-laid intentions, life has an insidious way of sneaking in and sabotaging the whole unprocessed, no sugar, no carbs, happy, healthy lifestyle. It did for me, big time. First off, wine. Red wine. And lots of it. Of course I blame the holidays, and stress and, dangit! Why does that red wine always find itself in a glass in my hand!? Oh, and the warm, soft, delicious bread at Le Diplomate, Lebanese Taverna, or  [put anything here]. How can I give that up? You only live once. Right. And that's exactly why I'm stopping the madness.

After realizing I'd eaten an entire box of Trader Joe's deliciously crispy pita crackers followed up by their equally tantalizing Pane Guttiau (like matzoh on crack), countless "little tastes" of cheese, chocolate, margaritas, chips, breakfast burritos, and ginormous burgers with breaded onion rings, I thought it might be time to take a good, hard look at what I'm cramming into my body and why the heck my knees started aching, my hip hurt so badly it affected my walking, and my once-flat stomach looked like I'd swallowed a pony keg. I could blame the aches on working out, but I'd been traveling when they became acute. I needed a plan.

Now I love plans: the reading material, the mental prep, the buying of good healthy food, the whole "this is going to change my life" mentality. LOVE THEM. Only thing is the novelty usually wears off by day three and I'm back at happy hour having a "cheat meal" of two margaritas, a couple of baskets of chips, guacamole (healthy choice) and salsa. The brightly colored fresh veggies turn to a soggy green mess in my fridge and the plan ends.

But now I'm ready to get serious. Today is Day One of the 30. The Whole30 is a plan to help "reset" your body by knocking out foods that can be irritants leading to food allergies and inflammation. (And yes, vegetarians can do it, too. For the complete plan, click here.) So one down, 29 to go. I will check each day off. The people at Whole30 provide endless information, printable lists and support--all free. For a small fee, they will send you an email every day to keep you on track. This seems like the real deal. I'm all in. Let's see how I do. Help keep me accountable so by the end of 30 days, I can tell you all about how it went and what I accomplished. And, we're off!