Whole30- DONE and with good results!

Weird carrot I got last week from the farmer's market

I finished 30 days of Whole 30 last Wednesday. I am very happy I was able to stick it out for 30 days. There were times that I was sorely tempted and wished I could deviate (and did for a wedding), but it was soooo worth it!

So what are the results?

Energy levels- Energy levels are much higher than before. I tried a slice of bread on Friday and was sooo tired the rest of the day and into the next. I think I will continue to stay away from carbs, or at least stick with a gluten free carb dish.

Food cravings- My cravings for carbs went waaay down. Every once in awhile a crunchy slice of toast sounded tasty, but since we don't have bread in the apt, that thought went away quickly. Craving for meat went sky high, which is really weird. I'm repulsed by meat (always have been), but sometimes I wanted to eat a steak, a slice of bacon, anything that was actual meat. Very strange. I went to the store today because I've been wanting bacon like a crazy woman. I went yesterday and was grossed out picking up the package, but I went ahead and bought one today. I'm going to make some and incorporate bacon pieces into a batch of egg muffin frittatas. One thing I DON'T crave is salmon. I freaking hate salmon now since I ate it either every day or every other day. I'm fine eating eggs everyday because they are so versatile, but NOT salmon. Gross!

Weight- My weight went down 2 pounds. But body fat % went down 1.7%. That's a lot in a month. I think it would have gone down more if I cut down a bit more on the fruit. I've been periodically tracking my body fat % since March 2010, and this is the lowest I've ever been (except for one fluke measurement in 4/2010).

Measurements- Lost 1 inch around the waist, and 1/2 inch around the hips. Everywhere else stayed the same. Not bad!

Visual changes- I took pictures back in July right before I started CrossFit. I took pictures yesterday and compared them to the July pictures. No, I'm not comfortable posting these pics online, but there is a huge difference- legs smaller, waist smaller, arms more toned.

Digestion- My stomach has been bothering me since Oct 2010. Ever since trying Whole30/Paleo, my stomach has been very, very happy. My stomach now gets upset when I eat something with sugar (sweets), is very oily (cooked in canola oil, veggie oil, etc.), or is a carb. I tried some ice cream tonight from Mother Moo Creamery and so far my tummy is OK. I really need to see what soy will do so I can reintroduce tofu back into my diet.

What now? I'm definitely going to keep up Paleo and keeps the carbs out of my diet or maybe splurge once in awhile on a piece of toast. I'll continue to document my journey and some meals here on the blog. I'm toying with the idea of maybe seeing what it would be like eating meat for 30 days and see if there is a difference. I think part of the reason why I've been craving meat is because I've become limited to fish and eggs on this diet. I bought "The Vegetarian Myth" and will read it with a huge dose of skepticism, simply because I've noticed a lot of her references are to wikipedia articles or online sites. College taught me (among other things) that online references are NOT references.

Maybe I'll post the before/after pics in the future, but now I'm going to cook some bacon. :)