My experience with the Whole30... week 1

My niece started the Whole30. I was interested in her experience and decided to try it myself. It couldn't hurt.

I'm starting from the beginning. I mean the beginning beginning.

Tuesday: I read the first chapter. It's the opening. This is what came to mind:

I've done an elimination diet before, when I was diagnosed with various food allergies.

I spent 30 days avoiding my mild allergy foods and 90 days avoiding my severe allergy foods.

I have to admit: I'm not particularly hopeful about the Whole30. No, I'm not dissing it or saying it doesn't work. I believe those who have tried it and succeeded. I know me. A lot of things don't go the way it's supposed to with me. And you thought I was contradictory verbally. My body is leading the charge. The doctor guaranteed I would lose weight, maybe not a lot but I would lose. Everyone did. Imagine how baffled he was when I returned and had actually gained 10 lb.

I loved their perspective of treating myself as my own personal experiment. I already do that, so there's that sense of resonance. A good start.

I do know I will learn a lot of things I didn't know before. Some will be helpful and some won't.

Chapter 2: A bit annoying. The whole "we're backed by science" drives me crazy. Science is theory not fact. The purpose of research is to prove the experts wrong. I get that they've done a lot of reading. Fine. Move on. Huge annoyance trigger: "Getting positive results from one client is good, but getting similar positive results from a thousand clients truly confirms the efficacy of the protocols and suggests that they will produce reliable results for other people with similar health conditions."

No. A thousand positive results confirms it worked for those one thousand clients.

The only time clothes are designed for one person is when a designer is showing off. Otherwise, they're making clothes for the masses and what looks great on one person will look horrible on another, even if they are the same size and basic shape.

I was tired of the testimonials at the beginning of each chapter by chapter 2. I hate being beaten over the head. I had to go on to chapter 3 or quit.

Okay, I understand there are those people who need the reassurance this is backed by science. I'm not one of them.

Chapter 3: Excellent point and the problem with trying to narrow down to one thing. The point made is that we often narrow down why we eat something. The examples they used were grains for fiber and milk for calcium. Food isn't about a single component. It's complex.

I remember when St. John's Wort was all the rage. I also remember when the pharmaceutical companies were all excited to narrow down what it was in St. John's Wort that was the mood lifter. They singled it and tried to sell it, but the results weren't what they'd hoped for. They decided it might be the other main element. So they singled it out. It didn't work well either. St. John's Wort didn't work when it was processed. The pharmaceuticals decided it wasn't worth their time and effort. I don't blame them. Really. They are in business to make money. St. John's Wort does work with mild forms of depression and anxiety. It works for some people but not for others.

Yep, I've got this chapter down.

Wednesday: Chapter 4: Surprised they start off with psychology? Grateful! Finally! Someone gets what I've known for a long time. I have to conquer my attitude and issues with food. They start in the past, engraved into my brain.

Well, shoot. They're following the standard line of reasoning: You eat to feel better.

This is not me. I usually eat to stuff down what I'm thinking. Interestingly enough, with blogs and writing and FB, I don't need to stuff as much down.

There is also absolutely nothing about the psychological games, nothing about food used as a reward as a child, or a punishment. It wasn't only my body betraying me; my caretakers started it.

A few thoughts as I read: Salt and sugar are amazing preservatives. We can feed the world because of salt and sugar's ability to preserve foods that would otherwise perish within a short period. The reason so many starve is politics. I remember all the food sent to Ethiopia rotting on the docks because the government refused to distribute it. Starving people are easier to control. Those who paint the diets of early man as a sort of utopia drives me crazy. The reason pepper and spices were so highly prized is because they effectively covered the taste of rotting and molding foods, especially meat.

Thursday: Chapter 5: Hormones. I skimmed it. Fastest way to shut me down is to say, "For those of us in the developed world, the idea of a 'food shortage' sounds silly." Must be nice to live in Utopia. By the way, Utopia was first used by Sir Thomas Moore to describe "No place." Now, tell those who survived hurricanes and tornadoes and didn't have access to food until it was brought in. It's silly to not consider it as a very real reason why people have trouble with food. It is, in fact, one of my biggest triggers.

This is definitely more for people who are looking to only tackle the actual physical issues in the body. A lot of good information as far as how the body works.

Sigh, on their typical good day, I can't eat at least half the foods they recommend. It's also not a typical day for me, at all. The not-so-typical day doesn't come close to my life either. The why questions are mostly ones I don't ask, and the ones I do I know why, and it isn't what's suggested here.

Now, there are plenty of people I know would love this chapter. I'm simply not one of them, but I'm not dealing with the typical set of circumstances. It really isn't about them; it's about me.

Chapter 6: This is information with which I'm very familiar. Again, this is difficult for me to identify with since my system really is different. I've been allergic to bran pretty much all my life. I am learning to recognize and promote what works for me.

Chapter 7: Yep, I'm familiar with this one, too, and been working on it for years. I'm slowly getting the hang of it.

Okay, I'll save the next chapter for Week 2.