Results from my Whole 25

By Christina Routon

I did not complete the Whole 30 challenge. I got through day 25 and I'd had enough.

The Whole 30 is not easy to complete. It wasn't just about giving up the grains and the sugar as I'd already been wheat-free and sugar-free for some time. It was actually harder for me giving up the dairy - the cheese in my eggs, the cream in my coffee. To do this takes planning and preparation, and it seemed the more the month went on it just became more difficult and time consuming.

I learned a lot about myself, and this trumps any results I had with weight loss or inches lost. I learned about emotional attachments I have to food. After a rough day, I wanted pizza and ice cream. The last thing I wanted to do was go home to chicken and vegetables and spend another hour in the kitchen prepping for the next day. However, I know that food will not make me feel better and I believe doing this is helping me break those attachments.

Since going without any type of sugar or sugar substitute for almost a month, now that I can use the sweetener again I find my taste has changed. Before I used about four packets of Splenda in a cup of coffee or tea, trying to mimic the sweet taste of sugar. Now, I may use one and it tastes fine.

I was surprised at how many foods contain sugar, wheat, and other additives. I will definitely continue to read labels and make the best choices possible when buying groceries.

I've learned a new appreciation for vegetables, including vegetables I never would have tried before. My husband makes excellent mashed cauliflower. I love the recipe for jicama home fries and chocolate chili from the cookbook, Well Fed. I've eaten sweet potatoes, butternut and spaghetti squash, broccoli, cauliflower, jicama and so many other vegetables I can't remember. I've learned new ways of cooking and new ways of seasoning food to make it taste good and be interesting every day. I've learned shortcuts such as prepping vegetables ahead of time in containers, pre-cooking ground meat to use in a variety of recipes and using my slow cooker for a roast or chicken. I've made homemade mayo and salad dressing. It was definitely an experience.

As for physical results, I lost two pounds. I'd hoped to lose four or five, but I know lipedema slows weight loss and as I was already wheat-free and sugar-free I didn't expect to lose as much as those going from a typical SAD diet to a Whole 30 plan. I did lose inches, mostly on my arms. I did some exercise, not as much as I'd liked, but I plan to include healthy movement into my days. It may not be a scheduled exercise program, but I am going to do something to move my body and keep it healthy.

I did notice recently my calves feel softer than they did before. I've been using lotion on my legs and for a long time my calves had felt hard. This is important, because lipedema fat on the calves tends to get hard (fibrotic) and lumpy and this affects the way lymphatic fluid moves through the legs. The fact that my calves are softer and actually jiggle (who would have thought I'd be happy to have more jiggly fat?) tells me my body is changing, even if I can't see it.

I'm going to continue a more primal style of diet, predominately paleo but including cheese and butter. This is going to be my diet 95 percent of the time. I'm going to include corn on a limited basis, more in the form of corn tortillas and grits than whole kernal corn, and until Stevia is a bit more affordable I'm going to have to stick with Splenda as a sweetener, if I use one at all. I'm learning more about Omega 3 and Omega 6 fats as well, which I'll share soon, and plan to add more Omega 3 fats to my diet.

I'll probably do another Whole 30 in the fall, maybe around August or September. I'm glad I did it. I learned a lot for my first go round and I'm looking forward to seeing what changes take place as the year progresses.

Halfway through January Lifestyle Challenge

By Tatjana van der Krabben

I’m on board with the inflammation theory. I acknowledge sugar and wheat are bad news and only fuel inflammation. Did I give up on sugar and wheat? Not exactly. I cut back a lot and am virtually off sugar and take some wheat. Awkward pause…

For January Lifestyle Challenge I tackled my last source of artificial sweeteners: soda. No ifs, ands or buts here: I cut out soda January 1^st and stand by it. Soda was my is-it-somewhere-6-o’clock-yet? thing. So it was a habit. Giving up on it gave me cravings, first for soda and when I did not cave: sugar. I did cave there a few times, but regrouped after a week. I now sometimes take a glass of sparkling water, as I get tired of flat water, tea and coffee. I have not lost weight or inches, but I feel better. More relaxed, more energetic, despite an insane workload. Apparently I cut something useful out.

Now I’m at a crossroads. About 2 years ago I was leaning towards RAD diet. Unfortunately, as I made progress, I did not feel better. I went from not being much of a meat eater to horrendous cravings for meat in my almost vegan phase. I lacked energy, had trouble with the liquid food bit. I do feel fighting inflammation is key. I also support additive-free eating, which is promoted by RAD, but I needed to find a new way. When attempting RAD I did not even get around to cutting out wheat to the present extend (addicted? me?).  

Stopping all together is hard. It’s not just addiction. It’s about being wheat-free in a wheat world with a wheat-husband and wheat-craving kids. I can’t see it. I get lost in the how and work around it. I buy spelt bread. Technically that’s a type of wheat, only less modified and usually tolerated better. I bought gluten-free pasta a few times. Still starchy, obviously. I also get menu requests with noodles. I tried rice noodles. It’s like eating noodles soaked in wall paper glue! Imagine that in your gut. Yuk! I bought kelp noodles. I cooked them for a great length of time to try softening them. I only got to ‘trying’…

Am I weak? Making excuses? There’s light at the end of the tunnel. You need guidelines, a source for recipes. I now lean towards Paleo/Primal. I don’t know what to think of the specifics like the nightshade veggies or dairy. I’m not there yet. I stopped forcing myself to eat fruit every day. That was a relief. Now I enjoy eating fruit again, when I do. I eat more animal protein. I hate plain eggs, but looked for recipes to incorporate more eggs. That’s working out fine. Meals high on protein, also almond flour or meal, work well for me.  After taking in more protein and healthy fats, I did manage to cut back on wheat a lot.

December and January brought more change. I also stopped taking sugar in my coffee and creamer, since I learned most powdered foods contain aluminum. I also switched baking powers for that in January. I finally allowed the nagging feeling to sink in that the low-fat margarine spread did contain an awful lot of funny ingredients to be that healthy. I did something last week that felt soooo wrong: I switched to real butter from grass fed cows for the occasion I do eat bread. Real butter goes against EVERYTHING I was taught growing up. But it’s yum, satisfying and hours later I need to remind myself to eat again. I also started taking rutin again last week, to see if it does more after quite literally cleaning up my act. What else? In December I changed shampoo. This new one I used to buy for the kids when babies. It contains about half the ingredients my old shampoo had.  

I’ve cleaned up my act so much the takeout pizza from last weekend hit my stomach like a ton of bricks. The scales were unforgiving: 4 lbs up, completely bloated. I looked on the website: Domino’s doesn’t do gluten-free crusts. I will have to make my own. I have a recipe. I do. But I do enjoy the occasional takeout, a I-don’t-have-to-cook day. Cooking from scratch takes dedication and time. And going wheat-free completely and losing my last bit of tolerance for it scares me a little. The less I eat it, the worse I feel when I do eat it. How do you deal with vacations? Day at an amusement park? Visiting people? Always packing your own food? It’s a wheat and sugar world and I’m not ready to be wheat-free and sugar-free in that world. At the same time I try my hardest to – otherwise – clean up my act and detox. It’s working: my legs are feeling better.

My first Whole 30 - Week 1

By Christina Routon

For the January Lifestyle Challenge I chose to start a paleo diet. I went all in by following a program called Whole 30. You can find out more about this plan at Whole9Life and check out the following websites for recipes:

The Clothes Make the Girl (I'm also using her cookbook, Well Fed)
Nom Nom Paleo

Whole 30 is an elimination plan (no grains, legumes, dairy (except ghee and eggs), sweeteners of any kind) and it also includes other rules such as:

No "paleo" treats
No "paleo-ifying" regular foods - no "paleo bread", etc.

This means my gluten-free pancakes with sugar-free syrup are out, as well as the corn tortillas and grits, peanut butter, and other things I was still eating. Also, all sweeteners, including stevia, Splenda, Truvia, agave - are out. It's been a learning curve, but I'm doing okay. I'm not having the cravings / headaches other people have talked about during the Whole30 timeline as I'd already gone wheat-free / sugar-free.

Here are a few things I've learned this week. The lessons should apply to any type of plan you're doing.

Plan ahead - This is crucial. I can't just run out and grab something to eat for lunch or toss something together for dinner. There has to be a plan in place and food has to be ready ahead of time.

Keep it simple - Don't try to make meals that consume too much time in the kitchen. It's been a week and I already feel as if I'm in kitchen jail. I do try to cook ahead as Melissa recommends in her book, Well Fed, but I end up cooking for about two days ahead instead of the week. One of my rules for recipes - must include items found in my local grocery store. The only item I bought at a health-food store was Coconut Aminos.

Get family participation - My husband is doing this with me as a show of support. It's always nice to have support and participation. Our son still lives with us, but he's been buying his own food.

It doesn't have to be expensive - Yes, I know a lot of paleo and primal sites want you to buy grass-fed beef and free-range chicken and organic vegetables. I can't afford those at this point in time. I buy what I can, even if it's not perfect. I do check the dirty dozen list to see if the vegetables / fruit should be bought organic, though, and if I can I buy them organic or do without. I started buying ingredients and testing recipes during the weeks leading to Christmas, just to test them out. So far, I've only exceeded my weekly grocery budget twice in about three weeks, and then by $20.

I'm not weighing until the end of January, but I do have my weight and measurements from the end of December to compare. However, I'm not doing this for weight loss. As many of you know, with lipedema we're not really trying to "lose weight". We're trying to fight inflammation. Some of what I'm doing may result in weight loss, but I'm not expecting my legs to change overnight. I'm not expecting to drop a significant amount of weight. My reason for following this plan in January and continuing with the paleo / primal diet is to reduce inflammation I already have and prevent any more from occurring.

Starting today, January 7, I'm adding exercise back into my routine as well.

How are you doing on your January challenge?