Happy February!

The January Whole30 is officially over, and all three of us quit at varying stages.

As you saw back in my last post, Jason quit around day 11, and we were letting Kay quit on the 18th. I ended up falling off the program on day 26.

I know what you’re thinking, “You only had four days to go… what on earth… ?”

I was determined to complete a 2019 January W30. And I was so.close.

I also made a commitment that this would be my last W30. ever no matter what the outcome was. I needed to move on from this restricted “diet”, or “reset” find out what food(s) cause my painful heartburn, and move on.

Day 26 was Jason’s work Christmas party, and every year they do a Taco Bar. I thought about cooking my own meat and bringing it in a thermos, but instead, I actually called the restaurant they always use to find out how they prepare everything and concluded I could easily do a taco salad. I figured I was set.

But, like an act of God, they switched caterers, and EVERYTHING had gluten or dairy in it… so,  I could have been that super awkward person and not eat anything all night.

or

I could say… screw it. Be. Free.

I chose freedom.

Twenty-six days is more than long enough to get all of these potentially problematic ingredients out of my system, and that day would be the day to re-introduce them. Now, having gluten and dairy at the same time, probably not the best idea, (because if I had a reaction, what was it, dairy or gluten?) but it wasn’t like I could choose this – or that it was all intermixed.

As the re-introduction period went on over the past week however I’ve realized I need to break up with a lot of dairy (milk, ice cream, dairy-based sauces).  Not sure about my tolerance for hard cheese, but I’m about to find out by gettin’ a taco!

maybe eating taco’s wasn’t cheating on my diet

maybe going on a diet was cheating on my taco’s…

Oats are also very problematic for me, which is also a huge bummer because that is a staple of eating in the Boundary Waters, and I love overnight oats. I guess I’ll keep playing around with various foods over the next few weeks and find the perfect diet for me!

Conclusion: This experiment 2.0 was well worth it. I didn’t feel guilty, and I didn’t feel shame for quitting my w30 four days early, you know what I felt?  I finally – for the first time – felt FREE. I plan to push the envelope and eat what I can get away with.

Free to come up with exactly the foods that will make me feel the best, and no longer conform to a LABEL (certain way of eating). I’m not Mediterranean, I’m not Paleo, I’m not Whole30…

I am me.