Whole 30 Day 20 - Refuse to Regain thoughts

Hi all,

This is Rina. I have been working with Sophia for the past 6 months trying to spread the word about the wonderful Grass Fed Jerky Chews. I have been eating a pretty clean Paleo/Low Carb diet for the past few years, but still decided to jump right in and try the Whole 30. I'll be blogging daily about my experience for the next 30 days.

By now I already have the hang of it. I am feeling great, have no cravings and am not really missing anything. Not even dairy or my Fage Greek yogurt that I got used to eating for breakfast on the go. I am not missing the Heavy Whipping Cream in my afternoon coffee. I am not missing the little cream cheese I was eating nor the hard mozzarella cheese. I think I will stay away from them even after I complete Whole 30. It saves money, shortens my shopping list, creates more space in my fridge, eliminates foodification and focus on food. It boils down to - when I have the variety, I eat it. So if I am happy without it, why bother? 
Same logic worked for me with regards to grains. I am enjoying coconut milk in my coffee, so why bother with heavy whipping cream? 

I went back to Barbara Berkeley and the book Refuse to Regain. Chapter 7 was very interesting for me and I read it several times. I like the term S foods (S = sugar, starch). She is basically saying that even whole wheat/grain foods are not real foods as they have been grinded and not in their natural form and it is much better to eat the food in it's natural form (like veggies or meat). Also, they eventually translate into sugar in blood. 

What really resonated with me is her saying, "Experimentation often leads to maintenance disaster because, whatever its source, we can't seem to say no to food that is starchy or sweet." 
This is what basically happened to me gradually during these past 2 years and 15-17lbs. 

She says that S foods are newcomers to the human diet and thus are not essential. I tend to agree. 

I really enjoyed her short review of how our world became so super sweet. It is a short history on how sugar entered into our society and became such a huge industry. Even though I know these things, it was still a good reinforcement to read it again in her language. 

This morning I cooked 2 eggs in 1 tbs ghee with shredded zucchini and mushrooms and 2 Applegate chicken sage sausages. I forgot and didn't need the avocado. Since I was thinking about food while not keeping busy, I had a handful of almonds while watching the figure skating nationals (kids from our rink are competing now). This is something I need to address and change. 

I need a new strategy for dealing with just wanting to eat. I am not hungry, not at all. Yet I allowed myself to eat nuts. 

For lunch, I plan to have the bison sloppy joe I made yesterday with lettuce, cucumber and bell pepper. It is almost noon, I am not hungry and since I just had some nuts, I shouldn't be hungry for a while. I don't want to eat just because it is lunch time. Of course I will need to feed my kids since they are off school. 

I still haven't figured out what to have for dinner. I have leftovers of what I had for lunch and might just eat that. 

I need to lower my food intake if i want to lose weight. Interestingly, I lose weight without effort and tend to eat less when I am busy, moving and active. I've got to change my focus from food to just getting out of the house and stay busy. Gosh, it is hard to be a stay-at-home mom!!!! There are other challenges when both parents are working, but staying home does not come without it's own challenges.