{The Whole30} Week 1

The team at The Whole9 warn beginners that Week 1 is the hardest. They are not joking. The first few days I felt hungry ALL THE TIME and everywhere I looked I saw foods I could not eat. We were eating healthy, beautiful, delicious meals but all I could think about was the dessert that was NOT coming at the end.

And don’t get me wrong. I still want a cookie. Badly.

However, it is starting to feel like a momentary craving and not like I’m starving to death. That has been the most difficult lesson of this first week. My body doesn’t send a very clear message when it’s craving sugar - at least not at first. It wasn’t like I thought, “I really want a cookie.” It was more like I felt like I was starving to death and my body was telling me, “You’re hungry! Really hungry! Know what sounds filling - a cookie!”

I had a hunch from the beginning I wasn’t really hungry moments after eating a three egg omelet (with chicken!) but that didn’t make the feeling any less frustrating. Over the past two days, however, the never-ending hunger has subsided and I’ve started to recognize cravings for just what they are...cravings.

Now, I was a decently healthy eater to begin with - no Diet Coke addiction or vegetable aversions. My main problem was sugar, which is where I hope to see the biggest results. So, I haven’t seen a miraculous results in other areas because I was already doing decent. I was already exercising. I am a sound sleeper. There are a few stubborn pounds I’d like to lose but you’re not allowed to weigh yourself over the 30 days so we’ll just have to wait and see.

Luckily, I don’t need fast results to motivate me because my entire family is doing The Whole30 with me, not to mention Annie is about a week ahead of me in the process. It has been so wonderful to have support every where I look.

I think my favorite moment of the week was watching my husband scrape parmesan cheese out of his mouth after he’d unconsciously popped a piece while making a meal for a friend. Nicholas isn’t an “all in” kind of guy. A notorious skeptic, he usually has a low tolerance for anything that requires total commitment (except marriage thankfully!). So, when I saw him react that way, I realized he was all in and we were all in together. We’re all on the same team. Not only do we want to succeed for ourselves, but we don’t want to let the team down.

One week of clean eating down! Three to go!

~ Sarah Stewart Holland