New bed: check.
Podiatry issues addressed: check.
Allergic chaos handled: check.
Exercise routine: check.
Meal planning and preparation: check.
Sticking with meal plans: check.
Solving the mystery of persistent fatigue and blah-ness: ???
Coupled with this STILL-abiding exhaustion enigma is a recent incident of occasional digestive discomfort after eating, and rather chronic bloating. I haven't been able to pinpoint the source(s) of these incidents, but they're obviously unpleasant and disruptive to my day. Ain't nobody got time fo' dat.
I have an IRL friend who did Whole 30 not too long ago, and she had a lot of really positive results and interesting findings. I've been researching it, and late last week, I decided to take the plunge. I had friends visiting over this past weekend, and I have a meeting this Wednesday where I won't be able to prep and bring my own food (and I want to eat the yummy catered food, if I'm honest), so I've chosen the start date of Thursday, March 16th. I've even gotten 2 co-workers to go in on it with me, and my IRL friend will be joining for her second time!
I'm typically disinclined to do anything that resembles a fad diet like I thought this did at first. However, having a friend vouch for it and reading about the numerous positive effects it can have -- plus, better understanding my body's reactions to foods and being able to tailor my diet to its true needs -- are very enticing prospects for me. The oversimplified version of Whole 30 is it's a very restrictive elimination diet that is meant to help determine what foods may be causing inflammation (not to mention a host of various other undesirable effects on the body), so that a person can ultimately design a daily diet that will work best for his/her specific needs and balance of all things. You achieve this by reintroducing the eliminated food groups one by one to your diet after the 30 days, then carefully monitoring your body's reactions. I expect and hope to also achieve some weight loss during this experiment, but along with to added sugar, alcohol, all grains, legumes, and dairy, I have to give up the scale for 30 days -- so it will be a long time before that particular outcome is revealed.
The adjustment phase looks pretty intense, but I'm hoping the fact that I've been eating clean for a long time already will help mitigate some of the withdrawal symptoms. It looks pretty daunting, but I can handle it. I'll be bitchy, but I can handle it. ;-)
My goal is to really make it the "whole 30" days without any missteps or cheats. Now that I'm actually trying to put together meal plans for the upcoming start date, it's feeling quite challenging -- I'm already realizing how many no-no foods sneak their way into my recipes! It's going to be quite the... uh... adventure. Whether you want it or not, I will be reporting back and likely updating (read: ranting) pretty regularly throughout the process. Please wish me luck!