Whole30 Gets Nerdy Rebooted.

I have had an amazing week of training.  It feels SO GOOD to get back to it.  That being said.  I need to take today as a rest day ( except my PT ).  I woke this morning and my knee is cranky and my Hams are sore.  So being the good Athlete that I am , I am listening to my knee and taking the day off.

Now that we are half way there.  What is the reason you started Whole30 in the first place.  Overall Health, Reduce Pain, or just Lose Weight.  Whatever the reason, take a moment to focus on that today.  Fuel your progress with remembering were you came from.

Have you ever wondered why CHEESE is one of  THE HARDEST foods to give up.  Well you don't have to wonder any longer.  I was amazed to find out what cheese does to our bodies.  And BOY DO I LOVE CHEESE....

Have a great day ladies...

Two Weeks Down – Let's Celebrate!

When you think “celebration,” it’s pretty likely that food comes to mind. Food plays a central role in many of our traditional celebrations, like birthdays, weddings, and holidays. But how many of us have come to use food as a personal reward?

• “I’ve been so good this week; I deserve a treat.”
• “I survived a terrible day at work; I’m ready to relax with a glass of wine tonight.”
• “I rocked that workout—I can afford to eat some fries and drink that beer!”

Using food as reward (or as punishment) can undermine the healthy eating habits that you're trying to achieve. Rewarding yourself or celebrating with food—even healthy food—disconnects you from the relationship we want you to build with food; a nourishing, sustaining, significant relationship.

And who are you kidding—who thinks of carrot sticks and guacamole when “rewarding” themselves after a hard day? Even if you continued the pattern of rewarding yourself with Whole30 food now, you know that pattern would degrade back to the same less-healthy choices you used to make once your program is over.

We’re not saying you shouldn’t celebrate the halfway point of your program. But it’s time to step back, take a look at those old food/reward/celebration habits, and get creative about new, healthy ways that you can give yourself a pat on the back. Make your own list of ideas or try one of ours!

• Get a massage. Relax, recover, and improve your health in countless ways.
• Give yourself a 10-class punch card to your favorite yoga studio. Yoga is great for the body and the mind.
• Toot your own horn! Announce your success on Facebook, Twitter, your blog, or theWhole30 forum. You might end up inspiring someone else to take this journey with you.
• Pants fitting a little too baggy these days? Treat yourself to a new belt to hold ‘em up!
• Invest in a fabulous healthy-eating cookbook—money well-spent on your journey to lifelong health.
• Head out on a hike. You might be surprised at your increased energy and stamina.
• Sleeping more soundly because of the Whole30? Kick that up a notch with some luxurious, high thread-count bed sheets.
• Wanting to try kettlebell training, but think they’re too expensive? Today’s your day to splurge.
• Get together with friends for a pedicure party (maybe in purple?) Good friends increase your happiness and lower stress and the color violet represents purpose and success. Double-reward!

Why Is This Working? the Science-y Stuff

Surely by now, you’ve experienced some positive changes as the result of your program, even if you’re not exactly where you want to be just yet. So today, let’s talk a little about what’s going in inside your body (and your brain), and some of the reasons why this Whole30 thing is actually working for you.

In the brain: big changes are easier. You’ve probably already tried to live by the “everything in moderation” principle, right? But moderation is really hard for the brain to manage when you’re trying to form a new habit. (This is especially true when some of the things we’re trying to eliminate have a serious mental hold on us… like sugar and carbs.) The Whole30 is a big, radical change—but one that is far easier for the brain to grasp than moderation. Why? No more decisions. Whew! The brain has a hard time with uncertainty, and when faced with too much, it tends to revert back to what it’s always done—the path of least resistance. So every decision (should I eat the cookie, should I have a second glass of wine, should I go for the healthy chicken breast or indulge in the pizza?) means… uncertainty. And for your brain, too much of that means you go back to old, unhealthy food habits. The Whole30 takes that uncertainty away from you. We tell you exactly what kinds of foods to eat, and we say you should eat NONE of these other, unhealthy foods. No decision-making required; if it’s on your ‘no’ list, you simply don’t indulge. And that makes the brain happy, which makes your transition to healthier habits easier.

In the brain: bye-bye, Vegas. Those foods you used to eat—the processed, sweetened, fattened-up, salty, nutrient-poor, carb-dense stuff—was providing your brain with levels of stimulus and reward the likes of which can never be found in nature. (Twinkies, Bloomin’ Onions, and chili-cheese-fries don’t exactly grow on trees—more likely, these flavors were created in a lab somewhere.) This kept your brain “hooked” on these over-the-top sensations: what we called “the Las Vegas strip in your mouth” in It Starts With Food. Removing these foods allows your taste buds (and brain chemistry, and hormones) to reset, allowing you to once again appreciate the natural flavors found in fresh food, and helping to eliminate cravings for foods that promise over-the-top flavor sensations, but deliver no nutrition, satiety, or satisfaction.

In the body: fat adaptation. Your body has been so used to running on sugar for energy, because that’s what you gave it. (And the body can only effectively use one fuel source at a time, so when sugar is plenty, fat takes a backseat and accumulates.) For the last two weeks, you’ve been telling your body, “Hey—you don’ t need sugar! I’ve got plenty of fat on my body and in my diet, so run on that!” And slowly, your body is listening, by increasing fat-digesting enzymes, and “training” your mitochondria (your body’s energy powerhouses) to start burning fat for fuel. This means that in between meals, your body has a chance to keep your energy levels (and blood sugar) regular by utilizing fat for fuel—something it simply couldn’t do before.

In the body: gut healing. Some of the foods you used to eat were provoking inflammation in the gut, and maybe even promoted “leaky gut,” a condition in which the lining of your small intestine became more porous than it should be. This allowed stuff to get where it does not belong, which ramped up inflammation elsewhere in the body. Your intestinal lining is just one cell thick, so damage or death of that one cell can create “microperforations” or tiny holes in your intestinal lining. Normally, those would heal themselves quickly, but in the face of three (plus) meals a day of gut-irritating foods, you were creating damage faster than your body could repair it. Now that these foods are out of your diet, your gut is able to start repairing itself, creating a sound intestinal barrier that keeps good things in until it’s time for your body to absorb them, and bad things (like bacteria, viruses, and incompletely digested food) out.

In the body: decreased inflammation. When stuff is allowed to get where it doesn’t belong (like when your intestinal lining is compromised), this causes your immune system to ramp up everywhere in the body, to deal with the ensuing chaos. This up-regulation of the immune system everywhere in the body is called “chronic inflammation,” and plays a role in just about every lifestyle-related disease or condition, from acne to asthma, depression to tendonitis, arthritis to high blood pressure. Now that you’re no longer eating foods that provoke inflammation, your immune system is able to calm down (resulting in a reduction of symptoms) and focus its attention elsewhere (resulting in improved health and healing). As a result, you may notice that your “stuff,” whatever that may be, is already feeling better. Yay, healthy immune system!