Shapin Up | Healthy Jumpstart: To Whole30 or Not to Whole30

Like many, over the holidays I indulged. Then I overindulged. I ate and ate and ate and it was half glorious and half horrible. For most of the year and especially leading up to my Costa Rica trip I was quite strict and healthy with my eating, once I returned from Costa Rica I decided to give myself a break. Between Christmas and New Years and I basically ate everything. If I was walking down the street and wanted some candy, I bought some candy. This is very unlike me and while I enjoyed eating whatever I wanted, I also felt horrible. Not so much mentally because I knew it was a short break from my normal healthy eating but I felt gross from eating tons of processed junk food. I felt sluggish, unmotivated and just an overall feeling of yuck. Going to the gym even seemed pointless (I mean I went but not with the same enthusiasm or drive I typically have).

This is a huge contrast to how I feel when I’m eating Whole30 or Paleo, opting for unprocessed, natural, real food. January 1st was my target date to get back on track and since that date I’ve been following Whole30 standards. I did Whole30 once last year and felt amazing. So amazing that I decided to jump back in a quick two weeks later and that time only lasted about 12 days (it was way too soon).

But here I am, a few months later and I feel like I could benefit from another round of Whole30. I’m apprehensive to say 100% that I’m doing it because 30 days is long and I have some things towards the end of the month that would be way more fun with alcohol and not-Whole30 food. January is actually a pretty low key month so I think I could do ok for the most part.

Whole30 isn’t something you sort of do. You either do it or you don’t. I’m going to try doing it. Maybe I’ll last half the month and transition into more of a Paleo style and that will be ok. But for now, at least for the first half of the month I’m going to follow Whole30 principles.