We all have days where we feel low energy and are feeling a bit more negative than usual. On days like these, it’s important to first recognize that it’s okay to feel this way and that it won’t last forever. I am also learning that finding quick and easy ways to get a burst of dopamine also isn’t helpful. I’ve noticed that I look at my phone 10x more often when I’m feeling like this, not even realizing that I just keep going through the same apps over and over again.
Thankfully, I’m starting to recognize that I do this and that it’s not helping me at all. After this realization, I started to ponder what will actually get me in a good mood and I wanted to share these ideas with you
1. Get up and move
It doesn’t really matter how or where or what you do, but moving will immediately force your thoughts to keep moving forward. Also, any amount of endorphins will change your mood for the better.
I will do anything from putting in a load of laundry to going on a hike so I don’t stay in a rut. It might take a while to become self-aware and realize what you’re doing is negatively affecting you, but once you are able to recognize it the next step is to physically move out of it.
2. Make yourself laugh
I laugh at myself all the time, whether it’s because I did something stupid or because I think a joke I made was really funny… but sometimes I forget this “talent” when I’m feeling down. A couple of tricks I use (which may not be for everyone) is to dance like an idiot by myself or around my boyfriend. I also will break into character and sing terribly, but it usually makes me laugh.
3. Make someone smile
Nothing feels better than making another person smile or laugh, so sometimes when you can’t do it for yourself, try doing it for someone else! I’m lucky to have quite a few #1 fans of mine (my family) that I find super easy to entertain. It’s also easy to show love towards them which will obviously make them smile.
4. Be spontaneous
Perhaps you’ve just become bored out of your mind and that’s why you want to stay on the couch all day. This is the perfect time to think outside the box to switch up what you’ve gotten used to. For example, one day I made a living room picnic to surprise my boyfriend when he came home. I put down a blanket, put out place mats, poured some beer, and lit a candle. We ate leftover pizza… Nothing fancy at all but it became fun because I switched up our routine.
5. Find reliable mood changers
There are a few things that will immediately get me in a better mood other than the above that I can always rely on. This includes going on a drive with loud music (my boyfriend and I often do this when we are feeling down), meeting up with friends even if I “don’t feel like it”, going out for dinner instead of cooking (restaurants in Kelowna are opening back up now! Yay!), and phone calls with my #1 fans.
I hope these ideas will help you get out of the dopamine rush you are looking for and provide a genuine, positive feeling. I would love to hear how you get yourself back up after feeling down in the comments below!
Life is too unpredictable to focus on an end goal. We tend to focus on what we want to accomplish rather than what we are learning every day. The above picture was taken on an average day where we just needed to get out of the house. It’s just the same trail by our place that we’ve walked on many times before, but this is one of few pictures where we are both genuinely smiling instead of posing. My boyfriend was being an idiot and making me laugh as usual, which is something I make sure to appreciate every day.
We might not always feel like we have what we want or that life isn’t quite “perfect” yet, but I guarantee when I look back at this picture I will remember how good life actually was. Even looking at it while writing this post makes me calm down and realize how awesome it is that I get to be myself around someone who loves me every single day, and how the good days are actually really good! Here is what I have learned that helps me enjoy the journey.
Humans are meant to learn
I hope you don’t think that as soon as you have that job you’ve always wanted, or the big house you’ve been striving for, that you’ll suddenly stop needing to learn and grow. There will always be things to stress you out, or unpredictable situations and you will always be working towards something. If you think about where you are now, can you think of any failures or struggles that you’ve learned from? YES. Of course you can! You’ve learned from it and are now living with more knowledge than you had before and growing from it.
Think about what’s important
Ideally I would say, “look back on your life as if you were 100 years old, what do you remember?” but I’m assuming there’s not a lot of 100 year olds reading this post. So when you think back on your life as it is so far at whatever age you are, what do you remember most? It’s likely that you mostly remember memories that gave you emotions whether it’s positive or negative rather than items you bought or things you had. The positive memories bring you joy, and the negative memories gave you lessons. That’s why you need to remind yourself about what’s actually important in life – the experiences rather than what you have.
Appreciate where you are now
The best way to remember to enjoy the journey is to truly appreciate where you are right now, because you are currently living the journey. What are your current struggles? What are you learning from it? What are you working on right now to achieve your goals? What are you grateful for? Are you acknowledging every small accomplishment? I think that answering these questions helps keep you grounded and to remember that the amazing life you want depends on what you’re doing today, and not what you might have in the future.
Don’t wait to live a great life, make the life you’re living great by taking a step back and enjoying the process. We are meant to struggle, learn and grow over and over again until the day we die.
We’ve all had a show on Netflix that has sucked us in without knowing it. Maybe you found a show that’s “only 20 minutes long” … 3 hours later you realize the power of the binging vortex. Well if you’re like me, I feel extra lazy after doing something like that and a wee bit of guilt. Not only is it a bad feeling that you’ve wasted time, but it’s likely that you aren’t going to eat well afterwards either, and thus, feel worse. Here’s what you can try to do to avoid binge watching Netflix.
1. Delete Netflix
What?! How could I?! Well I figured I would start out with the most obvious answer that you probably don’t want to hear. Now, let’s move on…
2. Choose Wisely
Try to find a show that has less binge-worthy potential. For example, maybe watch a movie one night or a short Netflix Original rather than something that has 12 seasons and 25 episodes per season. Also, maybe choose something positive and funny or educational rather than something that will add more negativity to your life like learning about a serial killer. You already feel bad about watching a ton of TV, no need to also feel bad about humanity afterwards too. Of course, this is subjective, I personally like watching happier shows.
3. Limit When You Watch
Perhaps choose a day of the week that you will watch your show to leave room for excitement. Just like the good ol’ days, when we didn’t have access to everything all at once. You could set a timer to limit how much you watch too.
Also, an option that always works well for me is to have someone that is watching the show with you. My boyfriend is wonderful at only wanting to watch TV occasionally as he usually finds better things to do. With my out-of-this-world loyalty, I would never watch the next episode of our show without him.
4. Find Something Better to Do
There must be a reason why you’d like to stop binge watching Netflix… otherwise you wouldn’t have read this post. Whatever it is that you wish you would do instead of get sucked into the couch, go ahead and do those things. Easier said than done I know… So maybe you need something that gives you what TV gives you. Relaxation, entertainment, whatever it is… find something else that will give you the satisfaction.
We spend so much time on screens that I think we all know it would be best for us to find hobbies that don’t involve a screen. Some examples are: cooking, exercising, colouring (seriously, pick up an adult colouring book asap), painting, journalling, talking to a friend, talking to your family, playing with your pet if you have one, gardening… the list goes on.
5. Decide When to Binge
Now this sounds easier right?! Make the choice that you are going to binge and commit to a number of shows or hours… All of a sudden you will feel liberated from all of the guilt! The problem is that we usually don’t plan to binge, it just happens. We accidentally let the “Next Episode” countdown go without stopping it. So instead of suffering about the bad choices you are making, just make one huge bad choice and let it happen! Yay!
Conclusion
All jokes aside, there will be times that you fall into a rut where you keep wasting your time binge watching Netflix. If you have any sort of will power, I believe trying a few of the tips above will help you get out of that rut.
However, if you truly cannot stop and you really want to, you might need to go cold turkey and delete it all together. There’s so much more to life than sitting on a couch and watching TV, and it can be hard to see that when that is all we are doing.
No matter what fitness level you are, your mind will always try to resist exercising in one way or another. However, it’s much more difficult when you are getting started after a long period of not exercising. The excuses come flowing in, in all sorts of ways.
For me, it’s difficult to get the same feeling after a home workout as I do after a sports game. Whether I’m playing basketball or soccer, I don’t have time to think about how awful the cardio is feeling. When I go for a run, I am ONLY thinking about how awful the cardio is feeling. This is why I need to make exercise more fun and exciting especially during quarantine, rather than dragging myself into something and half-assing it. Here are some things I have come up with that might also help you distract yourself from the discomfort of exercise:
1. Wear your favourite exercise clothes
This might seem unimportant, but it makes a huge difference at least for home workouts. I’ve noticed that when I try to exercise in the morning wearing my pj’s and in bare feet, I just don’t try as hard because it feels like I should still be lounging around. If you have a hard time making the move to find exercise clothes, try taking them out the night before so you don’t even have to think about what you’re going to wear. Go as far as wearing your favourite socks and sports bra… Whatever will make you feel 10/10.
2. Create an awesome playlist
If you tell me that you don’t have any songs that give you an abundance of energy, I absolutely wouldn’t believe you. Take the extra 5-10 minutes to create a playlist for yourself with songs that you know will get you in a good mood. When you hear a good beat or start to sing along, I guarantee your energy will change instantly.
3. Choose your environment wisely
Doing a home workout can be hard when you are used to relaxing or cleaning the area that you are in. That’s why I think it’s worth taking a minute to set up your exercise space as best as you can. If you own an exercise mat, put it down on the floor even if you might not use it. Put away all distractions and give yourself the space to be able to move around freely. Alternatively, exercising outdoors is a great way to get fresh air and some nice scenery to look at.
4. Start simple
Being fit and healthy doesn’t happen over night, but any small steps you take will contribute to your health. Sometimes, I overwhelm myself with everything I should be doing when really I should just focus on something that will get me moving. Some days I will just put music on and dance… by myself… whether I’m cleaning or just feeling down. Other days I will just choose 3 exercises and only do them one time through. Even going for a walk has benefits – although it might be low-intensity, it still helps lift my mood and clear my head.
5. Pay more attention to how you feel afterwards
It’s easy to finish exercising and immediately go and get something to eat, or start doing tasks you want to accomplish for the day, or sit down to watch TV. I often forget how good I feel after exercising because I am focusing so much on what I should be doing for my workouts, or feeling guilty if I haven’t exercised in a while or my workouts haven’t been as hardcore as I thought they should be. I think it’s important to take a moment after you exercise to notice how your thoughts have changed, how good your joints and muscles feel, what food you want to eat (I am usually more likely to eat healthy after exercising), and how proud you feel about what you just accomplished.
All in all, I believe it’s possible to minimize the initial discomfort of exercising by using these strategies. Once you get past this discomfort and become more fit, the discomfort won’t seem so bad.
Mindfulness seems to be a buzz word these days. I think that it’s easy to say and not practice. Most of us are aware that mindfulness is beneficial especially now that mental health has become a more common topic of conversation. I want to share with you different mindfulness techniques I’ve tried as I am still open to trying new methods, and am constantly learning what it means for myself.
The MUSE headband is basically a band that goes across your forehead and behind your ears that has sensors that give real time feedback on your brain activity. You download an app on your phone that takes you through a tutorial, and once it is all set up it records your brain waves as you meditate. You start at 3 minutes of meditation, with a background sound of choice. The goal is to focus on your breath with the sound in the background guiding you along – it will get louder the more active your brain is. This tool is meant to train your brain how to calm itself when it is getting overwhelmed with activity. I know some people who go for about an hour, whereas I have only done a 10 minute meditation as my longest session.
I tried it for a couple months and I would say it gets more effective the more often you use it. It was helpful to me because just by putting on the headband, it forced me to sit still for a length of time. I am usually trying to do something at every second of the day to keep me busy. This tool showed me how important it is to give your brain a break. The way I think of it is like working out. You usually give yourself breaks in between sets, and rest days in between workout days. You could argue that sleeping gives your brain a break, but I think with the amount of stimulation it gets throughout the day, it is also important to allow it to relax a few minutes throughout the day. Not only does it have to make choices and take in information in the present moment, but it also has millions of memories to refer to and possible future situations to protect from as well.
I was just borrowing this device so I haven’t invested in one for myself yet, but I know they have come out with a new version that senses your breathe and heart rate as well which I would be interested in trying out.
My cousin introduced me to Float Space here in Kelowna as it was something I had never tried before. The whole purpose is to take away all possible sensations so you only focus on your own thoughts and your breath. You have the choice between going into a fully enclosed capsule, or laying in a bath in a room. The owner suggests to float for 60-90 minutes at a time to fully get the benefits of meditation. It is salt water so I learned it’s not worth touching your face and getting salt water in your eyes… that wasn’t so pleasant. Other than that I thought it was a cool experience, although I wish I used the foam pillow they suggested as my neck got quite sore. It was interesting that I had no sense of time after the first 10 minutes… and noticing thoughts that come and go, and which thoughts were recurring.
I can see this being difficult for people who are quite active and always on the go – I personally had a hard time being still but I also made the mistake of drinking coffee beforehand. I think it’s worth trying out at least once to see if it’s something you can invest in for the health benefits that it provides. The owner said it is meant to re-wire your nervous system to initiate calmness.
I have only done yoga a few times a year for the past 6 years. It wasn’t until this year that I have been doing it more consistently. The difference is I was paying for drop in classes and due to my love for sports, I couldn’t find a reason to invest in a membership or monthly pass to keep up with yoga. Now, I am doing yoga videos that I find on YouTube because it’s free and I can do it in the comfort of my own home.
Every time I went to a yoga class, it was noticeably beneficial to my mind and body. Sometimes I would be so present that I would actually feel emotional and that I wanted to cry – maybe a shock to my system for how I forget about the importance of living in the “now”. My muscles and joints have always come out happy as well – nice and loose.
I can also see the spiritual aspect being addicting as well, especially being in a room full of people who are all connecting movement and breath together. I have been to some ridiculously spiritual classes that talk about your chakras, the third eye and enlightenment etc… with an open mind I kind of like to believe in all of it because it’s a cool take on life.
Now that I do yoga at home I never usually feel the emotion I do when I’m at a class, maybe because I don’t feel the vibe from other people, but I still get the benefit of staying in the present moment and stretching my muscles. To me, yoga is one of the best forms of practicing mindfulness because I am an active person and am very connected to my body. It is more effective for me personally to notice tension in a muscle and to become self-aware of letting that tension go in order to relax rather than sitting and focusing on my breath. With certain types of yoga, you focus on your breath as you flow through movement and this for me is a simple and effective connection to make.
Everything that allows you to be in the present moment can be considered a form of mindfulness. For me, cooking is a great way to be present as it forces me to focus on what I’m doing – especially when creating a new recipe. I also really enjoy colouring and painting, it’s an easy way to just let my thoughts come and go and get the satisfaction of making something beautiful. Also, any type of physical activity helps as well – from working out to rock climbing to skiing.
Although I have tried multiple methods and continue to learn about other possible ways of practicing mindfulness, I still struggle to work on it every single day. There are so many leaders and genuinely happy people out there who swear that meditation is what keeps them going in a positive direction. I think it’s important to stay grounded when things seem overwhelming and chaotic and that’s why I am constantly looking for mindfulness methods to find what works best for me.
I would love to hear what you have tried to implement mindfulness in your lives in the comments below.
It seems like it takes a fair amount of effort to stay fit in our society. Obviously more so if you have a rather sedentary job that requires little to no physical labour. It’s a fact that the more active you are, the more energy you have to be more active. In my opinion, having a sedentary job is a pretty big determining factor if you have the energy to workout after work. That being said, it sounds like the best solution is to workout before work to get it out of the way, but then you have to wake up earlier to have enough time to do a workout and shower… after a terrible sleep from being stressed and inactive. It’s easy to be stuck in a cycle of excuses and negative thinking. Not to mention, not having a strong reason as to why you need to stay physically active makes it even harder to stick to a routine.
Know your “why”
If you don’t have a very convincing and good reason as to why you want to keep up with your physical health, I guarantee that you will not do anything. Think of the reason why we go to work. We must have a pretty convincing “why” since we do our best to go in every day of the week. Maybe it’s because you need to make money to survive, or you don’t want to get fired, or you are working with a coworker on a project – these are just a few reasons why we go to work.
I have struggled with having a solid “why” for staying physically active. I genuinely enjoy sports for the social and competitive aspects, but as an adult I have to go out of my way to find and pay for a sports league. I have paid for gym memberships, yoga classes, other fitness classes, recreational sports etc because I know that if I don’t have all of these obligations, I will not stay active. I used to be a personal trainer for a few years so I would workout between clients because I was already there and had nothing better to do. Now that I’m in quarantine, it has become very apparent that I don’t have a strong enough “why” to stay active.
I am not overweight, I don’t have any health issues, I am fairly strong (which may slowly diminish if I don’t do anything about it) and there is no need for me to have good cardio as I don’t have physical labour to do. However, there is still a little fire inside of me that thinks that if I don’t create good habits now, I will not be healthy when I am older. The small little voice I have in the back of my head will whisper the “why” to me every now and then to get me back on track. Ashley, you do not want osteoporosis, heart disease, or to be confined to a wheelchair when you are older.
Make it a habit
Somehow, I manage to brush my teeth every morning and every night. I have been doing this my whole life and thus, it has become a habit. So why didn’t physical activity stay as a habit? Well, in high school you sit in desks all day, then plan to drink with your friends on the weekends, and only some people stay in organized sports. When I was in school, there were only a few people that consistently went to the gym, and I was not one of them. I stuck to sports which is good, but I didn’t do it for the reason of being fit. I just liked the game and hanging out with friends.
In university, you sit in class all day then plan to drink with your friends on the weekends… or weekdays. It’s strange to me that growing up, we never really cared about each other’s physical health. I’m not sure what it’s like now, but it would be amazing if it was “cool” to go to a Zumba class on Friday night with your friends, or to ask your peers what they have been doing to stay physically active.
I think in order to make a habit out of physical activity it’s important to make it a part of your routine at the same time every day, but I think it’s MORE important to surround yourself with supportive people. I have a few friends that I can rely on who enjoy being active or who count on me to do something active. If you currently don’t have a support system with the same desires as you, maybe find people online who constantly support each other in their weight loss journey, or who just generally want to stay fit and healthy.
Do whatever it takes
When I find myself in a sedentary rut, the first thing I do is reach out to my fit and healthy friends, and ask them what they’ve been eating, what they’re doing to stay active, or even just ask them to go on a hike to get started. I will look at healthy recipes, google some workouts, or watch some inspiring YouTube videos on how to stay fit and healthy. Once I am fully convinced as to why I should continue to work on my physical health, I am a lot more likely to get up and do something to get back on track.
The other day, a good friend of mine who I often turn to for fitness advice said to me “just do something simple for 10 minutes – squats, lunges, push ups – as soon as you wake up.” This sounds really simple to do, but I needed her to say that to me because of how I overthink things sometimes. In my head, I need to eat beforehand to fuel my body, do a proper 30-60 minute workout, have something to eat after my workout, shower, and eat healthy for the rest of the day otherwise it wasn’t worth it. That is A LOT of pressure to put on myself every single day, which is why I get into these inactive ruts. The most important thing for your physical health is literally to just move. It’s not a big deal if you don’t eat before, or if it doesn’t make you sweat, or if it’s not a proper workout regimen with sets and reps… just do whatever it takes to move every day.
Support each other
I think that anything is possible with the support of others. I would love to read your comments about how you are staying physically active, especially during quarantine, and any other tips you may have to maintain a consistent routine.
It can be very confusing to know how to properly eat with all of the social media, opinions on the internet and keeping up with the new trends. It wasn’t until the last few years, especially after my experience as a personal trainer, that I started taking my nutrition more seriously. Obviously it helped actually feeling the results of super clean eating when I did the Whole30 diet, but now my main focus is how eating healthy can change my energy and mood. It always seemed like something you would do to get a nice looking body, but I have always been an average size so it was something that never affected the way I eat. I will always continue to learn more about what my diet would ideally look like, but I think at the same time we all need to put less pressure on ourselves.
It’s okay to make mistakes
There are so many factors that contribute to the way you eat every day. How you slept, what time of the month it is (for the ladies), what your job entails, the people around you, Western culture, who you live with, peer pressure from friends, all while trying to have the will power to not eat a freshly baked cookie that is sitting on a pretty plate at your grandma’s house.
Yes, it’s you who can control what you put in your mouth in the end, but as humans we are wired to socialize and do what everyone else is doing. I’m pretty sure there was no tribe that had someone who only ate blueberries because they were on a diet, they most definitely also ate the kill of the day. The problem now is that we have access to everything all the time. And so does your family, and your friends, and your coworkers, and everyone is all confused about what we should eat. I guarantee every person that I mentioned knows fairly well about how they “should” eat.
I think we all just need to support each other with any choice that we make. If a friend doesn’t want to have alcohol, don’t buy them a drink at the bar. If someone wants to be on a diet, let them be on a diet and don’t judge them for it. If your vegan friend wants to try fish, that’s okay too. There are so many opinions out there to worry about that it’s nearly impossible not to make a so-called “mistake.”
Find what works for you
Without thinking of other people, or what the internet is saying, just try to stop and think about what type of eating would make you happy. For me, I am trying to learn how to make more meals homemade because then I know what goes in them. It’s not full of processed food, and it’s interesting to learn how to make things taste good. I am also constantly trying to find ways to make vegetables taste good especially while living with someone who would rather not have to eat them. I like trying out baking recipes that are a bit healthier by using other types of sweeteners or non-dairy products. I try to not consume “empty calories” from juice and alcohol and candy, and I also avoid fast food as much as I can.
That being said, I have no idea what the ideal diet looks like for my body, so I am learning to accept that and be okay with occasionally eating something that isn’t so healthy. There is no reason to beat yourself up for wanting to have a beer out on the lake with your family, just have it in moderation and don’t do it every day all day.
Another option that I have been dying to try is to actually invest in seeing a nutritionist and to get a blood analysis done. I think it’s always worth learning more about your own body so you stop trying to figure it out among the chaos on the internet. And after learning about how my body might be malnourished, I still have the control to decide what I would like to keep eating and what I might eat less of.
Conclusion
There are so many choices that we have to make each day. Not only about what we will eat, but just anything – what to wear, when to leave for work, how to do your hair, etc. So every time you eat, you are making a choice and it should be one that you feel good about. I think if you at least stop to take a moment about how you feel about your choice, you will feel much better about it. This includes allowing yourself to indulge once in a while – it will be much easier to accept when you realize you’ve been making healthy choices as much as possible. Don’t dwell on mistakes you might make along the way, just keep moving forward.
I remember reading something once that said we tend to self-sabotage when we feel guilty about something. The example they gave was after we eat a pizza, we feel bad then have a beer and ice cream and chocolate and another beer just because we messed up and deserve to just keep messing up. They said to just let the pizza go and have a healthy breakfast the next day to break the cycle. For some reason we think we have to eat clean and healthy all the time for every meal in order for us to be doing it “properly.” I think it’s just important to keep moving forward, be aware of your choices, and do what feels right for your body.
My boyfriend and I had been doing a lot of research on this concept, and wanted to make sure it wasn’t just a bandwagon everyone was hopping on. It wasn’t until I attended a Personal Training conference until I fully understood what this meant.
We had a doctor (I wish I remember her name, but I can’t at the moment – this was years ago) speak about the importance of limiting your eating hours to at least below 12 hours per day. I think the name of it can sound a little intimidating and misleading, but all you do is work on fasting an appropriate amount of time to help balance out your metabolism.
Before I looked into this research, there would be days that I would eat as soon as I woke up, say at 7:30am, then I would be eating throughout the day until about 11:00pm before I went to bed. That’s 15.5 hours of letting your insulin go all over the place. I can’t even imagine how messed up it would’ve been in university… binge drinking all night then having pizza at 4:00am? Yikes. Insulin is meant to come in and do its job by lowering your blood sugar levels, then leave and carry on with its day. It is similar to when we think of the hormone, cortisol – the stress hormone – where it is supposed to enter the body when you are stressed (being chased by a tiger) and then leave as soon as you are safe. But with our lives that we live, it’s quite often that cortisol stays in our bodies in small doses all of the time.
Anyways, back to insulin. What I learned from this keynote speaker, is that your metabolism works like your circadian rhythm, our biological clock letting us know when it is time to sleep or wake up. Eating for long periods of time completely throws off your metabolism and doesn’t do what it’s supposed to while you are sleeping. You want to make sure there is a set period of time when insulin enters the body and has time to lower for at least 12 hours.
An interesting study that she told us about was when they tested this on rats. They gave the same amount of calories, same food, to two different groups of rats. One group ate within 9 hours, and the other group ate within 15 hours. The first group who ate in a shorter amount of time actually gained lean muscle mass and lost fat mass, whereas the other group lost lean muscle mass and gained fat mass. She said eating in a shorter time interval is MORE IMPORTANT that WHAT you are eating. There have been studies showing that eating in short time intervals has incredible benefits on the body and can even help add years to your life.
My experience with intermittent fasting
I have always been someone who eats breakfast immediately in the morning. I couldn’t think of a good time period to choose in the day because I also like snacking after dinner. They say that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”, but after learning more about this concept, it’s more so that “your first meal is the most important meal of the day” which is also technically a ‘breakfast’ because you are breaking your fast. So I decided to try and keep my eating hours between 12:30pm and 8:30pm.
The first day was tough just because I had always thought I would pass out if I didn’t eat immediately after I woke up. I was definitely feeling hungry, but thankfully I was at work and could focus on that while I was secretly starving. My first meal was my lunch at 12:30pm and from there, I packed more snacks than normal because I thought I was going to die or something. I found I was more hungry because I was missing about 300 or so calories that I would normally have in the morning. I also found it difficult to stop eating at 8:30pm, so a couple of times I would eat a bit later and felt okay about it. As long as I at least stayed with eating in less than 12 hours, I knew it would benefit me.
The next few days became easier, but I was struggling to remember to eat snacks throughout the day. I was only eating lunch and then dinner, so I would be hungry for the rest of the evening. I think a big part here is to still consume enough calories, but just in a shorter amount of time. I watched a few YouTube videos on people who are into this, and I found the big body builders who would eat 4000 calories in 2-4 hours… That was not very motivating and seemed terrible. So I did my best to make bigger meals and add more snacks in between.
The end result
What I noticed is I actually felt more focused in the mornings. I read up on this and apparently this is because your body enters “survival mode” from the long period of fasting, so it’s as if I’m on high alert to find food. I thought that was pretty cool. The first meal also always tasted so amazing, so I enjoyed my lunches a lot more. I lost about 10 lbs doing this and found that I was sleeping better. I feel liberated knowing that I won’t pass out if I don’t have breakfast immediately after waking up. I remember being at friends’ houses after staying the night and no one would even think about breakfast for 1-2 hours after waking up. I felt pressure to not complain, yet all I wanted to say is “so what are we having for breakfast?”
I still to this day make sure I am eating within 12 hours. I know that it is a better idea to start eating early and finish early so you aren’t consuming calories right before bed, but that just hasn’t worked for me. Ideally I would eat at 8:30am and finish eating at 4:30pm, but I find this difficult because it’s hard to eat snacks sometimes while I’m working… it can get very busy. So on most days, I will just have a black coffee, head to work and have my first meal at lunch. On days that I have off, I still enjoy making a nice breakfast, but it’s usually a bit later in the day around 10:00am.
I would recommend that everyone try to at least keep their eating to below 12 hours per day, and if you are already doing this – good job and keep it up!
A few months ago my boyfriend and I wanted to challenge ourselves. I heard about this Whole30 concept through a friend and decided to do a bit more research on it. I am absolutely not into any sort of crash diet in order to lose weight. In fact, that was not at all my intention… I just wanted to know what it would be like to feel better than I did. I have tried and tried to figure out how to eat healthy but also make things taste good, and I honestly thought I had it down. After I read this diet I was intrigued because I wanted to test out all of the claims that it made. Less bloated? More energy? Better sleep? Good mood? Seemed magical, and my boyfriend was on board with trying it out. Here is what I learned from doing this “challenge.”
Before we begin, take a look below. THIS CALENDAR IS SO ACCURATE IT’S SCARY.
WOW WAS I EVER SHOCKED. There are definitely some permanent changes I’ve made since doing this. This diet says to stay away from alcohol, added sugars, dairy, grains, legumes, and processed foods. I immediately went to my cupboard and in my fridge and looked at all of the labels to move what we could eat for the 30 days to be right in front of our faces. I didn’t even realize there was sugar or MSG in seasoning salt… I have been using this my whole life, but I always thought it was just spices and salt. And olives need chemicals to stay green and firm? And pickles?! I can’t even have pickles?! Don’t get me started with condiments. This was so shocking to see the amount of chemicals I put in my body every single day. Not only chemicals but there is sugar in everything. Like, everything.
I learned how to make a few sauces and dips to help make things taste better and it was actually easier than expected to make homemade sauce. I remember how long it took my brain to comprehend how to make spaghetti sauce until I realized I am supposed to blend tomatoes and spices. I always just grab spaghetti sauce off the shelf and call it a day. It turned out great and I felt really good eating it.
There were also a few things that were Whole30 approved that definitely saved the day. For example, my friend gave me a Whole30 approved mayonnaise, and thankfully Frank’s Red Hot Sauce was also approved – and yes, I did put this on everything. There are probably a lot more choices out there now and it would be worth investing in them to make your life easier.
I’m pretty sure sugar is heroine
I cannot accurately describe the feeling of going through a sugar withdrawal. It is brutal. In just a couple days I felt like I got hit by a bus. Especially going cold turkey on it, it was a shock to the system. You’re not supposed to have even a small amount during this and you need to fully commit to going 100% for the entire 30 days. I have never craved something more… All I could think of was sugar because I wasn’t allowed to have sugar.
A couple of things that helped me were fat bombs and berries. I think a lot of the time I’m craving sugar is actually just me craving chocolate. You aren’t supposed to make anything that resembles what you usually crave because the point is to destroy bad habits. HOWEVER, that being said, I was suffering HARD at the beginning, so these got me by for the first 5 days. Fat bombs can be made all sorts of ways, but I made them with cocoa powder, coconut oil, cinnamon, and almond butter. You freeze them and then they end up having the same consistency as a chocolate bar, but tastes pretty gross. It would be good with sugar of course… Now I make them with honey or maple syrup and they are most definitely tolerable.
Berries are a good choice since they are easy to eat for a snack and a bit lower in sugar than other fruit choices. Sometimes I just want something to graze on and they are the perfect size for that. My go-to easy snacks were blueberries and almonds. As soon as I was craving something sweet I would make myself a small bowl of berries and almonds and it worked just fine.
It’s much easier to eat healthy when your entire household is on board
There has been many times that I told my boyfriend I don’t want to eat dairy, or processed food, or sugar, but as soon as I see him with cheese and crackers I can’t help myself. Same for him, there has been many times he wanted to stop drinking alcohol, but I would constantly invite him out with friends and my sports teams and he would feel obligated to have a beer.
I would say to successfully do the full 30 days, you and whoever else you live with NEED TO be in it together. It’s a huge challenge especially during the worst part of the sugar withdrawal where you become angry and irritated. I remember finding him on the couch just scrolling through pictures of delicious burgers. We wanted to quit about 10 times during this, but we kept going because we needed to find out the benefits of eating clean.
It actually turned out to be quite fun once we go the hang of it since we needed to learn how to make everything homemade. We worked together to come up with ideas for meals and snacks and cooked together whenever we could. It would’ve been brutal to be making a salad while he was eating hot dogs so again, try to get everyone on board.
It’s a bit lonely
Although we spent more time cooking together, we spent much less time out with friends. We were so committed that we didn’t want to take the chance of what is potentially in restaurant food to ruin what we were working so hard at. This diet also says to steer clear of industrial oils which would be a hard one to avoid. We found mixed nuts without peanuts (which is a legume) that was roasted in peanut oil so we couldn’t have it. We also found cashews that were roasted in canola oil so we couldn’t have that either. So we assumed pretty much everything in restaurants wouldn’t be guaranteed to be “clean.”
We were not only paying attention to what might be in the food in restaurants, but being around friends has a huge amount of impact on the choices we make. Even if we both ordered plain salad, it would be so hard to eat while watching everyone else drink beer and eat saucy wings. So rather than suffering through this, we just didn’t go out.
The benefits of getting rid of waste
After going through the roller coaster of mental and physical confusion of changing our diet so drastically, amazing things happened. We were sleeping well, we had more energy, and we weren’t bloated… at all. I know the goal of this diet is absolutely not to lose weight, but I found it fascinating how much weight we lost just because we weren’t full of inflammatory foods and processed junk. I ended up losing 13 pounds and my boyfriend lost 23 pounds. Of course, this was a minor motivating factor for the last few days just because we were also looking good in addition to feeling good.
It is still shocking to me that I ate a normal amount of food… but lost weight. Eating whole foods is filling when you eat enough and lower in calories too. So the amount of “empty calories” we were consuming before must have been a lot. Alcohol and juice are easy ways to get a lot of calories with no nutritional value. And having a little bit of this every day adds up! Had I not done this diet, I would still believe that it’s fine to eat whatever I want when I want because it won’t affect me. It in fact affects me a lot. Not only with managing weight, but with mental clarity, stable mood and just not feeling gross (i.e. bloated all the time).
What NOT to do
Do not end the diet like we did. I repeat, DO NOT do what we did. After the 30 days, we were SO EXCITED to be able to eat yummy foods again. What you’re supposed to do, is slowly introduce foods back into your diet category by category to see what is truly negatively affecting your body and how. I think our problem was we didn’t start this diet to find foods we shouldn’t have anymore, we just wanted to see how good we can feel without all the junk in our body. So naturally, we decided to make a big ‘burger and fries’ feast. We didn’t take our time to enjoy every bite, we just ate like animals who haven’t been fed in a month. Delicious soft brioche buns, ketchup, mustard, pickles, cheese, handmade burger patties with fries on the side.
Then our bodies exploded. Just kidding, but that’s pretty much what it felt like. Think of a time you had eaten way too much and had to sit on the couch to digest. It was like that, except add in a million times more inflammation and bloating on top of it. Our bellies were hard. Like a basketball. And we could barely move. We were instantly filled with so much regret. It also felt like the worst fast food you’ve ever had and how it made you feel. I think we would’ve actually been dead if we got fast food burgers instead.
As exciting as it is to accomplish 30 days of eating well, I highly advise that you slowly introduce foods back into your diet. If you aren’t looking to find out what affects you and how, please still add things slowly and in small amounts.
Conclusion
The Whole30 diet is worth doing at least once in your life. Go all out, 100%, because you will learn a lot while doing it. We are considering to do it again with less drastic measures, just being a little more lenient so we don’t feel guilty eating at restaurants or wanting to use different sauces. I would go without alcohol and sugar for sure, no dairy, legumes or grains.
I think all in all the “whole foods” concept stuck with us. We prefer eating whole grains rather than bread and pasta, and we eat less sugar in general. We construct most meals with a protein and two vegetables and we try different healthy snacks. I eat much better than I did before and I don’t feel guilty when I do want something like a beer or pizza. Instead of having these twice a week, we can now appreciate that having it once a month is a better option.
Ashley's Adventures 