Days 4 through 12 on The Whole30

It was brutal.  The hubs and I were hungry and in bad moods all the time.  I could tell that I was losing weight by how loose my clothes were getting and how different my stomach looked.  But I don't necessarily attribute that to how great the program is; I believe it had more to do with the fact that I was not getting enough calories in me daily.  I honestly believe that The Whole30 is a great program.  For some reason, however, the hubs and I were more on an Adkins diet instead of The Whole30, and that is why we were so miserable.  I love vegetables but, for some reason, I was not able to get the amount into us that we needed.  We were eating mostly proteins and just some vegetables and fruit.  I was so frustrated!  Why couldn't I figure this out?!

By the time we had reached day 10, the hubs and I had argued more in the past 7 days than we had in the past 7 years.  We declared no diet was worth that!  On day 11 we were to attend my mom's annual family reunion.  The hubs and I decided that, regardless of what was being served, we were going to eat and drink whatever the Hell we wanted because it had to be better than what we were going through.  Oh, how wrong we were...  That night, September 4-5, neither one of us slept much.  The hubs, who had not taken any heartburn medication since we started The Whole30, could not lay down from the terrible heartburn.  He took some Prilosec and had to sit up all night long.  I tossed and turned, unable to get comfortable.  When I did doze off occasionally, I had nightmares and woke with a start, frequently.  The next day we were sluggish and irritable instead of just being irritable.

We decided to make some changes.  We knew we should not go back to eating as we had before starting The Whole30, but we also knew we could not continue as we were.  So, we compromised.  Due to my olive oil allergy and the disgustingly sweet taste of cooking in coconut oil, we added back canola oil and Wegman's Basting Oil.  We also decided to add back a starch - brown rice.  We agree with the belief of The Whole30's regarding soybean oil.  We are still vigilant to avoid soy products.  It was amazing to see how those few changes made a difference in ourselves, our marriage and our home.