My First Whole30 Starts Today

I've been following the Primal Blueprint for a long time now, as the About page indicates. And while I've done great with the program, I've never taken it to that further step of going really strictly Paleo. And while the Primal Blueprint is awesome, and I'll never feel bad for having "only" done it, I've wondered for a long time if I would be better served by trying something a bit stricter.

And so, without further ado, I'm going to do a Whole30. For those who don't know, Whole30 is one of the more strict Paleo "on-ramp" programs you can do. Created by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig at Whole 9, it's known as one of the more restrictive plans for getting started with a Paleo Diet, but everyone who does it successfully raves about how they feel as they get into it.

And frankly, I've been a bit loosey-goosey of late with the diet. This has occurred mostly in the ice cream arena, but while I was visiting my parents in Arizona for vacation a couple weeks ago I got off track a bit as well - mostly just because I didn't want to put them out with my food choices. I never really forced myself back on track.

And since I really need to get back on the horse, so to speak, I figured I'd try a tougher program than what I've done previously, and really clear myself out of all the food toxins that creep into the diet. While I suspect that I have no issues with dairy, I think there's nothing wrong with keeping it out of the diet for a month to be absolutely sure. With a good summer of obstacle racing coming up, this is definitely the time to get myself into the best shape I can, and diet is obviously the major part of that.

So I'll journal my experiences here with the Whole30 program. 30 days of super-clean Paleo living and the lifestyle that goes along with it will be yours for the reading.

As a starting point, let's talk about where I am today: mostly I'm feeling fine, though I have some inflammation/arthritis in my hands (mostly around the right hand first and second knuckle) that I frequently get when gluten gets into my system. It's totally manageable but it's annoying and a little painful. I'm also feeling a tad oogy in the gut - probably both problems are from the two bottles of Guinness I drank yesterday (like I said, loosey-goosey).

Thus far today, I've eaten a tin of King Oscar sardines with a few splashes of Tabasco sauce. Lunch will be some leftover shortribs from last night and a salad of greens with olive oil and organic basalmic vinegar. Looking forward to it!

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Jamie Fellrath | Practical Mindfulness

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