Today marks day 17 of my whole30 journey and my inbox has been flooded with questions! What exactly is whole30? What can you eat? How much weight do you plan to lose? I am looking into this diet. Can you send me your tips and tricks? Please send me more info on this diet! All those questions have been incoming as I update on my journey.
The first thing I want to clear the air about... Whole30 is NOT a diet and the goal is NOT to lose weight. The design behind the program is to push the “reset” button with your health, your eating habits, and your relationship with food. The goal is for THIRTY days you eliminate all the phsychologically unhealthy, hormone imbalancing, gut disrupting, inflammatory food groups. Once these food groups are eliminated for thirty days, you begin to reintroduce the food groups one at a time with an introduction phase after the thirty days. It is then where you can see which foods you may be insensitive to, but you never noticed because you’ve always ate them and assumed it was normal.
I have seen testimony after testimony from fellow whole30-ers who have reported improvements with life-long health conditions they have battled: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, PCOS, skin irritations, fibromyalgia, Crohn’s, IBS, leaky gut, Celiac and soooooo many more!
The second thing that is important to understand is there are rules to the program. You break a rule; you start over. There is no room to wiggle. I read a message the other day that said, “Love all the recipe ideas you’re posting! I started a whole30 a week ago but I am still allowing myself a treat on Sundays.” Well sweetheart, I am sorry to say but you are in fact not doing a whole30; you’re just eating better.
The program rules are simple. Black and white. No grey.
**Do not consume added sugar, real or artificial. No maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, coconut sugar, date syrup, stevia, Splenda, Equal, Nutrasweet, xylitol, etc. Read your labels, because companies sneak sugar into products in ways you might not recognize.
**Do not consume alcohol, in any form, not even for cooking. (And ideally, no tobacco products of any sort, either.)
**Do not eat grains. This includes (but is not limited to) wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, rice, millet, bulgur, sorghum, sprouted grains, and all gluten-free pseudo-cereals like quinoa, amaranth, and buckwheat. This also includes all the ways we add wheat, corn, and rice into our foods in the form of bran, germ, starch, and so on. Again, read your labels.
**Do not eat legumes. This includes beans of all kinds (black, red, pinto, navy, white, kidney, lima, fava, etc.), peas, chickpeas, lentils, and peanuts. No peanut butter, either. This also includes all forms of soy – soy sauce, miso, tofu, tempeh, edamame, and all the ways we sneak soy into foods (like lecithin).
**Do not eat dairy. This includes cow, goat, or sheep’s milk products like milk, cream, cheese, kefir, yogurt, sour cream, ice cream, or frozen yogurt.
**Do not consume carrageenan, MSG, or sulfites. If these ingredients appear in any form on the label of your processed food or beverage, it’s out for the Whole30.
Give the program 30 days and it will change your life. It will change your relationship with foods. It will teach you better habits.
So in conclusion my personal tips/tricks:
1. Set a start day that is manageable. Trying to do a whole30 when you know you have family get togethers or a vacation the chances of you being successful are slim.
2. Plan and prepare. Get some meal ideas. Plan when you will cook and what you will cook. Be leery of Pinterest recipes that dote the “Whole30” title. While many are great and follow the rules, some do not.
3. Make dump ranch. You’re welcome.
4. Go to whole30.com and read all the FREE PDF resources that are available! It will keep you on track!
5. Document your journey. Write it down somewhere and hold yourself accountable. There are tons of support groups on Facebook to become a part of for the support.
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Riley Faith
A month of maternity leave has my social butterfly self getting a touch of cabin fever thus leading to the perfect time to share with some blogging!
On December 19, we welcomed our third (and final) baby into the world. Riley Faith Haywood was born at 11:49 pm on 12/19/17. She was all of 7.4lbs and 19.5 inches. A tiny little babe compared to big brothers who where 9.1 and 8.12 and both 21 inches long!
The birth of our middle son, AJ, was slightly traumatic for me as I had to have a csection and was absolutely terrified. I had never been hospitalized aside from my first birth not had I ever had any medical procedures done. Frankly, I tend to steer clear of doctors and western medicine and prefer holistic methods and essential oils. My husband refers to me as a hippie! ✌🏼Hey I’ll take it.
Naturally after a traumatic birth, I was nervous, anxious, and worried about baby number three coming along. I was determined to have a successful VBAC and made sure my doctor fully understood that in one of my first few appointments. She gave me the all clear and said I was a great candidate for a VBAC. I drank red raspberry leaf tea every.single.day for a healthy uterus. I got weekly chiropractic adjustments to keep my hips and pelvis aligned. I wrote a very specific, detailed birth plan for a completely unmedicated VBAC....
Funny thing about childbirth- it’s one of the few things in life that we have absolutely zero control over. Yet I was determined to have labor go exactly my way, exactly WHEN I wanted it. For certain reasons I needed to deliver on the 18th or 19th but Ms. Riley wasn’t due until the 25th. After talking with my OB, we booked an induction for the 19th.
Again all the feelings of worry, anxiety, and fear entered my heart. My biggest concern was getting induced only to end in csection yet again. Nonetheless, at 1:00 pm on December the nurse hooked up my iv and started pitocin. My original birth plan called for NO pitocin or epidural. I wanted to experience a natural childbirth. Wrong. Pitocin is synthetic oxytocin- and oxytocin is what your body needs to produce in order to dilate. Since I was shooting for a VBAC, I was limited on the amount of pitocin I could have as I ran the risk of a uterine rupture from my csection incision. Pitocin causes your contractions to come HARDER and FASTER than naturally letting your body labor so nine hours into labor I was in tears begging for an epidural. Reluctantly, my OB ordered the epidural. I appreciated that she was trying to stick to my birth plan, but pitocin contractions are not for the faint of heart!
Cue the epidural and all was right in the world again. I was finally dilated to a five so they cranked the pitocin which was fine with me since I could no longer feel contractions. It was around 11:30 when my OB came in and I started pushing and at 11:49 Riley Faith entered the world.
We had immediate skin to skin and she latched within a few minutes. My nurses were great with all my birthplan requests. I was able to have delayed cord clamping. Riley didn’t receive the HepB vaccine, which is completely pointless (and comes with a long list of risks for baby) for a newborn baby, nor did she get the vitamin K.
Baby girl was by far the easiest of all three deliveries. My VBAC experience was phenomenal and my OB and L&D nurses were beyond great! I would encourage all momma’s, if able to go for the VBAC. It’s well worth the shot!
And just like that, I’m a momma of THREE littles.
On December 19, we welcomed our third (and final) baby into the world. Riley Faith Haywood was born at 11:49 pm on 12/19/17. She was all of 7.4lbs and 19.5 inches. A tiny little babe compared to big brothers who where 9.1 and 8.12 and both 21 inches long!
The birth of our middle son, AJ, was slightly traumatic for me as I had to have a csection and was absolutely terrified. I had never been hospitalized aside from my first birth not had I ever had any medical procedures done. Frankly, I tend to steer clear of doctors and western medicine and prefer holistic methods and essential oils. My husband refers to me as a hippie! ✌🏼Hey I’ll take it.
Naturally after a traumatic birth, I was nervous, anxious, and worried about baby number three coming along. I was determined to have a successful VBAC and made sure my doctor fully understood that in one of my first few appointments. She gave me the all clear and said I was a great candidate for a VBAC. I drank red raspberry leaf tea every.single.day for a healthy uterus. I got weekly chiropractic adjustments to keep my hips and pelvis aligned. I wrote a very specific, detailed birth plan for a completely unmedicated VBAC....
Funny thing about childbirth- it’s one of the few things in life that we have absolutely zero control over. Yet I was determined to have labor go exactly my way, exactly WHEN I wanted it. For certain reasons I needed to deliver on the 18th or 19th but Ms. Riley wasn’t due until the 25th. After talking with my OB, we booked an induction for the 19th.
Again all the feelings of worry, anxiety, and fear entered my heart. My biggest concern was getting induced only to end in csection yet again. Nonetheless, at 1:00 pm on December the nurse hooked up my iv and started pitocin. My original birth plan called for NO pitocin or epidural. I wanted to experience a natural childbirth. Wrong. Pitocin is synthetic oxytocin- and oxytocin is what your body needs to produce in order to dilate. Since I was shooting for a VBAC, I was limited on the amount of pitocin I could have as I ran the risk of a uterine rupture from my csection incision. Pitocin causes your contractions to come HARDER and FASTER than naturally letting your body labor so nine hours into labor I was in tears begging for an epidural. Reluctantly, my OB ordered the epidural. I appreciated that she was trying to stick to my birth plan, but pitocin contractions are not for the faint of heart!
Cue the epidural and all was right in the world again. I was finally dilated to a five so they cranked the pitocin which was fine with me since I could no longer feel contractions. It was around 11:30 when my OB came in and I started pushing and at 11:49 Riley Faith entered the world.
We had immediate skin to skin and she latched within a few minutes. My nurses were great with all my birthplan requests. I was able to have delayed cord clamping. Riley didn’t receive the HepB vaccine, which is completely pointless (and comes with a long list of risks for baby) for a newborn baby, nor did she get the vitamin K.
Baby girl was by far the easiest of all three deliveries. My VBAC experience was phenomenal and my OB and L&D nurses were beyond great! I would encourage all momma’s, if able to go for the VBAC. It’s well worth the shot!
And just like that, I’m a momma of THREE littles.
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