Today I was picking up a new lunch box after work…I have spilled balsamic vinegar and oil in my backpack for the last time, and as I was going through the till, I spotted a magazine on Clean eating.
First off, I can’t even remember the last time I bought a magazine. Between Pinterest and the Interwebs, there hardly seems the need to spend the extra money on something so decadent. But I did it anyway, because I’m worth it. That and I seem to have an addiction to buying books right now.
Anyhoo…while I was paying for my stuff, the cashier looked at my magazine and said to me, “I’ve heard people say that clean eating really isn’t that good for you!” It took me a minute to process that. Because what?
I am not sure when it would have happened that our society is so brainwashed that they believe eating good food, that isn’t full of sugar or preservatives would be the polar opposite of what it really is.
Our society is fast. Everything about it. It’s easier to grab A&W for dinner then to come home and cook a healthy meal after your family has put in a big day of life. Or is it? My experience is actually, not so much. There are so many ways to eat better. But most of them involve planning and a little bit of forethought, but it is really not that hard.
Keep in mind I am single and probably bragging about the fact I have no one to look after but me a little bit…whatever babes…
We are so used to everything being instantaneous, that we have no patience left. I see that everyday at work…if that debit machine doesn’t take the money from people quickly and they have to wait for 30 seconds, the impatience is obvious.
With dinner…we don’t eat enough throughout the day and by dinner we are starved. Hence bad decisions. Crap food that doesn’t feed you properly. Bread that fills you up but doesn’t nourish you, and don’t get me wrong here, because I fucking adore bread…dude, I DREAM about bread, but it is unarguably bad for you. So. Just. Stop.
During my first grumpy week of the Whole30, I can’t count the people that said to me, “oh you are miserable because you are starving.”
What?
No. I was grumpy because ridding your body of toxic…losing the cravings that come when you know you can’t eat crap, is like quitting smoking or crack. It’s a fucking hard week. It takes a huge amount of effort to squash your inner voice telling you that you NEED that bowl of ice cream or big Yorkshire pudding with gravy all over it. But it passes…and then, all of a sudden…
Eating the good food is actually pretty easy. The point is to eat well and more often, so there is no snacking. Trust me, it takes some thought, because I love me some snacking. It’s like anything worthwhile, it takes some effort. I eat way more food now, and I have already, two weeks in….lost the muffin top. I am sleeping better and the decision to not grab whatever is handy to eat is easier every day.
But people are mortified when I explain what I am doing. No booze…what? No bread…what? No chocolate…well that one, ya…I agree. I didn’t say it was all roses here. But I am proud of myself every time I take the challenge of doing this. I push boundaries of my own. I learn that I can take responsibility for how my body looks and feels, but it took me months of looking in the mirror and just being super unhappy in my own amazing skin…to finally do something about it.
Do I want that maple donut? Do I want that big assed hamburger with Cheddar and Bacon on it? Do I want cream in my coffee? Oh hell ya I do. But that doesn’t mean it’s good for me. I have found ways around everything that I miss.
Here is my favorite quote from Whole30.com
This is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Fighting cancer is hard. Birthing a baby is hard. Losing a parent is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard. You’ve done harder things than this, and you have no excuse not to complete the program as written. It’s only thirty days, and it’s for the most important health cause on earth—the only physical body you will ever have in this lifetime.
So I guess my point when I started writing this post, was how surprised I have been at other peoples responses to my doing the program. People are afraid of what they don’t understand. Of challenge. Of change. And that’s okay. I get it, we all have to figure out this crazy train in our own time.
But without all of those things…we stagnate. We get sick. We need medications to sleep, to laugh, to live. We start to wonder how we got so stuck and miserable. And that’s okay too. But to come back from that place, you have to move. Even if it is a baby step. Work towards it one minute at a time, because sometimes one day at a time can be so daunting you won’t want to try…
But if I can do this…anyone can do this. Like anything in life you just have to want to taste it…
I may not be 17 anymore, but I am going to be my best 53…