Healthy Life = Happy Life

Eating whole foods has changed my life in so many ways. Once I started, I shortly realized that I would never go back to eating the same way because I felt better than I ever had. After I finished treatment, I quickly put back on the weight I had lost. Even though I was expected to put some back on, I didn’t feel good about myself anymore. After a few months of getting back into exercising and eating the right foods, I dropped my weight back down to 155, which was an appropriate weight for my height and age. I was satisfied, but not completely. I started to go through phases of diets (which were not working), and I was slowly beginning the elimination of processed or not real foods as I call them. This is about the time I was introduced to Whole30 (May 2015).

 

When I began my first Whole30 journey, I weighed in at approximately 155.8 pounds (I tracked my progress through Myfitnesspal.com). In the first 10 days of following the Whole30 lifestyle, I immediately dropped about six pounds. Even though I was dropping weight, which felt amazing, I was also starting to feel better mentally. I was not getting as many headaches or stomachaches after I ate a meal and my indigestion seemed to be getting better. The chemotherapy messed with the acid in my stomach which causes me to have major heartburn and stomach pains after meals. I finished my first official round on June 30, 2015. At this point, I had dropped about 15 pounds and weighed in at about 141 pounds. I had never been this light and it felt amazing.

 

I started a Whole30 Instagram account for accountability, but I fell in love with the people who I follow and who follow me. There are many inspirations in this world and we all help each other out. I have continued to post my Whole30 lifestyle and still do to this day. Since my first round, I have completed four more Whole30 Rounds, two when I was marathon training. My running has dramatically changed since I started eating whole foods. I used to carb load the night before all of my long runs with pasta, quinoa and brown rice. Now, I carb load with foods such as sweet potatoes, carrots, plantains and bananas, and I truly believe I run faster and stronger due to these food choices.

 

My way of eating now is the Whole30 lifestyle with a few other non-whole30 items here and there. For me, it is not a diet or my reason for trying to lose weight, for me it is a healthy lifestyle that brings happiness to my life and makes me feel better about myself. This is why I have chosen to continue to live the Whole30 or whole foods lifestyle, which is essentially what Whole30 is.