Perfect Health Diet Supplements

So as I was writing my last post about moving to Perfect Health Diet when our Whole120 is complete, I was reminded that I followed the Jaminet's supplement recommendations pretty religiously during our Whole100 in 2015. I also did a month of no coffee in February, and interestingly I started really noticing changes in my body around Day 60. I didn't do either of those things this time, nor did I see those results (at least not as dramatically). Which led Annah to ask in one of our text convos if "maybe no coffee and supplements make all the difference?" Maybe.

When people start talking about supplements, I often have a knee-jerk reaction that I'm being sold something, but as you can see on the PHD supplement page, they are not marketing some hocus pocus concoction that you can only get from them! They only use an Amazon affiliate link to vitamins that they've sourced and there are notes about why you need them.

When I first switched to the PHD protocol,  I was shocked, SHOCKED by how much more magnesium was recommended on PHD. I take two pills now that are each as big as the one prenatal vitamin I took was--and that's just the magnesium! When I don't take it, I feel a difference.

I mean look at all of that!

Honestly it's quite intimidating to get started and the start up costs can add up too, now that I've been up and running for a while it's not so bad to replace the vitamins that I run out of here and there, and have I mentioned that I feel a difference? Because I really do.

So once a week I pull up the supplement page and fill up my weekly pill box. (I use an AM/PM one and my husband does one side while I do the other.) I check the page even when I remember what all I need to take because they do make adjustments occasionally as new research comes in. Never anything drastic. It's honestly kind of a hassle and I start wishing that they DID have their own branded supplement with everything rolled into one... Obviously I think it's worth it though.

I've seen in several places (that I'm too lazy to source right now) this theory of obesity where your body is starving for nutrients, so it signals that you need more food in order to try to get you to eat the nutrients you need. But by eating whole foods and balancing your nutrition, your body will tune in to an appropriate amount of food. I wish I'd tracked my food more thoroughly in both of these super rounds of Whole30 because while my portions go down over time, I wonder if they went down further on the supplements? Or maybe it was just that my nursing baby was farther along. And I was two years younger.

I have no answers! Seriously. Wish I did.

Anyway, you'll also notice on the supplement page that there are several real foods listed as "supplements" because they believe that it is super important that you eat them for certain vitamins and minerals. Fermented veggies and seaweed were pretty easy for me, but I didn't grow up eating liver and was pretty intimidated by it. I did figure out something that works for me though, but that's it's own blog post...

Sarah's Rules

Our "Whole120" will be concluding at the end of this month, and if past Whole30 experiences have taught me anything, it's that I need to have a plan in place. Always. For me, a plan is Food Freedom; in that food freedom I'll be including a few "non-compliant" foods, but the goal is to include them in a careful and controlled way.

NEW RULES

• The Perfect Health Diet guidelines ALWAYS
• "Moderate amount" foods on Saturdays only
• Supplements and supplemental foods (seaweed, liver, fermented vegetables, etc.)
• 30 day accountability (I'll continue to do my measurements and progress pics every 30 days with a summary of what my rules for the next 30 days are)

The Perfect Health Diet

The Perfect Health Diet was developed by the Jaminets, a brainiac husband and wife team who wanted to resolve their personal health issues and figure out what foods promoted optimal health and longevity. Being hard science people, they delved into PubMed and read a stunning number of research papers which are cited in their book. The book is very research driven but I felt that it was pretty accessible. If you're into that kind of thing. What I find particularly compelling is that the Jaminets were not beholden to any particular interest group, nor have they been remotely "gimmicky" about their diet. Sometimes I think they should market it harder!

The primary differences between this and Whole30 (which is only meant to be done as a personal experiment to discover how YOU feel eating certain foods) is that you can have rice, dark chocolate, occasional alcohol, full-fat and cultured dairy. HOWEVER, all those things are expected to be kept in moderation.

I actually did PHD before Whole30. I felt fabulous when I was strictly adhering to the guidelines but I struggled with making the "enjoyment foods" in the stem and leaves bigger than the apple...

This is my second's first birthday when I was strictly PHD. Not the greatest pic, but I can tell from the angles of my face that my weight and inflammation were down.

I can't remember how I first heard of Whole30 but I immediately noticed that there was a lot of crossover between The Perfect Health Diet and Whole30, and that Whole30 pretty much cut out the stuff I struggle with. I did two Whole30s just based on what I found online, but then I decided to read the book, and I was pleasantly surprised to find an endorsement on the back from Paul Jaminet. My nutrition guru! A lot of the concepts are similar, though Melissa Hartwig has a way of phrasing things that sticks in your head (Food Without Brakes, SWYPO). And while Perfect Health Diet is SOLID on the science, It Starts with Food addressed some of the emotional and habit issues I was having with consistently eating well. (Though they aimed to figure out the best diet for health, the Jaminets themselves weren't actually doing this for weight loss. I always picture them, when faced with temptation, being horrified at the thought of ruining their health experiment. That is pure fan fiction based on nothing but my own issues.)

Anyway, if you're big into reading about diet philosophies like I am, you'll know that moderation is difficult to define for most people and pretty much impossible for an abstainer. We'll see how this goes, but right now I'm confining those foods (rice, dark chocolate, alcohol, dairy) to Saturday. The rest of the week will look like Whole30.

Thing is, I really thought I was going to correct my brain through Whole30. But while other Instagrammers who had started at the same time as me started declaring their food freedom, I just wasn't feeling it.

So I've been doing A LOT of research as we near the end of this. I've read Food Freedom Forever. I've been checking out recommended practices for food addicts. I've pondered over various research articles, some with science that was a little over my head. A couple concepts have been coming up repeatedly to the point where I think I really need to pay attention.  First is this idea that a subset of the population responds more strongly to food and is more likely to become "addicted" to certain types of foods FOR WHATEVER REASON (I've read several different explanations for why this might be). The second thing is that the most effective way to deal with this--I'm going to go ahead and call it an affliction--is to develop firm guidelines for yourself based on what you identify as your triggers through HONEST ASSESSMENT. Third thing is that you need accountability.

So that is why I'm going to continue to do 30 day assessments. If I realize that my Saturday thing is sabotaging me, that guideline will get changed for 30 days, at which point I'll reassess again. As much as I'd like to just not think about food that much, I know from experience that that only makes my weight go up.

Another principle I've come across multiple times that is speaking to me is only eating three meals a day. My nursling is nearly 8 months and starting to eat more solids, so I'm going to work toward that. But for the first 30 days I'm not committing to it yet because I'm still having episodes of real hunger--though it's usually when I haven't eaten enough at my three meals. I allowed for a fourth meal during our Whole120 to help meet the demands for milk production, but I allowed that to slip and started snacking more, so I'm going to work on curbing that again.

I feel like I have a lot more to say, but it's taken me five days to write this much, so I'll just try to do more quick snippets on Instagram.

Wish me luck!

P.S. I should mention that I've done reintroductions in the past, so I'm not worried about doing them this time. I do know that dairy makes me breakout, so if my face starts annoying me with once a week dairy, I'll cut back. I also know that flour=heroin for me, so Imma stay far away from that ish.

Let's Talk Turkey About Post Partum Whole30

I've been mulling over this post for a while
because we try to keep an overall positive tone on the WholeLifeSisters. And that wasn't hard at all the last time around when weight was falling off of Annah and I.  Each time we did progress pics, there WAS change. And I also felt REALLY good. My mood was more even, I had more energy, and I was really proud of myself.

So I was really looking forward to this round. Nevermind that my baby was five months younger than the last baby I did this with! Since this is baby #4, I have plenty of past experience to tell me that I don't lose much weight until the end of baby's first year, but I guess I hoped that some kind of Whole30 magic would happen and Things Would be Different This Time. And even if the weight was slower, I craved all of those good feelings I mentioned last time around. NSVs FTW!!!!!!!! #amiright

Thsee were my results in 2015

Well, PERHAPS I am feeling much better than I otherwise would. Hard to know what would have happened in an alternate universe. But I don't feel great. I am so tired. Mind numbingly tired. Because my baby has good nights and then she has really crappy nights and even the good nights aren't the 9 hours of sleep my body craves. I average about 4.5 hours. Because I also have a toddler. And a husband. There's not a lot I can do about this situation right now.

FACT: Being up a lot and being tired all day makes you crave carbs and also more food than you would normally eat.

Several people, when I whine about how disappointed I am with my results this round, have suggested that I cut back on portion sizes and exercise more.

Have I mentioned that I also homeschool my kids? And might I underscore that there are four of them? I don't get naps. I don't have a lot of time. Eating Whole30 has already been a huge commitment because I don't get to throw in the towel and order a pizza when the day has gone sideways. I can't even buy a standard salad dressing. Chopping vegetables is a part time job at this point. I've put serious work into making this a priority and sticking to it.

So, yes, perhaps in theory I could do more. But given my limitations of Other Priorities, budget, personality type, and life stage, it just isn't realistic. My portions have reduced naturally since I started Whole30 (this always happens, which is why I eat to satiety and [usually] don't stress about it), but I could eat less--but being hungry on top of everything else I have going on just isn't going to fly. Probably not a good idea for my milk production either. Yep, still nursing.

And if you hadn't picked up on this, I'm also in a really bad mood. Likely it's also related to sleep, but yeah. All that positivity and energy--MIA. About the only thing I feel like I've gained on this Whole120--and all that is currently keeping me going--is the knowledge that I stuck to it and I don't have to ask myself what might have been.

My mind is in a totally different place than at the end of the Whole100. Then I was contemplating staying Whole30 FOREVAH! I felt so good, and I definitely did not want to slide back into bad habits. This time I just keep thinking I want a huge glass of wine and DESSERT. I'm actually hoping I haven't hurt myself with this Whole120 by making it harder psychologically to continue eating well after my time is up. I'm wondering if Food Freedom only comes when you like how you look and feel--and if you don't, you're just screwed no matter how hard you worked.

And,  yes, I should be gentle with myself, give grace, recognize that my body has produced and nourished four humans, blah, blah, blah... it's just frustrating, SO FRUSTRATING, to do the work and still not be able to get your wedding ring back on. Still need to go buy another round of clothes in a larger size. We're not talking about the last 5-10 lbs here...I'm significantly overweight. I don't recognize myself in pictures and it feels like I'm trapped in this body.

So we have 20 days left, and I'm working to put some new rules in place. I just don't trust myself to "listen to your body" because my body is stressed out and wants cake and a martini. I don't know if this will work or not, maybe it's another bad idea, but I'll report back.

We're Doing 120 Days of Whole30--Should You?

Keep in mind we are not officially licensed by Whole30 or anything and we don't even play doctors on TV, but if you're thinking about doing a longer version of Whole30, here are some things we would mention to our besties (and y'all are just besties we haven't met IRL...yet):

Joke!  It's a joke! 

• It actually takes a little over 60 days to really make a habit, so eating healthy for at least that long probably has benefits for both moderators and abstainers 
• Coincidentally (or not) we agree with several others that the real magic (seeing differences in your body and feeling confident and in control) seems to happen around the 60 day mark and it gets better from there.
• If you are significantly overweight or struggling with serious health issues, you're probably going to need to eat Whole30 longer to fix those issues, so you may just want to commit to a longer period.

The time will pass anyway,  right?

You may not want to commit to a longer Whole30 if:

• You're likely to feel overwhelmed by a big number and more likely to quit 
• There's something on your calendar that will create a major hardship if you are limiting your food choices.
• You have a history of overly limiting food or imposing overly high standards on yourself.

We used to think you should get at least one regular Whole30 under your belt before trying a longer one but, meh, you do you.

I  think sometimes when we announce we're doing a mega Whole30, people wonder if we think we're better than everyone else.

We're actually doing it because we think we're worse than you. We've seen so many people do a simple Whole30 and then find food freedom with an occasional reset. Meanwhile we're trying to follow the one bite rule and falling face first into dessert bar.

We keep coming back to the fact that we're abstainers not moderators (if you've recently joined us this is a great article about abstainers vs moderators
). So that's why we do these "crazy" long rounds of Whole30.  Honestly it's a big part of why Whole30 works for us--it eliminates all of our food triggers and that's that.

We think everyone should try a Whole30 at least once with a proper reintroduction to learn how your body reacts to various foods. (I'm still mad that it never occurred to me in my twenties that my acne might be connected to eating dairy...) But that might be all you need.

So, no, we're not judging you for not being "Whole30 enough" for doing the program AS IT WAS WRITTEN.  We're the freaks here. But we know there are others like us, so we keep our account going to be a support for them and to inspire people to try Whole30 because it's been so great for us. Sometimes we joke that we should change our name to AbstainerSisters because that seems to be our niche.

For us, making a long term commitment to eating healthy feels freeing. We're like toddlers who need schedules and rules to feel safe. Your speed may vary. Whatever that speed is, we hope you find something that works for you. Besos!

Getting Ready for a Whole30

Hahaha...just realized Whole30 is publishing these exact tips in the same order. Great minds...!

Between the two of us, we're losing count of how many Whole30s we've done (but our 2015 Whole100 remains the most memorable). And we get a lot of questions about getting started, so here are our thoughts on that...

Step 1: 
Get yourself a copy of The Whole30 book or It Starts with Food if you've never read either before. There's a lot of info on the interwebz, and both of us did Whole30s  before we bought the book, but we both found reading the book gave us a nice solid foundation to build on and clarified some inconsistencies you might see on unofficial Whole30 sites. We'll often skim the book before starting a new round just for reminders and inspiration.

Step 2: 
Set up your process. Notice I didn't say set your goal. We've found that focusing on a goal just makes us frustrated that we're not there yet and if we're not closing in on the goal fast enough, we are likely to give up. When we focus on the process,  we can "win" daily instead of striving for some big win in the distant future (that may or may not be realistic even).



For us, that means establishing ground rules (which is pretty much done for you with a Whole30, but make sure you've got them down and you've made your peace with them), thinking through upcoming events and how we'll deal with them, making some public announcements/establishing support networks, and...

Step 3: 
Deal with your pantry. There are different ways to do this. Some people find it helpful to clean out their house of anything they might be tempted by. That may or may not be realistic for you and your living situation. We find that once we get into abstaining mode, we're not as bothered by other snacks around. Be honest about who you are and what you need to be successful.

But you are going to need to eat, and nothing derails a Whole30 faster than having a crazy day and then realizing you have nothing quick, easy and compliant to shove in your face.



Here are the things we keep in our house AT ALL TIMES:

• Aidells chicken Apple sausages 
• RxBars/Larabar
• Precooked potatoes 
• Prepped veggies (meaning possibly cooked but at least cleaned and chopped up)
• Fruit
• Nuts
• Eggs
• Compliant oils (avocado, olive, coconut)

Some non-essentials that just make Whole30 more enjoyable are:

• Sparkling water and kombucha
• Ghee
• Compliant bacon
• Homemade/compliant mayonnaise  (OMG, this makes the Whole30 life so much more awesome)

It helps to cook in big batches. I'll make a whole tray of chicken just with salt and then use it in several different combinations veggies potatoes and sauces. That can often make the difference between dinner in 10 minutes and dinner in 45 minutes or more.

So that's the gist of it, we'll be posting daily experiences, complaints, inspirations, and any other tips we think of on Instagram for the next month or so at least, so you'll get our thoughts real time over there and deeper thoughts over here when and if we have them...

More Thoughts on Pregnancy Body Issues

I was scrolling through my FB feed yesterday when I saw a Whole30 post on pregnancy body issues, which got me pretty excited because *obvious reasons.*

I've been struggling with body issues quite a bit this pregnancy. It's my fourth pregnancy and I've always struggled. This time though I've specifically struggled with the fact that last year I was doing a Whole100 at this time last year and every month brought new (desired) changes to my body. I was happy to take selfies. I felt accomplished.

It's ridiculous that I'm over here growing a human and feeling less accomplished because my waist (amongst other things) is expanding.

After reading the article, there were a couple of things I wanted to add because it felt mostly focused on women who struggle with wanting to limit food and stay as skinny as possible during pregnancy and are so terrified of becoming overweight that they may eat less than they should. Which is a common struggle and important to talk about.

The actual tips in the red headlines were great; it was just some of the discussion that I couldn't identify with (but take this with a grain of salt because I am pregnant and hormonal). Because I've been overweight. I've been overweight while not pregnant! I've never been less than 20lbs above my ideal weight when I started a pregnancy. I knew I was never going to have the "basketball under the shirt" look because I didn't start with a physique that made that possible. A woman who's never been over a size 6 or 8 might assume that I just don't care. But I do. When I'm not pregnant, I always have this hope that soon I'm going to "get it in gear" and lose the weight. I have hope! But when I'm pregnant, that hope is a long way off. The thing is, rather than restrict myself, I do the opposite. I say screw it, I'm not society's version of attractive and now I'm not going to be any time soon--might as well have some ice cream. And pizza. Is that a cookie... This was discussed in the first tip, but it was mostly "don't do that."

True confessions: I wanted to be the girl who would have tips and tricks for y'all on how to navigate the nausea and cravings with healthy alternatives, but I fell flat on my face. It is damn. hard. Even if you spent the previous year eating really well. I know exactly what to do; I've just been too tired and overwhelmed to care.There are so many factors at play--not least of all the hormones that make me a bit unstable to begin with (I am "blessed" with PREnatal depression--it's like the only time in my life I don't procrastinate, ha! If you suspect you might have this, definitely talk to your doctor and see about getting help. It certainly makes food issues even tougher.).  I have the best of intentions to eat nutrient dense, nourishing foods, but sprinkle in my first trimester food aversions combined with the fact that I'm nauseous unless I'm actively eating. So then I'm eating all kinds of foods that I know are of no benefit to me or the baby. Then the guilt of doing something less than ideal for my child...plus the self loathing of not being able to control myself. Once I'm through that part, I'm only second trimester, but I look like I'm in my third. Cue the curious onlookers asking when I'm due and then giving me the raised eyebrow, wide eyes as they wonder just how closely I'll resemble Violet Beauregarde by the end.

The thing is, we don't know another woman's life and we all experience pregnancy in different ways. I've heard several women say they gained a lot when they ate great and when they ate poorly. Another person recently told me she only gained 15 pounds and everything was fine. But people always gotta talk. And I wish it didn't affect me, but it does. Annah and I have been texting A LOT about why it is that people who would normally talk about your weight behind your back seem to think that your pregnancy gives them license to openly discuss your body in front of you and *cringe* in GROUPS with you present! We're already abnormally sensitive and feeling like we have to respond publicly for our bodies (sometimes the words "huge" and "fat" are even used) is excruciating. It certainly doesn't help the body image issues. We can already see that certain clothes look like tents and that our thighs are keeping pace with the belly.

 I've been Whole30 for the last couple weeks though, and I can say this: I've suddenly had more energy and a more positive outlook on things. And I honestly needed that more than a cute body, even if I sort of wanted the cute body more... 

I'm clearly no diet expert. Mostly I'm here to offer commiseration more than advice. But last year I talked a lot about learning the lesson "trust the process." When you have a lot of weight to lose, you want to drop it fast, but focusing on the rules and the fact that I was taking care of my body no matter how it physically changed was key. And eventually my body did respond, which was very rewarding. Now I'm having to go deeper into that lesson. I'm having to trust the process even though I KNOW the process is not leading to a flat stomach. Last year, many of my non-scale victories were still changes toward being more physically attractive. So far, that hasn't been happening here.

Now I have to really just appreciate the rules for what they are. As an abstainer, I had to make a firm commitment to myself (and a few key witnesses) that I'm doing this. Decision made; discussion over. Pass me some sweet potatoes, please.

If you're not there yet, just keep trying. This is my third or fourth attempt (losing track). Onward and upward, Whole30ers.

What if Your Whole30 "Didn't Work"?

On New Year's Eve, I posted on my personal Facebook page about my WholeLifeSisters account and my experiences with Whole30 (I'd previously kept it on the DL, although a few people who'd noticed my weight loss had asked and I'd shared with them).

Ironically, as I stumbled my way through my first trimester pretty much hating food in general, everyone I knew was telling me that they were trying the Whole30 for the first time after seeing my post. Obviously Whole30 has been life changing for me and I will never stop believing, but a couple people have told me that their January Whole30 didn't work, so here are my thoughts on what might be going on.

Case Study #1
Let's start with my nearest and dearest. My husband did Whole30 this month. At the end of day 30, he jumped on the scale (yes, at night, he's super cute). "I've lost 2 pounds," he reported glumly. Half awake I muttered from the bed, "you might have a different result in the morning." "Yeah, but I could lose 2 pounds in a week, easy. And I have a lot of weight to lose." The next morning he was a little better. He'd lost 5-6 pounds. But still. For a guy looking to lose 50-60 pounds, that seems like small potatoes. Especially for all the work that was involved. He's really been stepping up since we found out I'm pregnant, and he did 95% of his food prep on his own, while also getting our kids breakfast in the morning because I IS SO TIRED. So what gives? There are people on IG and FB reporting that they lost 12, 16, 20 POUNDS IN  A SINGLE Whole30! If you lost 5 pounds or less, I can understand how you can feel robbed. Look, I have no idea what's with those people. Some of them may have come from more drastically different eating habits and their bodies just responded well to the change. Some people just have faster metabolisms. I dunno. But I will say PARTICULARLY IF YOU HAVE SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT TO LOSE, I would encourage you to take a very long view. Everyone professes to know that crash diets are not helpful or effective long term, but in practice we want the speed of crash diet results. That may not happen for you on the Whole30. It may take your body longer to heal some of the issues it's been struggling with and some of those issues may be higher priority than just sloughing off fat. This is why it's so important to trust the process. Also, many of us who've done longer stints of Whole30 have noticed a sweet spot that BEGINS around day 60. It's like you relax, your body relaxes, and that whole "lifestyle" thing everyone talks about starts becoming a reality. I worry about several people I see white knuckling their way through 30 days only to declare defeat that they're not miraculously a size 2 and then decide they need to fake shake their way to weightloss. My husband has not given up on Whole30 yet. As he was leaving for work he noted wryly that at this rate he only had 10 months to go. But honestly? Ten months is actually not bad for healthy, sustainable, significant weight loss.

When we started our Whole100 Annah announced on Instagram that we would not be weighing ourselves THE ENTIRE TIME and I was like, whoah, that was not in the contract! I wanted to weigh in at 30, 60, 75 days... But not weighing in all the time was the BEST decision ever. We both lost 20 pounds in the end. If I'd known I'd only lose 20 pounds in 100 days, I'm not sure I would have done it. I had about 40 pounds to lose, and I wanted to do it much faster. But I was pretty happy in the end with the way I looked and felt. Twenty pounds is better than nothing! So get comfy, people, and go long.

Case Study #2
A cute couple at my church told me they're doing Whole30 and ...they feel no different. Now these folks don't need to lose weight. They appear to me to have boundless energy. They're not aware of any health problems they might have; there was nothing they were trying to "fix." They just heard everyone talking about this miraculous, life changing program and they thought they'd give it a shot. If this is you, you might just be really healthy. I suspect these people eat really well most of the time. Sometimes people tell me that they love bread and desserts too much to do Whole30. When those people are in generally good health, I often notice that they don't really LOVE bread and sweets like I LOVE bread and sweets. Some people want a bite now and then, but if you watch them overall, they're eating tons of vegetables and their portions are always super reasonable. They have "the gift" and it's not even hard for them. If you eat half a cookie and then have to throw the rest away months later because you haven't touched them, you may also have the gift. In this case, I say that it's still good to have tried the Whole30 once with a proper reintroduction. If you have no food issues, you have no food issues. Go away and don't ever talk to me. (J/K, love you...XO)

BONUS RAMBLING
Like I mentioned, if you are white knuckling your way through 30 days, you are hyper focused on your waistline, you are comparing yourself to the Whole30 super star results posters, and you are not committed to really paying attention and learning how food affects your body but just thinking of Whole30 as a "cleanse" before you go on with your life, I think you're wasting your time. What I love about this program is that it takes the scientific research on what foods are best for your body and eliminates the foods that often tax people's bodies and says, hey, now do a personal experiment on yourself to see what works for your unique body chemistry and situation. And it does that while respecting the fact that food can be emotional and that some of the food issues we struggle with are coming from our own minds and some are actually being induced by the very food we eat and that can be all tangled up and difficult to figure out. And we're not all going to fit into color-coded portion control boxes. But I think the struggle is worth it.