I’m a little more than halfway through the Whole30 and I have some thoughts.

First, I gave up on keeping a daily food journal when I realized that what I eat is mostly the same thing every day, and writing it down got pretty boring.  I started the journal as a way for me to keep track, and also to see if I had any great tips or what not.  But mostly I’ve found that I keep myself busy to avoid mindless snacking which is what the Whole30 really comes down to – eating intentionally for nourishment, and that’s it.

Unhealthy patterns surrounding food were modeled for me throughout my childhood in different ways, and it has taken me years of my life to develop what I think is a positive relationship to my body.  I have learned that the way I care for myself on the inside dramatically affects the way I feel about myself on the outside, that when I am being considerate of the choices I make, I am far less likely to maintain a critical conversation in my head.

That isn’t to say that I’m not prone to slipping into bad habits, I am and I do.  The beginning of quarantine was a perfect example of how I immediately turned to comforting myself with sweet treats – I baked my way through pounds of flour and several blocks of cream cheese in a matter of days – and sometimes, it takes something like Whole30 to give my system a little reset.  I always feel better within the first week, a swift reminder of how quickly the body responds.

All that being said, though.  I am counting the days until I can eat a thick slice of homemade sourdough bread slathered with salty butter.  The sourdough starter I attempted to develop a few weeks back did not cultivate the way it was meant to, and I’ve since purchased a gorgeous book on the topic to help me through the learning process.  I figure the remaining days of this challenge will pass just in time for me to get a handle on my leaven and that is yet another example of the benefit of forethought.