WAY back on December 20, 2019, my brother-in-law got engaged. And, of course, the celebration began. I mean, how cute are they?

Then we celebrated my birthday on December 23rd. Then Christmas was the 25th. Then we celebrated the engagement some more. Then New Years happened. Then we celebrated the engagement some more. Then it was Jackson’s 9th birthday, so more celebrating. And, then JLo performed at the Super Bowl.

Basically, I spent six weeks celebrating. I did throw in some vegetables into the mix of wine, red meat, Mexican food, more wine, and gluten free chocolate chip cookies. The greens, unfortunately, couldn’t assist in the damage I was doing.

I was SUUUUUUPER healthy the last part of 2019, and then decided to throw a grenade into the cauliflower rice and add some greasy bacon and a pitcher of mimosas.

The day after the Super Bowl, my friend sent me a meme that said “Who works harder at the Super Bowl? The quarterback or my stomach trying to digest the 35 different cheese dips I just had”. Going to go ahead and say that was a TIE in the competition department.

So, on Monday, February 10th, I woke up and decided I was tired of feeling like garbage. I work out five days a week, so while I wasn’t overweight, I just felt BLAH! Wasn’t sleeping great, my knees were taking turns being sore, I had a cough that WOULD NOT GO AWAY, my skin looked like that of a twelve-year-old boy (I can say this because I have one of these at home), and well . . . basically, I just wasn’t myself. And, I WAS OVER IT!

So, it happened. I started Whole30 on February 10th. Now, I have tried this before, but I always end up being so great at it that I finish it in seven days. Yes, I am well-versed Whole30 loser. I mean, I have Celiacs and can’t have gluten. I need to have a little bit of fun, right?

But, this time, I was determined to stick with it! And, my round of Whole30 ends TODAY! Praise Jesus. I am patting myself on the back over here BIG TIME!

Now, for those of you that don’t know . . . Whole 30 means no gluten, grains, dairy, sugar, legumes, or alcohol. All clean food. All of the processed foods in your house become dead to you, eating out becomes super difficult, and your happiness is put on the back burner. I mean, kind of.

Now, full disclaimer . . . I decided to be “Whole30-ish”.

Let me explain my “ish” There are three reasons I decided to modify my experience so that I knew I would stick to it.

1. Mama needs her coffee with skim milk and Truvia. It is a non-negotiable situation. On Whole30, you can’t have skim milk OR artificial sweeteners. Hence the “ish”. So, everyday during my Whole30 experience, I still had my Starbucks Venti Decaf coffee with a TINY amount (a “dolup”, if you will) of skim milk with two monk fruit sweeteners.
2. I had maybe three cheeseburgers this month because HELLO, I AM EATING HEALTHY AND I DESERVED IT! And, while cheese is not acceptable on Whole30, a small little slice on a lettuce wrapped burger makes me happy.
3. Valentines Day and a couple of other special events were during my Whole30 time, and people, Jesus made wine. So, I felt like He was cool with me dabbling in the wine a handful of times during my Whole30-ish experience. Obviously, no alcohol is accepted with the standard Whole30, but you get it.

SO, here I am. DONE with Whole30-ish! And, here is how I feel about it . . .

My NEVER-ENDING cough is GONE! Gone, people. I had two separate doctors trying to medicate me for different issues, and my dietary changes made it go away! Lots of happiness over here for that. Now, full disclosure, when I was more “ish” than “Whole30”, my cough comes back. So, need to work through that a bit more.

I am sleeping better! Which is HUUUUUUUGE!

My clothes fit better because I am not bloated, which in turn makes my attitude better when I am getting ready!

AND . . . besides the getting over the annoying cough issue . . . my favorite thing is that I realized there were certain things that I was eating that were really throwing me for a loop. When I was inhaling food and drinks all around me, it was hard to figure out what was causing the issues. But, now I have a clearer picture of the problem foods in my life. And, I can tell you that it is liberating!

Is being Whole30 hard? YES! Is being Whole30-ish hard? Not really! I made the program work for me, and am so thankful I did. It does take planning. Although I am not great at planning, so I should have bought stock in LaraBar before starting this whole thing. I ate one probably every day I was on this, and truly plan on keeping up that schedule for the near future. SOOO good.

Also, The Defined Dish cookbook was a lifesaver. The vast majority of her recipes are gluten free, and about half of them are Whole30. My family loves every one of her dishes that I make. I am not a great cook, and you just can’t mess up her recipes! And, they are TASTY! Like restaurant quality tasty!

I know that we all struggle with different issues. Celiacs and stomach issues are some of mine. And, I have to say that I wish I had become Whole30-ish earlier. I am not even sure that I am going to pull off of this track too much. I am sure that you will see me knee-deep in queso at Mi Cocina at some point in the future, but just ignore me when I am complaining the next day about how I feel like trash. We never really learn, do we?

So, basically, here I am. Some type of ninja cat on a unicorn with golden nose dust. Just SUPER pumped that I made it through Whole 30-ish. There is a TON of information out there on Whole 30, and I am sure that many of you are a lot stronger than me when it comes to will power and pushing through. But, if you have any questions, or need any recipe ideas, let me know! Good luck and happy eating!