Me: “Something’s been weighing on me. I need to change my diet and I’m thinking about doing the Whole30 again but I’m nervous it’ll make my milk dry up. I don’t know, maybe I should just give up sugar instead. Thinking about this is keeping me up at night.”

Randy: “If I were you, I’d give up whatever was keeping me up at night. Forget the Whole30! Do it later when you’re not nursing anymore.”

Me: “Yeah, you’re right.”

A few days later…

Me: “I bought the Whole30 book. I think I’m gonna do it. I’m going to start when Lent starts and I’ll continue giving up sugar for the entirety of Lent.”

Randy: “Ok.”

Me: “I’m hoping this just really helps me change my eating habits. I don’t feel like we eat healthy enough.”

Randy: “We eat healthy enough. Don’t ever kid yourself into thinking you don’t make healthy, well-balanced meals for this family. We eat healthy. You just got into bad habits for yourself because it’s hard to take care of yourself after taking care of 4 kids and everything else. So if you want to do the Whole30, I support you.”

So after that resounding vote of confidence (yes, I have an awesome husband) I did a lot of reading and planning, and jumped into the Whole30.

My main goal in starting the program was to break my sugar addiction. It’s easy (and fun!) postpartum to start eating a lot of sweet, comforting, baked goods. People bring dinners and desserts, you snack on sweets to “ease” the burden of being so darn sleepy all the time. Feeling weary from tending to children all day long? Need a little escape? Chocolate in the bedroom. Or bathroom. Or in some corner where there are no children. I know, we all do it. But for me, it became a real problem that needed to be addressed!

I’m not the type of person who can easily say, “I’m just going to start eating less sugar” or “I”m going to start making better food choices.” I need a concrete plan with defined and measurable goals. How about 30 days with no sugar, grains, dairy, or legumes? Strict ground rules. I can follow that.

So the Whole30 means absolutely no added sugar, no grains, no dairy, and no legumes. It means reading a lot of labels. And for me, it meant a pretty drastic change. Here’s what my “food” routine used to look like:

• cereal (no matter how “healthy” you might think cereal is, it still usually contains quite a bit of sugar) and coffee with creamer for breakfast (or pancakes, eggs, or waffles)
• sip my “sugary” coffee through the morning because I’m oh, so tired (if there are baked goods in the house, I’ll snack on one of those, too)
• feed my kids lunch and inevitably nurse the baby at the same time and help feed the toddler, leaving nearly no time for my own lunch
• pick at the kids’ lunches, and/or whatever is EASY to eat all afternoon because I’m starving–i.e. crackers, cheese, pretzels, cookies, processed, prepared foods
• eat a well-balanced dinner, but probably over-indulge because I’m hungry from lack of “real” food all day long
• glass of wine or dessert or evening snack (as a “treat” now that the kids are in bed)
• sip water all day long, but not enough

Sound familiar to anyone? My guess is that it’s pretty relatable to those who have young kids they’re trying to take care of. And for me, it needed to change.

Being on the Whole30 forced me to prioritize my diet. I took a long, hard look at the way I was eating before and it all changed.

Nursing mothers need 500 extra calories a day. If you’re eating junk, that’s not that hard to come by. That could be an afternoon venti latte! But it shouldn’t be. Before, I may have gotten those extra calories in an “empty” form. But going on the Whole30, I had to become very intentional about eating extra food to keep up my milk supply because my calories were automatically going to decrease by cutting out the junk food. I planned out 5 small meals a day for myself and worked hard to make sure they were prepared everyday. Long story short, all was well for myself and my little man and he’s still nursing great!

Now let’s talk about the emotions of it. It’s hard for me to deprive myself of something without feeling sad or almost indignant… I’m an adult, after all! I should be able to eat what I want, when I want! So I decided to think of this experience instead as a food adventure. In purchasing the Whole30 book, I instantly had about 100 recipes at my fingertips of different foods I might not otherwise attempt to make or try. I ended up having so much fun trying out new recipes and making my own dips and dressings, although it was a lot of work. This way of thinking helped me not feel as “deprived” of the foods I love.

So I made it through the 30 days… the results? In addition to my milk supply INCREASING and feeling so much better about the quality milk I could feed my baby, I, myself started feeling much better overall. Not to mention, I lost 22 lbs! I learned that I CAN make the time to prepare a healthy lunch for myself and I need to; it prevents me from feeling hungry in the afternoon and snacking so much. I learned that I CAN make yummy treats for my family and friends without having to overindulge myself. (THAT was hard, believe me. But I did it!) I have rekindled my love of black coffee! I used to drink my coffee black until I started having kids and wimped out. I still love my creamer, but I don’t think I’ll be as dependent on it anymore. I can now whip up a morning egg for myself in no time and that can be a great alternative to cereal, even on a morning when I’m in a hurry. And instead of sipping coffee all morning long, I more quickly switch to water and then make myself a smoothie as a morning snack for an extra dose of fruit and spinach. And THAT’S a much better way of getting those extra nursing calories I need!

And now that the 30 days are up, where do I go from here? While losing weight wasn’t my primary goal, it certainly is a pretty nice perk! I know I’ll probably gain some of it back once I start adding in my precious pasta, cheese, and the occasional sweet, but the goal is to maintain some level of what I accomplished these past 30 days. I’m still off sweets through the remainder of Lent, so that’s a start. I’m keeping my favorite Whole30 meals in my recipe rotation for weeknight meals, and going to continue making good lunches for myself. I’ll be cutting way back on sweets and evening snacks as I’ve come to appreciate a nice cup of tea, instead. And while a strict workout routine is hard to stick to with a baby in the house (because I love my sleep and already am not getting nearly enough), I am keeping at it as much as I can. And I’m totally stoked about a Fitbit Challenge coming up through Randy’s work which we can both participate in for a cash prize at the end of 60 days! We get to keep our Fitbits, too!

Will I ever do the Whole30 again? Maybe! I’m certainly not intimidated by it anymore and I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished in retraining my thinking about food as a “reward” or “escape” from crazy kids. 😉 But now that it’s over, the real test begins… wish me luck!

Considering doing the Whole30 for yourself? Here are some of my tips:

• Buy the book! I didn’t mention this above, but I attempted the Whole30 twice before and failed both times, for different reasons. And while both reasons were very valid and easily justified, I think not having the book to help guide me through was a contributing factor to making it easy to quit.
• Make a plan! Plan out all your meals, and also have a plan for what you’ll do when you REALLY want a treat that you can’t have. For me, it was helpful to constantly have fresh fruits I love and nuts at my fingertips for snacking. 
• Buy some “replacement” items for fats and seasonings you would otherwise use but now can’t. I recommend: making your own mayonnaise and keeping it on hand, having balsamic vinegar, ghee or clarified butter, coconut aminos (replaces soy sauce and is a great flavor addition to many meals), and dry mustard (goes in many DIY dressings for salad). You’ll also want plenty of onions, garlic, ginger, lemons, limes, and herbs throughout the Whole30.
• Be ready for the “yucky” feeling in the beginning if this will be a more drastic diet change for you. It will pass. You’ll get through it!
• Pregnant or nursing and want to do the Whole30? Again, buy the book! If you’re pregnant, you need to be careful about eating too much protein, and the book has some great suggestions. Nursing? I planned out 5 meals a day to ensure that my calorie intake would be ample enough but about a week in, I gave up the extra two meals and found it sufficient to just snack on fruit and vegetables instead of having a full-on second lunch, etc. I had Fenugreek seed on-hand (helps milk supply) and started taking it around week 3, but only took it once a day instead of 3x a day and I found it helped enough. And now I don’t need to take it anymore. I also made sure to get my multi-vitamin daily as well as a fish oil supplement (Randy and I have always taken one anyway) which is really beneficial while nursing, too!