Whole30: Week 3

On a non-Whole30 week, this would have been a week for wine. Instead, I found comfort in tea and toasted coconut flakes at the end of four very stressful days at work. I only cried once, for a few seconds, but it was all I needed to just release that pent up emotion I didn't know how to otherwise express. These situations are so much better when you give yourself a moment to acknowledge your emotions and to mindfully release them. Whole30 didn't teach me this, but I know that mental clarity allows for these kinds of revelations, which I do think Whole30 helped with. If I had come home and dealt with stress in a glass or three of wine, I still might have cried but it would have been followed by feeling sorry for myself and a headache and puffy eyes in the morning. And I would have been off on a grumpy, defensive foot rather than stepping boldly into a blessedly new day.

In all, this week was a good lesson in stress eating/drinking. I only bent the rules once in buying a barely-compliant bag of veggie chips while running errands on my lunch hour. I ate a few giant handfuls with great appreciation. Otherwise, I made it through and feel stronger for it. I let off steam with a couple good sessions at Bar Method, kept my hands busy with knitting and gardening, and Joel made pasta, like old times! Except my "pasta" was spaghetti squash. But that sauce was delightful. We also went to the movies twice and I didn't fall asleep either time, which has been a common occurrence for the last five or so years.

This week was also easier in having a ready-made breakfast for several mornings (that nut porridge I mentioned in the last recap), some good leftover dinners-as-lunches, and lots of La Croix in all sorts of essences (Target had a screamin' deal). I didn't find myself thinking about what I was going to eat as much as the past couple weeks. I just made stuff that sounded good to me and made sure I wasn't breaking the rules with it.

One thing I learned this week is that my diet apparently has no effect on my attractiveness to mosquitos and my over-reaction to bites (very red, very swollen). I am currently suffering from a vampire bite on my neck, and earlier this week I got one on my knee. I also get a couple hives when I'm working out and get a little over heated. They disappear after a few minutes so it's not a big deal, but if I thought Whole30 was truly going to be magic, it's proving itself not to be in these areas of what I consider to be inflammation.

I've also experienced a number of low-grade headaches over the past few weeks, the majority of them having been this week. Headaches are a very rare occurrence for me so that's not cool. It could have been the stress, but who knows.

I'm really glad to be in the final stretch.