A New Doctor Has Been Found...and a New Life Style

I went to one doctor for a prescription refill, but just didn't have a great feeling about the clinic or her, so did not return for the physical.

Thankfully one of my Thursday night ladies told me of a physician she liked and I made an appointment with the nurse practitioner there.

I had my initial exam with her and absolutely adore her.  She's personable and easy to talk with.

My plan was to ask her to recommend me for the lap band procedure, but I knew from earlier research that my BMI isn't high enough to qualify for this.  She was not able to recommend this procedure and instead told me about her own journey with the Whole 30.  Of course this necessitated a visit to Barnes & Noble!

The premise behind this plan is to eliminate foods demonstrated by science that promote unhealthy cravings and habits, disrupt the metabolism, damage the digestive tract and burden the immune system.

For 30 days you abstain from all alcohol, sugar, grains, legumes and dairy.  You are not allowed to weigh yourself or check measurements during the 30 days.

After 30 days you carefully and systematically reintroduce foods to see how they impact your cravings, mood, energy, sleep, digestion, pain level, body composition and athletic performance.

They state very clearly that this will change your life as it alters the emotional relationship you have with food.  I know I am a sugar addict and an emotional eater, so this is of great interest to me.  My mother always told me that she used to put coca cola in my bottle at about 8 months old, because I liked it.  No wonder I have a major coke habit!  The part I'm really hopeful about is the weight loss that most people experience.

Because we are so accustomed to heavy doses of sugar in our diet our bodies have become dependent on this for an energy source.  When the sugar is removed, the body will relearn how to burn body fat for the energy it needs.

To get started you need to set a start date.  I chose June 18th as the number 18 corresponds to the word "chai" in Hebrew and that means "life".  Since I am embarking on a new life of self discovery and trading in old habits for a new way of thinking and being, this date resonated with me.

Step two is to build a support team.  That one was easy.

Step three is to get the house ready.  This meant removing all the forbidden foods to remove temptation.  We have a lady in the park who takes food (even opened containers) to a food bank, so I boxed and bagged up everything and threw some others that were out of date and removed all temptation.

Step four is to plan for success.  This involves filling the pantry and fridge with items that are approved for this venture, making some meal plans and planning for what to do when eating out.  Since I'm living a solitary live that is much easier with only myself to plan for.  I think I'll be eating a lot of salads when I go out, and carrying my own dressing...but it's about the company and not the food anyway so that's fine.

Step five is to toss the scale.  You are allowed one weigh in but then are not to check your weight until the end of the 30 day period.  This is because your weight can fluctuate greatly day to day and cause discouragement.  So the scale is up on top of the washer/dryer...out of sight and out of mind.  Next I'll do my measurements and take some photos of myself for a before and after photo.  You will probably not see these since I plan to use the cell phone for some nude photos.  But I may decide to do some in a swim suit so I could share the results as well.

The book guides you through day by day as to what emotions you may expect and they are brutally honest.   My doctor warned me that about day 14 you'll want to kill someone, so it's a good thing Left Brain is safely tucked away in Minnesota.

They also provide pdf files to download that guide you to the correct foods and even supply a shopping list.  I've never read so many labels in my life.

I'll keep you posted as to how things go.

Long Live the Queen of Self Improvement