I quit sugar,alcohol,gluten,dairy and grains

Well, for 30 days anyway…

So I’m on day 15 out of 30 on the Whole30 diet. Have you heard of it? If not, the Whole30 diet is an elimination diet that is toted as a “reset” button for your health, your habits and relationship to food. “The idea is simple : certain food groups could be having a negative impact on your health,body composition and quality of life without you realizing it.”

(Disclaimer : I’m not doing this to lose weight. I’m doing this in attempts to heal some inflammation that I’ve been dealing with for awhile now and to see how good I can feel. Do I hope to see some more of my muscles peaking out as a fringe benefit? Duh. )

Zero sugar, Zero grains, Zero dairy, Zero alcohol, Zero soy derivatives, Zero gluten and ZERO FUN. Ok, ok I added that last one in. Believe me, all of the above are in nearly evvverryyyything. No dousing my food in siracha, no creamy dreamy coffee first thing in the morning, no dark chocolate and definitely no glass of wine after a long day.

This diet is as pure as you can get.

Oh, did I mention if you slip up even a teeny tiny bit you have to start over at Day 1. (NOT. HAPPENING.)

As a result of this, I have done very little socializing and been super productive with work.

I’ve also had lots and lotssss of pity parties for myself:

This is SO hard, boring and unfair !!! I want to go out for drinks with my friends, I canNOT eat another egg. It’s soo hot and I NEED ice cream I! I am breaking an American summer tradition by not having ice cream in the summer! I don’t even know if this is working, what’s the point? I deserve a treat damnit !!!! I’m missing out on all the fun!!! Wahhhhhhhh!!!!

So I’ve been scouring the internet for tips on how to gracefully make it through this 30 days of what I had concluded is extreme deprivation.

I came across this quote that was suggested to read when you want to give in and are feeling sorry for yourself:

“I am really lucky that I can take such consideration into what I am eating. A lot of people don’t have that opportunity, so to complain about eating organic meat and really, healthy, beautiful food would be really shitty of me. ”

Oh perspective, you sneaky, sneaky bastard.

After reading this I said to myself, ” yeah, toughen up Jessica, you are so selfish and ignorant !! This is NOT that hard. Cancer is hard, war is hard, this diet is not hard!!! Get it together !! There are people dying all over the world and you are complaining about getting to eat an entire avocado every day !”

(I’m a bit of an extremist eh?)

So I met myself somewhere in the middle as I always do and did a little of what us coaches like to call reframing.

“It’s only 30 days of your life. A blip on your radar. And you are doing something GREAT for your body and your life. Imagine the possibilities this may open up . You are extremely lucky to have access to these choices you are making. Although the choices are different than the usual, the impact this is having your health is worth it. Patience, my dear.”

Wow, did this help.

So much of life comes down to circumstances. Circumstances that we voluntarily sign up for and some that that are just seemingly handed to us. How you look at your circumstances is your CHOICE. There is always, always a different way to look at the same data in your life.

Can you relate to this? Is there some situation in your life right now that you need to look at in a different light?

P.s. If you want more on the topic of perspective check out other blogs I’ve written on the topic.

(http://jessicahetherington.com/you-choose-it/