Week 1 Wrap-Up: Sugar Monsters, Budget Struggles, and Reframing How I Feel About Celiac

Happy Monday! It’s January 8th, the 8th day of our Whole30, which means we made it through a whole week! Here are some things I’ve learned/observed so far:

I’M A CLOSETED SUGAR MONSTER

The first few days, I was struggling a lot more than I thought I would from sugar withdrawal. I never think of myself as a big “sweets person”, whereas my partner totes is — and yet, I was the one with headaches, mood swings, and fatigue. He craved chocolate and enjoyed ending meals with a little dried fruit, but didn’t seem to be on the struggle bus nearly as much as I was, which was equally humbling and frustrating.

As a “treat” one night, I bought us these little organic date and coconut balls. We both had one, and our eyes lit up. Clearly, the concentrated sweetness from the dates in them awakened our sugar monsters! We both wanted more of them, as well as other sugar-y things, after just one bite. We decided that it would be best to avoid these morsels of goodness (something Melissa Hartwig, founder of Whole30, calls food without brakes), so we finished the little container and got rid of them.

Strategy for Week 2: Luckily, the sugar cravings have chilled out a bit, and we’ve both noticed that we’re able to taste the natural sweetness of foods much more now than in the first few days. Fruits taste super sweet, and vegetables that tasted bitter in the first few days (#babycarrots) taste much more palatable now. To keep that going, I’m going to focus on filling our plates with vegetables and meats and focus less on fruits.

BUDGET LOL

Holy shit, this got expensive quickly. I totally believe that it’d be possible to a Whole30 and stick to a reasonable budget — I could eat eggs, avocado, and a grapefruit for breakfast, and big salads with some protein for dinners. I don’t think following Whole30 necessarily has to mean giving up your whole paycheck.

But I wanted to be prepared, and I didn’t want to get bored, so in this first week, I allowed myself to bulldoze through my regular grocery budget. I expected to spend about 20% more than usual on groceries, and I actually spent twice that — so, like 240% of my regular grocery budget.

This week, I plan to chill out a bit: Eating the meats we already have in the freezer, simplifying our meals a bit, and not going overboard with the fun (but pricey) compliant snacks.

I MISSED COOKING LIKE THIS

This has been one of the biggest revelations in the past few days: Realizing how much I missed cooking real, wholesome meals like this.

Since I got diagnosed with celiac and nut allergies, I focused a lot on what I couldn’t eat. I felt bad for myself. Just to illustrate it for you, here’s a list of some of my favorite foods that I’ve been mourning in the past 9 months:

• Beautiful, crusty baguettes
• 312 Chicago-style thin-crust pizza (which used to be a Friday night date night thing for us)
• Artisanal scones, muffins, etc. from coffeeshops
• Most traditional Polish foods (#pierogi)
• Ramen — still not over this
• Dumplings, bao, and dim sum
• Sushi (boring, plain rolls are generally safe, but anything “fun” usually has soy sauce in it)
• Most Korean dishes
• Many Vietnamese dishes
• Deli sandwiches
• BAGELS (tears)
• French fries and other fried foods — most fryers are contaminated with gluten, so they aren’t safe for me.

These weren’t things I was eating all the time, but it sucks not being able to have them any of the time.

Not to mention the little, annoying things: Like the fact that Rx bars, one of the most nutritionally sound bars I’ve ever had, contain almonds, which I’m allergic to. Or that most paleo-friendly baked goods replace the gluten with, you guessed it, fugging nuts.

I was pissed off! Instead of focusing on nourishing my body, I focused on appeasing the resentful part of myself that was angry that I had to live this way. I thought, if I can’t eat (literally) most of what everyone else gets to eat, I’m going to eat whatever I want.

So I ate a ton of gluten-free toasts, gluten-free pizzas, etc., with pathetic “servings” (if you could call them that) of vegetables on the side. I had ice cream (sometimes the healthier coconut kind, but often, the not-so-healthy, super-sugary kind too) most nights. I stopped liking the taste of most vegetables, and I told myself that it was okay, because at least my headaches were gone, and I wasn’t gaining weight really. But then… I started getting headaches again, which is always a sign that my body is unhappy.

Getting back in the kitchen, cooking basically everything we’re eating from scratch, has helped me realize that my year-long gluten pity party wasn’t sustainable. It wasn’t my best self. Perhaps it was an important step in my process, but it’s over now.

I’m putting a lot of work into cooking and planning meals right now, but it feels like energy well spent. I already feel healthier, lighter, and more connected to my body, and it’s only been a week. Focusing on what I can eat has allowed me to reconnect with my appreciation for all things colorful, nutritious, and whole. This is honestly what I was wanting from this Whole30 experience, so I’m glad it’s actually happening.

More to come!

xoxo,

M