I decided to start a blog tonight. I’m not really sure what this will turn into but at the present moment I feel like I need to document my journey with food and health and weight. Over time I hope that you get to know me. For now I’m just going to start typing and see what happens.

Tonight I ate fried chicken, mashed potatoes and corn as my final dinner before embarking on my 2nd full round of Whole 30. I needed to say goodbye to my favorite foods. That is so silly and sad. Last night it was cheese dip and chips and salsa at the Mexican restaurant. I guess I should also share with you, if I’m being totally honest (which I guess is important in a blog and seeing as how this is your first impression of me and I don’t want to start off as a liar) I followed both the Mexican and fried chicken meal with a 3 scoops of vanilla bean ice cream and chocolate syrup AND Reece’s peanut butter cups. I know… it’s bad. Especially since I have already given up all the things I love to eat recently so I know that the bad food isn’t “worth it” all the time. Round one I successfully completed in March. I gave it 100% and did not have any cheats ever… as the true whole30ers know if you cheat you MUST start over, and I am a stickler for the rules. I had 1 “slip up” when I ate a large fruit cup from Chick-Fil-A which I thought was compliant at the time only to later learn that the mandarin oranges had added sugar. FYI… I have yet to find anything that I can eat at CFA that is compliant except for maybe a salad with no dressing which is way too boring for me. I had a failed attempt at my second round of whole 30 – I made it to 17 days. About a week and a half in I got food poisoning which really took the wind out of my sails. Let me tell you, if you don’t have wind in your sails don’t start a whole 30. You have to really want it. Anyway, when you are sick with food poisoning the last thing you want is vegetables apparently. I just wanted crackers. Looking back I should have just had the crackers and started over when I recovered from the sickness but I tried to power through. My husband, his name is Andy, even made me a whole30 compliant chicken soup which was so delicious and super sweet of him to be so supportive but it just didn’t get the thought of crackers or toast out of my mind.  I read online that if you get sick on the whole30 you should just follow the whole30 version of the BRAT diet that I put my kids on when they are sick…. in this case it would be Bananas, cauliflower Rice, Applesauce, sweet potato Toast. This did not cut it for me. The sickness coupled with an unexpected (when I started that round of whole30) and MUCH needed beach vacation resulted in an anticlimactic whole17 whomp whomp. So, following my failed attempt I now find myself back in the same food and body rut I was in before I started the whole30 the first time and I need a reboot. The first time I dove in and gave it my all. My plan this time is to harness that same energy I had the first time and jump in first thing in the morning starting with my coffee – black over ice instead of with sugar and cream as I’ve become accustomed to once again. I just finished watching the documentary “The Magic Pill” to get me in the right head space. It worked. I’m super enthusiastic and can’t wait to see how this round goes. I look forward to sharing my story with you and here we go again…