How do I listen?

Everybody is different. Haha, get it? Every body is different!

However, the Whole30 works for all different types of people. Therefore, you can’t do a Whole30 the same as your friends, family or even significant other. We all have different bodies and our bodies have different needs. We all started the Whole30 from a completely different point (anyone else eat an airhead at 11:30 pm the night before they started…while panicking? Nope, just me?) and it is important to listen to what YOUR body is saying. There are two main components to what you put in your body though, food and water. 

Water, Water, Water

Sometimes when we are feeling hungry, we really aren’t. Instead, we are really thirsty. I wrote in a previous blog post about how to spice up your water choices during a Whole30, now is my time to remind you that you need to make sure that you’re drinking water all day every day. Drink that water!

You should be drinking about 11 ½ cups of water every day as a female, and 15 ½ cups of water every day as a male. You get about 20% of fluids from your food intake. So here’s how I look at it: 

If you are a male, intake of water daily: 12 ½ cups daily (round up to 13 cups)

If you are a female, intake of water daily: 9 ¼ cups daily (round up to 10 cups) 

I have friends who carry around a gallon jug and have it marked in sharpie with how much they should be drinking everyday. Some people aim to drink the whole gallon. A gallon is 16 cups. If you’re drinking a gallon of water everyday, you’re getting enough water for sure!

Only Eat When You Are Hungry

**Disclaimer, to understand this next part I need to tell you a quick story about how we view foods in my house. 

I don’t like to tell my kids that any food is bad or that they shouldn’t eat it. I really want them to have a healthy relationship with food, and to not feel guilt or shame around their food choices. Therefore I categorize food in my home to “always foods” (ex. meat, vegetables, fruit)  “sometimes foods” (ex. candy bars, popcorn, soda) and “never foods” (there are no “never foods” unless it is not a real food such as a baseball or a barbie) 

Early on in the Whole30 you are ravenously hungry. Your body is not only detoxing from the continuous flow of sugar that is exiting your body, but you are also getting out a lot of other toxins with the foods you’ve been eating. 

Your body is adjusting to your new diet and you are eating much more “always foods” as I call them. It takes a lot more to get you full because you usually fill yourself up with “sometimes foods”. “Sometimes foods” lack the same nutrition as “always foods” and therefore you never fully fill up on those foods and feel continuously hungry. 

At this point in the Whole30 you are feeling more satiatiated more of the time. You can eat less because your body is running on those “always foods” and it feels good! That doesn’t mean those cravings are gone or all of a sudden it’s just easy. It does mean that you have the will power to push through those cravings though, and feel success!

So make sure to eat only when you are hungry. That is how you listen to your body. Don’t eat if it’s a meal time just to eat. I didn’t eat breakfast this morning, because I didn’t feel hungry. Around 9:30 am I started to feel hungry so I ate an apple sauce (cinnamon go-go squeeze my FAVORITE) and a clementine. I also drank pellegrino sparkling water while eating my snack. My lunch is at 11:30 am (right about now) and I’m not very hungry. I will eat what I brought, but only what I feel like I really need to. My portions have gotten smaller and I feel like I can go longer on less food, especially because it’s good food. 

So the moral is, listen to your body friends, and only eat when you’re hungry. 

Listen to your body about WHAT to put into your body

If you are “craving” something. Listen to your body. If you are craving peanut butter, eat an almond butter. If you are craving sugar, eat fruit. If you are craving a big mac, eat lettuce wrapped burgers. Your body knows what you need, I promise you. Maybe at the beginning you’re not sure you can trust exactly what your body is saying, but as you go on you can trust your body more and more. Trust that you know what is best for you, and eat what your body wants you to eat (whole30 style!). 

I am excited for you all to read my next blog post that will be about “Tiger’s Blood!” It’s gonna be a good one!

One last bit of good news! My chickens are now roaming my backyard on the daily with this on-again off-again warm weather. You can catch them in my stories on my @bloominghive IG account. I love posting videos of them taking dirt baths in my empty garden boxes, they are the sweetest!