So, I’ve decided to start Whole30 for 30 days. What is Whole30? It’s a way of cleaning, balancing, re-starting, and re-charging your system. It’s not that different than what I’ve been doing, but it does cut out all grains, corn, soy, and dairy for 30 days. Also, my emotional eating has been a true roller coaster this summer, so I needed to take a mental check and see what was really going on with my food and emotions. It’s basically a Paleo way of eating: a ton of veggies, grass-fed meats, eggs, nuts, seeds, and some fruit.
I was inspired by Kathleen, of And Kathleen, and Melissa of The Clothes Make the Girl. Why am I doing it? Well, for one…my face. My skin. I’ve been having serious, painful, skin problems since about April, but my whole life they’ve come and gone. I recently went to the Dr (not the dermatologist, that’s in Sept) and she made it sound like I’ll have to be “on medication” forever for my cystic acne. No way, Jose. Not me. I need to find another solution. (Fact: I am on antibiotics now to clear up this recent outbreak, but that shouldn’t last more than a few months) When Kathleen said her skin has never been better, and she said it was in fact glowing, I knew I needed to try this. For one thing, I tend to get this acne all over my chin, and that’s a “hormonal acne zone”—Whole30 is supposed to realign your hormones.
I know it’s not the end of the world, but I don’t think the mental and emotional side of acne is discussed enough. It’s not AIDS, or cancer, or you know, anything truly fatal…but let me tell you: having adult acne is, for a lack of a better, more lovely word: a total mind f*ck. This summer has been the worst I’ve ever had it for my skin, and it’s been utterly depressing. I don’t want to touch my skin, look in the mirror, or…go out and see people, quite honestly.
I need to press the restart button. So, I bought It Starts With Food by the originators of the Whole30 concept, and I started it last night. Some things I really like about this plan: you aren’t supposed to weigh yourself for the duration, there’s no “bad and good” food—food either makes you healthier, or doesn’t, and it’s making me hyper aware of what’s going in my mouth.
I’m nervous, to be honest. I know I can do it, but it’s so hard in a social world to put yourself first. But, I know I can do it.
Have any of you done the Whole30 program? Eat Paleo? Have “adult acne”? Do share, I would love to hear!
Good for you! I totally feel your pain. A few weeks ago I visited my grandmother and she asked me how I got poison ivy all over my face.. how embarrassing! I just shrugged and said I got it while riding my horse in the woods. As an adult, I feel like I shouldn't have to deal with this!
ReplyDeleteLet me know how Whole30 works for you. I'm tempted to try it, although, as a vegetarian who doesn't like eating salad, it will be hard to cut out so many grains.
Good luck!!
Kerri! Hello, my love! My grandma says stuff too...she thought I had ringworm! No.. I'll let you know how it goes...glad to know I'm not alone! Miss you! xx
ReplyDeleteHi Olivia!!! adult acne its a problem, I have it and when its worst it really put me down, but what you´re doing it´s exactly how it must be aproach ... you´re going to the doctor, changing you´re life habits and be and example to us, I´m going to my nutritionist next monday.
ReplyDelete..by the way I love your blog, I found it a few months ago and check it avery day :)
I'm having the same problems. Instead of going the paleo route I went vegan (I'm already vegetarian and know that dairy cholesterol messes with my facial capillaries and worsens my skin). My skin has improved a lot, but I'm still getting cystic acne in the hormonal chin area.
ReplyDeleteI hope your skin improves and that your experiment can teach the rest of us some things. Good luck!
Ah, thank you for the comments! Vegan is def another way to go...thank you so much for the well wishes...follow along on my tumblr to see how it's going! xx
ReplyDeleteI haven't done that program, but out of curiosity I cut animal-dairy out of my life for a week in the spring. Then it went to 10 days. Then I hit 3 weeks. I stopped having so many breakouts of my forehead, and on top of it, I didn't have as much post-nasal drip (something I've battled my entire life). About week 2 I cut out eggs.
ReplyDeleteThen I added it back in. It turns out eggs make my stomach hurt when eaten plain. I didn't even know what was part of the cause when I would get pains after eating breakfast including eggs. Then I added dairy back into my diet at the regular portions I used to (can we say loves cheese?) and sure enough forehead breakouts.
At this point I don't eat a lot of meat, eggs or dairy (though I wouldn't call myself vegan) but when I do ramp up any one of them I notice a huge difference. Fresh veggies, plenty of water, fruit and limited carbs (this is all subjective - I still eat plenty of carbs but I used to eat a TON).
I was raised to eat rather healthy, but I still sneak in stuff here and there. I think some people refer to it as "flexitarian" which is a fancy way of saying "omnivore" who leans towards vegetarian/vegan over carnivore.
Good for you! I will be checking in for updates. It's amazing how much food can influence your body. Everything these days is so processed and full of chemicals that it's toxic, and it's wreaking havoc on our bodies.
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