It's blog-ficial.

I guess if I've created a blog about it, it's official.  Welcome to my first Whole30 challenge.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I should admit that I have no clue what I am doing.  I'm about half way through the book It Starts with Food which is basically the instruction manual for the ins and outs of eating whole foods and the Whole30 food challenge.  It's overwhelming.  It's intimidating.  It's grain, dairy, sugar and alcohol free!  It's only 30 days.  Only.  ONLY. 30. DAYS.  Oh my.  What have I done?  This is what the book has to say about the challenge:

 “It is NOT hard. Please don’t tell us this program is hard. Quitting heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Birthing a baby is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard."

The book covers all the basics of healthy eating and healthy living and explains how food affects your hormones, gut, and brain and how foods can create or help remove inflammation in the body. My goal is to get healthy and ultimately to lose weight. I want to LIVE and not just be alive. I want to be able to bend over and put on roller skates and not have to struggle because my big gut gets in the way.  I want to be a role model to my children.  Genetics are not in my favor.  Both my dad and his sister had severe heart disease, not to mention diabetes.  I want my kids to see me tackle a problem and succeed at it.

 It's going to be hard… not beating cancer hard or quitting heroin hard but goingwithoutadietcokefor30daysormaybetherestofmylife hard.  I'm scared of the food restrictions; of cooking healthy for the family and keeping them happy; of failure.  I'm really scared of adding this to the ever growing book of how to lose weight failures.  The husband and kids are on board with this and ready to support me.  I don't want to them, or me, to see defeat.

It's just 30 days.  I can do anything for 30 days.