Healthy Meals, Healthy Life: Falling Off the Wagon
What happens when you make a big change, everything is going along great, and you feel better than you have in years, then you think to yourself…
“This doughnut won’t hurt.”
Well, I’ll tell you, because the last few weeks I’ve fallen completely off the healthy food wagon.
That’s right. My healthy eating journey has taken a little detour as of late.
You might remember in my first post in this series, where I talked about how much I loved Whole30 and the amazing results I got from changing my eating habits. I had very serious intentions of maintaining that way of eating by transitioning to a sort of Paleo-style mindset.
I would just have treats occasionally, I said.
Surely just a little bit won’t hurt, I said.
One or two cheats turned in to five, then ten, and then before I knew it, I was driving through Burger King justifying why I was just too hungry to wait to get home and eat healthy, so the Whopper Jr. with cheese would just have to be dinner and wondering…
How did I get back here?
Healthy eating changed me. The changes were wonderful, but it actually took going back to the old way, the doughnuts and cookies and soda and burgers, before I realized exactly what I had lost during 30 days of clean, healthy eating.
During those 30 days I had lost the mid-afternoon slump. The overwhelming feeling that 3 p.m. was either nap time or extra large coffee time. This feeling was gone during Whole30, but now I pretty much want to crawl back in to bed before I even get up in the morning.
It has returned with a vengeance.
I lost my irrational train of thought. The kids making me bonkers for no good reason, crying about small things was totally justified, and it was okay to be “cranky just because.” I lost all those feelings during Whole30. I had clarity and control over my emotions and, generally speaking, a good attitude. I was the nice, fun, happy mom then.
During my food detour, that little crazy-train has pulled right back in to the station, allowed me to board, and is chugging right along through mountains of bad attitude, short tempers, and emotional irregularity.
Last but not least, I had lost the “blahs.” The my-clothes-don’t-fit -right bloating, the I-feel-just-a-little-bit-sick-and-yucky all the time, the regular headaches and frequent combo of Motrin and caffeine to try and right myself, that had become an almost daily habit.
The thing is, I did not really realize just how bad bad food was making me feel until I ate good food and felt better. Much to my surprise, I found the difference to be night and day.
I am going to do a second Whole30, and this time, I have that good ol’ teacher known as “experience” to remind me why continuing to eat well afterwards isn’t just a choice, but a necessity if I want to continue to feel well balanced and healthy in my daily life.
What do you do to get yourself back on the wagon when you catch a detour? Share with us!
