Nicole Bavo Final Check-In Tome

[Nicole B.]

My evolution of clean eating started when Lisa did a little Zone
eating education way back. From there it was a progression to Paleo
and then a further jump to the Whole30. Looking back through this
whole evolution I am amazed how much I have learned about nutrition,
how much I still want to learn (mostly about physiological stuff) and
about how uneducated or confused most people are about nutrition
(thanks to the food pyramid and the wheat and grain lobby). I really
feel cheated by my lack of nutrition education growing up, really
cheated, and am glad I can raise my kids with better awareness of
nutrition.

In the last 30 days I have been able to really fine tune what I have
been slowly doing for a few months. Having the understanding of how
carbs, fat and protein work in the body make it easier to achieve
goals and feel good about progress. All along my goal has been to
lean out. For the first two weeks I wasn't seeing any changes even
after dramatically cutting my fat. After figuring out I was eating
too many carbs and adjusting that it took about 24 hours to see a
difference. I was amazed at how quickly changes began to occur once I
got my food dialed in-I am seeing (yes, seeing) muscles I didn't know
I had! The body never ceases to amaze me (I think I am becoming a
narcissist). I am constantly amazed by what my body is able to do in
the gym and how my fuel has such an immediate effect. I PR all my
lifts, but I am no where near my potential, so to me this is
expected. My goals are to dead lift twice my body weight, do a muscle
up (in March!) and eventually put my body weight over head. I don't
doubt any of these will be achieved.

This challenge had some totally unexpected benefits.
1. My husband has become an amazing, unstoppable chef. He keeps
finding delicious recipes and makes incredible food. I was kind of
jealous that he was creating such good food when I had been the head
chef for so long. He made my dinners look so lame. He now cooks 1-2
nights a week which is a nice change.

2. Even though we always eat dinner together, somehow conversations
over dinner have been better, longer and more enjoyable. I don't know
how this works, but we both commented on it. Maybe because we are
really enjoying our food it slows us down a little as opposed to
eating with the feeling of "go, go, go!" that comes with picking up
kids, getting home, making dinner, getting two babies to the table at
the same time.

3. Eating new foods is fun. I am pretty knowledgeable about veggies,
so there isn't much I haven't eaten or cooked with (salsify is the
newest veggie I have learned of), but that doesn't mean I buy the
widest variety of veggies. The veggie box is great because we eat way
more veggies and in new ways. I love not having picky eaters (I hate
picky eaters and really don't want to raise any) and our kids have
been exposed to a wide variety of flavors and textures because of
this. My husband has discovered fruit!! He eats kiwis!! This is
amazing because he grew up on red delicious and bananas (and he is
from S. California where there is so much more!!!) I love his new
exposure to food. It makes me so happy and will last a lifetime!

4. My parents did the challenge, too. They were going to do some fad
hormonal diet where your body thinks you're are pregnant and it is
supposed to "jump start your metabolism" or some BS. I was not
excited about that and told this about the CEC, and they did it, the
whole 30 days!! I was pleased to spread the gospel. They both report
that they feel good-and my mom felt like crap after eating a bagel
once the 30 days were up. I think that is the lesson most people have
to go through to really see the positive affects of the challenge (and
the negative affects of eating a diet based on grains.)

I have been thinking about this challenge ending and at this point I
am in too deep, the lifestyle change has occurred. I can't unlearn
what I have learned, I can't ignore the incredible results, both in
performance and appearance. I don't consider anything a cheat because
I am in control of what I put in my body. I understand what will
happen if I eat a pound of Sees candy or a bag of gummibears and I can
face the consequences or make good decisions. I want to tell anybody
who is willing to listen about clean eating and how it WILL make their
life better. Our society has such a problem with food, health and
nutrition and much of it is due to norms (it's a given you will have a
starch with dinner, you will get bread if you go out to dinner, you
eat a bagel for breakfast, eggs are bad and will give you a heart
attack.) I am very thankful for the cult of Cross Fit and the Paleo/
Whole30 geeks who have spread the gospel. They are changing lives,
one meal at a time.

Finally, I have been thinking about my first non-challenge meal. Last
time, after I was measured and photographed, I went straight to Corina
bakery and got a scone. It was so disappointing. Even a high quality
baked good just didn't taste good (the latte did though). This time
the mango sitting in the fruit bowl might be the big prize with all
its naturally sweet deliciousness. Sushi and brie are high on the
list, probably not at the same time though...

Thanks for heading this up, Lynn! I'm sure you have been reading a
ton of e-mails and answering questions galore. You have probably
changed hundreds of lives through this. My whole family (my parents
and kids included!) are lucky to be party of such a great community!
Sadly, we won't be at the potluck because we have to go out of
town.

Thank you,
Nicole