These last three days have been so busy. Just zany. So, I fell into bed without blogging about them.

Day 28
was Mother’s Day. I drove to my parents’ house for a great meal with fantastic family. Mom made a Whole 30 meal for us, so it was easy for me. There were a few choices I skipped, like whipped cream and pound cake…but ate a bowl of delicious berries while they ate the cake. It was not hard at all, though I think it might have been hard for my mom to serve me a plate of berries while she served the others such decadent fare.

She had a baked potato bar, so there was cheese, butter, and sour cream on the counter, but I didn’t find it difficult to skip them and scoop the delicious ground beef and broccoli onto my potato. I ate the whole thing and loved every bite. I brought a container of Nutpods creamer, so I could have a cup of hot tea, like I always do when I am at my mom’s. But, I usually have a giant scoop of sweetened condensed milk in my tea. The best part of all of it was sitting around with my family, chatting and enjoying each other’s company. My daughter had work that evening, so after I got home from my parents’ house, I waited for her to get home from work, and around 11:00 p.m., we had our favorite Whole 30 dessert: frozen pineapple chunks and orange juice blended into a smoothie.

My brother and his wife brought me a bouquet of stunning roses for Mother’s Day.

Day 29
was Monday, and I had back-to-back meetings all day. I made the mistake of not eating enough during that time, and I didn’t really notice until I started to feel really lousy. Then, I ate the salad I brought, and not too long after that, I had an RX Chocolate and Sea Salt bar. Then, I felt fine – and had another meeting!

I also took this picture of my fingernails on Day 29. They never look this nice. Honestly, never.

So, then, just like that, it was DAY 30!

But, when I woke up this morning, I didn’t feel like I was at the end of anything. I actually felt a little nervous – like I know how to do gluttony, and I know how to do Whole 30, but I’m not so sure I can do the in between very well. I also intend to do a very slow reintroduction process, so I’m far from being “done” with the Whole 30 world.

My intention is to eat some dairy tomorrow. I bought some sliced cheese, and I have some cream cheese. Adding dairy back in makes me think of strawberry yogurt in the morning – or a scoop of ice cream in the evening – but that’s dairy AND sugar…and I just get one. I also thought of butter on a slice of bread…and that’s dairy AND grains. So, I don’t think I’ll be all that decadent tomorrow. Just have a slice of cheese or put some cream cheese on some celery or something.

I think I’ve said this before, but I seriously can’t believe that I’m not dying to put sugar back in my diet. I truly am a sugar addict, so how did this work for me??! How can it be that I have no intention to pour a Pepsi tomorrow? Actually, I do intend to reintroduce sugar right after dairy because I miss ketchup and salad dressings. I tried many and varied recipes for ranch and ketchup, and while some of them were fine (Caesar was the best) – none of them were great. And it’s also very time/cost/mess intensive to do.

So, there you have it.  My daughter and I did Whole 30. It wasn’t terrible like I worried it would be. I learned a LOT about myself, my body, my food, my emotional connection to the numbers on the scale, my sleep, my swollen fingers. I am not dying to go back to the way I was eating. I am not craving — really anything, actually.  And, I’m thinking about doing this every year…but ask me that again next year.