by Melissa Hartwig

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves.” -Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Today’s post was both terrifying to write, and a gigantic relief.  I’ve been wanting to talk about some of my personal experiences and history on the blog for years now, but was afraid to be judged. Afraid that my past would hurt my credibility. Afraid that people would look at me differently.

But I’ve swallowed my fear, and Dallas and I are both ready to handle any repercussions, because we both think this is an important step for me to take.  So here goes…  You know that now-famous line in the Whole30 that says, “Quitting heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard?”  I know this to be true firsthand.

My name is Melissa, and I am an addict.

In 2012, I will have been clean for 12 years.  I spent six years in my early 20’s hustling for every powder, pill and chemical substance I could get my hands on.  I lied. I stole. I was fired from my job. I broke family members’ hearts several times a week. I was a terrible person, because when you are an addict, being a terrible person is your full-time job.

I’ve discovered that it’s hard for most people to reconcile this person (Addict Melissa) with the person you know today (Whole9 Melissa).  It’s even hard for Dallas, who knows all my secrets, but did not know me back then.  (For that, I am eternally grateful.) It’s okay if you find it hard to believe, or think perhaps I am exaggerating.  I’ll take that as a compliment.  I have come a very long way.

The day I got out of rehab was the day I first set foot in a gym.  For a while, exercise was my new addiction, because trading one for another is all too easy.  Eventually, I settled into a healthy, reasonable training routine.  I quit smoking.  I started eating better.  The rest is history.

Why am I sharing this with you now?  A few reasons.  First, I’ve never tried to keep it a secret.  When appropriate, I’ve always been open with gym owners, workshop attendees and consulting clients about my addiction and recovery.  At some point, I figured my history might make its way to the public eye, and I didn’t want it to come from someone else. I am not ashamed of my past, nor have I ever tried to cover this up.

But more importantly, I’ve learned (and taught myself) a lot about addiction and recovery in the last 12 years.  Thanks to my rehabilitation center and years of addiction counseling, I discovered and created recovery and maintenance strategies that worked very well. I also tried more than a few that backfired.

Why does this matter?

Because theoretically, food addiction isn’t that different from drug addiction.

I’m not saying it’s the same, because technically, it’s not.  According to the The American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-IV, addiction is classified by three factors:

1. Desire, even in the face of negative consequences
2. Tolerance to the effect of the substance
3. Withdrawal symptoms when use is reduced or stopped

Food – particularly sugar – clearly satisfies the first two conditions.  The jury is still out as to the third, and I’m simply not comfortable putting sugar or bread in the same category as heroin.

But the term is also applied to behaviors that are not substance-related, such as shopping, gambling or overeating. In this common usage, “addiction” describes a recurring compulsion to engage in some specific activity, despite harmful consequences (as deemed by the user themselves) to their individual health, mental state, or social life.

We will use the term “addiction” in this context going forward, because we think it’s a fair description.  We suspect that those of you who consider your behaviors around food “compulsive,” whose use food (or lack of food) as a coping mechanism, who are locked in an endless cycle of insatiable desire and crippling self-hatred, would agree.

So while our addictions may not be exactly the same, the recovery strategies are, in my opinion, strikingly similar. Conceptually, hopefully, the things I’ve learned in the last 12 years would prove useful to those of you who struggle with giving up certain foods; who use healthy programs like “Paleo” or “CrossFit” to mask their disordered behaviors; who eat compulsively, despite the negative consequences to your body, your self-esteem and your relationships.

But it would be hard for me to draw those parallels in any credible fashion without first sharing my history with you.

If I heard it once, I heard it a hundred times in rehab – “It takes one to know one.”  When I was struggling to get clean, the best advice came from other addicts. Unless you’ve been there, you really just don’t know.  So I wasn’t about to start sharing my “recovery” strategies with you without letting you know that yes, I’ve been there too.

I know your struggle. I know the cycle of relentless hunger, fleeting satisfaction and long-term guilt, shame and remorse. I know what it’s like to disgust yourself with your behaviors, but to be stuck in this pattern because at this point, you simply cannot stop.  I know what it’s like to use the very behaviors that caused you pain to numb that pain.  I know how much it hurts, and I know how heavy a burden you carry.

Please, take note: I’m not a psychologist, an addiction specialist, or a social worker.  I’m just an addict who got clean – and who has managed to stay clean for the last 12 years without relapsing. And I am grateful on a daily basis for the support, guidance and teachings of every single person who has helped me get to and stay in this place.

So I’ll be writing a series of posts – strategies and concepts I learned while getting (and staying) clean – that you may find helpful in changing your own relationship with food.  

As I have a close and intimate relationship with addiction, I sincerely hope the lessons I’ve learned will prove useful to those of you currently struggling with your own food-related issues.  You don’t have to be a sugar or carb “addict” to struggle with cravings, so I hope those of you who simply have a hard time saying no from time to time can develop strategies from these lessons, too.

If you are struggling with true food addiction, I encourage you first and foremost to seek professional help.  Nothing I could tell you will prove as valuable as the guidance of a trained mental health counselor or experienced support group, and ultimately those are the resources that will help you maintain your new habits long-term.  But perhaps as you work hard with your chosen professional to overcome your own addictions, some of the techniques I learned and developed along the way will prove just as helpful to you as they were to me.

So there you have it.  I’m the same person I was yesterday, you just know a little more about me.  If this makes me less credible in your eyes, Dallas and I are both prepared to handle the fallout.  But every saint has a past, and every sinner a future – and without my past, I’d never be where I am today.

And I am very, very blessed to be exactly where I am today.

I invite your comments and polite discussion. And as always, we thank you for reading.

A special guest post by Ben Abruzzo, owner of CrossFit Albuquerque and a Whole9 Nutrition Partner

“We do not rise to the level of our expectations.  We fall to the level of our training.”  CrossFit Albuquerque

The Question comes in many forms.  It is always different, yet universally the same.  The question is also often not very important, because the person asking the question need not pose the question at all.

The question could be:

“Why am I not getting stronger?”

“Why am I not losing weight?”

“How come I can’t do 20 kipping pullups?”

“Why are my row times not getting faster?”

“What can I do to back squat 500lbs?”

“How can I snatch my body weight?”

You get the idea.

While these are not bad questions in and of themselves, they pose a problem when taken out of the context of our lives – and when the commitment level of the person asking the question is, in fact, questionable.

Context Matters

Let’s take context first.  Our goals must be taken in context within the framework of our lives, and must be set in a reality that is attainable for us.  If we work out three days a week, eat crappy food and make our living doing something other than lifting weights, then a 500lb back squat does not really fit within the context of our lives.  If, on the other hand, we are a professional athlete, where being strong and powerful are our full-time jobs, then the goal and the question start to make more sense.  (In another example, if your life allows you to only run twice a week, is it really feasible to be the fastest runner in your next race?)

The point here is that we all have goals and quests and things that we want, but it is only a real goal (and not merely a dream) if it fits within the context of your life.  And if that basic fact doesn’t make you happy, then change an aspect of your life to make it fit.

Commitment

The more important issue is the issue of commitment.  What I am talking about here is the issue of commitment to plan.  To the everyday.  To the things that are easily controllable.  Because if you can’t commit to that, then super duper programming and nifty movements in the gym will not answer your question. 

What this takes is a bit of self introspection.  Are you really giving it your all in every training session?  When the workout calls for full effort, are you well and truly spent?  When we lift heavy, is it really heavy or are you just running through the motions?  Are you fueling your body with clean, whole foods?  Do you even know what foods you should be eating?  Have you asked?  If you have asked, did you give it an honest effort for an entire month?  Do you get enough sleep every night?  Do you recover as hard as you train? Do you try to mitigate stress or just add to your own stress?  This is what is really important.

If taking a chalk bath in the middle of a workout is your secret way of resting and diminishing the pain, then you might want to address that instead of looking for reasons why you are a special butterfly and the workouts “aren’t working for you.” If you follow up your workout with a bowl of ice cream or a Starbucks muffin, then you might want to examine your diet as a reason for lack of fat loss.  If you haven’t invested the time to gain enough strength to do one strict pull-up, then chasing dozens of kipping pull-ups misses the point entirely.

THE Question

Obviously, I sound like a jerk here – and I’m fine with that.  I’m fine with it, because I care about you and your goals and I want you to succeed.  That being said, I only care as much as you care.   If you can’t fix the stuff that takes some commitment but little else, then I can’t go much further.

So, read this, then ask yourself THE question:  “Am I doing enough with what I have?”  If the answer is no, then get after it before you begin asking for more.  If the answer is yes, then my door is open, and you can ask away.

Ben Abruzzo is a coach and co-owner of CrossFit Albuquerque, in Albuquerque, NM. Ben has spent most of his life in the mountains of New Mexico running, skiing and climbing. His focus and passion is the development of sport-specific performance.

For more information about CrossFit Albuquerque’s fitness, performance and nutrition offerings, email info@crossfitalbuquerque.com.

Today, we’re featuring a very personal story – a testimonial that we believe will resonate with so many readers for both the topic and the struggle. Depression affects 15 million American adults, and affects women twice as often as men.  In fact, as many as 1 in 8 women suffer from clinical depression.  Depression is also known to weaken the immune system, making the body more susceptible to other medical conditions – creating a vicious cycle of depression and illness.  Some estimate that by the year 2020, depression will be the 2nd most common health problem in the world.

Despite the number affected by clinical depression, many people just don’t want to talk about their condition.  In one recent survey, 43% of adults wouldn’t even talk to their primary care physician about their feelings or symptoms. Why is there such a stigma related to clinical depression?  Many cited embarrassment or fear of “losing face” as their main reason for keeping quiet about their condition.  Others worry about privacy and losing emotional control.  Some are worried about being referred to a psychiatrist or being treated with medication.  And finally, many people don’t want to talk about depression because they think they should be able to handle it on their own, or don’t want to burden others.

Jane F. was brave enough to send us her story of depression and the Whole30 (although she requested we not use photos with her write-up).  Jane wrote, “People just tend to get weird around the topic of depression, so I prefer to keep public discussions about mine to a minimum.”  We are grateful to Jane for sharing her story, and hope to use her testimonial to bring this condition out into the light.

We are sure there are other readers who are also suffering quietly, and hope Jane’s story brings hope, and the motivation to share your story with someone – anyone – and seek the treatment you need.  And perhaps, one step in that comprehensive treatment plan includes a short-term healthy eating jump-start like the Whole30.

Jane’s Story

It’s August 31 and I’ve just completed my Whole30.  At the end of July I was depressed and exhausted and told my husband that I was going to do this “weird diet” and if that didn’t help then I would be going to a doctor. I really didn’t want to take medication, but when you wake up from a nap wondering how long it is before you can reasonably take another one, it’s time to acknowledge that you need some help.

I was afraid of doing the Whole30 – I thought I was going to be curled up in the fetal position weeping for toast.  But I told myself that I couldn’t feel any worse on the diet than I felt off of it, so I should give it a try.  I also found myself wondering if I would be able to do it – and then I thought: “Whether you complete this isn’t something you discover, it’s something you decide.”  And I decided I would do it.

You know what comes next:

• Losing 12 pounds
• Better sleeping
• More energy
• Less anxiety

I hadn’t been exercising much – just walking a lot and riding my bike – but I’ve been accomplishing tasks with little trouble. (Translation: I’m no longer completely demoralized by getting a couple of emails.) Some more interesting stuff:

• I had pneumonia in January and February of this year and it was bad.  I’ve had a minor but persistent productive cough since then.  Doctors have assured me that the infection is gone and said my coughing would end eventually.  It’s gone now.  I was still coughing in July but about two weeks into the Whole30, I realized I wasn’t.
• My hair is softer and it’s getting curly again!
• My face has returned!  What I mean is–when I look in the mirror I see me, not some bloated caricature of me.  My cheekbones are back and my husband keeps remarking that my eyes are clearer.  We don’t know how to describe it any better than that–but the change is significant.

I won’t be going to the doctor right now because things are getting better.  However, my attitude toward seeking help has changed.  In July, asking for medical help seemed like the end of the road – I would just be on drugs forever.  Now, I can look at my life and health more clearly.  Although not everything is under my control – you don’t get rid of a lifetime’s tendency toward depression in a month – I am more of an active agent in my health, rather than a passive sufferer.  And if I do choose  seek medical help, it will be a proactive move after considering all my options.

Thank you so much for the program!

Jane

The Whole30 and Depression

Now, we’re not doctors, and we’re not promising that the Whole30 will magically cure depression.  But there are a lot of links between food choices and clinical depression, and many people have reported an improvement in symptoms after implementing a Whole30-style healthy eating program.  Dr. Emily Deans has written extensively on diet and depression, and Robb Wolf recently posted his own testimonial on the subject.  So while we can’t promise any miracles, we think eating well and taking good care of your body (and your immune system) through diet is a great place to start.

If you or a loved one has suffered (or recovered) from depression, share your experience with us in comments.  We encourage your participation in our community (even anonymously), and believe that you never know who you might inspire or help by sharing a bit of yourself here.

For more information about depression, visit one of these helpful sources:

• Help Guide:  Dealing With Depression
• Psych Central: Where to Get Help for Depression
• Healthy Place:  If You Know Someone Who’s Depressed
• Health Central:  Talking to Someone With Depression

Sources:

Alan Manevitz, MD, psychiatrist Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City.

Bell, R.A. Annals of Family Medicine, 2011.

PBS.org, “Depression, Out of the Shadows: <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/takeonestep/depression/pdf/dep_stats.pdf>

In Part 1 of our Stress Addicts Anonymous series (http://whole9life.com/2011/11/stress-addiction-1), we introduced the very real, very dangerous condition of stress addiction. Now, in part 2, let’s take a look at the physiological effects of living in a chronic state of stress, and more importantly, some steps you can take to rehabilitate your own inner stress junkie.

Stress Gone Bad

In moderate amounts and for brief periods of time, stress can be beneficial – and most people are well-equipped to deal with it. During an acutely stressful situation, your body undergoes an elaborate series of adjustments. The cardiovascular system, the immune system, the endocrine glands and brain regions involved in emotion and memory are all recruited into action. Nonessential functions like reproduction and digestion are put off until later. Adrenaline, and later cortisol, both stress hormones secreted by the adrenal glands, flood the body. Heart rate and blood pressure rise, respiration quickens, glucose is released into the bloodstream for energy, oxygen flows to the muscles, and immune cells prepare to rush to the site of an injury.

When the acute threat is over, another complex set of adjustments calms things down, returning the body to normal.But in the case of chronic stress, that return to “baseline” doesn’t happen often enough (if at all). When stress persists for too long or becomes too severe, your body’s finely tuned feedback system is disrupted – and over time it runs amok, causing damage.

Your Nervous System, In a Nutshell

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is a vast network of nerves reaching out from the spinal cord, directly affecting every organ in the body. It has two branches, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic, which have opposite effects.  The sympathetic ANS helps us deal with stressful situations by initiating a ‘fight or flight’ reaction.  After the danger has passed, the parasympathetic ANS takes over, decreasing heartbeat and relaxing blood vessels (‘rest and digest’).

In the case of stress addiction, however, your body’s return to a normal, relaxed state may not be so easy. Although the sympathetic nervous system jumps into action immediately, it is very slow to shut down and allow the tranquilizing parasympathetic nervous system to calm things down.

Jane Collingwood, author of The Physical Effects of Long-Term Stress, explains.  ”In healthy people, the two branches of the nervous system maintain a balance — action followed by relaxation. In the case of chronic stress, however, many people’s sympathetic ANS stays on guard, making them unable to relax and let the parasympathetic system take over.”  At this point, the body moves into an “exhaustion stage”, in which it continues to produce large amounts of stress hormones. Prolonged exposure to these hormones, particularly cortisol, can have devastating effects.

The (Chronic) Stress Effect

According to Robert M. Sapolsky, author of Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, in the case of chronic psychological stress, the stress response can become more damaging than the stressor itself.  Think of your body’s stress response as short-sighted and inefficient – extremely costly tasks your body must perform to respond effectively in an emergency. (After all, your body’s ‘fight or flight’ response can save your life in an emergency.) The trouble for the stress junkie, however, is that we’re not designed to stay in that mode. And the way we often handle stress – eating sugary, calorie-dense processed foods, staying late at work, exercising too little (or too much) or drinking to excess – makes a bad situation even worse.

Many disorders – some say most – are aggravated by chronic stress. Being constantly awash in stress hormones has some serious side effects, including (but not limited to) impaired memory, concentration, and work performance, speeding up the aging process and damaging memory cells in the brain, sexual dysfunction, infertility, hypertension, a weakened immune system and deposition of fat at the waist (a risk factor for heart disease and other illnesses).   According to Dr. Bruce McEwen (author of The End of Stress as We Know It), prolonged or severe stress has also been implicated in cancer, stroke, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes, among other illnesses. 

Finally, excess cortisol in the blood interferes with mood enhancing neurotransmitters called serotonin. Disturbances in serotonin levels can be a factor in causing clinical depression and anxiety disorders, and have also been linked to insomnia and increased sensitivity to pain.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock

More interesting to us, elevated cortisol also skews time perception – making us feel as though we’re always behind schedule and time is always running out. As T.S. Wiley and Bent Formy, authors of Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival write, “Chronic high cortisol… makes you feel chronically rushed.  It’s the altered time perception that fosters much of the late-night stalling before bed, while you stay up under the impression that there must be more to do or that you haven’t finished your work.”  So it’s like the worst kind of chicken/egg – we are stressed because we think we’re behind schedule, but we think we’re behind schedule because we are stressed. Brutal.

Do we really need to continue to make the case that chronic psychological stress – especially the self-created kind – is super-duper unhealthy?  We rest our case.

Stress Rehab

So what’s a stress junkie to do? Telling one to “chill out” or “relax” is inane in this situation, given the addictive nature of the stress response. (It’s like telling an addict, “You know, you should just stop using.” How effective is that strategy?) Still, identifying habits and patterns and admitting you have a problem is the first step. So stop the 27 things you’re doing right now, take a deep breath and say it with me – “I am a stress junkie, and I have a problem.”

The trouble with identifying a strategy to break the stress addiction cycle is that there is no one-size-fits-all. We’re going to address a few different coping mechanisms here, but you’ll have to try them on for yourself to see what fits your personality and stress-style the best. (Melissa also included strategies that worked for her personally.)

1. Identify your triggers, change your habits. Take time to figure out what precipitates stress in your life. (Ask family and friends to help you here, as you often aren’t a good judge of your own triggers.) If you know you jump into “stress mode” the second you turn on your computer or as soon as the kids get home from school, then change that routine. Take 30 minutes of quiet time to wake up and set the tone for the day before you power up. Create an after-school routine to help keep noise and chaos under control (or hire a babysitter for an hour a day to help you manage post-school homework and snacks).

 

1. Control and predictability – create a routine. Procrastination, multi-tasking and chasing your own tail self-perpetuates the stress cycle. Creating (and sticking to) a routine can to add some predictability to your day, and remove some opportunity for unexpected stress. Creating a normal bedtime and wake time can be an especially helpful routine, as it also ensures you’re getting enough sleep each night.

 

1. Exercise some, not too much. Low intensity exercise (like hiking or swimming) blunts the stress response for up to a day after each session – but it has to be something you want to do. (Forcing yourself to exercise only creates more stress.) Don’t overdo it – more is not better. Consider low to moderate intensity activities, as high intensity exercise may only be feeding your stress junkie tendencies. (In fact, high intensity activity may not be appropriate for you at all. For real.)

 

1. Don’t (purposely) fast. Deliberate caloric restriction and extended (or regular) fasting provokes a physical stress response, and only adds to your overall stress burden. Plus, taking the time to eat healthy meals on a regular basis ensures you’re stopping to care for yourself every few hours, which is a good thing. Eat breakfast within an hour of waking; emphasize protein, and include some starchy carbs like sweet potato or butternut squash. If you often “forget to eat,” set a timer to remind you – it’s that important.

 

1. Skip the coffee. Caffeine is a stimulant, and the last thing you need is more stimulation. Try backing off your daily dose, or taking a month-long caffeine holiday. This one is gonna hurt – but your adrenals will thank you. (Read our Coffee Manifesto for more details.)

 

1. Meditation – sort of. Studies show psychological benefits while someone is meditating – but those benefits don’t necessarily continue after the session is over. (Plus, the idea of jumping into an hour of meditation a day is probably unrealistic for you right now.) Start off with five minutes at a time, every hour on the hour. Force yourself to stop whatever you are doing and take a walk, get some water, eat something or just sit quietly. (Time it – don’t cheat yourself.) Physically removing yourself from your stress-cycle may inhibit the degree to which you wind yourself up.

 

1. Social support – try giving. The right network of friends or family can help you manage stress, but often the stress junkie simply won’t ask for help. So try giving – offering social support in a volunteer or charitable setting. Seeing your impact can be a powerful experience, and make you believe you do, in fact, have some control over life’s situations.

 

1. The E – R – C strategy. Make a list of stressors, and identify those you can Eliminate, those you could Reduce and those you must simply Cope with. Consider evaluating time, money and accepted obligations all at once; you may be able to eliminate or reduce more stress than you believed. (For example, if cleaning the house on your day off is a big stressor, consider revising your budget to hire a cleaning service. If you’ve accepted too many social requests, prioritize one or two that are the most important to you, and beg off the rest. They’ll forgive you, and you really can’t afford to take on any more right now.)

 

1. Practice the 80/20 rule. In the case of stress, take the 80/20 rule to mean that 80% of your stress reduction can be accomplished with the first 20% of effort. Taking the first step – admitting you have a problem, asking for help, starting a stress-reducing practice (any practice) – can provide tremendous stress relief. So don’t wait until you’ve got the perfect stress-reducing strategy to start, and don’t wait until the next time you’re at a stress level 9 out of 10. Do something – anything – on a daily basis and see if you don’t feel better having at least taken a step in the right direction.

 

1. Get help. Sometimes, working through your situation with an impartial party is exactly what we need to put things into perspective. (And if you’re practicing your stress 80/20, the very act of making an appointment with a psychologist, a life coach or a professional organizer will make you feel better!)

In Conclusion

For those of you identifying with this post, take heart – there is hope. After a year of major life overhaul (including giving up caffeine, a major revision of her exercise program and a restructure of business responsibilities and work habits), Melissa’s cortisol profile is back in the healthy range, and her stress junkie tendencies are far better managed. With some awareness, attention to detail and commitment to changing your life, you, too, can overcome your addiction to stress. The first step is admitting you have a problem. (And the second step is to re-read our Whole9 Health Equation, because as a stress junkie, you are by definition spending resources waaaaay faster than you can bank ‘em.).

So cop to your bad habits, ask for help and offer each other some healthy social support right here in comments.

References

Sapolsky, Robert M. Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. Third Edition. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2004.
Ratey, John J. Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008.
McEwen, Bruce. The End of Stress As We Know It. Washington DC: National Academic Press, 2002.
Wiley, T.S. and Formy, Bent. Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival.New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2002.
Beck, Martha. “Am I Really A Stress Junkie?” Oprah, October 2002.
Lyons, Richard. “Stress Addiction: Life in the Fast Lane.” New York Times, July 26, 2983.
Goode, Erica. “The Heavy Cost of Chronic Stress.” New York Times, 17 December 2002.
David, Marc. The slow down diet: eating for pleasure, energy, and weight loss. Healing Arts Press, 2005.
Bryant, Charles W. “The Physical Effects of Chronic Stress.” Discovery Health.
Collingwood, J. (2007). The Physical Effects of Long-Term Stress. Psych Central, November 6, 2011.

This series of posts was inspired by Dallas and Melissa’s very personal experience with stress addiction. From Melissa: “See, at my very core, I am a typical Type-A.  In fact, there were times I considered bumping herself up to a Type AA, because I believed Type A’s were actually kind of lazy. No offense. I’m a perfectionist, but also a procrastinator, and I do my best work when there’s a crisis. No crisis? No problem. I’ll just create one.” (Dallas has far fewer of these tendencies – thank goodness. Two of us in one house would make life unbearable.) So let’s explore the subject of the stress addict – who we are, what that means and how to know if your habits and patterns fit the bill.

Type A-And-Then-Some

According to Wikipedia, Type A individuals are described as ambitious, aggressive, business-like, controlling, highly competitive, impatient, time-conscious, and tightly-wound.  People with Type A personalities are often high-achieving “workaholics” who multi-task, push themselves with deadlines, and hate both delays and ambivalence.

That doesn’t exactly paint us in a flattering light, does it?  I promise, we’re generally more fun than Wikipedia would suggest.  The problem is that under the right conditions, Type A drive can morph and grow into something else entirely – an actual stress addiction. And we mean that in the most literal sense of the word. Ask yourself…

• Are you always on tight deadlines, multi-tasking within an inch of your life or creating ridiculous schedules for yourself?
• Are you a perfectionist in everything you do, even when it doesn’t really matter?
• Are you an inattentive listener, checking email, paying bills or cleaning while on the phone?
• Are you constantly worrying about “what if,” stuck in an endless loop of dreaming up worst case scenarios?
• Do you rush everywhere, all the time, because there are other things elsewhere you should be doing?
• Have you lost all sense of patience, losing your cool when faced with even a minor telephone hold, appointment delay or grocery store line?
• Are you always saying, “Things will calm down soon,” but they never, ever do?
• Does the idea of a restorative yoga class, meditation or sitting quietly for 15 minutes make you want to crawl out of your skin?

If you answered “yes” to one or more of those questions… you may be a stress junkie.  And if you don’t think “stress junkie” is a very real, very dangerous condition, think again.

Stress Distress

According to the leading authority on pretty much everything (Oprah, of course), stress addiction is a legitimate condition, with serious consequences.  Oprah.com says, “Stress junkies are people who use their own physiological responses as a mood-altering device.  And just like heroin, stress hormones have side effects that can kill you. Pumped into the bloodstream at high levels for long periods of time, these chemicals contribute to ulcers and heart disease, weaken the immune system, and leave us vulnerable to everything from automobile accidents to depression.”

Oprah not doing it for you?  Fine.  Dr. Waino W. Suojanen, a professor of management at Georgia State University, agrees.  “Social scientists as well as biologists studying the chemistry of the brain tend to document what business experts have been saying for years… The Type A individual has perhaps become addicted to his own adrenaline, and unconsciously seeks ways to get those surges.”

Sound far-fetched?  Not if you consider the biochemistry of stress addiction.  As Dr. John Ratey (author of Spark) explains, we get a “fix” from the stress response, even if we create it ourselves.

Procrastinate Much?

One common trait of stress junkies is procrastination – putting off tasks until the deadline looms so close that you’re not really sure you can get it done on time.  Procrastination puts us in a “fight or flight” kind stress response, which leads to a hormonal rush of epinephrine (to focus the body), which in turn results in the release of endorphins.  (Which, of course, feel good.)  In addition, there are two neurotransmitters in our brains that help get us ready for this flight or fight response — norepinephrine, which arouses our attention, and dopamine, which then focuses our attention.

So, we procrastinate until we get that “rush” we’re looking for, at which point those neurotransmitters flood our system and to allow us to finally focus – which helps us meet those deadlines after all.  Success!  There’s just one problem with this strategy:  stress junkies will create stress where there is none to begin with. Which means for the stress junkie, there are no situations that are inherently free of stress, even if they have to create some themselves.

Procrastination is only one favorite strategy of the stress junkie – others include perfectionism, obsessing about obligations, and inventing catastrophic fantasies about What Could Go Wrong. The common factor in each of these scenarios is the stress junkie’s single-minded devotion to repeatedly creating stressful situations.

On paper, you might think, “That sounds awful.  Who would do that to themselves?”  But in reality, if you’re a stress junkie, you kind of dig it.  No, you really dig it – the buzz that comes from swimming in stress hormones morning, noon and night.  Until, of course, you stop.  Then, yeah, you feel pretty miserable.

Getting All The Things Done

The problem is, you are literally addicted to the stress response, which means it’s impossible for you to just slow down.  Plus, your behavior is easy to justify (rationalize).   I mean, it’s not like you’re addicted to something that makes you lay around on the couch all day eating Doritos and playing video games.  You’re working, or exercising, or running a household or taking care of your children.  And everyone from Gym Jones to Jack Welch to Oprah herself would say there is no such thing as working too hard, right?

Sure, you’re probably not eating enough.  Sure, you could probably stand to take five minutes to stretch once in a while.  Yes, you wake up in the middle of the night with unending lists running through your head.  No, you haven’t peed in seven hours, but I’m sure that’s fine too.  Because you are Getting All The Things Done.  And who can argue with that?

Your body, that’s who.  And it’s already starting to rebel in ways that seriously compromise your health and fitness.

Stay Tuned for Stress Addicts Anonymous, Part 2

Ready to continue? Read Part 2 of our series on stress addiction, where we cover the negative physiological effects that come with living with chronic stress, and more importantly, some steps you can take to rehabilitate your own stress addiction.

References

Sapolsky, Robert M.  Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. Third Edition.  New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2004.

Ratey, John J. Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008.

McEwen, Bruce. The End of Stress As We Know It. Washington DC: National Academic Press, 2002.

Wiley, T.S. and Formy, Bent. Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival.New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2002.

Beck, Martha. “Am I Really A Stress Junkie?” Oprah, October 2002.

Lyons, Richard. “Stress Addiction: Life in the Fast Lane.” New York Times, July 26, 2983.

Goode, Erica.  “The Heavy Cost of Chronic Stress.” New York Times, 17 December 2002.

David, Marc.  The slow down diet: eating for pleasure, energy, and weight loss. Healing Arts Press, 2005.

Bryant, Charles W. “The Physical Effects of Chronic Stress.”  Discovery Health. 

Collingwood, J. (2007). The Physical Effects of Long-Term Stress. Psych Central, November 6, 2011.

Stephanie has been a leader within our community for some time now, spreading the Good Food Word in San Diego, and through her blogs, Stupid Easy Paleo and Steph McCormack.com.

Stephanie was hand-picked for this position due to her thorough comprehension of Whole9 and Whole30 principles and philosophy, the enthusiasm with which she has embraced her new diet and lifestyle, and her continued participation in (and success with!) our Whole30 program. Which means you can rely on Stephanie – and all our Envoys – to provide support, encouragement and advice during your Whole30 and beyond.

You can read more about Stephanie in her Whole9 EE profile (www.whole9life.com/stephanie-mccormack). We encourage you to reach out to Stephanie through her blog, Facebook, Twitter and email (found in her profile), and get familiar with our other Envoys by clicking the Envoy drop-down link under “Partners”.

As always, thank you to everyone who reads, follows, comments and contributes to the Whole9. We look forward to further educating, sharing and growing our community… with the help of our specially designated Envoy Extraordinaires.

CON·TEXT
noun /ˈkänˌtekst/
The circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed.

My Context Is Not Your Context

Definition aside, in simple terms, “context” means the general story of your life, past and present – everything that makes up your big-picture health and fitness.  A good place to start evaluating your own context is our 9 Factors – but most folks are already savvy to the fact that things like sleep, training and stress all play a major role in their individual health status.

What is often overlooked is that there are additional variables like age, health history, and genetics that also contribute to your individual context.  But unlike diet, sleep and training, many of those “invisible” factors are completely outside of your control.  And while it may be all too easy to ignore those factors or pretend they don’t impact your health, you’ll do so to your own detriment.

Age

You’re only as old as you feel, right?  In a way, that’s absolutely true.  But when it comes to things like recovery from exercise, metabolism and sleep, age plays an important role.  You may be in the best shape of your life, but some studies say that the older you get, the more likely you are to experience problems related to recovering from exercise.  While that conclusion is highly individual (and not necessarily an inevitability of aging), experts agree that at the very least, you should change the intensity, volume and frequency of training as you age.

In addition, you may be back to your high school weight, but your body isn’t as good at working through some metabolic processes as it used to be.  And you may have blackout curtains and turn in at 9 AM, but the older we get, the less likely we are to sleep as well as we used to.  Whether we like it or not, our age (and the aging process) is a factor to our big-picture health and fitness.

Health History

We’ve heard hundreds of transformation stories from Whole30 participants, some of whom admitted to having poor health habits in earlier years.  Now, as they string together a year or two of health eating, exercise, sleep and stress management, they picture those years behind them.  Unfortunately, it’s not always that easy.

A history that includes metabolic derangement and weight gain (especially the yo-yo variety), presents major challenges to your return to a healthy weight and metabolism.  In fact, your health history dictates to a large degree how hard you’ll have to work to achieve your new health and fitness goals – and you may find some of those goals (particularly regarding weight loss) are simply unattainable, given what your body has been through in the past.  While it’s unfortunate that you’d have to pay for past sins today, when you’re working so hard to do everything right, your health history is an unavoidable part of your current context.

Genetics

While many folks place too much emphasis on genetics (“I’m bound to be diabetic – it’s in my genes”), you’d be mistaken not to take that into account at all.  While epigenetics (the pattern of gene expression as influenced by environmental factors like diet, stress and prenatal nutrition) has far more impact on how you look, feel and live, you can’t discount that your genes, race and ethnicity play a role in your health status.  If diabetes, addiction, breast cancer or other conditions “run in the family”, consider your margin of error that much skinnier.  It would be smart to pay attention to your genetic predispositions, and factor them in as part of your context.

It’s Not a Life Sentence

Of course, just because we age, have a history of yo-yo dieting or come from a family of diabetics doesn’t mean we are permanently bound by these factors.  (Heck, just look at Art Devany – he’s healthier and more vibrant than most people half his age.) How you approach your current diet, exercise regimen, sleep schedule and stress management have an enormous impact.  The take-away is this:  by factoring in your individual context – both those factors you control and those you don’t – you’ll be better equipped to make an effective plan to help you achieve your goals.

As we move forward into focusing more on the big picture of health, fitness and quality of life, you’ll continue to hear the refrain “context matters.”  We’re not trying to brainwash you, we promise – but we hope this discussion (and the broader health-centered discussions to come) will prompt you to thoughtfully evaluate your own context, and better help you set reasonable expectations for yourself, and continue to move you forward in your pursuit of optimal health.

Since founding the Whole9 in 2009, we’ve used “our 9” to address the multi-faceted nature of a healthy lifestyle with our consulting clients.  But after developing a great working relationship with Robb Wolf and attending several extraordinary nutrition seminars (including Robb’s), we decided to concentrate our public health focus on nutrition.  Since then, we’ve written extensively about nutrition’s role in a healthy lifestyle over the past several years, and conducted more than 70 Foundations of Nutrition workshops, spreading our version of the Good Food Word.

We “zoomed in” on nutrition to meet a need in the community for practical application strategies of various dietary concepts – and we were not alone.  Over the last few years as the Paleo/ancestral health movement has grown, we’ve seen hundreds of new Paleo blogs, recipe sites and communities created for the exclusive purpose of focusing on nutrition.  But now, we see a new need within our community – and it’s time for us to take a step back and remind our readers that health is a multifaceted concept.  Nutrition is, of course, a  foundational piece of any good health and fitness program – but it most certainly is not the only piece.

Frank Forencich made an astute observation about this same phenomenon in The State of the Meme, saying, “The problem with this (nutrition-focused) variation (of Paleo) is that it’s a fragment of a much larger story. And because it’s a fragment, it tends to get pigeon-holed with every other diet meme out there. This brings Paleo down to the level of pop health, where it loses its meaning and its power.”  He goes on to add that “Paleo” is so much more than either ancestral nutrition or ancestral movement patterns – and we dig his perspective.

Context Matters

So now, for us, it’s time to zoom back out. Of course, we’re not abandoning nutrition as the foundational factor of a healthy life. But our readers need to hear more about The Big Picture. We interact with thousands of people a month via email, workshops, Facebook, and Twitter, and what we’ve realized is that many folks have drilled so far down into nutrition that they can no longer see the big picture at all. 

People ask us about the lectins in tree nuts, the fructose content of half a pear, or whether it’s okay to eat the deer they shot if the deer may have been feeding on GMO corn. (True story.)  And in many of these instances, what we want to say is,  “It really doesn’t matter, since you’re only sleeping 5 hours a night and I can smell the cortisol on you from across the street.” So we encourage you to pull back a bit, do a little introspection, and try to see beyond any one factor (specifically, nutrition) to view the reality of your big-picture health and fitness situation.  After all, self-analysis is nearly as critical to genuine progress as dissent (but that’s a topic for another day).

Analyze This

We’re calling this graphical representation of an individual’s overall health “The Whole9 Health Equation” (at least until we have a stroke of genius and come up with something clever-er). Yes, it is simplified – Dallas doesn’t like complex math equations. Yes, there are important factors (such as age and quality social interaction) that are not factored in here. No, we cannot quantify this for you personally, as (again), context matters. Nonetheless, let’s tackle this thing.

We think of each individual’s health status like a “bank account”, to and from which you make deposits and withdrawals.  Like a bank account, your Health Balance is a product of Credits minus Debits. If you make more frequent (or larger) deposits than withdrawals, you accumulate “Health Wealth”.  And, hopefully not to take this analogy too far, that Wealth pays dividends down the road.  Conversely, if you overextend your resources (withdrawing more than you’re depositing), you’ll find yourself in the red – “Health Debt”.  Think about overdrafting your bank account – you can continue spending for a while, but at some point, you simply can’t spend any more, because there’s nothing left in the bank. (Needless to say, that scenario stinks.)   Are you with us so far?  Good.  Now here’s where we start talking about specific factors.

Recovery = Nutrition + Sleep + Specific Recovery Practices

Your diet, sleep and general recovery habits are all a part of “General Recovery” (health deposits or credits).

Nutrition is the biggest potential credit. That’s why we call it “foundational”. Eating adequate calories from nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory foods on a daily basis will deposit huge credits into your health balance.  But your Nutrition factor can also be a negative integer, a debit. In other words, eating unhealthy foodstuffs can actually cost you – big. (Think obesity and chronic disease.)

Sleep matters. We make ours a priority – above exercise, reading, socialization, or even housekeeping. Dallas has written about this in Performance Menu, and we continue to emphasize this issue in our workshops and with consulting clients.  Nine hours of sleep per night equals big deposits.  Chronically under-slept?  Equally large withdrawals.  Sometimes, prioritizing sleep requires some radical revisions to one’s life. Pay now, or pay later.

Specific Recovery Practices include ice baths, contrast showers, specific mobility work (including foam rolling, lacrosse ball work or self-myofascial release), stretching, yoga, massage and other manual therapies, meditation, recovery (i.e. easy) training sessions, acupuncture, sex, napping, etc.  Your commitment to Specific Recovery Practices, to a large degree, dictates how quickly and thoroughly you recover from training, and ultimately can determine whether your training is productive or simply destructive.

In summary, sub-par Nutrition, Sleep, and Specific Recovery Practices have the potential to massively impact your Health.  (Duh.)  How rapidly this occurs partly depends on how fast you’re “spending” those resources with Physical Stress (PhysStress) and Psychological Stress (PsychStress).

Total Stress = Physical Stress + Psychological Stress

Physical Stress (PhysStress), for most of us, is structured exercise or participation in an actual sport. For some, working a manual labor or highly physical job (construction, firefighting, etc.) would also qualify as physical stress.  But for folks whose primary physical effort is deliberate exercise, there are several factors that determine the amount of PhyStress: intensity, frequency, and volume.  

Intensity refers to how hard the activity feels to you, and how hard your heart is working.  Frequency is how often you are experiencing this physical stress – twice a day, three times a week, etc.  Volume means the amount of work you complete in each training session – whether you lift a particular weight ten times during your session, or one hundred times.

Each of these factors work together to determine physical stress – notice they are all multiplied in the equation. That means in increase in one has the potential to dramatically affect the total of your PhysStress.  You can do short-ish high intensity stuff sometimes, or long and hard stuff occasionally, or long, low intensity activity daily – but not daily high intensity training, or large volumes of moderate intensity training, or (god forbid) both.  Unless you’re a professional athlete, of course, in which case you value performance over health. Most of us don’t fall into this category.

Psychological Stress (PsychStress) can come from a variety of sources, and can be pretty insidious. It could be job-related stress, family/marital stress, anxiety and phobias, unresolved childhood trauma, low self-esteem, guilt, etc. This stuff runs deep. But if you carry things (i.e. “baggage”), it costs – daily, monthly, and annually. The kicker here is that a complete lack of PsychStress doesn’t make a very big deposit into your Health Balance – but its mere existence can make gigantic withdrawals.  Do your best to deal with this stuff head-on, even if it sucks. Some things are actually out of your control, and that has to be okay, too.

In summary, how much of your Health Balance you can afford to “spend” (i.e. the total of your PhysStress and PsychStress) depends mostly on the size and frequency of your deposits (i.e., how much effort you’re putting into Recovery – nutrition, sleep, and specific recovery practices). 

Note:  Before you even ask, no, we cannot quantify this for you.  We can’t say an ice bath is worth 10 health dollars, and a two-a-day training session costs you 20.  You know why?  Because context matters.  Your specific lifestyle and health status play a crucial role in how much you deposit or withdraw from your Health Balance with any given factor.  For example, an evening of dietary off-roading may cost a lean, insulin-sensitive person 10 health dollars, but it may cost an overweight, autoimmune-suffering person 100.  This equation requires you to self-analyze, and determine which factors have the biggest effects on your own individual Health Balance.

Some Health Balance Examples

Some factors detract enormously from your balance. For example, the short-term sleep deprivation that normally accompanies a new baby takes a pretty serious toll on a person.  In this example, you are not able to make large deposits to your balance, even if you’ve backed off of hard training, and are still eating well.  It’s like taking a big pay cut for a few months – your spending habits have to change.  However, what you’ve done up until this point makes a big difference.  If you have a large Health Balance “savings”, you can make it through this situation relatively unscathed.  However, if you’ve been living paycheck to paycheck, barely covering your withdrawals, an unexpected life situation like a new baby will absolutely break you.  Still with us?

A nutritional strategy like intermittent fasting (our favorite example) might be just the right amount of “stress” to drive a positive adaptation in one person’s body, causing the overall effect to be positive. But in someone else, that additional stress only further taxes an already-overstressed system, and may actually detract from their Health Balance. Of course, every person’s scenario is unique, which is why no one can state definitively that IF (as an example) is universally good or bad.

Figuring out your individual context can be tricky, especially when you are both the least qualified person to accurately assess your “stuff”, given how close you are to the subject matter – but also the only person who has all the information about your own context.  But with our big-picture approach, some practice (and perhaps some guidance from a professional), you’ll be able to better evaluate your own overall health balance, and create a solid plan to keep you in the black.

Is Your Health Balance Off Balance?

All too often, we see people struggling to figure this stuff out – really struggling, working hard. They’re committed to making changes, to progressing, to improving… but they’re either overvaluing/undervaluing some factors, or completely overlooking one or more pieces of the puzzle. Admittedly, it’s not easy, but we’re hoping that this post will prompt some more honest introspection. Here are some examples of genuine-but-misguided efforts to improve health:

• Looking for a nutritional solution to a lifestyle problem, such as attempting to offset the effects of chronic stress by cutting out fruit or nuts, or trying a new PWO whey protein.

• Being frustrated with your “plateau” (performance, weight loss, whatever) and doing more of what got you this far.  “If high-intensity training helped me lose 20 pounds, then more of it will probably help me lose those last 10.”   All of those factors (Intensity, Frequency and Volume) multiply to create a potentially astronomical PhysStress product before you even realize it.

• Being so wound up about sticking to the Whole30 guidelines that you actually create more stress for yourself. Folks, the Whole30 is a self-awareness tool, not a hazing.

• Over-exercising to manage your stress.  Sometimes you need to suck it up, buttercup, because being an “exercise addict” is not a flag you should proudly fly – and will put you into Health Debt faster than you can say, “I’ll rest when I’m dead.”

• Being over-stressed and under-sleeping, but still cutting calories to try to lose that stubborn belly fat. (One word: cortisol.) Don’t underestimate the power of sleeping more and stressing less on body composition.

• Grappling with “that shoulder thing” and looking to your physical therapist/chiropractor/acupuncturist to magically fix it instead of taking a week (or two!) off from the gym to focus on nutrition, sleep and bumping up your Recovery.

Any of these sound familiar?  Don’t beat yourself up if you’ve been working hard in all the wrong areas – the thing that counts is that you’re willing to work hard.  Looking at the big picture is difficult, and takes practice – and sometimes, a template (like our equation) to help you figure it all out for yourself.

Taking Care of YOUR Health Balance

We hope our Health Equation has cued some critical and honest self-analysis, and helped you think about factors outside of nutrition as they apply to your health and fitness. Given that each person’s context is different, we’re not able to make blanket statements about how much or how little is appropriate for you, but we bet that if you stop and think about it, you will probably be able to intuit a reasonable direction to head.

In the coming months, we’ll be talking a lot more about context, non-nutrition factors, and (hopefully) a sane way to combine these things into a life that is deeply enriching. If you leave with just one concept, please remember: context matters.  Drop feedback, questions or thoughts about your own Health Balance to comments.

In yoga, there are two kinds of positions.  The first requires strength to hold the pose.  The second requires you to soften and yield.

I suck at softening.

I approach my yoga the same way I approach my deadlifting – with the same Type A, stubborn, controlling personality that suits me oh-so-perfectly to someplace like Gym Jones.  And for some poses, that works beautifully. Standing splits against the wall?  I don’t look like that girl, but I can tough out the hold with the best of them.  Full side plank?  Nothing but good, old-fashioned midline stability.  Handstands?  Please – I’ve done so many, it’s practically cheating.  But move me into something where I have to soften – the shoulders, the spine, the face (yes, I’m often told to soften my face) and it all falls apart.

I have no one to blame but myself.

After six years of doing nothing but measure, count, chart progress and mark improvements, I don’t know how to soften.  I don’t know how to relax, I cannot “yield” (whatever that means), and I most certainly cannot refrain from trying to kick your ass at yoga.  My instructor told me last week to close my eyes when I practice.  This was after she caught me looking around, seeing the old guy next to me had his leg higher than mine, grunt (yes, I believe I actually grunted) and forcibly yank my toes up juuuust a smidge higher than his.  And then I fell over.  (But still, I believe I won that round.)

Measuring, counting, charting and improving are all good things when it comes to fitness.  I firmly believe you need the structure of a planned program, the discipline of a log book, and the stats to prove you’ve pushed yourself and exceeded your own expectations.  Without those things, fitness progress comes slowly and is often unrecognizable.  But for the love of Shiva, I need a break once in a while, if only for my own mental sanity.

I’ve been a perfectionist my whole life.  In school, a minus sign next to the “A” on my report card grade was cause for much hand-wringing and dismay.  (That was second grade.) In my past career, I stayed longer and worked harder than anyone else – and was promoted faster than anyone else in the history of the company.  In the last six years of CrossFit, kettlebells and Gym Jones, my logs were meticulous (I love a good Excel spreadsheet) – cross-referenced and notated within an inch of their life.  And the gold stars I gave myself for a new PR were a huge part of what kept me motivated.

I have none of this in yoga.

There are no grades, no promotions, no logs or tracking of progress – and gold stars are explicitly forbidden.  It’s just me and my mat and a constant struggle to soften.  Nobody cares if my leg is straight, nobody cares if I bent just a smidge lower today than yesterday, and nobody cares how my shoulder muscles look in Warrior 2.   Just me.  I’m the only one who cares.  And because of this, I am constantly challenged in my practice, too often manhandling myself into a position, stepping outside of the moment to worry about my progress, and refusing to yield.

I do yoga for fun.  Mostly, I go to calm my constantly tense body and ever-racing brain.  I go because my cortisol levels told me I should, and because I’m a calmer, happier, saner version of myself after 90 minutes of moving in flow.  It’s more therapy than exercise, although I’m surprised at what good exercise it is.

And despite some intrinsic urge to make my time there more “practical”, I’m not trying to improve my deadlift or squat through yoga (although that wouldn’t surprise me at all).  My practice is supposed to be a break from myself – from counting, measuring, charting and most of all, judging. So this morning, I will do my best to soften, yield, relax and let the pose dictate where my body ends up.  To be safe, though, I’ll probably close my eyes.

Namaste.

Note:  The forthcoming exclamation points are all her own.  We love Hilary AND her enthusiasm, and couldn’t wait to share her story with you.  Yay, packing a lunch!

Hilary’s Story

While this may not sound like a huge feat, I would like to semi-boast that I am now at WEEK 3 of packing my whole food Whole9 lunches for work like a “big” girl.  I still can’t believe what a difference it makes to have my own food during the day.  I eat when I want.  I am not limited to when the cafe opens and closes.  I have MORE CASH!  (Double bonus!) 

I have no idea why this has been such a huge psychological hurdle for me.  I leave the house at 7:30 PM and am not home until 7:30 PM most days.  Spending 12 hours away from home should = pack a cooler, but I was not on board.  When I did my first Whole30 in November, I always ate at the salad bar.  I just couldn’t get my head around “packing lunch” even though I knew I was wasting money.  (The salad bar at my office is not much less expensive than Whole Foods.)  But for some reason, despite the wonderful breakfasts and dinners I made, I simply would NOT pack lunch. 

I wish I had some Freudian reason why.  Was I tired?  Lazy?  I don’t know –  I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.  Was I in total denial that my super cool “Pigs In Space” Muppets lunchbox from 3rd grade, packed with a salami sandwich, a Capri Sun and a piece of fruit were completely behind me?  I have no explanation, but at the tender age of 38, the task of making packed lunches cool and sassy again has been daunting. 

Well, last week, I decided to just get over myself.  That’s it.  Hissy fit: done. 

First, I re-read your post on “What’s In Your Cooler”? at least 100 more times.  Second, I started doubling up recipes.  Three, instead of making one recipe, I made two.  I also got out all of my unused Tupperware, ran it through the dishwasher and proceeded to start filling it to make sure nothing was left un-eaten.  Having readily made DELISH food on hand just waiting to be warmed makes life much easier. 

So how did I fare in corporate America with my cooler during my first week?  Well, not so bad. 

1.  I didn’t want to yell at my boss AS much.  She is, however, insane after her second bowl of oatmeal, so I have to just stay clear.  I know that’s not super nice, but controlling my mood makes dealing with work craziness easier. 

2.  When I would get 100 emails at once, I’d reach for some olives and say, “Eh, this isn’t so bad.  At least it’s not 300 emails.“

3.  I did the math and only spent about $5 in the cafe for the week instead of closer to $70.  I did not have to go to the ATM once.  I was spending more at the grocer, but it’s a redistribution of funds for the better (as my husband likes to say).  I get WAY more bang for my buck now.   

So, in short, thank you for your cooler post and for making the art of packing a cooler look as cool as my 3rd grade lunchbox.   Hilary B., Neptune, NJ

Share Your Story

Do you have a Whole30 or Whole9-related success story to share with the world? Send it to us at whole30@whole9life.com. Got any of your own pack-a-lunch tips or tricks? Share them with us (and Hilary) in comments.