My sister was never overweight but was on the higher end of the normal BMI range. She tried to conceive for SIX YEARS and wound up going through all those hormones studies and whatnot, and her husband had his sperm checked out. The labs were normal so she tried a holistic health approach and did the Whole30 diet. She wound up losing 10-15 pounds and conceived IMMEDIATELY afterward!
It's basically eliminating all processed foods and additives from your diet that can cause systemic inflammation, which could contribute to infertility, asthma, PCOS, mood disorders, joint pain, IBS, etc. The goal of whole30 is to reduce inflammation, not track calories or intake, but when you aren't eating processed foods like cheese, sugar, fast food, or bread, you are probably going to see some weight loss.
I bought the book and tried it out for myself. I saw massive improvements in the quality of my sleep, anxiety, and adult acne. Honestly changed my life.
Yeah it’s The Whole30 30 day guide. It’s got recipes and a ton of information on the program. Definitely worth the $12 Even if you don’t do the full 30 days it’s a great way to kinda reset your hard to quit cravings
The Whole30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom https://www.amazon.com/dp/0544609719/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_i5bOFbMAGYP48
I lost my weight with no change in activity level, but diet and alcohol intake are a part of it.
I recommend reading the book to understand why it's not a diet, and how it focuses on the psychology of your eating habits as well as helping you identify sensitivities you weren't aware of. We got ours on Amazon.
The Whole30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom https://www.amazon.com/dp/0544609719/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_wQKpCbC12RAJ2
For more info and a ton of support, check out r/whole30. They are really cool people and I got great ideas for shopping and recipes.
Absolutely. This is my first post trying to link something click here for the amazon link. Hopefully that works. You basically eat fruits, vegetables, and meat. You cut out bread and grains, dairy and processed sugar for 30 days. It is a tad extreme for some people but if you are not a picky eater there are amazing recipes out there. I follow an instagram account called Nomnompaleo and she is amazing, her recipes are super tasty and got me through the harder days of the whole 30. I had already cut a lot of dairy so that part was easy for me, the sugar part was hard.
Hopefully I have explained it well enough. Pinterest is full of ideas and recipes and youtube and instagram have tons of amazing people doing the Whole 30 that support people trying it. I found that it really helped and I am planning to start one in the next few days. Just getting all of the food supplies ready.
If you have any more questions let me know :)
I think that having a poor diet going into this makes continuing the journey after 30 days much more difficult. The time spent cooking was intense but my SO and I made it work. I cooked dinner and the SO would prepare lunches for the following day. We always made enough food at dinner to bring leftovers for lunch the following day. It just requires preplanning and you have to be ready for that or you will fail.
As for sweets, I love them. Chocolate is something I will never give up. Find alternatives. My SO does apples with a little almond butter. I do pistachios (in moderation).
The best advice I can provide to someone is to read the book. It provides your with explanations as to why you are cutting out dairy, legumes, etc. but having lots of fats. Don't be intimidate by it. The books reads really well and the second half is full of recipes. Feel free to continue asking questions!!
The Whole30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom https://www.amazon.com/dp/0544609719/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_d4ziFb5JFST6F
My particular diet is way more restricted because it is a modified AIP (Autoimmune Protocol Diet) and I react to things that are very common like black pepper. So I make almost all of my own meals. I know several people with gluten and dairy sensitivities from Hashimotos and they just have to be careful of cross contamination. There are a ton of gluten free and dairy alternatives so compared to my restrictions I don't think it's very hard but everyone has different comfort levels.
If you feel inspired to attempt some different elimination diets here are a few to consider:
IMF Elimination Diet Is a good first step.
Whole30 I really recommend the book for the recipes, food planning, and cooking intro) there is also a subreddit for support
Autoimmune Protocol - There are lots of online resources. This is a great intro book
FODMAP elimination diet. The Monash University app for iPhone or Android is very helpful for starting the diet.
Also I can't recommend enough a good doctor or dietitian/nutritionist who will help you with vitamin deficiencies and elimination diets.
Actually no, it's like 40+ different food and spices. Gluten, dairy, corn, black pepper, cane sugar, chocolate, vanilla, sage, thyme etc... Basically I'm on a modified autoimmune protocol diet because nightshades don't seem to effect me. Now the only thing that I can't eat that isn't a specific immune reaction is soy. I used to just cry and be miserable all the time and at some point I was able to figure out it always happened acutely after eating foods with soy. My understanding is that for some people it actually can slow down or stop your thyroid from working. So for me somewhere between 1-12 hours I just get antsy and am convinced something is wrong (physically it is) and my mind tries to find problems to attach it too. I would get emotional, cry, and eventually tire myself out until I slept(if I could). It was like clockwork.
Now that isn't to say you are going to even have a shadow of the same issues I am. If your issues are diet related it really could be anything that impacts your body. As a simple example... A lot of doctors say to avoid iodine and tell you to not eat seawead but forget to tell you to check your salt which is commonly reinforced with iodine.
If you feel inspired to attempt some different elimination diets here are a few to consider:
IMF Elimination Diet https://www.functionalmedicine.org/page.aspx?uid=37&id=948
Whole30 (I really recommend the book for the recipes, food planning, and cooking intro) there is also a subreddit for support https://www.amazon.com/dp/0544609719/ref=cm_sw_r_apa_6XP3xbEBFZ4NR
Autoimmune Protocol - there are online resources but I really liked this book https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578135213/ref=cm_sw_r_apa_c9P3xbXWX6YT8
FODMAP elimination diet. This is what I am currently on and I'm still trying to find good resources. I don't have a lot of advice on this yet.
Also I can't recommend enough a good doctor or nutritionist who will help you with vitamin deficiencies and elimination diets. A lot of people with hypothyroidism/Hashimotos have vitamin D deficiency. B vitamins are also commonly low. It's really hard to heal when your body isn't getting what it needs.
Sorry for writing a wall of text and bad formatting. I'm on a mobile. Just hugs*, it's very hard to figure out your body. If you decide to try any of the above you'll probably learn a lot about your physical self even if these don't work exactly for you. Just keep searching, something is going to work and you will feel way better.