Whole Life Challenge Experience

Before I started my whole life challenge I went to the Whole foods store, this was the first time I entered the whole food store and I felt like a kid in a toy store. It was huge with lots of variety of everything possible. There was even a small section where you could make your own fresh Almond butter ( it was like an ice cream machine, you add nuts in and press the button to get the butter in your jar) you could select coffee beans and grind them fresh, then I bought kale chips (they are supposed to be baked and sprinkled with different seasoning – I loved them) I also bought some green tea in different flavours

This trip to the whole food store got me all excited for the Whole Life challenge, I already had all my meals planned and I also had my kitchen well stocked.

Despite all my excitement I was a little paranoid on the first day, I’m used to having egg and toast for breakfast with a cup of tea but during this challenge I could neither have toast nor could I have tea (reducing my tea/coffee was a big challenge, I have finally reached two cups a day) during whole life it was going to be completely banned, that scared me a bit.

For breakfast I had egg muffins and I a fruit bowl with green tea. I also kept another bowl of fruits ready for my snack till lunch, surprisingly my breakfast kept me full much longer than usual and that’s how I got more confidence in continuing with the whole life challenge.  I did not have any issue with my lunch or dinner meals because I usually stick to a similar plan.

My only concern was my snacks and breakfast. My usual mid morning snack is yogurt with a bit of muesli and my mid evening snack is 1-2 oats biscuits (the small breakfast ones) with coffee. I knew during this challenge I had to completely give up on both my snacks and figure out something different.

I switched my yogurt for frozen banana, I switched my biscuits to more fruits or carrot sticks. During whole life challenge because I ate only healthy option I could actually eat a lot more within my same calorie count, I was more full and there were a few days when I did not even need a snack.

Whole Life challenge also gave me the confidence of completely stopping tea, before this I always assumed if I don’t have my morning cup of tea my head wouldn't function right but I was good to go even with my green tea. All I need is the warm feeling not the caffeine

I could sleep better, I'm not sure how this WLC helped my sleep but that was the first week in months when I did not keep getting up in the middle of the night, for the entire week I slept continuously and very peacefully.

I'm a person who can’t do too well under pressure or too many restrictions, so I changed my mind to think about what all I could eat instead of what I couldn't. I thought about substituting a few of my regulars.  I looked for interesting options like different flavours of herbal tea – so instead of telling myself I could not have my regular caffeine, I was thinking about which option to try in the morning. I always made sure I cut my fruits in the morning so when I was hungry I had something ready to eat, frozen bananas and dates have now become one of my favourite dessert options.

How to make your WLC manageble?

1. Plan all your meals and stock your kitchen
2. Try and find a good substitude for your weakness. If you have a sweet tooth think of your favourite fruit or look for WLC recipes. If you need a warm coffee as soon as you are up think of different flavours of tea, choose your favourite flavour
3.  Take one day at a time or even one meal at a time. The first day I started I told myself to just try the WLC for my breakfast if I was too uncomfortbale I would stop but my breakfast went well so I told myself the same thing for my lunch and then dinner, that's how I got through the intial first tough day
4. Focus on all that you can eat instead of all that you can't eat. The list of what you can eat is so much longer you will get lost in just deciding :)

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Tanvee