Whole 30 - I Challenge You To Try It

I recently spent a week with my buddy Eric Weaver in the Black Hills for our yearly Father/Son trip.  I had not seen him probably 8-12 months.  Last time I saw him he was a bit... uh... how you say?... portly?  Rounded edges?  Er...  You get the point.

When I ran into him a few weeks ago and saw him I was taken aback by how much weight he had lost.  My first thought was, "Dude, are you ok?"  He looked great but the weight loss was quite dramatic.  He told me he has been on this crazy diet called, Whole 30.   I dare you to click over and take a look.

Basically it's a 30 day eating challenge (I love challenges) where you eat only meat, fish, eggs, tons of vegetables, some fruit, and plenty of good fats.  No sugar AT ALL.  (You probably have no idea how much of what you eat contains sugar.)

Sounds crazy, I know.  But since my wife and I both love a good challenge and based on the obvious results of our friend Eric and his wife, we thought we better give it a try.

Don't get me wrong.  I am the last dude in the world who is going to be shopping at Whole Foods, marching in the next tree hugger parade, or turning down my nose on all those "unenlightened" who don't feed their kids strictly organic.  I don't have any weight to lose and I exercise a lot already.

But I am interested in having higher energy levels and not experiencing the late afternoon energy crash where a 20 minute nap feels irresistible.  I am interested in not dying an early death by heart disease.  I am interested in looking amazing with my shirt off... Oh wait....

After five days I can say that it has been hard (dare I say, REALLY hard?) but I do have noticeablly  more energy and my workouts have felt really strong.

But for the Christian, Whole 30, also has a theological side.  God loves our bodies.  He made them.  He loves his creation and in contrast with everything else that was deemed"good", God said humans and their bodies were "very good".  It stands to reason that we should take care of the temple of the Holy Spirit that he has entrusted to us.

In addition, food is not amoral.  After being five days in on the program, it already has exposed food idols that I have in my life that I never knew existed.  Take some desserts away for a few days and see how grumpy you get.  We always get grumpy when our idols are taken away.

I am not going to say that I'll do this the rest of my life but I am seeing how placing more intentionality behind what I consume may be a huge blessing to me in the long run.  I dare you to give it a shot for 30 days.