Let me tell you – the 30-Day Hard challenge is f*cking hard. Hard, but worth it. Have I broken it already? Yes. Yes, but still not giving up on it. The biggest success I’ve had from the challenge after 15 days of ***trying to*** stick to it has been how clear my mind and body feel. It’s compelled me to really look at what I put into my body, which has pushed me to become a lot more creative with the meals I make for myself, what I do with my time, and how I choose to show up for myself each day. I’ve also come to learn that a driving value behind the decisions I make is soaking in everything each moment has to offer, so giving up celebrating Valentine’s Day in its full glory wasn’t in the cards for me (commence the cheat weekend). These 15 days have taught me what I’m capable of doing so far and I cannot wait to see what’s in store for the rest of the month to come!

Food

30 Day Hard has made me re-think how I optimize meals to sneak in the maximum amount of veggies, protein, and starch possible without having white sugar & flour or tasting horrible. Something I’ve learned so far in terms of straying away from processed snacks is how much better eating non ‘snack’ foods make me feel. My go-to snacks (which I eat in-between lunch and dinner) have been cucumbers topped with olive oil, salt, feta cheese, greek yogurt, and homemade green juice.

A challenge to eating like this has been how hungry I get in between my daily tasks when I’m away from my apartment because of how quickly meals made of mainly veggies are able to be digested and absorbed by our bodies. This is something I’m working on finding a solution for and will share once I get there! Overall, however, I’ve found myself making lots of salads, like Emily Mariko’s salmon bowl with some finely-chopped spinach, or a medley of the veggies I have on hand with some quinoa, cheese, and lots of dressing on top.

I would be lying if I didn’t mention that I’ve cheated a few times on the challenge by eating things containing white sugar or white flour. Of course, this doesn’t happen every day, but when it does, I’ve noticed a difference in how I feel. On days when I’ve had more sugar than others, I noticed myself feeling more sluggish, having a minor headache, and just feeling disconnected from the present moment than when I don’t intake any amount of sugar. It’s super crazy how removing it has made me so much more aware of how sugary things make my mind feel better for a moment than my body does in the long term.

Alcohol

I came into the challenge thinking that not drinking for 30 days would be the hardest part considering how much my social life revolves around it in college. Surprisingly, avoiding white sugar and flour has far exceeded any urge to drink. I mean who can say no to a red velvet brownie?! I gave myself a cheat weekend this past weekend to drink at parties I went to Friday and Saturday, and have no shame nor regrets in doing so. However, it did teach me another learning lesson – how badly hangovers hinder my ability to be productive the next day. And by ‘hinder,’ I mean not being able to get out of bed until 11:00, eat something that isn’t the color yellow, or open my laptop to do any work. Basically, they delay my life for an entire 24 hours. Not drinking for two weeks reallyyyy helped to get me back into a routine. I woke up every day at peace and grounded to take on what lay ahead. Although I have so many fun memories involving alcohol, and it’s not that I’m planning on going cold turkey sober after this challenge is over, I don’t feel like my life has to revolve around it as much. Showing up to social events sober unexpectedly made me more confident in letting my personality shine and staying immersed at the moment.

I’m going to touch on the workout, mindfulness, and cold-shower aspect of the challenge in another blog post that ties up the whole experience. There, I’ll share some tips and tricks, recipes, key takeaways, and how they helped make me stronger physically and mentally in addition to the non-consumption-related parts of the challenge. In the meantime have a great week and keep thriving!

💘 Hanna