how did I get here?

Good question!

I've been living in France for the last three years and I am married to a French man. In my life back in Canada I had struggled with my weight and health and had finally reached a point of having things in balance health-wise when my personal life fell apart. Things got back on track in my personal life (hence the French husband!) and I ended up moving to France, the land where French women don't get fat and everybody can eat what they want and not exercise because it's not part of their culture. And they eat bread. Loads of bread. My husband JM is unable to conceive of a meal without bread. Oh, and there's the cheese, too, and he's a pretty big fan of that along with the bread.

So in the first three years, my exercise has essentially gone out the window, aside from the weekend hikes and my low intensity yoga class on Thursday nights. I have taken up various things in fits and starts, including yoga on my own with videos from myyogaonline.com and kettlebell workouts through YouTube. I start up for a couple of weeks and then something ends up getting in the way and then I fall out of the habit.

The last year has been one of culinary exploration. I have baked without wheat, without grains, without sugar and I have proven to myself that I can live without these things. When I do give into temptation, I am well aware of the addictive qualities of these foods (especially the sugar!) and I usually just end up feeling heavy, bloated and uninspired. I've been reading up on Primal and Paleo eating habits and in my searching I came across the Whole30 program. Thirty days of no grains, no sugar, no legumes and no dairy. Seems like a lot of NOs, but the idea is to strip things back and learn how to be nourished with real foods and see how the body feels on the other side. What am I hoping to accomplish? To feel healthier, in control and perhaps a little lighter. My goal is to add in the yoga and kettlebell videos to work on my strength and flexibility while I clean out my eating habits.

I figured this blog would be a good way to keep myself on track. Being accountable at the end of the day to be able to share what I ate during the day is a way for me to ensure honesty with myself.

So here we go!