My Whole 30 Adventure comes to an end

Today is my last day on The Whole 30 (it's an extra day so it's really The Whole 31 for me).

On the whole it's been a great experience.

Here's some of the things I discovered along the way:

• Eating strictly is not as hard as I expected. I eliminated all added sugar, alcohol, caffeine, dairy, processed foods, grains, legumes and take away foods. I thought I might struggle with a few of these. I admit that the first week was tough but that was a habit thing. As the month comes to a close I do not feel any cravings although I am looking forward to a more relaxed way of eating.
• I'm not addicted to caffeine. I've still been drinking coffee but it's been decaf. The number of coffees I've had each day has climbed but the amount of caffeine has dropped. The ceremony of coffee is of great interest to me. I like hitting a cafe for time out. I will really enjoy having a short macchiato tomorrow.
• I had no sugar cravings or withdrawal. Being a chocolate freak, I really thought I might suffer a bit of sugar withdrawal. No. Not a problem at all. I didn't even have to check myself walking down a confectionary aisle in the supermarket. There just wasn't the desire. I will be eating chocolate again though. Life's too short.
• Cooking Paleo is easy. Most people complain that Paleo cooking is too restrictive. Well, The Whole 30 takes it to a whole new level and we - my wife and I - found it easy. We ate curries, BBQs, salads, roasts and they were all awesome. We didn't have a did meal all month. Moving back to standard Paleo with a few off the reservation additions will be easier again.
• I'm not an alcoholic. I never thought I was but I do like a glass of wine with dinner and am partial to a single malt. This is where I thought I'd have my biggest problems but again the habit was broken in the first week.

So, it's all drawing to a close. From this point on I will still follow The Paleo Diet but I think I'll take a page out of Timothy Ferriss's book and free myself on the weekends. A bit of indulgence can't hurt (as long as it's sensible). I'll stay gluten-free unless I visit Naples again, I'm not missing out on the pizza there!

Scott, my business partner at Firebrand Fitness, is doing 90 days. You can read about his adventures on his blog.