A few days ago when I had my low-energy day, I looked at myself in the mirror and saw a very pale face. This morning, my face was glowing. I take care of myself and am pretty obsessive about skin care to begin with, but my skin is getting visibly better. Could it be that I’m feeling more positive and therefore have more self-esteem? Maybe, but I do truly believe that what I’m putting into my body has everything to do with it. I started my morning with an arms workout from the Kayla Itsines app. Even though arms are my least favorite and I didn’t eat a snack beforehand, I felt good throughout my training. I listened to my usual NPR Up First, New York Times The Daily, Marketplace Morning Report, and an NPR Planet Money episode on Bitcoin. Yes, I missed out on it. I had told best friend how crazy she was for investing in it, and now, I’m feeling the pain. Once back home, I grabbled the already chopped up vegetables from the fridge and scrambled some eggs with it. And of course, I couldn’t forget the berries.

Work was fairly busy but I didn’t once feel like I wasn’t going to be able to tackle everything. Lunch was leftover vegetables with roasted red pepper sauce and a piece of salmon. I love the frozen fish fillets from Whole Foods. They are individually vacuum packed so they’re quick and easy to use. I usually put one in the microwave for a minute, then transfer it to a skillet and cook for a few minutes on each side.

In the afternoon, I had a rather unpleasant work call with two other teammates. I immediately noticed that one was in a bad mood, sensing from how he defensively responded to the other guy on the call. Once it became clear that I was agreeing with this other guy, he started attacking me too. It wasn’t common for him to be acting this way; he’s usually a nice and relaxed guy. Any other day, I would have taken this personally. I would have played it cool while secretly hurting inside. But today, I was able to distance myself and recognize that he was having a bad day, and remained calm and collected.

After the call, my husband and I made a quick trip to Whole Foods to stock up on frozen fish and some fruit. As we were checking out, I saw protein bars from RXBAR. I had seen these before, but never bothered to pick one up. I turned it around to look at the ingredients – Whole30 compliant! We ended up buying a couple – mixed berry and blueberry – and split one as soon as we got home. Not too bad.

My husband cooked dinner tonight. He made cute little sliders made of sweet potato, eggplant, and portabella mushroom buns. What a creative replacement for the pretzel buns we usually like. We layered small beef patties with slices of avocados and tomatoes. So good. More than anything they were fun to look at.

Eating a Whole30 diet doesn’t feel hard. When a Tastemade video for a butternut squash gratin made from heavy cream and various cheeses pops onto my Facebook feed, or when I see a sign in our building elevator about a hot chocolate party, of course I think about it, and for a second, want it. But as long as these foods are out of my sight, I don’t have any desire to eat outside the Whole30 diet. I also feel good mentally. I feel like I’m getting stronger inside and can tolerate uncomfortable situations with more ease. I am hopeful that the Whole30 will change me in a positive way, both inside and out.