The Whole 30

Update April 2021 - This blog post expresses an opinion and lifestyle that I previously supported.  But after years of learning about diet culture and the negative outcomes associated with dieting, I no longer subscribe to these beliefs.  I've kept the post because of growth over time, but no longer support restriction of food because of the negative impact it had on my life.  

Shrimp Tacos on Jicama Slices - made by me!

January 2018 is here and with its arrival come the annual resolutions to commit to a healthier lifestyle. New year, new you, right?

his January I’ll be completing my 6th round of the Whole 30. For those of you who haven’t yet heard about Melissa Hartwig and her Whole 30 Empire- here are the cliffs notes. 

The Whole 30 is a month of eating certain foods while eliminating other foods so that you have the opportunity to see how your body responds when you add the eliminated foods back in. There are rules and they must be strictly adhered to for the whole 30 days or you have to start over. The key rules (as I prioritize them) are:

1) No sugar... see ya later chocolate!

2) No dairy products... I’ll miss you, cheese!

3) No grains- gluten or otherwise.  This includes wheat, rice, corn, quinoa, granola, oatmeal... Basically a lot of the carbs are out- but not all of them.  Potatoes are my friend. 

4) No legumes or peanuts... I look forward to the return of my chunky peanut butter when I reintroduce legumes Every. Single. Time. 

5) No alcohol... hence the rise to power of La Croix/Seltzer and Kombucha.

6) No fake stuff... like additives to foods, colorings, fake sugars... who misses these anyways?  We’re literally eating chemicals in tons of our foods. 

7) No baked goods or treats that resemble them but are made out of approved ingredients. Don’t try to make pancakes out of almond flour and mashed bananas. It’s just 30 days.  You'll survive.
(For more details on the rules, you should read Melissa Hartwig's Books or just start at the website which has lots of helpful tools including the rules, food additives that are allowed (like citric acid which can be manufactured but occurs naturally in citrus fruits - and several others), a list of all the different names for types of sugars - none of which are permitted, and several suggestions for meal preparations, grocery shopping, etc.  I will say that I did my first whole 30 program based on the website and have since read several of the books which have made the process easier in subsequent rounds.

What you can, and should eat:

1) Vegetables. Cooked or raw. 

2) Animals that lived happy lives or as close to organic as you can afford and acquire. For me, as a non red-meat eater- this means a lot of chicken, turkey, and fish and eggs. 

3) coconut, olive, or avocado oils or ghee/refined butter for cooking. 

4) so many seasonings like herbs and spices as long as they don’t include any of the not allowed items. I personally live on cumin for tacos/fajitas and Franks Red Hot (original flavor) made into buffalo sauce during my whole 30’s. 

5) Nuts and seeds including nut butters that aren’t peanuts

6) Fruit

Basically- eat healthy for 30 days. Read your labels and see what kinds of things are added to our food to make you more aware.  Cleanse yourself. 

After the 30 days is up- you can either follow the guide in the Whole 30 book to introduce the eliminated components one by one or you can choose which one to add first. For example, I was really sure before doing this that dairy products bother me—- but after reintroducing them first on several rounds, I’ve determined that it either isn’t dairy products or that it is a certain dairy product that I have not yet isolated. In comparison- chick peas/garbanzo beans definitely make me feel miserable so I now avoid eating hummus and adding chick peas to my salads and only eat them if they’re in a felafel sandwich that looks and tastes amazing when I’m not in whole 30 mode.  Interestingly, I don’t seem to have the same reaction to quinoa or peanuts and haven’t tested black beans or pinto beans enough to be sure.  

So- why would anyone do this? I can tell you that I lose weight every time I do a whole 30, but that I have gained it back every time I reintroduce sugar.  Since I've been calorie tracking for about 4 months continously while not on the Whole 30, and now am 4 days into this round - it's easy to see why.  A single piece of cheese and two pieces of bread which I may have had with my turkey sandwich while not on the plan were 300 more calories - and that's just in a lunch sandwich.  It's unfortunate I haven't been able to sustain the loss - but maybe that will be different if I keep tracking moving forward.

Regardless, I’ve learned valuable things about what I eat and how my body responds to those foods. In particular, I feel a whole lot better when I eat this way, so it’s a nice way to start the year off with clean eating, trying to get on track, and test out what foods seem to bother your gut or your skin or your body in various ways. When I do a whole 30, I have more energy after the initial few days, I feel less bloated, my skin, hair, and fingernails are much nicer, and I don’t have ANY of the binge eating issues that plague me when I’m allowing myself to eat whatever I want. The program is not intended to be for weight loss- it’s intended for improved self awareness and personal growth so you can achieve Food Freedom.  This is the idea that you control what you consume and that your food does not control you.  I have, on too many occasions, known that food was in control. For the next 30 days- and typically longer when I’m reintroducing things - I feel very much in control.  

I personally have not reached my place of Food Freedom, yet, but with my new nutritional knowledge after reading “Deep Nutrition” and overlapping some of the consistent ideas, I’m looking forward to combining these ideas moving through 2018 to see if I get closer to 2018. Deep Nutrition advocates for some dairy and ohhhh man do I love cheese- so that’s a key difference. It also recommends fermented foods, meat on the bone and bone broth as well as organ meats, and raw vegetables while eliminating sugar and poor oil sources. In combination, I think there might be a happy medium for me and look forward to sharing my journey.

Disclaimer: as a physical therapist - I don't just go around advising people to participate in this program because that's not within my scope of practice.  But as a human being, this is what I'm doing for myself and lots of patients have heard about it and often ask.  This is to better educate you about the plan - since it's been around for years and is increasingly more common.

Anybody else doing a whole 30?  How’s it going? Any fun recipes you want to share?  I'm happy to share my favorites if you're in need!

Happy New Year.  Here's to a healthy 2018.

Book Alert: Deep Nutrition By Dr. Catherine Shanahan

I just finished reading Deep Nutrition by Dr. Catherine Shanahan.  Fascinating stuff.  And if Kobe Bryant endorses it, as one of the few who was able to play NBA elite level hoops for 20 years, it has to be worthy of a few weeks of my reading time, right?

A few snippets that I found fascinating from this book:

1) Nutrition can affect genetics in later on generations but these may not be permanent changes.  The idea that DNA and genes are a series of light switches turned on or off by what is available is novel to me.  One example in the book describes a 1930 study conducted using pigs that were deprived of vitamin A before they reproduced.  The litter of these deprived pigs were born without eyeballs because the mother had no supply available and vitamin A is essential to formation of the eye.  The blind piglets, however, were fed normal diets that contained vitamin A and they were able to give birth to pigs with eyeballs. Unreal!

2) The science of food is considered with respect to the biochemistry of oils and how certain ones (particularly vegetable oils) are dangerous for consumption. Dr Cate shows how vegetable oils have multiple double bonds in their chains which break apart when heated leaving reactive compounds in our bodies that can wreak havoc on the system. My inner chemistry nerd loved trying to comprehend the complexity that she simplified here.  Additionally, there is a lengthy discussion of the science of all the ways vegetable oils can affect the body- and none of them sounds good!  This book is a challenging read- even with boat loads of science learning behind me, I had to really work to gain full understanding of some of the biochemistry going on- but it is definitely making me think about my food in a new way.

3) Following oil, the book went on to discuss the negative effects of sugar consumption. After completing five rounds of the whole 30, I'm positive that my body hates sugar... though my mind continues to crave it and give in to the temptation of its deliciousness. Discussions of how sugar influences cholesterol levels, diabetes, migraines, erectile dysfunction, and cardiac issues were outlined. I doubt I’ll ever be able to completely exclude my favorite treats from my diet, but the anecdotes and research outlined in this book will certainly make me think more about the treats I’m consuming and whether or not they’re worth it. 

4) Consider food as medicine. If you focus on what we eat as the problem, it might be hard to realize that food is also the solution.  The book looks at a few conditions - particularly concussion, Alzheimer’s, and autism- and discusses how oxidative stress contributes to these diagnoses. Did you know that what you eat after a concussion can impact your potential recovery because certain foods increase oxidative stress on the brain which it is already overloaded with from the injury? I had never thought about it from that perspective, and I treat people who have experienced concussions!  The book outlines "The Human Diet" with the four key components of what you should be eating. 

Overall, I definitely recommend the book but think it’s only fare to mention it felt like hard work to get through some of the heavy science portions. Ultimately I’m so glad I did and will definitely be applying some of the principles I learned to how I eat and cook.

Check it out!  Next up to read: "The Origin of Species."