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.