A Whole30 is a dietary plan where for 30 days, you eat nothing but eggs, fruits, vegetables, nuts, meats, fish, spices and fats
(olive oil, coconut oil, and something called ghee, which is "clarified butter"). No grains, no dairy, no sugar, no sweeteners, no legumes, nothing processed and no baked goods made with "Whole30 foods".
Yes, it is as dreary as it sounds. But actually it's not that bad.
And, just to get this out of the way, I did not follow this perfectly. In fact, I cheated A LOT. In the following ways.
1) I ate all natural bacon/sausage that DID have some added sugar. No MSG or nitrates or anything like that, but yes to sugar.
2) I ate regular mayonnaise, instead of making my own.
3) I went totally off the plan for any meal I ate out of the house (which was about 1 meal a week, except for 1 week where it was like 3 meals). And I didn't follow it for my daughter's birthday dinner/cake.
4) I did try to make "treats" using whole30 ingredients (see below for details).
Nonetheless, it was still a major and positive change.
What I ate:
Breakfast: eggs, and sausage or bacon (except on Fridays), fruit
Lunch: chicken or tuna salad with onions, lettuce, tomato and nuts along with some sorts of vegetable (roasted eggplant, sauteed mushrooms, roasted zucchini). Or leftovers if we had any.
Dinner: meat or fish, green vegetable and a starchy vegetable (potato, sweet potato, winter squash, carrots, spaghetti squash, etc.)
Snacks: nuts, dried fruit, fresh fruit, fresh veggies, shredded coconut
What I Learned:
1) Eating is very much a social experience. It is EXTREMELY hard to eat this way when eating out of the house. Which is why I didn't, because I'm not about to isolate myself. And, I figure that if 20/21 meals a week are whole and clean, that's pretty good.
2) Without dairy and grains, it is VERY hard to do meatless Fridays. Or at least, I feel the lack of meat more. We ended up eating more fish, which *I* like, but no one else does. Too bad for them. Actually I made a really good recipe with flounder breaded in coconut flour and everyone said it wasn't too bad. And, as we eat more fish, I'm sure everyone will get accustomed to eating it more.
3) Sugar/chocolate has a very powerful stronghold. Which is why I ended up making "treats" (mostly combining nuts, dates and cocoa powder to make little balls). They are actually quite tasty. However, combining avocado, dates and cocoa is not nearly as good. I'm sure if I followed the plan "perfectly" it would have been easier to break the sugar/chocolate addiction. However, to be honest, I don't really want to. Chocolate makes me happy.
4) Eating this way is both very simple and very monotonous when you can't afford steak. That's both good and bad. It's good in that portion control is much easier. It's bad in that well..it can get boring in a chicken again...kind of way. I've had to learn how to cook new dishes, since a lot of our old favorites (pizza, tacos, macaroni and cheese) were out the window.
5) I generally felt very good eating this way..more energy for sure. The only issue is really with eating TOO many vegetables, all that fiber can be a bit rough on digestion if you know what I mean. And, I had less food cravings and less sugar lows and less feelings of being hangry (that's hungry/angry for those not in the know). And it's pretty much impossible to overeat, eating like this..which is probably the best thing about it. I left each meal feeling satiated but not overly full.
6). Weight loss. I know this is what everyone is really interested in. I did lose some weight. Probably about 5-7 pounds over the course of the whole month. Nothing spectacular, but nothing to sneeze at either.
7). Generally my food expenditure stayed about the same. From what others have written it seems as though some people have their food expenditure go down because they cut out eating out, alcohol and fancy coffee. Some people have their expenditure go up because they are buying more meat/veggies. Mine pretty much stayed the same, although it would have probably gone up if we didn't have the generosity of my parents who supplied us with ample fresh organic vegetables from their garden each week. That helped a lot.
Moving Forward: I generally plan to continue eating this way on an 80/20 basis. Follow the plan generally 80% of the time and deviate it from about 20% of the time for special or social occasions. It's working, it's healthy and I think it's good for everyone. I do think I may add in more legumes as many sources say they are healthy and I have never noticed them bothering me. However, definitely going to keep the dairy/grains limited.
4) Eating this way is both very simple and very monotonous when you can't afford steak. That's both good and bad. It's good in that portion control is much easier. It's bad in that well..it can get boring in a chicken again...kind of way. I've had to learn how to cook new dishes, since a lot of our old favorites (pizza, tacos, macaroni and cheese) were out the window.
5) I generally felt very good eating this way..more energy for sure. The only issue is really with eating TOO many vegetables, all that fiber can be a bit rough on digestion if you know what I mean. And, I had less food cravings and less sugar lows and less feelings of being hangry (that's hungry/angry for those not in the know). And it's pretty much impossible to overeat, eating like this..which is probably the best thing about it. I left each meal feeling satiated but not overly full.
6). Weight loss. I know this is what everyone is really interested in. I did lose some weight. Probably about 5-7 pounds over the course of the whole month. Nothing spectacular, but nothing to sneeze at either.
7). Generally my food expenditure stayed about the same. From what others have written it seems as though some people have their food expenditure go down because they cut out eating out, alcohol and fancy coffee. Some people have their expenditure go up because they are buying more meat/veggies. Mine pretty much stayed the same, although it would have probably gone up if we didn't have the generosity of my parents who supplied us with ample fresh organic vegetables from their garden each week. That helped a lot.
Moving Forward: I generally plan to continue eating this way on an 80/20 basis. Follow the plan generally 80% of the time and deviate it from about 20% of the time for special or social occasions. It's working, it's healthy and I think it's good for everyone. I do think I may add in more legumes as many sources say they are healthy and I have never noticed them bothering me. However, definitely going to keep the dairy/grains limited.
