This past April, I decided to take on the Whole30 challenge. The previous summer, I had gotten really sick, and still wasn’t feeling back to gold. Because I was tired of feeling tired, I kind of figured that I had nothing to lose. I knew in March that I was ready for the challenge, but gave myself two weeks to make my plans and get prepped for the thirty days to come. From everything I had read, it seemed like the planning stage was the most important part for me to focus on to have a successful challenge. I knew if I was prepared, it would make it a lot easier to deal with my family’s crazy schedule. Turns out, it was a good move for me to learn as much as I could about the program and to have meal plans at the ready.
Whole30 Basics
Whole30 is a thirty day body and lifestyle challenge created by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. The idea is to remove sugar/sugar substitutes, dairy, grains, legumes, alcohol, caffeine, processed foods and transfats for thirty days to “reset” your body. After the thirty days, you slowly reintroduce each food group one by one while taking note of how they affect your body. You can eat vegetables, fruits, meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts and seeds, and healthy fats. The rules also include that if you slip up, you must restart the thirty days to get the benefits of the reset. When you reintroduce your food groups, you can then decide what foods are worth including in your normal diet or getting rid of completely, based on how they affect you.
Whole30 Resources
- Whole30 website
- It Starts With Food book*
- Whole30 book*
- Whole30 Cookbook book*
My Challenges
Everyone who does the Whole30 reset will have their own set of challenges. My biggest challenges that I knew about even before I started were:
- Eating three times a day, without snacking, especially breakfast
- Getting rid of added sugar
- Being bored with food, since I am a pretty picky eater
How I Met The Challenges
- I forced myself to eat breakfast each day by 10am. I allowed myself a smoothie if I was desperate. I felt this was better than breakfast at all, even though it was primarily fruit and I was drinking my calories, which made me feel less full.
- The first week, I had healthy snacks like carrots and celery, rather than junky snacks. After the first week, I changed to no snacks. This is when I saw big changes. I was hungry for breakfast and I was sleeping through the night.
- I took field trips to the grocery store specifically to read labels and find foods without added sugars. They are sneaky!
- I tried new vegetables and recipes, but had reliable ones on hand to grab when I didn’t feel like cooking. Some of my favorites are chicken salad, roasted vegetables, soups, and large bags of lettuce that I had cut and only had to grab handfuls out of.
- I made meal plans that I shopped around, but kept them flexible for the week rather than forcing myself to eat a specific thing on a specific day.
My Outcomes
I saw so many benefits while doing the Whole30 challenge! And I was surprised at some of my reactions when I added foods back into my diet.
- I’ve been sleeping better. Not just through the night, but waking up feeling refreshed.
- I know when I’m actually hungry, and not just looking for something because of habit.
- The mental fog has cleared, although when I eat sugar, I find it comes back pretty fast.
- I had a bum elbow that had been giving me pain for a few months. During the Whole30 challenge, the pain went away completely. This was exciting, because it was the only inflammation that was an obvious sign to me in my body. If I eat dairy, sugar, grains, or beans, it does come back for a day or two following.
- I lost a few pounds, even though that wasn’t my intention.
- I have a lot less desire for junk food. I have special things that I crave (and still enjoy on occasion), but the overall feeling of not desiring sugary foods is awesome.
- I enjoy trying new foods (within reason! LOL)
Now, I eat what I want knowing how it will affect me. I don’t stick with Whole30 always, but find that it is the diet I crave more than junky food now. This summer, my goal is to remove a lot of processed foods and added sugars from my kids’ diet. I will still allow some, but finding healthier ways to make things at home will be the primary action for me. Some of our favorites so far are smoothies, energy balls, pureed fruit popsicles, fruit sorbets and detox water.
Have you done the Whole30 challenge? Are you planning to? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in the comments below the related posts listed below.
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