After mentioning the Whole30 challenge I’m taking part in in a few of my earlier October posts, I actually got quite a few comments from some of you expressing interest in the program. At first, I was kind of surprised – I have my own peculiar and very weird set of digestive ailments, and though I knew I wasn’t entirely alone in my struggles, I didn’t realize until very recently just how many people (mostly women) experience the same life-disrupting tummy troubles that I have for the past couple years. Since so many of us seem to be in the same boat symptomatically (or at least in the same fleet), I thought I’d share my thoughts on the Whole30 challenge so far in case any of you are considering doing it!
What is Whole30?
As Whole9 (the creators of the Whole30 challenge) describe it, Whole30 is: “Whole9’s original program designed to change your life in 30 days. Think of it as a short-term nutritional reset, designed to help you restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, calm systemic inflammation and put an end to unhealthy cravings, habits, and relationships with food.”
And what can (or more importantly, can’t) you eat?
In short: no dairy, no grains, no gluten, no alcohol, no soy products, no beans. So what does that leave you with? Weeell, though it might seem like next to nothing when you first say bye-bye to your usual staples (mine were bread, pasta and wine), once you get creative, there’s actually quite a lot to eat. There is a whole world of paleo food blogs out there aimed at getting us back to our ancestral nutritional roots, and with a few little modifications, almost all paleo meals are completely Whole30 safe. Among the new recipes I’ve tried out (from left to right in the pic above), I cooked up a homemade sweet potato soup, modified a sandwich at Hubbub to a delicious turkey sausage and green salad and treated myself one Saturday morning to Whole30 “pancakes” (i.e. one banana, two eggs) with apple and blackberry sauce.
Has it been that hard? No. I will admit that on Thanksgiving, I died a little inside when I couldn’t take part in the bottle of wine being passed around and wasn’t able to indulge in some of our favourite beer from the local craft brewery, and not getting to eat any pumpkin pie was hard too. Special occassions obviously bring out the worst of our emotional ties to food/alcohol though, and aside from that weekend, the rest has been pretty smooth sailing. It really just comes down to prep work – if you keep yourself fueled, you don’t cheat!
Has it helped?
This one’s a bit trickier to answer, though overall I’d say yes. When you’re still within the first two weeks of the program and especially if you have a pre-existing digestive condition like I do, it can seem a bit up and down. Having said that, I used to take medication daily for my digestive syndrome and have weaned myself off of it for the most part (though I still use it here and there as needed), so that’s actually pretty major for me. I have had some bad days that had me questioning whether or not this was really helping, but all in all, I think compared to what I normally experience, I’ve definitely seen some improvements.
Most importantly, this program is helping me get to a baseline, which is a hard thing to achieve but so important if you’re struggling to identify your dietary triggers. I’m not entirely certain that dairy or gluten are really the main culprits in my diet, but with them gone I have finally discovered that cauliflower and leeks seem to not agree with me. I would have never been able to figure that out if my dietary options weren’t limited already as it is.
Anything to be aware of before joining?
The program can be tricky for veggies since soy products are out of the picture, but if you can rely more heavily on eggs and other veggie protein options, you’re golden. Like any other nutritional plan, checking in with your doc beforehand is never a bad call, but as long as you make sure you eat lots, there’s little this program can do to hurt you. Really, there’s only a lot to benefit from or learn about, especially in identifiying where your foodie emotional attachments lie and maybe even which foods have been hurting you.
Also, do yourself a huge favour and join a support group! Our Whole30 group on Facebook is the single most important part of my whole experience so far – from Vahni of Grit & Glamour (a Whole30 vet) to Erika of Style Activist (who’s not only a vet but also a holistic health coach), the amount of support, advice and encouragement I get from that group is insane. So important!
Am I going to continue after the 30 days are up?
Who knows what I’ll be saying down the road (usually it’s not until Day 15 that you really feel the full effects of the program), but as of right now, I’ve decided that I definitely want to eat paleo- or Whole30-compliant 4 days out of the week post-October and to be more lenient Friday through Sunday. And obviously, come the 31st, I’m a-celebratin’ Halloween with a big pumpkin ale.
I’m also going to really ease in the reintroductions to see what I really do have issues with – dairy will be week one of November, gluten week two. Depending on how that goes, I’ll know what I can eat during my three days of leniency.
Anyway, I know that was a bit of a novel, but I hope that gives you all a bit of an idea of what it entails! Another thing worth noting is that a lot of people get into Whole30 for a whole host of other reasons: whether it’s weight loss, controlling diabetes or even trying to tackle longterm skin ailments like cystic acne or eczema, it’s a really great 30-day restart tool for your whole system.
This is a very interesting post!! When you say what you can't eat it really doesn't sound like you have many options but seeing what you did have there is a lot of options. It's interesting how something simple like changing your diet can help you feel so much better and change skin conditions etc xJennaD
WOW, you have so much self-control. I would be horrible at this. I've tried cutting processed & sugars totally out, but they always seem to slowly come back into my life. I hope you see a difference & feel better in general. I actually do feel better when I'm eating more fruits & vegetables. xo, amy http://www.dreamingincashmere.com
Gosh good for you for so much self control! I have no idea how I would be in this situation. But, it really goes to show how much we rely on foods that we don't necessarily need in our diet! Thank you so much for sharing! xo, nancy
dag, i got to no alcohol and sort of cringed but all in all this looks really do-able Alex. good for you! i'm gonna do some more research and show Sean. we've been sourcing a few programs to try and cleanse out the badness in our diets. this could do the trick! thanks lades 🙂 ♥
Hey love! Surprisingly, not too too bad. There are moments where it sucks (normally special occasions) but other than that, I just make sure I have tons of food and it's been okay!
Spread the health, spread the wealth! Love this post and your honesty take on Whole30. I think you're doing marvelously, and in these next two weeks, I'm sure you're going to see even greater results. Stay strong, focus on YOU and your beautiful body and I truly believe you can significantly improve your digestive issues!
This is a very interesting post!! When you say what you can't eat it really doesn't sound like you have many options but seeing what you did have there is a lot of options. It's interesting how something simple like changing your diet can help you feel so much better and change skin conditions etc
xJennaD
This sounds very interesting…and definitely intense! I'm not sure if I would have the will-power 😉
WOW, you have so much self-control. I would be horrible at this. I've tried cutting processed & sugars totally out, but they always seem to slowly come back into my life. I hope you see a difference & feel better in general. I actually do feel better when I'm eating more fruits & vegetables.
xo, amy
http://www.dreamingincashmere.com
Gosh good for you for so much self control! I have no idea how I would be in this situation. But, it really goes to show how much we rely on foods that we don't necessarily need in our diet! Thank you so much for sharing!
xo,
nancy
http://adoretoadorn.blogspot.com
dag, i got to no alcohol and sort of cringed but all in all this looks really do-able Alex. good for you! i'm gonna do some more research and show Sean. we've been sourcing a few programs to try and cleanse out the badness in our diets. this could do the trick! thanks lades 🙂 ♥
I hOnestly think I may try it. Has it been a hard transition?
Hey love! Surprisingly, not too too bad. There are moments where it sucks (normally special occasions) but other than that, I just make sure I have tons of food and it's been okay!
It sounds interesting, but perhaps harder to pull off for us veggies 🙂 DO you think you'll stick with it after 30 days?
Spread the health, spread the wealth! Love this post and your honesty take on Whole30. I think you're doing marvelously, and in these next two weeks, I'm sure you're going to see even greater results. Stay strong, focus on YOU and your beautiful body and I truly believe you can significantly improve your digestive issues!
PS: Thanks for the mention!
This sounds like such a great challenge – good for you for taking it on. I look forward to following your progress.
Kate – petite-adventures.blogspot.ca