Lessons Learned from the Whole30

Since I've finished the Whole30 I've had several people ask me: 1) what it is, or 2) tips and recipes for doing it. In this post I'll first address these two topics, but I'll also finish with some life/God lessons that I learned while doing the Whole30.

What is the Whole30?

First of all, the Whole30 is essentially 30 days of cutting out several food groups in order for your body to "reset" in a way. The foods that are cut out are foods that are associated with common allergies and/or systemic inflammation. Basically, so much of the American diet is sugar and empty carbs that contain no nutrition whatsoever. They just exist to give your body something to burn. The Whole30 focuses in on these foods (and other things that people are commonly intolerant of) and cuts them out of your diet temporarily in order to slowly reintroduce them and see what you personally can or can't tolerate. The food groups are: any grains (wheat, oats, rice, etc.), all added sugar (you can still eat natural sugar that exists in the fruit and veggies you eat. This is the most difficult one since in America sugar is added to EVERYTHING!), legumes (peanuts, soy, beans, except sugar snap peas, snow peas and green beans), and dairy. The point of the Whole30 isn't to label all of these foods as "bad" foods (even though a few of them legitimately are), but rather to see which ones are bad for you specifically. Many people find that they're lactose intolerant or gluten intolerant by doing this diet, but also many people find that they just feel better and function better while on the Whole30. The reason I decided to try this diet is because I've struggled with acne for about 5 years and am on a mission to be done with it once and for all. I'm sick temporary medications, antibiotics, or creams that only treat the symptoms. I'm on a search to find out why my skin reacts the way it does and heal it from the inside out. I did 38 days of the Whole30 diet and have since then reintroduced all of the foods back into my diet. I've found that my acne gets drastically worse when I consume sugar and dairy, so now I know that I need to steer away from these groups in my lifestyle.

Now, for those who are doing Whole30, way to go! It really is a rewarding and empowering experience! Here are some tips to consider as you go along your journey to holistic health.

Tip #1: Focus what you CAN eat, not what you can't eat

It's easy to list everything you can't eat, pick 3 or 4 meals that you can eat, and then just eat those meals throughout the Whole30. I wouldn't advise doing this. Instead of thinking about all the grains you're missing out on, expand your diet by adding vegetables/fruits you've never tried. If you stick to chicken and potatoes for the whole thing you will not be getting all of the nutrients that your body actually does need to run. Variety in your diet will help ensure that you're getting range of nutrients as well as make the Whole30 exciting and flavorful.

Tip #2: Watch your fruit intake

Without a doubt the hardest thing to cut out of my diet was sugar. You really don't realize how much we consume on a daily basis until you're without it and suddenly have a SERIOUS hankering for a sweet "healthy" granola bar or fruit as a snack. It was easy for me to eat way more fruit than I should because of these cravings. It's recommended that you eat 2 servings (about 2 cups, or 2 peices of fruit) per day. I know it's hard, but if you really want to master your cravings you can't keep feeding yourself fruit. I would say it's okay to cave in to a few of your cravings at first, but try to stick to actual whole fruit rather than dried fruit (since dried fruit contains more sugar and less nutrients) and also eat protein with your fruit since this will help balance your blood sugar. Eventually, you can master these cravings by eating some snap peas or nuts, having a cup of herbal (non-sweetened and non-soy) tea, or just straight up drinking more water. Most of the time your body is just thirsty anyways. Note that I'm referring to cravings and not hunger. If you're hungry, you should probably eat something. Make sure that you're getting enough protein, veggies, and good fat during meal times, and hunger for snacks shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Tip #3: Watch your coffee intake

In the first week of the Whole30, you feel pretty crappy. I was also tired and had headaches, and headaches aren't something that I am used to. It's easy to replace your cravings for sugar and energy with coffee, but try to refrain. Limit yourself to one cup a day and time it for when your adrenaline/cortisol levels usually drop. Right when you first wake up is when your cortisol is supposed to kick in, so wait a few hours before giving your hormones another boost. A few hours after lunch is also a good time, usually between 2-4. Tea is a better alternative, but be careful about the ingredients! A lot of teas say "natural" but that could also include natural sweeteners such as stevia or agave nector. Both of these are off limits during the Whole30. Also watch out for soy lecithin in tea since it's commonly used to help diffuse flavors throughout the water.

Tip #4: Account for the amount of time it will take to eat

One of the biggest frustrations and lessons learned is the amount of time that it takes to cook. Every. Single. Meal. If you're trying a new Whole30 recipe and it says prep time is 10 minutes and cook time is 30 minutes, you should plan on that meal taking anywhere from an hour to and hour and a half. Maybe I'm just not good at cooking, but to chop all the fresh ingredients and continually check the cookbook for instructions took longer than I anticipated. I was forced to miss social outings because dinner took 30-45 minutes longer than I planned. Just beware of this fact when you're trying new recipes. If you're suddenly in a rush and don't have time to make the dinner you originally planned, I would suggest always keeping eggs in the fridge for a quick and easy omelette.

Tip #5: Crock pot meals are a huge time savor

Crock pots are magical. You throw everything together in the morning and come home to a delicious meal! If you have a crock pot, use it. If you have one day of the week that you can spend pre-cooking all your crock pot meals to freeze, do it. Beef brisket and pulled pork carnitas are two that we did that are easy and delicious!

Tip #6: Healthy doesn't mean bland

Most people think that because you can't have any sugar or butter on Whole30, everything has to taste bland. This is completely false! Garlic, onion, salt, pepper, and lemon/lime are nature's seasonings. Cooking some meat with onion and fresh garlic can go a long way. If you're trying to save money, garlic powder and onion powder work just as well. Salt and pepper are really all you need in my personal opinion, but I also change things up with the occasional oregano, thyme, curry, cumin, cinnamon, or chili powder every now and then. Don't be afraid to mix up your seasonings and try something new. You can also clarify some unsalted butter to use on sweet or mashed potatoes. As far as salad dressings go, I just usually just used olive oil and vinegar. This is also a good option for eating out. Almost any restaurant you go to will have some salad options and oil and vinegar. If you can get some salt and pepper and oregano, even better! Good healthy food doesn't have to taste bland (and in fact tastes better than fake food)!

Tip #7: Whole30 doesn't mean "all organic"

This is a common misconception on Whole30. It's generally known that preservatives and additives aren't good for you, but this isn't the point of Whole30. If you're going on a budget, you can have certain processed foods, frozen fruits and veggies, and canned vegetables. Just be aware that you won't be getting all the nutrients that you could be getting (which is can be a big deal if you're trying to heal your body) and make sure you read the ingredients to watch out for sugars and disguised sugars. Some preservatives are off limits and you can find a list of them here. However, they do say that if you're going to go organic in one thing, it is more beneficial to eat organic meat that has been grass-fed and has no added hormones/antibiotics. It seems that hormones added to meat affect your system more than a washed off pesticide or a GMO tomato would.

Tip #8: Chipotle just got more awesome

As if there wasn't enough reason to love Chipotle already, it's one of the few restaurants where I knew 100% that I was holding to Whole30. However, the only meat you can get there is the carnitas since the other meats are cooked in rice-bran oil (and also the peppers). I load up a salad with double carnitas, pico, mild (green) salsa, and guac. You could also bring your own fresh peppers and onions to add a few more veggies to your plate. It's pretty expensive with double meat and guac, but you could save half of it for lunch the next day. Great idea for date nights or if your dinner plans are foiled last minute.

Life lessons learned from the Whole30

Lesson #1: Anything worth doing takes time and sacrifice

Of course it's difficult to be the only person in your office who can't eat anything (literally anything) at an office party. Of course it's difficult to say "no" to steaming bread, chocolate ice cream, and donuts. But in my experience biggest difficulty of the Whole30 isn't saying no to sugar or drinking your coffee black, it's definitely the amount of time that it takes to plan your meals weekly, shop for those meals, prepare those meals, and sit down and eat those meals. I found myself getting so insanely frustrated because it literally felt like all I had time to do in my day was work 8 hours and then cook and eat, and then it's time for bed to do it all over again the next day. Then I realized, I don't eat terribly because I like the food better, I eat terribly because American culture has made it SO much easier to. It's yet another daily option to choose the quick, easy, and immediately satisfying route, or to take the time, effort, and discipline for the ultimately satisfying route. Too often we take the quick and easy route and expect ultimately satisfying results, yet no good thing in life works that way. I want to encourage you to remember that. If you really want to heal your body from the inside out or find out how you function best, there is no quick and painless fix. Sorry to burst your Americanized bubble.

Lesson #2: Sitting down for dinner is a discipline

Maybe sitting down for dinner isn't actually that difficult for you, but I know it was for me. Most of the time I'm so focused on accomplishing tasks that I'm actually annoyed by the fact that my body forces me to eat something in order to function. In the off chance that I actually have a few minutes to make dinner, it's usually something quick, bland, and scarfed down in 10 minutes. After completing the Whole30, I'm convinced more than ever that God did not intend for food to be this way. In fact, studies show that if you eat your food too fast, your stomach can't properly digest the food and it ends up causing grief to your stomach lining and potentially your esophagus. I don't think God would've created so many foods with various flavors, textures, aromas, and scrumptious sensations for us to devour in the few minutes between those "crucial" chores we need to do. The Whole30 opened my eyes to see how little I take the time to sit down and enjoy the food and blessings that God has given me. There were times when I had to turn down various events and obligations in order to just have enough time to cook and eat. It was easy for me to be embittered by this at first, but I later came to realize that maybe it's a good thing to be forced to say "no" on occasion. I now view meal times as God's way of forcing me to cease my striving and just be. And because the American lifestyle refuses to slow down, it actually takes being intentional and disciplined in order to just stop everything for a few hours to cook, sit down, eat, and enjoy.

Lesson #3: Patience

Patience is a huge component of having a successful Whole30 experience. Not only is patience needed for the time that is takes to learn how to cook your own food, but it's also needed in expecting results. For some reason, I was thinking that after years of eating horrible sugar-packed food with little nutrition, my body would instantly heal as soon as I started eating correctly. Spoiler alert: it didn't. In fact, for a little bit it felt like my body was getting worse. My acne still flared up, I had headaches, low energy, and a constant frustration that I was spending so much time on something that wasn't even working. But, I committed to it for 30 days and I was determined to finish. It was only toward the end of the Whole30 that I actually began to feel really good, had no breakouts, and the best energy levels I've ever experienced, even on days when I didn't have any caffeine. This was a reminder to me that healing takes time and I can't expect a quick-fix after 30 days of ending habits that I've had for a decade. This applies to a number of habits and disciplines in life, including spiritual disciplines. So often I begin a good spiritual discipline, such as memorizing scripture, and after a week of investing but failing to see any immediate benefit, I convince myself that it's not really doing anything for me so I quit. When starting disciplines like this, it's important to remember that it may not have any immediate benefit, but in its time it reaps a reward that makes all of the invested effort absolutely worth it.

Lesson #4: Mind over Matter

The most powerful lesson I learned on the Whole30 is that I am not a slave to my body. I have the power to choose what I put in my body. I don't have to have peanut butter in order to live. I don't have to have a free donut when the opportunity presents itself. My mind does have control over my body, and to give into my body's cravings because I "just can't resist such and such" is to begin a pattern of learned helplessness and slavery to the flesh. I love where Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9: "Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified." Not saying that I'm perfect in this area or that I always resist the temptation, but I do acknowledge now that it was my choice to succumb to that temptation. No one made me do it, not even my body. Taking ownership of my failures reminds me that I'm not a helpless victim to my flesh, and that the next time an opportunity presents itself I can and do have the power to say no! 

Lesson #5: Consider the Cost

So many people always talk about how they want to eat healthier, but it just cost too much money, time, or effort. It's true that a healthy diet can cost you a considerable amount. But even with all the time, energy, and money that it costs to eat healthy, the cost of not eating healthy is much more expensive. So many of the illnesses that we face in our society are only symptoms of poor food habits, even among thin people who seem healthy. The American diet has raised a generation of nutrient-deprived people and we will reap the consequences in due time (most likely in our later stages of life). It's true that there are several illnesses that we don't really have control over, but that doesn't mean we should just give up entirely and consistently feed our bodies trash. We need to stop looking at the immediate cost of things and instead gain a wisdom in evaluating the total cost of them. Don't wait until you're sick or diagnosed with an illness to consider your health. It will cost you much less if you deal with it right now.

So many of these food lessons remind me of my spiritual battle with sin. Some of my sinful habits seem so harmless, but they always end up costing me more than I ever calculated or anticipated. A little fear leads to worry, a little worry leads to unrest, unrest leads to anxiety, and before I know it I'm angry with my husband because of the seed of fear that I allowed to grow. That fear could've been weeded and dealt with from the start, but I waited until it cost me many sleepless nights, tears, and frustration before it was dealt with. The immediate cost of dealing with the seeds of sin are much less expensive than the cost dealing with them once they've grown.

This pretty much sums up my Whole30 experience! It has changed so much about how I view food, health, and life. If you're reading this and are interested in doing it, I definitely encourage you to do so! If you're reading this and have decided to do it, YOU CAN DO IT. People might think you're crazy, but you will learn so much. If you need anything at all just let me know and I will offer the best advice that I can. Peace, love, and blessings!