The Whole30

The Whole30

What is it?

The Whole30 program is technically an elimination diet - for 30+ days you’re eliminating certain foods from your diet (aka the food you eat = diet). I say 30+ because to get the full benefits, I think you need to get into the mindset that you’re not “done” until you complete the reintroduction period (typically 10 days).

I like to think of it as a self experiment and an exercise in self care. The foods that the program has you eliminate are typically foods that make us not feel very good. There are the obvious culprits like sugar and alcohol, and then grains, legumes, and dairy (food that can often cause gastrointestinal issues like bloating, gas, etc). Not only are you eliminating these foods for 30 days, you’re also eliminating weighing yourself and taking measurements.

Often people wonder what’s left then. What can you eat? Plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit, meat, seafood, eggs, nuts, healthy fats, plus herbs & spices! I know that it sounds kind of crazy and radical, but it can be more reasonable than you think. While a lasagna with garlic bread are out, you can eat a steak with a side of roasted potatoes & broccoli plus a garden salad with olive oil & vinegar. A breakfast of pancakes and syrup is a no-go, but a breakfast of eggs, sausage, and maybe some additional vegetables can be perfectly compliant.

While the program looks similar to Paleo or maybe Keto, you’re not counting macros and you should be basing your meals around a reasonable amount of protein and a lot of vegetables, focusing on eating 3 main meals a day, with a supplement of snacks when your body is hungry. Paleo got a bad rap for a while people some people were promoting/advertising that it’s basically just eating bacon for every meal. The Whole30 isn’t that. It’s really about getting back to real foods for real humans. If you want to find out about the reasons for the foods that are cut out, you can read about it in the book that explains it all (I’m a big nerd and I love this book) called It Starts With Food.

Why I started

To be completely honest, I did my first Whole30 back in May 2014 because I wanted to lose weight. I was feeling stuck. No matter how “healthy” I thought I was eating, I couldn’t seem to make the number on the scale budge or my clothes fit better. At this time I was eating a home made, low fat bran muffin with fruit yogurt for breakfast, I would be ravenous by 10am and have to have a snack at work, lunch was a homemade chicken wrap, or maybe a salad, and dinner was something made at home ranging from maybe spaghetti and meat sauce, to roasted vegetables and chicken. It’s not like I was eating bags and bags of chips, washed down by a coke. A friend had introduced me to a book called Wheat Belly, which got me thinking about carbohydrates, blood sugar, and insulin levels. While I had tried various low or no-carb diets, they had seemed to be missing something, and I couldn’t quite figure out what it was.

At this time I was very active on the Nerd Fitness community forums. I had made a bunch of online friends, and one of those friends told me about the Whole30. With his support, I decided to give it a go.

What it did for me

For those of you wondering - yes, I saw physical changes. I say physical changes not “weight loss” because I want to make a particular distinction. A lot of time when people - particularly women, but also a lot of men - say that they want to lose weight, what they actually mean is that they want to look better, be more “toned”, be leaner, and have their clothes fit better. This isn’t necessarily a reflection of the number on the scale, aka your weight. What people are usually after is a change in body composition - the proportion of fat, bone, and muscle your body has. If you want to read more about body composition and how to measure it in an easily understandable way, I recommend this Nerd Fitness article. After all of my whole30s I typically find that I look better - both as a result of a lower body fat percentage, but largely due to the lack of inflammation, swelling, and bloating (even though I don’t normally feel these things unless I’m eating 5 loaves of bread a day).

The thing that really surprised me when I did my first couple of Whole30s was what it revealed to me about my mental health, and emotional eating patterns. I always kind of knew I was a boredom eater, but I didn’t realize how bad it was until this program. The Whole30 recommends trying to eat 3 meals a day and avoid snacks unless you find you’re legitimately hungry. This program helps me to reset my hunger signals, which I didn’t realize were SUPER messed up.

I also learned a ton about what kind of foods work well for me, and which ones don’t. Dairy makes me gassy. Wheat makes me bloaty. Both of these things are common for a lot of people, but until you examine it, you don’t necessarily know. The one that really got me though was rice. When I eat rice, it turns on a switch in my brain that says “EAT ALL THE THINGS.” It’s a huge overeating trigger for me. Sugar can make me feel depressed if I have regular exposure to it, even in small to moderate doses. It doesn’t mean I will never eat any of these things again, but it means I now have information to make good choices for myself. If I know I’m going to be trapped in a small room with other people…the effects of a yogurt parfait are not worth the risk. If it’s my birthday, I’m probably going to eat that wheat and sugar filled cake anyway. It’s about having the information and making your own choices (and sometimes you still make the “wrong” choices, but that’s just part of life).

Why I love it and keep coming back to it

What attracted me this program and what I think is wonderful about it is that it is FREE. You could do 500 Whole30s and never give Melissa Urban or the Whole30 a single cent. The rules are available online here. There are a million recipes available for free online as well as other resources. You do not have to buy anything to do the program. Over the years, yes, I have bough a few of the cookbooks, and other books because this is something I wanted to invest in for myself. However, your success in doing this reset is not dependant on whether or not you pay them money.

The rules are black and white. For some people, this is the part they hate. That there’s no grey area. But honestly, I think this is what makes the program successful. In the book It Starts with Food, they talk about how most people do better with clearly defined rules and boundaries. If the rules said you could have “some” or “a little” sugar, who says what that amount looks like for different people? Having a binary system of yes it’s a program compliant food, or no it’s not is very much key.

This is probably the biggest reason I love the Whole30 both as a company and as a program: WHEN THEY KNOW BETTER THEY DO BETTER. The company updates the “rules” as they learn more. The original program outlawed potatoes. Why? For no good reason - when the program was created it was in the low-carb era and anything white was bad. Whole30 added potatoes back in, 5 years after the program rules were first released. The same thing happened with peas in 2020. I like that a company can publicly say, we have learned something new, and based on that information, we’re changing what we previously said.

The foods themselves aren’t the only changes they have made since 2009. I think they’ve done a lot of work to be more inclusive. While businesses do need to decide who their target market is, I think that there’s a balance that can be struck between defining who your product is right for, and being inclusive of more people. The Whole30 was created by a couple of white people, with a fair amount of privilege. A lot of health and wellness programs are only created for those who can afford it, in time, money, access to resources, etc. Over time things the Whole30 has done to be more inclusive include: creating a plant based Whole30, diversifying their team to better understand different cultures and create recipes and alternatives for people of colour, use more inclusive language, and establish a variety of partnerships. With respect to the language - The Pancake Rule. This used to be called SWYPO - sex with your pants on. The summary is that creating pancakes out of mashed bananas and eggs (compliant ingredients to make a non-compliant food) isn’t allowed because you’re not changing your relationship with foods that are less healthy for you AND it’s just not as good as the original. While some people might love the SWYPO analogy, it didn’t reflect the vibe that the program wanted. And with respect to partnerships - i’m not sure if this still exists because it was only in the US but the Whole30 had endorsed frozen meals that were compliant made by Great Value, Walmart’s store brand. While you may have strong feelings about Walmart, I think it’s admirable to have a product that can be a net good, at a value brand store to make it more accessible to more people. For a lot of people in America, Walmart might be one of the only places to buy groceries. If you are low income, chances are you’re working very hard to make ends meet, and the time, money and means to get to say a Whole Foods is probably not feasible.

While a company can do all the feel good things in the world, unless they “sell” a product that works for you, you’re not going to care. The Whole30 has done wonders for me. When I do the program and continue to eat foods that support my body and my goals, I feel incredible. I keep coming back to it because it works for me. The food industry pays a lot of money to get you to buy new products and keep buying them. It is hard to not be sucked back into the Standard American Diet traps over time. Modern life can be busy and stressful which can lead you to eating out, emotional eating and convenience foods. This is why I keep coming back to the Whole30, not because it doesn’t work but because it does.

Every time I do a round of Whole30, I learn more about myself and what works for me. They have a whole checklist of what they call NSV’s - Non-Scale Victories. You can find the list here.

Who shouldn’t do it, and who should be careful about doing it

All of those good things aside, I fully admit that this program is not for everyone. Firstly, those with medical and dietary conditions might not be good candidates. The program can help with a lot of things, however it’s always best to talk to your medical professional. Secondly, people who have or have had any type of eating disorder. Eating disorders are complex conditions that require a lot of expert support. Anyone with disordered eating or tendencies towards disordered eating should NOT do an elimination diet that is not medically prescribed and supervised.

Thirdly, this one you might not find written about elsewhere, but I think it’s super important - anyone who is in an environment that lacks support for such changes probably shouldn’t do a Whole30. The 40 days can be really difficult, and if you’re fighting an uphill battle with your partner or your family for 40 days, you’re not likely to see the success you want to from the program. It’s a lot of work - planning, shopping, prepping, cooking, WASHING DISHES, navigating the social invites and the ups and downs you’ll feel throughout the program is HARD. If you have someone who’s actively fighting you on this, you’re going to be miserable. That being said, you can likely do the program if your partner is neutral to the idea. If you’re the person who does all the cooking and planning and have a partner who’s happy to eat what you put on the table, that can work. Or if you and your family reach an agreement that they eat whatever they want for breakfast and lunch, and you all eat the same thing for dinner, that’s another manageable option. Support can come from many places, both the people who are close to you in real life, but there are online groups and connections to find support in for those going through the program and other resources to draw on too. You can definitely do the program even if your whole household won’t, you just need them to respect your decision and support you in your journey.

How to get started

If this is something you want to do, or want more information on how to start, check out the Whole30 website. The rules, support, resources, and more are available on their site.

If you’re curious to know what kinds of resources I’ve purchased from the Whole30, what I think is worth it and what isn’t, here’s a rundown:

Whole30 Fast & Easy Cookbook: This is maybe my favorite cookbook I’ve ever owned. The recipes are indeed fast and easy, they’re also delicious. The sheet pan meals and skillet meals are in our regular dinner rotation year-round. If you want to buy something to support your Whole30 or just to cook healthier dinners, this is my #1 recommendation.

Whole30 Day By Day: This is a daily journal to walk you through the program. I bought this when it first came out, and because I’m cheap, I write in pencil, and erase, and use it again. hahaha I like guided journals, and this one I find helpful for the program. It lets you write down your meals, it has scales for you to rank things like your sleep quality and energy levels, and note any other changes or NSVs.

Whole30 Slow Cooker Cookbook: I’m a big fan of the slow cooker. After we fell in love with the Fast & Easy Cookbook, we were looking for more easy whole30 recipes to add to our dinner roster. This book is really good, although we haven’t made nearly as much use of it as the F&E book!

Whole30 Friends & Family Cookbook: As someone who likes to entertain, I bought this book with hopes of dinner parties and appetizers that no one would even be suspicious of. It's…okay. There are some good recipes in here, but I despise the organization of this book. It’s grouped by activities such as “beach day” and “date night” and there’s no good table of contents or list that makes it easy to peruse. The one thing this book does do well is drink recipes. There’s a mocktail mule in here that I’ll hopefully share a version of soon - it’s so delicious, it’s all to good flavour of a Moscow mule but without alcohol or sugar. I’ve served this to guests and will continue to do so!

It Starts With Food book: I found this book helpful because it explains the WHY behind the eliminations and the program rules in general. If you’re someone who finds it easier to do something when you know the “why” I’d recommend checking this one out. It is a bit out of date with the latest program rules, but I think in general it should hold up.

Food Freedom Forever book: This is lower on my recommendations list. I don’t remember the last time I read this book, I don’t find it the most useful resource but maybe it’s time I go through it again.

Text Message support/Cohort Community: I did this for one of my Whole30s and it wasn’t for me. When I did this it was the text messages only ($40 USD). Because I’d done several rounds before I tried this, I didn’t find it very helpful. But if you’re someone who needs cheering on and daily support, this might be something you want. You get a message in the morning reminding you to kick butt, and one in the evening celebrating your wins.

Follow along

As I go through this round of Whole30, I’ll be sharing my experiences and tips. The things that I find useful, and especially Canadian brands. Because the program originates from the US, there are many things that aren’t available to Canadians, and that kinda sucks. BUT at the same time there are some amazing Canadian brands that ARE Whole30 that I’d love to shine some light on.

Stay tuned here and on my personal fitness instagram @livfit_jill to follow along with this round of Whole30.

Note: My start date will be January 1, and my end date will be extended to March 2. WHY this long? I’ll be taking a family vacation in January, and while I’m gone, I’ll be doing my best to stay close to whole30, I know it's not likely to happen. For that reason, I’ll be re-starting on January 22. 30 Days of elimination + 10 days of reintroduction takes us to March 2.