Have you ever heard of Whole30? This elimination “experiment” as I like to call it has been around for about 8 or 9 years and has shown major success in those who have completed it. So what is it exactly? In a nutshell, you go without dairy, grains, legumes, sugar, and alcohol for 30 days and watch how your body reacts. It’s unbelievable the changes you will see!

Down and Dirty

So let’s get down to it. For 30 days I ate whole foods, REAL FOOD. I didn’t eat any junk. Here’s how it goes.

No sugar – What we’re talking about here is added sugar. Yes, there is sugar in the form of fructose in fruit….that is ok. We’re talking about anything that would be added to your food to make it intentionally sweeter, including natural sugar too! I used honey and organic grade A maple syrup to sweeten some foods when I have to, but this is a no-no on Whole30. Artificial sweeteners are definitely not an option. This should be no surprise though because artificial sweeteners are BAD FOR YOU! This can be very challenging because sugar is in just about everything that is shelf stable. You will get very familiar with reading the ingredient list on products. If it has added sugar in it, you can’t have it. Things like salsa and spaghetti sauce almost always have added sugar. So again, check your labels!

**NOTE: It’s the ingredient list that is important, not the nutrition facts!

No alcohol – This may be difficult for some people, but it’s 30 days. No doubt you can do it. I think you’ll find it may be the easiest group to give up and keep for the long haul. You may surprise yourself.

No grains – You read it right. Pretty obvious what grains are, I think. This also includes gluten-free grains. So for all of you in love with quinoa, shelf it for 30 days.

No legumes – Beans, beans, the musical fruit….you know how it goes. No beans, no peanuts (yes, you read this right…peanuts are actually a seed/bean, not a nut), no soy, just to name a few.

No dairy – When you eliminate the above, it’s pretty easy to stay away from dairy. A life saver for me is ghee, a beautiful substitute for butter.🙂 I use this recipe to make ghee. It doesn’t take long at all and again, delicious! My entire family is now a fan of ghee in place of butter. Take the 15 min to make your own rather than getting the store bought. Trust me on this one. I’ve been making ghee for 8 years since I first completed a Whole30.

No carrageenan, MSG, or added sulfites – Simply check your labels on these, folks. Companies sneak so much in on food so just be careful.

I am not going to cover the entire program here so be sure to jump over to Whole30’s website and check it out in detail or just grab the book from Amazon. I will say that the creator of Whole30 has announced that a new and improved program is coming, along with a new book, but that will not be released until August. I am on the edge of my seat. In the meantime, get the original book.

My biggest takeaways from my 4th Whole30 completion:

1 —

No more bloating!

What more do you want to hear about this. For the most part, I try to eat as healthy as possible, but sugar has snuck back in major ways and dairy (cheese) was back in larger amounts that I wanted to admit. I have been gluten free for 4 years knowing that it caused digestive issues among other things so I had made that step years ago. Something else was bothering me and I was at the end of my rope trying to figure out what it was (even though I had an idea).

I would wake up in the morning with a flat belly, but was so bloated by the evening I was disgusted. If you have been here before, you may have tried eating less calories, but still all foods were a go. Everything in moderation, right? Wrong. 5 Days into this round, I was already feeling better and it seemed my digestive tract was happier again, but I knew I still had a long way to go. 25 days in fact.

2 —

I lost the inches around my thighs, waist, and booty that had been haunting me for a while.

Yes, I work out 5-6 days a week. Like above, I was eating “healthy”, but again, things were creeping in. I’m going to attribute these inches coming off to the no sugar line item of this plan. You just don’t realize how bad it was until you do something like Whole30 that makes you feel better than you ever have. I have pants that, like many of you, I have kept in my closet because “I’ll be able to wear these again one day if I can just keep exercising or running enough miles to get these few pounds off.” You have said it before, just like I have.

3 —

Reduced cellulite on legs and booty.

Yes, I have it too. More than I’d like. Most women fall into this category. Again….sugar line item is my guess here. Not much else to say!

4 —

I ate WAY LESS CALORIES and was way less hungry!

In all the times I’ve completed Whole30, I’ve never once tracked my calories. Why? There’s no need. When you eat real food, you stay satisfied longer. Fake food is designed to satisfy you for a minimal amount of time and make you want more shortly after, meaning you eat more calories and are almost always hungry. You’re either going to end up eating too many calories (and be nutrient deprived) or staying at your calorie goal and remaining hungry until your willpower won’t allow you to be hungry anymore and you make up for it on a “cheat day” that negated the whole week of “being good”. Sound familiar? I know it did for me.

This time, out of curiosity (and because I’m always experimenting with my body, physically and physiologically) I kept track in My Fitness Pal. In the first 30 days of this year, I never one time went over my daily calorie allowance. I only came close on 2 days and those were prescribed rest days when I did not exercise at all. I never went to bed hungry or dissatisfied one day. You can really make a change in your body when you set your mind to it.

If you’d like to be my friend on My Fitness Pal, let me know! I’d love to be able to help you!

Now What?

I started this journey as a reset after the grueling holiday months of November and December. I ate more junk than I’d like to admit and the sweets of Christmas were not kind to me. I needed a mental reset to go along with the biological reset. It worked.

On January 29th, my husband asked me what I was going to do after my Whole30 was over. I thought about it for a minute and looked him and said “I think I’ll keep going!” I kept it up and went on through February. On February 29th, I had completed a Whole60 and I have never felt better. I discovered so many things about how my body works by extending the program out a little longer.

I now know that dairy is a HUGE issue for me. I am not allergic, not going to die if I consume it, but I will feel bad for a day or so. If I decide to reintroduce it regularly, I’ll go back to being bloated daily, constipated will go back to being a norm, and sluggish will be my feeling of the day. Thankfully I have found a brand called Kite Hill that has lots of options for dairy free substitutes.

I will of course remain gluten free. I have added some grains back into my diet occasionally (I love Mary’s Gone Crackers Super Seed) and will likely at some point eat the chips at the Mexican restaurant again. Until then, there are so many options for grain free substitutes that I love.

In the last 12 days, I have added a couple of things back in that have some sort of natural added sugar. I know that I was lacking in protein each day because it’s really hard for me to get that much protein when I’m not that hungry. I have implemented protein powder and Kite Hill Vanilla Greek Yogurt to go along with my afternoon snack of strawberries and blueberries and maybe some mixed nuts. Other than that, I am keepin’ on! I don’t feel like I’m missing anything at all. I’m not craving the junk foods that I used to crave. I’ve learned to be super prepared when traveling or when I know I’ll be out of the house for the day. Once you’re prepared, you’re over halfway there.

Have you completed the Whole30 Challenge? Do you want to, but not sure where to start? Contact me and I’d love to help you.

**I am not affiliated with the Whole30 Program and I’m not receiving anything from them to create this post. I am simply sharing what I have experienced with you so I can try to help as many people as possible find their best life when it comes to my biggest passions, FOOD | FITNESS | HEALTH.

XO,

Lindsey

*Contains some Amazon Affiliate links

Whole Body Impacts from Whole30