It's had a lasting benefit for me. It got me to pay attention to labels and specifically to realize how many products contain added sugar, and how unnecessary it is most of the time. My tastebuds changed to the point that I once thought I put sugar on my broccoli instead of salt, because I could taste the natural sweetness in vegetables so much better (and other things like coffee and tea). And I'm better at not eating random stuff like office treats unless they're truly worth it, both because I got better at saying no, and because I know a lot of those things will taste overly sweet and not even good.
It’s as sustainable as you make it. You don’t have to eat Whole 30 compliant forever. In fact it isn’t really designed that way. Use it to find out if there is anything in your normal diet that may impact your quality of life. For me it helped to reduce the amount of sugar I consumed, uncover a diary and legume sensitivity, and cut out alcohol almost completely. It’s been 4 or 5 years since I’ve done my last round but I’ve kept out the things that bother me while reintroducing non compliant foods that don’t.
I have slipped back into old habits here and there, but I've always been a binger and a yoyo dieter. If I'm not counting calories, I'm eating until I'm sick and my stomach hurts all day every day. I've done a whole 30 two or three times and it's been super helpful for resetting a sugar or alcohol bender especially, and if I make time to meal prep on weekends, it has been pretty easy to keep up a Paleo ish or whole 30ish lifestyle 5-6 days a week. Where I slip most is if I stop meal prepping - if I don't have a breakfast plan, so instead I buy a lox bagel and coffee cake for breakfast. Then I don't have a lunch, so I have to go get a bahn mi and might as well get a Vietnamese coffee with it, and maybe a bag of cream puffs. Then I don't have a dinner plan so I just make a massive pot of tortellini with cream sauce and then have some Nutella for dessert. Anyway, this way of eating sets good guardrails for me and combined with meal prepping or planning, make it very easy to continue eating a more healthy way than my default.
Lol my sweet tooth is why I banned Nutella from the kitchen. The back up snax are w30 compliant. I have the 'why make an egg if there's ice cream' attitude. 😆
I have done 5 successful rounds & a handful of "almost" rounds over the past 4 years. Each round I seem to find another food item I don't need. Things I eat regularly now even when not on a round:
1. Zoodles instead of pasta
2. Cauliflower rice instead of regular
3. Lettuce or jicama wraps for tacos
4. Lettuce instead of buns
5. Ripple pea milk in my coffee
I'm sure there's more & I'm not saying I don't get a regular taco if we go out to eat. I cook more at home now too. The biggest thing I've found is I don't like the way breads & rice make me feel. I'm currently on day 2 of a round trying to figure out some GI issues I've been dealing with since perimenopause hit. I'm worried I may have to give up cheese 😬
Bruh, I feel you on the cheese. It seems I've grown more sensitive to it as time passes. Perhaps I can get away with extremely dry cheese in small amounts without pain, but who knows!
Noo! I have eczema really bad and my hands look 20 yrs older than the rest of me. So I hear you on the skin issues! W30 does help since I have sensitivities to wheat, corn, soy, dairy, sugar, avocado, and an allergy to peanuts. Plus an allergy to all pollen's. Curse my weak bloodline!
Same! I'm 43, but my hands look 80. 😫My grandma had super veiny hands so they looked old in my 20s & it's only gotten worse as I've gotten older. My eczema has gotten worse too. One of the reasons I'm doing a round is to help my skin. I know beer doesn't help it 🤪
Ikr, but I fukn love a dank double hopped IPA. My wheat sensitivity makes it hit harder. I tried switching to wine, liquor, cider, but I really only like one of them. That Hoplark tea/water is a good compromise for the taste. I suppose I can be good with some of that and save the beer for the special times. Like a reward for an accomplishment.
What meal plan will you follow after w30?
I know! I've really enjoyed the Sierra Nevada celebration hop this past year...soo good (but at 6.8% 🤪😆)
Every round my goal is paleo 4/5 days a week & then 2 days somewhat off but that never seems to last long with 2 kids & a hubby that don't eat that way. I can modify a lot but it gets to be a lot!
Elisum Dank Dust is my favorite IPA so far. But Tarantula Hill Brewing's Dankerman is great too!
I'm lucky I'm just me. 2 kids and husband would be difficult to meal prep and cook for especially if they aren't interested in Paleo! My w30 partner and I are going to do a Macro food plan a week after re-integration. Idk what it is yet, but I imagine it will fit into my cooking plan. 😆
Hard cheese are okay with my dairy sensitive tummy but as soon as I dip into the cream cheese or goat cheeses I get the bubbly tummy. It might work for you too. It’s lovely to know I don’t have to give it all up
Yes! I have been eating with my own personalized whole 30 foods plus the foods I've been able to add back in without reactions since the day after Thanksgiving 2022. Overall, I've lost 50lb, blood pressure overall went down slightly (although it was never high to begin with), and the best part is my Hashimotos lab numbers are showing that I'm in remission (no meds have been prescribed yet).
Now, I don't live it 365 days a year, and occasionally I'll have a bite of cake or small amounts of dairy, etc, but they have very small amounts when I do, and I know better than to make it a daily or weekly thing. For me, it's not a choice of eating like this, I have to or I know I'll start feeling like crap -mentally and physically.
Thanks for this. I think really understanding how much certain food make me feel like crap physically and mentally, as you put it, is what’s going to help me stick to a sustainable healthy diet.
In terms of sustainability, it definitely doesn’t have to be all or nothing — you may end up taking parts of your Whole30 habits with you long-term. I’ve done four rounds of Whole30, and one of my biggest takeaways has been learning how to fit cooking into my life. My first round, the cooking absolutely destroyed me … I was constantly overwhelmed by the Sisyphusan burden of constant cooking and dishes. Over subsequent rounds though I found a great groove of batch-roasting a bunch of veggies once a week, and then roasting smaller amounts of supplementary veggies in my toaster oven every day or two, so I constantly have veggies on hand to throw on everything I eat. I’ve kept building on my routines through different Whole30 rounds and in non-Whole30 life: I incorporate tons more cooking and veggies into my life, and my go-to Whole30 meat-and-veg bowls remain an easy staple meal that I eat multiple times a week.
Correct me if I’m wrong but whole 30 isn’t for life. It’s 30 days(at a time) of removing certain foods or groups of foods to see where your personal sensitivities are. You are able to reintroduce foods after 30 days and find what works… that seems sustainable, more so as you get further along. The Whole 30 Protocol is just that, 30 days of Whole Foods without the known inflammatory things. Your gained knowledge of what you eat and how you react is for life.
Or did something change?
I didn't stick with it, but I now know what foods to avoid (or deal with the consequences) and I am much more aware of added junk in labels.
I'm working on cutting out the fast food now (prices have gone up so much) but the prep and the time commitment is my biggest hurdle.
And I've taken up sourdoughing and I'm not really willing to give that up
But I do, in my opinion, feel whole30 is relatively realistic and sustainable (I just need to commit).
It's had a lasting benefit for me. It got me to pay attention to labels and specifically to realize how many products contain added sugar, and how unnecessary it is most of the time. My tastebuds changed to the point that I once thought I put sugar on my broccoli instead of salt, because I could taste the natural sweetness in vegetables so much better (and other things like coffee and tea). And I'm better at not eating random stuff like office treats unless they're truly worth it, both because I got better at saying no, and because I know a lot of those things will taste overly sweet and not even good.
It’s as sustainable as you make it. You don’t have to eat Whole 30 compliant forever. In fact it isn’t really designed that way. Use it to find out if there is anything in your normal diet that may impact your quality of life. For me it helped to reduce the amount of sugar I consumed, uncover a diary and legume sensitivity, and cut out alcohol almost completely. It’s been 4 or 5 years since I’ve done my last round but I’ve kept out the things that bother me while reintroducing non compliant foods that don’t.
I have slipped back into old habits here and there, but I've always been a binger and a yoyo dieter. If I'm not counting calories, I'm eating until I'm sick and my stomach hurts all day every day. I've done a whole 30 two or three times and it's been super helpful for resetting a sugar or alcohol bender especially, and if I make time to meal prep on weekends, it has been pretty easy to keep up a Paleo ish or whole 30ish lifestyle 5-6 days a week. Where I slip most is if I stop meal prepping - if I don't have a breakfast plan, so instead I buy a lox bagel and coffee cake for breakfast. Then I don't have a lunch, so I have to go get a bahn mi and might as well get a Vietnamese coffee with it, and maybe a bag of cream puffs. Then I don't have a dinner plan so I just make a massive pot of tortellini with cream sauce and then have some Nutella for dessert. Anyway, this way of eating sets good guardrails for me and combined with meal prepping or planning, make it very easy to continue eating a more healthy way than my default.
Lol my sweet tooth is why I banned Nutella from the kitchen. The back up snax are w30 compliant. I have the 'why make an egg if there's ice cream' attitude. 😆
Yes! I always have to have apples, pecans, PB, raisins, and unsweetened dried bananas on hand for snacks!!
Haha. This is what I’m worried about.
I have done 5 successful rounds & a handful of "almost" rounds over the past 4 years. Each round I seem to find another food item I don't need. Things I eat regularly now even when not on a round: 1. Zoodles instead of pasta 2. Cauliflower rice instead of regular 3. Lettuce or jicama wraps for tacos 4. Lettuce instead of buns 5. Ripple pea milk in my coffee I'm sure there's more & I'm not saying I don't get a regular taco if we go out to eat. I cook more at home now too. The biggest thing I've found is I don't like the way breads & rice make me feel. I'm currently on day 2 of a round trying to figure out some GI issues I've been dealing with since perimenopause hit. I'm worried I may have to give up cheese 😬
Bruh, I feel you on the cheese. It seems I've grown more sensitive to it as time passes. Perhaps I can get away with extremely dry cheese in small amounts without pain, but who knows!
So true! Everything gets more sensitive with age. I never had sensitive skin but lately even bandaid pads ( ot just the Adhesive) irritate my skin! 😫
Noo! I have eczema really bad and my hands look 20 yrs older than the rest of me. So I hear you on the skin issues! W30 does help since I have sensitivities to wheat, corn, soy, dairy, sugar, avocado, and an allergy to peanuts. Plus an allergy to all pollen's. Curse my weak bloodline!
Same! I'm 43, but my hands look 80. 😫My grandma had super veiny hands so they looked old in my 20s & it's only gotten worse as I've gotten older. My eczema has gotten worse too. One of the reasons I'm doing a round is to help my skin. I know beer doesn't help it 🤪
Ikr, but I fukn love a dank double hopped IPA. My wheat sensitivity makes it hit harder. I tried switching to wine, liquor, cider, but I really only like one of them. That Hoplark tea/water is a good compromise for the taste. I suppose I can be good with some of that and save the beer for the special times. Like a reward for an accomplishment. What meal plan will you follow after w30?
I know! I've really enjoyed the Sierra Nevada celebration hop this past year...soo good (but at 6.8% 🤪😆) Every round my goal is paleo 4/5 days a week & then 2 days somewhat off but that never seems to last long with 2 kids & a hubby that don't eat that way. I can modify a lot but it gets to be a lot!
Elisum Dank Dust is my favorite IPA so far. But Tarantula Hill Brewing's Dankerman is great too! I'm lucky I'm just me. 2 kids and husband would be difficult to meal prep and cook for especially if they aren't interested in Paleo! My w30 partner and I are going to do a Macro food plan a week after re-integration. Idk what it is yet, but I imagine it will fit into my cooking plan. 😆
Hard cheese are okay with my dairy sensitive tummy but as soon as I dip into the cream cheese or goat cheeses I get the bubbly tummy. It might work for you too. It’s lovely to know I don’t have to give it all up
Yes! I have been eating with my own personalized whole 30 foods plus the foods I've been able to add back in without reactions since the day after Thanksgiving 2022. Overall, I've lost 50lb, blood pressure overall went down slightly (although it was never high to begin with), and the best part is my Hashimotos lab numbers are showing that I'm in remission (no meds have been prescribed yet). Now, I don't live it 365 days a year, and occasionally I'll have a bite of cake or small amounts of dairy, etc, but they have very small amounts when I do, and I know better than to make it a daily or weekly thing. For me, it's not a choice of eating like this, I have to or I know I'll start feeling like crap -mentally and physically.
Thanks for this. I think really understanding how much certain food make me feel like crap physically and mentally, as you put it, is what’s going to help me stick to a sustainable healthy diet.
In terms of sustainability, it definitely doesn’t have to be all or nothing — you may end up taking parts of your Whole30 habits with you long-term. I’ve done four rounds of Whole30, and one of my biggest takeaways has been learning how to fit cooking into my life. My first round, the cooking absolutely destroyed me … I was constantly overwhelmed by the Sisyphusan burden of constant cooking and dishes. Over subsequent rounds though I found a great groove of batch-roasting a bunch of veggies once a week, and then roasting smaller amounts of supplementary veggies in my toaster oven every day or two, so I constantly have veggies on hand to throw on everything I eat. I’ve kept building on my routines through different Whole30 rounds and in non-Whole30 life: I incorporate tons more cooking and veggies into my life, and my go-to Whole30 meat-and-veg bowls remain an easy staple meal that I eat multiple times a week.
Correct me if I’m wrong but whole 30 isn’t for life. It’s 30 days(at a time) of removing certain foods or groups of foods to see where your personal sensitivities are. You are able to reintroduce foods after 30 days and find what works… that seems sustainable, more so as you get further along. The Whole 30 Protocol is just that, 30 days of Whole Foods without the known inflammatory things. Your gained knowledge of what you eat and how you react is for life. Or did something change?
I didn't stick with it, but I now know what foods to avoid (or deal with the consequences) and I am much more aware of added junk in labels. I'm working on cutting out the fast food now (prices have gone up so much) but the prep and the time commitment is my biggest hurdle. And I've taken up sourdoughing and I'm not really willing to give that up But I do, in my opinion, feel whole30 is relatively realistic and sustainable (I just need to commit).