It Starts With Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways (30 page)

This is a very important rule, mostly because we know you’re already thinking about how you can take the foods you used to eat and make them compliant with approved ingredients. “There
must
be a way to make Whole30-approved pizza/pancakes/brownies/ice cream. …” And a quick Internet search will bring up thousands of “Paleo” treat temptations.

Most people make this mistake during their first Whole30. But
we know from experience that one of the fastest ways to negate the potential benefits of your program is to try to shove your old, unhealthy diet into a shiny, new Whole30 mold. Pizza, pancakes, brownies or ice cream are still junk food, even if they’re made from “healthier” ingredients. They’re still pushing more nutrient-dense foods off your plate. And their flavor, texture and taste aren’t generally as good as the “real thing,” which means they aren’t as rewarding—which makes you crave them even more.
When it comes to the psychological hold certain foods have over us, the whole (muffin) is
far
more than just the sum of its parts (ingredients).

Do you really want to spend the entirety of your Whole30 focusing on all the stuff you
can’t
have, and eating the same kinds of foods you’ve been eating all along?
If you come out of the program under the shadow of the same habits, patterns, and food choices you had when you started, what are your chances for long-term, life-changing success?
After all, those very same habits, patterns, and food choices are what got you into trouble in the first place!

Use the Whole30 to change your habits, alter your patterns, break unhealthy cravings, and create a new, healthy relationship with food.
 Starve the sugar dragon once and for all! You won’t be sorry, as those new habits and patterns will stay with you for the rest of your life.

This one may be the hardest rule of all and requires another dose of tough love.

We know
you
care, though, and we
do
care about you. So, please, hear us out.

The Whole30 isn’t just another weight-loss diet. The program is designed to jump-start
optimal health for the rest of your life.
We tell people to get off the scale altogether for the first thirty days because scale weight tells you almost nothing about your overall
health
—and is one of the fastest ways to lose motivation, even if you thought you were making great progress in other areas. (“I only lost half a pound today—this program isn’t working at all!”)

Scale weight fluctuates. It doesn’t reflect improvements in your health. And it’s one of the parties holding you hostage to your unhealthy relationship with food. So give yourself a long-overdue, well-deserved break from your preoccupation with body weight. You deserve it.

However, because we know weight loss is important to you—and because we get that there’s a connection between a more pleasing physique and motivation to maintain your new, healthy habits—we’re going to let you in on a secret: Our nutrition plan will improve your overall health, and that is almost always reflected in an improvement in body composition. Which means that if you focus on eating better, sleeping better, and making yourself
healthier
… your shape will have no choice but to shift. Yes, automatically. But it doesn’t work the other way around.

You can achieve short-term weight loss by taking some drastic steps (like eating a super low calorie diet plus doing two hours of cardio a day), but that’s not going to make you healthier, nor is it sustainable long term. So trust us, and be patient. We’ll get you there the healthy way—the
right
way—and you’ll be able to maintain the new, improved you for the rest of your life.

The Whole30 is about so much more than
just
weight loss, and if you focus on the small picture, like body composition, you’ll miss out on the big picture—the dramatic and lifelong benefits the plan has to offer. But simply by doing the Whole30, you’ll probably lose weight anyway. So why waste brain cells obsessing about something you don’t need to obsess about?
^*

These items, even though they don’t all necessarily meet the strictest criteria for the Whole30, are allowed. Including them should not have a negative impact on your results.

• Clarified butter and ghee.
  Clarified butter and ghee are the only dairy products allowed. Plain old butter is
  not
  , as it contains milk proteins.
  
• Fruit juice as a sweetener
  . Some products use orange or apple juice as a sweetener. We have to draw the line somewhere, so we’re OK with a small amount of fruit juice as an
  added
  ingredient.
  
• Certain legumes
  . Specifically, green beans, sugar snap peas, and snow peas. 
  
• Vinegar.
  Most varieties of vinegar, including white, balsamic, apple cider, red wine, and rice, are allowed. But vinegars with added sugar or sulfites, and malt vinegar (which generally contains gluten), are not.
  
• Processed foods.
  Minimally processed foods like canned coconut milk, applesauce, tomato sauce, chicken broth, or canned olives are all acceptable—but avoid anything with
  MSG
  ,
  sulfites,
  or
  carrageenan
  : these additives all have potentially nasty side effects.
  

Now that you have the elements of the plan, you need to know how to implement them. It’s simple, actually.

Block out thirty days on your calendar. Clean out your pantry. Plan a week’s worth of meals with the help of our Meal Map in Appendix A. Take our shopping list to your local grocery store, health-food store, or farmers’ market and stock up on ingredients for all the yummy meals you’ll be making. And then … go. Just start! Don’t put this off, not for one more day. If you give yourself excuses to delay, you may never begin.

Do it now.

Your only job for the next thirty days will be to focus on making good food choices. You won’t need to weigh or measure, you won’t need to count calories, you won’t need to stress about whether you’re doing it “perfectly.” Just figure out how to stick to the Whole30 regardless of the circumstances, in the face of any amount of stress, for the next thirty days.

Your only job? Eat. Good. Food.

We won’t lie—things will probably get worse before they get better. Here’s a general template for what to expect, based on the feedback we’ve received from thousands of Whole30 participants.

Days 1 to 7:
The first week will be tough as your body heals and adjusts to this new way of eating and your brain wraps itself around going without all its habitual sweet tastes and sugar-driven energy spikes. In addition, the reward, pleasure, and emotional connections to supernormally stimulating, nutrient-poor foods will take a
lot
longer to overcome, so the cravings can be intense. In fact, many Whole30 participants have reported craving-driven dreams about off-plan foods—some so intensely real, they wake up feeling
guilty
. Talk about an unhealthy psychological response!

Since you’ve removed many of the dense carbohydrates from your diet (like sugars, grains, and legumes), your body can no longer rely on those sugars as a primary energy source. That often leads to “withdrawal” symptoms like headaches, lethargy, and crankiness—the “carb flu”—as your body adjusts to its new fuel source. Ease off your physical activity this week—don’t take part in any big races or events, and don’t expect to set any personal bests in the gym. Your body is desperately trying to recalibrate during this first critical week, so give it the time, space, and rest it needs to do so.

You may see a significant change in your body as you shed excess water weight and the incumbent bloating. Don’t get too excited: This probably doesn’t represent much true fat loss—it’s just your body’s way of letting go of some of the physical effects of your old way of eating.

Days 8 to 14:
Most people report that their “carb flu” symptoms are gone by the very end of the second week. During this week, most people report falling asleep faster, sleeping better, and more consistent energy levels. At this point, your body is already more efficient at using fat (dietary and body fat) as fuel. Once your metabolism has become “fat adapted,” you’ll notice that your energy levels are much more stable than they ever were with processed foods and an incessant influx of sugar.

However, although you are starting to feel better, the healing process takes much longer than a week or two. Digestive distress is common and may take a few months to completely resolve. The inflammation-causing foods you’ve been eating have been like sandpaper in your digestive tract for all the years you’ve been eating them. Remove
all
of them, and your digestive tract starts to heal—but the healing process
can
be unpleasant. Constipation or diarrhea, cramps, bloating, gas, and general discomfort are common, and are all a normal part of the process, as your intestinal lining starts to repair itself, some gut bacteria die off, and the extra-thick protective layer of mucosal lining starts to slough off.

If you’ve dramatically increased your fruit and vegetable intake, that could also be playing a role in your digestive distress. Try eating more cooked vegetables than raw and having more frequent, smaller servings of fruit throughout the day, as opposed to one or two larger serving. In addition, if you’re relying too heavily on nuts and seeds, you may find digestive relief from swapping those out for fats like avocado, coconut, and olive oil.

We know this part isn’t fun, but ride it out. It gets better quickly, we promise, and once your digestive tract has healed, it will be happier—and healthier—than it has been in years.

Days 15 to 30:
Much of what happens during the second half of your Whole30 depends on your health history and habits. You may notice improvement in ailments—skin clearing up, allergies diminishing, joints no longer aching. Most people are sleeping well and are energetic and attentive throughout their day. Your gym or sports performance may take an upturn, and you may find that your mental focus and physical coordination are better. And you’ll probably notice that your clothes are fitting differently by this point, too.

Your taste buds should also be waking up right about now, allowing you to truly appreciate the flavors found in the fresh foods you’re eating. But you may also be getting a little bored with your food if you relied on the same basic “go-to” meals for the first two weeks. Time to revisit our Meal Map and try something new!

During this time, you also may start thinking, “I’m really feeling better now—two weeks is probably enough.” We call this the “bright, shiny toy” mentality—the novelty of the program has worn off, but you’re still two weeks away from completion. Time to snap to attention—don’t get lazy or let your guard down! Now is the perfect time to experiment with new foods, new spices and herbs, and more exotic dishes—and draft a few strategies to combat the sugar dragon when it unexpectedly roars back to life in your brain. (And, we’re sorry to say, it probably will.)