Whole30: Part I

Many people have asked about my Whole30 experience, which I completed last week.  Given the level of interest, I thought I would blog about it and answer all their questions – in 3 parts. Yes, 3!  Who knew there was so much to say?! 

This first part is the intro explaining what the Whole30 is and why I decided to do it. Here is the disclaimer: this may seem preachy. IT IS NOT.  I truly don’t care what you put in your body, and I really don’t think what I put in my body should have any impact on you.  Can we agree on that point?  To get started...

What is the Whole30?

The Whole30 was designed by Melissa and Dallas Hartwig.  In essence, it is a diet (meaning a way of eating, not a “lose 30 pounds in 30 days” gimmick) that focuses on eating whole foods.  It removes all grains, sugars, booze, artificial everything, and dairy (among other things) from your diet.  It lasts for 30 days and you must be strict to have the complete experience.  You can read all about it on their site.  I will botch the explanation, so please just go to the site for the real facts.

The program is intended to serve as a detox of sorts.  We consume a lot of artificial things as part of our American diet.  This is intended to cleanse your body of a lot of that junk.  A lot of people (admittedly – I have not researched this!) say that Americans have a sugar addiction, and that the effect of sugar on your brain is similar to that of cocaine.  I don’t know about the accuracy, but I do know that sugar is in pretty much everything we consume.  The Whole30 allows fruits, but that’s pretty much it for sugar. No honey. No stevia. No sweeteners of any kind.  

I made most of my Whole30 meals from scratch, but used a few salsas and some broths and soups while on the Whole30. I had to look through every brand of veggie broth to finally find one without sugar added. Most coconut milk has sugar added.  Look at the labels in your pantry and you will find a lot of sugar (note: it goes by other sneaky names, too!).  In addition to a sugar detox, it’s supposed to serve as a detox from all of the other crap we put in our bodies too.

You can find more info on their site as well as in their book, It Starts With Food. Note, everything you need to know is on their site. I read the book which was helpful for me. But I am the kind of person that wants to know everything before committing to something.

Why did I do the Whole30?

The vague answer is that it just seemed like the right time for me.  I had been moving toward a whole/clean diet, and wanted to take the plunge and try to go all out.  I am someone who does well with rules and structure, so this really appealed to me. I also love a challenge…so this was actually fun for me.

I’ve been reading books about the American food system. Corn is the building block of our diet and is in basically everything we consume. It is farmed industrially. Most of our produce is genetically modified and/or treated with pesticides and non-natural substances in order to increase production and drive down cost.  These realities have become increasingly repulsive to me the more I learned. The Whole30 encourages organic produce whenever possible and eating whole, clean foods from God’s green earth.

Not to mention all the processed food we eat.  I am pointing the finger at myself here. I love Velveeta “cheese!”  I love Rice-a-Roni.  But as I looked at these “foods” and their ingredients, I began to wonder if I was slowing killing myself by putting things in my body that my body was not created to digest.

Cancer (in many, ugly forms), diabetes, and heart disease all run in my family.  And I have no idea what role the artificial “food” we eat plays into cancer, but it can’t help it. I don’t want to fill my body with high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, and powdered cheese. That can’t help my life expectancy. 

I've been a  vegetarian (lacto ovo) for 20 years, so the meat thing was not an issue for me.  But the production of meat in our country is atrocious.   Livestock is pumped full of antibiotics which are then passed on to you.  Cows are fed corn (which is not natural to them).  They are raise for slaughter in awful living conditions.  The Whole30 encourages meat-eaters to consume grass-fed, free range, hormone-free animals.  If you eat meat, that’s the best way to go.

In Part II I will talk about what the actual 30 days was like for me - what did I eat? How did I feel?  Part III will explore "results" and what I learned from the experience.  Stay tuned.