The Whole30 Program

[Cary Kollins]

In an attempt to start making healthier food decisions, I decided to join my wife on the Whole30 program. 

What is the Whole30 program? Here's a quote from the folks that came up with it:

Quote

Certain food groups (like sugar, grains, dairy and legumes) could be having a negative impact on your health and fitness without you even realizing it. Are your energy levels inconsistent or non-existent? Do you have aches and pains that can’t be explained by over-use or injury? Are you having a hard time losing weight no matter how hard you try? Do you have some sort of condition (like skin issues, digestive ailments, seasonal allergies or fertility issues) that medication hasn’t helped? These symptoms may be directly related to the foods you eat – even the “healthy” stuff. So how do you know if (and how) these foods are affecting you?

Strip them from your diet completely. Cut out all the psychologically unhealthy, hormone-unbalancing, gut-disrupting, inflammatory food groups for a full 30 days. Let your body heal and recover from whatever effects those foods may be causing. Push the “reset” button with your metabolism, systemic inflammation, and the downstream effects of the food choices you’ve been making. Learn once and for all how the foods you’ve been eating are actually affecting your day to day life, and your long term health.

http://whole30.com/whole30-program-rules/

 

So currently I'm on Day 8 and feeling pretty great tbh. I have more energy than I had before, even on less sleep! Seriously, the days of me wanting to nap at my desk are gone, after only one week. I can already tell I'm burning fat as well.

The first couple of days were tough. Getting used to bringing my lunch to work everyday instead of the usual Chick-fil-a/Chiptole/Chinese-takeout-run that I had been doing the past 7 years or so was probably the biggest adjustment for me. I'm not a morning person; I'm used to rolling out of bed, showering, taking the dog out and then heading to work while eating a Kind Bar.  On the Whole30 you have to plan every meal, so everyday I know what I'm going to eat for breakfast, and I actually sit down to eat it. Whole30 or not, these are good habits to keep.

I know I'm also saving a good chunk of money simply from not blowing it on fast food and going out to eat.

The downside of Whole30 so far? 

No beer. One of my favorite times to have a beer is while I'm cooking, so that pastime is out the window for at least the next 22 days or so. Plus turning down free beer at a NC State basketball game made me have to watch NC State basketball sober, which was rough. But overall, I don't miss beer at all.

 

I know @CRA was interested in Whole30. Has anyone done this before or had any experiences with it?

 

If you're interested, here are the two books to get started, with Huddle-friendly Amazon links:

It Starts With Food   

The Whole 30

 

 

 

[cookinbrak]

No bourbon.....no way.

[Jeremy Igo]

Why are they picking on legumes? Beans are among the healthiest things you can eat. Protein, fiber, vitamins, phytonutrients. 

I applaud yiu eating better. That's great. Just curious the thinking on beans being bad. 

[pstall]

1 hour ago, Jeremy Igo said:

Why are they picking on legumes? Beans are among the healthiest things you can eat. Protein, fiber, vitamins, phytonutrients. 

I applaud yiu eating better. That's great. Just curious the thinking on beans being bad. 

The Paleo diet also hates beans and I'm with you on their benefits. 

Pro tip: crowder peas are as high as any beans for fiber and even the can version has the least amount of sodium. 

We eat beans as often as possible. 

 

[Jeremy Igo]

I'm a big black bean guy. In salads, salsas, anything else I can throw them into. 

[pstall]

I make a 3 bean chili and use pintos, maple baked beans and kideny beans or swap with chili beans. All organic of course.

Peas

Limas

Green

Butterbeans

You name it.  Great side dish every time.

I like black beans in any Mexican dish. 

[Cary Kollins]

2 hours ago, Jeremy Igo said:

Why are they picking on legumes? Beans are among the healthiest things you can eat. Protein, fiber, vitamins, phytonutrients. 

I applaud yiu eating better. That's great. Just curious the thinking on beans being bad. 

 

Their basic reasoning behind cutting out legumes during the "reset" is that they may be responsible for "systematic inflammation", and they say there are other ways to get the protein and nutrients during the 30 day period. Apparently they go into more detail in the book that I have at home, I'll read into it more later.

They aren't saying you shouldn't eat legumes ever, just to cut it out for 30 days and then reintroduce them to see if there is a negative affect they may be causing. The Whole30 forums have lots of folks detailing their reintroduction of legumes, some finding no issues at all and others finding that peanuts and other legumes are the cause of stomach issues.

Here's one exchange I found with a quick search:

Quote

USER:  The items I used for reintroduction were peanuts, garbanzo beans and soy sauce. not at the same meal. I had a very bad digestive reaction to the peanuts and the garbanzo beans. Nothing of notice with soy sauce. So I repeated about one week later with just the garbanzo beans and peanuts. Same problem. Then another time just the soy sauce, hoping it would be ok. The use of soy sauce did not cause any trouble for me. 

 

How does this happen, that a person can eat something all their life with no noticeable difficulty and then after whole30 it is not tolerated?

 

Moderator: Your gut grows a thick mucosal lining to protect it from irritants. During a Whole30, when irritating foods are removed, the thick lining sloughs off. When you reintroduce irritating foods, the "protection" that had been keeping you from feeling the irritation is gone and you feel what is going on. If you keep eating peanuts and garbanzo beans, the thick mucosal lining will regrow and you will not feel the irritation the way you are now. It will still cause inflammation in your body, but you will not notice it so directly. 

http://forum.whole30.com/topic/38263-legumes-before-and-after-whole30/#comment-406124

 

I'll update with more of their reasoning behind cutting legumes when I have a chance to look at the book.

 

[Jase]

Who runs this program? I get skeptical every time I hear terms that can't be quantified like "irritants".

 

[Jeremy Igo]

20 minutes ago, Cary Kollins said:

 

Their basic reasoning behind cutting out legumes during the "reset" is that they may be responsible for "systematic inflammation", and they say there are other ways to get the protein and nutrients during the 30 day period. Apparently they go into more detail in the book that I have at home, I'll read into it more later.

They aren't saying you shouldn't eat legumes ever, just to cut it out for 30 days and then reintroduce them to see if there is a negative affect they may be causing. The Whole30 forums have lots of folks detailing their reintroduction of legumes, some finding no issues at all and others finding that peanuts and other legumes are the cause of stomach issues.

Here's one exchange I found with a quick search:

 

I'll update with more of their reasoning behind cutting legumes when I have a chance to look at the book.

 

Thanks. As long as you are not cutting them out long term. They really are one of the best foods you can eat based on dozens of scientific studies. They do everything from regulate blood pressure to aid in cancer prevention. 

Its great you are feeling better, sounds like it is mostly due to cutting out processed foods. Keep that up. Whole foods definitely better than processed. 

[Bronn]

My fatassery has been a no-shame talking point for me for years here and elsewhere. I carry my weight well, but know I need to lose a lot. I'm 36, and 6 feet tall and have been a couple pounds over 300 in my time. Looking at me, though, you wouldn't think it. I think I look better shirtless than Mike Tolbert, lol.

Anyways, last September I was basically told I was diabetic after my lab results came back from my annual physical. I've always been a big guy but have never had the associated health problems until then. I wasn't even borderline before then on sugar levels, cholesterol, or anything.

The doc put me on stuff to better regulate my glucose, a daily aspirin, and a pill for blood pressure and cholesterol (precautionary, as these two are fallout from bad blood sugar regulation.)

I've adjusted my diet a lot at first, but not so much now. I eat whatever the hell I want usually. I just try to stay more active and drink more water. I also eat a whole lot less portion-wise and get fuller a lot easier. I also try to incorporate a lot more fruits and maybe a few veggies every now and then. I'm a white meat and potato guy and always have been, and that'll be a hard thing to really get rid of. But I have done a lot better.

I honestly think Americans in general have blood sugar issues, both hereditary and inherited from the processed foods we have available. I've always felt like my metabolism could be fixed and even reset if only I could correct my blood sugar levels. I never really cared to try fixing it without medication because it wasn't an issue until I actually needed the medication.

Now that I care about my health and my future, I've dropped 25 pounds relatively easily. I've had to cut 4 new notches in my belt to keep my pants from falling down. I'm not even trying hard at this point and the weight is just steadily coming off. I'll probably be taken off all the medications I was put on soon.

I guess I shared all this to say that: It doesn't matter what you do, as long as you want it to work and you keep doing healthier things. I don't get caught up in the whole argument of what specific foods are bad or what diet works best or all of that. Obviously lowering your bad sugar intake and your acids etc. are going to help with chronic health problems. But you don't have to look for some miracle diet to make the necessary changes for you. Decrease your calorie intake. Eat a banana or an apple instead of a candy bar every now and then. Drink more water instead of regular or diet soda. Eat more good carbs and less bad. All these things are the core of most every plan out there.

 

[Cary Kollins]

^ I agree, like Jeremy alluded to if you cut out processed foods you're well on your way to living a much healthier life regardless if you subscribe to a nutritional plan or not.

 

For me, the Whole30 thing isn't just about what you're putting in your body. Personally my biggest takeaway so far is the psychological attachment I had with food. I would get into a zone of getting really agitated when hungry, or really sleepy where I feel like I'm going to pass out if I don't eat a KIND bar. After only a day into Whole30, I started to detach the mental dependency (which I didn't know I had) when cravings came on.

So for me, I was already eating relatively healthy and in pretty good shape, but this experience is definitely changing how I view food and cravings.

and as an aside, the reason I'm participating in this is because my wife wanted to do it, and it'd be nearly impossible for her to do it alone, with all the cooking and planning involved. I'm glad I'm doing it though.

 

[Jeremy Igo]

That's good of you. Maybe some extra sexy time put of it. 

[PanthersFanNY]

2 hours ago, Cary Kollins said:

^ I agree, like Jeremy alluded to if you cut out processed foods you're well on your way to living a much healthier life regardless if you subscribe to a nutritional plan or not.

 

For me, the Whole30 thing isn't just about what you're putting in your body. Personally my biggest takeaway so far is the psychological attachment I had with food. I would get into a zone of getting really agitated when hungry, or really sleepy where I feel like I'm going to pass out if I don't eat a KIND bar. After only a day into Whole30, I started to detach the mental dependency (which I didn't know I had) when cravings came on.

So for me, I was already eating relatively healthy and in pretty good shape, but this experience is definitely changing how I view food and cravings.

and as an aside, the reason I'm participating in this is because my wife wanted to do it, and it'd be nearly impossible for her to do it alone, with all the cooking and planning involved. I'm glad I'm doing it though.

 

Hey I've done two rounds of whole 30 (about 8 months apart, also at my wife's request) and wanted to share a couple things that help.

 

During the first round we did it all ourselves including their ketchup recipes, bbq sauce, marinara, etc. It's really time consuming and makes clean up a real bitch. Second round, we got approved sauces and dressings and it made it way easier.

 

http://www.tessemaes.com/

Tessemaes has approved ketchups, salad dressings, and bbq sauce. They're all good. It might cost you more than if you made it yourself but at least you won't be whipping up homemade ketchup at 7pm after working all day and then doing dishes until 8:30.

Harris Teeter also has an approved store brand marinara sauce that's good. We also found some vegetable stock at Harris Teeter that is approved and will save time. First time we went all out and made our own chicken stock and froze it in 8oz containers. This is easier. If you can fine Carolina Pride original bacon, that's also approved. I can only find it at Wal Mart here in coastal SC. Most bacon has sugar added but that doesn't.

Making meals with leftovers is key, otherwise you get hungry and there's nothing in the fridge and you're like "fug it I'm eating Cheetos."

 

I have pretty bad reflux and Whole 30 helped me figure out what causes it.

[Cary Kollins]

21 minutes ago, PanthersFanNY said:

Hey I've done two rounds of whole 30 (about 8 months apart, also at my wife's request) and wanted to share a couple things that help.

 

During the first round we did it all ourselves including their ketchup recipes, bbq sauce, marinara, etc. It's really time consuming and makes clean up a real bitch. Second round, we got approved sauces and dressings and it made it way easier.

 

http://www.tessemaes.com/

Tessemaes has approved ketchups, salad dressings, and bbq sauce. They're all good. It might cost you more than if you made it yourself but at least you won't be whipping up homemade ketchup at 7pm after working all day and then doing dishes until 8:30.

Harris Teeter also has an approved store brand marinara sauce that's good. We also found some vegetable stock at Harris Teeter that is approved and will save time. First time we went all out and made our own chicken stock and froze it in 8oz containers. This is easier. If you can fine Carolina Pride original bacon, that's also approved. I can only find it at Wal Mart here in coastal SC. Most bacon has sugar added but that doesn't.

Making meals with leftovers is key, otherwise you get hungry and there's nothing in the fridge and you're like "fug it I'm eating Cheetos."

 

I have pretty bad reflux and Whole 30 helped me figure out what causes it.

 

That's awesome, I'll look into those brands. We've definitely been putting in the hours in the kitchen just about every weeknight, but the leftovers have made it worth it. If nothing else, we're learning our way around the kitchen more than ever.