I made it through Whole30!! WOOHOO!!! No cheating or accidental slip-ups that required me to restart – phew! The Whole30 can be a bit overwhelming at the start, but with enough preparation time and diligence, you can certainly integrate it into even your busy schedule.
Whole30 Getting Started Tips
Over the 30 days (and counting), I learned a lot about my habits and my body. If you’re looking to start Whole30, here are some tips to help get you started.
- Preparation is crucial. Use the resources listed below and read up on it before deciding if it’s right for you.
- The Whole30 is NOT a diet! While some people will lose weight on Whole30, it’s more about identifying what foods are good and not good for your body. There is a lot of self-reflection and figuring out what works for you, which is the ultimate goal.
- You do a lot of cooking on Whole30. You can take some shortcuts like buying pre-cut vegetables, but you may end up eating the same foods for 30 days.
- Get rid of all your off-plan or trigger foods in the house before you start day 1. I boxed all of mine up and had my husband hide it in the house.
- You can’t weigh yourself for 30 days. Hide the scale too.
- Be open to trying new foods and recipes. I never knew what nutritional yeast, ghee or coco aminos were before Whole30, but I do now!
- If you can, start to eliminate sugar from your diet before day 1 to help eliminate the headaches, cravings, etc.
- Buy whole foods when you can; otherwise, get ready to read every label’s ingredients list.
- Google the ingredients you don’t know to see if they’re compliant.
- Pick 30 days when you don’t have any big occasions or celebrations so you will be less tempted to cheat.
- You’ll need to continue planning out your meals to populate your shopping lists throughout the Whole30.
- Although my stomach growled, I really wasn’t hungry.
While there are undoubtedly many results internally that I have not noticed, some of the stand-out results I felt after 30 days included:
- Deeper sleep and falling asleep quicker
- Taming my “sugar dragon”
- Feeling more in control of what I eat and when
- Feeling more in control of my emotional eating
- More confidence in saying “no” to off-plan foods or making special requests at restaurants
- More muscle definition
- Less anxious
- No more mid-day exhaustion
- Gained new cooking skills
- Able to go harder in my workouts
- No longer needing to snack throughout the day
Something I also keep reminding myself is that just finishing on its own is a HUGE accomplishment. I was sure I’d forget to read a label or accidentally eat off my kid’s plate and have to start over. But I have a new mindset now!
And, I can proudly share this:
Grab your #IAmWhole30 completion graphics and certificate »
Whole30 Resources
There are so many resources out there to help guide you through Whole30, but ones I’ve found so helpful included:
- Whole30 PDF downloads. In particular, the meal planning PDF, which is not in any of the Whole30 books but is so crucial to the plan!
- Free Whole30 Starter Kit and daily motivational emails.
- Beginners Whole30 Facebook groups! Find one, join it and start reading! Even just lurking, you learn so much from others questions and answers.
- Whole30 Day by Day book. This book helped me stay on track every day, stay focused and understand what was happening with my body.
- The Whole30 guide book. This book is your introduction to all of the Whole30 basics. While some rules have changed since this was printed, it includes all of the background and set-up information you need plus a bunch of recipes.
- The Whole30 calendar graphic is scary accurate but also helpful to see it from a high level. Although I never did get Tiger Blood…..
- Melissa Urban’s Do the Thing podcast, among others such as Gutsy Holistic Health, are so insightful to dig deeper into the “Why” or “How” of healthier eating.
- Recipes! Whether you find Whole30-compliant recipes online or through books like Whole30 Slow Cooker, you will need many recipes in your arsenal to help change things up so your tastebuds stay excited. A few we tried and loved were: Caramelized Onion Apple Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash, Shepherd’s Pie, Sweet Potato Apple Breakfast Bake and Instant Pot BBQ Ribs.
Whole30 Fast and Easy Foods
On Whole30, you will cook a lot. A LOT. There is a ton of planning and preparation since most of your foods are fresh. There are a few fast and easy foods that became my staple on the Whole30.
- No-sugar bacon on a broiler pan in oven at 400 degrees for ~20 minutes.
- Raw vegetables (sugar snap peas, baby carrots, celery, yellow and orange bell peppers)
- Eggs, either in a skillet on the stove or 1 minute, 30 seconds in a OXO microwave egg cooker.
- Sweet potatoes, poke holes all over with a fork and then cook on a plate in the microwave for 5-8 minutes, depending on the size. Cut open and add ghee and cinnamon.
- Spaghetti squash in an instant pot for 10 minutes on manual cook.
- Roasted bell peppers, sweet potatoes, red potatoes and/or brussels sprouts. Clean and cut up, coat with olive oil, melted ghee or avocado oil. Put on baking sheet with parchment paper, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook on 400 for ~20 minutes.
- Sauteed spinach and mushrooms with garlic
- Riced cauliflower. In particular, the pilaf-style riced cauliflower that steams in its bag in the microwave!
- Chipotle’s Whole30 lifestyle bowl! The only thing I felt comfortable eating out for the first 3 weeks. I added lettuce.
- Ground turkey
- Basically everything on my Whole30 Shopping List Must-Haves post
- Leftovers!
- Wildway Grain-Free Granola
- Tuna fish
- Avocado
- Canned black olives
- RX Vanilla Almond Butter
If you’re just starting your Whole30 journey or are about to start another round, I hope you’ll find these tips and resources helpful.
Have you done Whole30 before? If so, what were your experiences? If you’re still investigating, what questions do you have?
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