WHAT IS WHOLE30?
It's an All-or-Nothing 30 days (up to 90 days) elimination diet plus a minimum of 12 days of reintroducing foods eliminated to get your eating, health, and relationship with food on a healthier track.
After the reintroduction, most people transition to Paleo, as Whole30 is not a lifestyle, but a learning tool to customize your way of eating for the rest of your life. To read more on the learning tool and not lifestyle, click HERE to go to Dallas Hartwig's article on this. http://whole30.com/2015/05/whole30-learning-tool/
Whole30 is not for the faint of heart -- there is a lot to take in, and it's important to fully understand what you're getting yourself into before starting. As I've been saying for at least 7 years (before my first Whole30), there is NO way of eating or changing habits that's right for everyone--there is no One Size Fits All. Find the plan that is Right For You!
The best way to do Whole30, for optimum results (and who doesn't want the best ever results?) is to follow not just the Rules, but the Recommendations as well. Don't half-a** this effort that is so important to every part of you -- you deserve the best results and not just some fly-by-night mediocre results.
Here are some links that I feel are critical to understanding and having a successful Whole30. Please note that some of these links are only available on the Whole30 - First Timers Support Group on Facebook--those are indicated with an ** before the topic. Italicized items are links to follow.
THE BOOKS
It Starts With Food -- This is the most important book to read, along with Food Freedom Forever (FFF is for after your Whole30). This explains why you're doing what you're doing.
The Whole30 -- This is more of a mechanics of Whole30 and is intended more for those that don't want to know the Why behind what you're doing.
Food Freedom Forever -- This is extremely important to read, as it helps you to understand just What "food freedom" means. This book was very well thought out and is critical to your future way of eating and how you approach food and change your relationship with food.
NOW.....for some Whole30 reading:
WHOLE30 PROGRAM RULES -- This is very important to read and understand fully.
Reintroduction is Step 2 of Whole30..don't skip it
-- Prepping for Reintro, links to other articles on Melissa's once-a-year Whole30, why to do Reintro, etc.
-- 12 day Reintroduction process
-- Slow Roll Reintroduction process
8 STEPS/THINGS TO DO TO GET READY FOR WHOLE30
These are short articles, and will help you prepare for your next 30 days! Be sure and go to the full page for each article, don't just read the snippet.
MEAL TEMPLATE -- Be sure and download this file -- it shows you what your minimum portion sizes should be and also what each meal should include.
** SNACKING -- Your eventual goal after a week or so of fine tuning your food portions, is to get to the point of 3 meals, no snacks. Snacks tend to be "mindless" eating, so let's get to it and make this mean something!
BECOME AN EXPERT LABEL READER -- I cannot stress enough how important it is to do your own homework on compliant ingredients. After a while, it becomes second nature to you. See the item below, "Searching for Whole30 information."
SWYPO -- This is probably the most confusing part of all of Whole30. Be sure and read the very end where it explains that there are some foods that are just plain off-limits to everyone for 30 days.
** OFF LIMITS FOOD LIST FROM SWYPO ARTICLE
This is a list from the SWYPO article that itemizes those things that are off-limits foods/dishes/recipes for everyone.
WEIGHING AND MEASURING YOURSELF IS OUT FOR 30 DAYS
-- Knowing that NOT doing this is part of Whole30
-- Break Up With Your Scale
This is one of the hard-and-fast rules of Whole30. Do this, and it's back to Day 1. There's a good reason for this, so read up on this.
RESTARTING -- YES YOU DO NEED TO DO IT
Yes, you readlly do need to do this if you break one of the rules. Because: the rules, your commitment to yourself, science. There are only 3 rules -- and good reason to restart if you break one. Don't look at it as failure, but success -- by restarting, you are following Whole30 and NOT choosing to disregard one of the rules.
WHOLE30 PDF FILES --There are a bunch of helpful files at this link -- do go and download at least the Meal Planning template (shows you what each meal should include and minimum portions, along with pre- and post-workout snacks), shopping list (basic foods you can eat list), common additives (forbidden additives list and most common ok to use additives list), and sugar names.
SEARCHING FOR WHOLE30 ANSWERS ON GOOGLE
Searching via Google for answers on Whole30 is really easy! Just go to Google and put the following in (making sure to replace IngredientName with the actual name of the ingredient you're questioning--or the topic you are looking for answers on): forum.whole30.com Ingredient Name (or you can use IngredientName Whole30). Look for forum links and look for Moderator answers on posts on the forum.
