This means cutting out ALL processed foods, artificial additives (MSG, food coloring, preservatives), and just eating food just how it has been eaten for the past thousands of years. This may be described as an extreme Paleo diet. Paleo is short for Paleolific or caveman diet. Some people get confused, and wonder why we are eating like cavemen? Well they didn't eat mac and cheese out of a box, or red food coloring with sugar that we call "fruit punch". Many of these "normal" foods of our society are causing a lot of health problems that people don't even realize are being caused by the things we eat every day. Someone might say "I don't have any food allergies." And that may be true. Your throat doesn't swell up when you eat peanuts, and you don't start itching after eating seafood. But what about food INTOLERANCES? What if your headaches, digestive problems and skin issues are coming from food? What if your moodiness, hormone imbalances, moments of hypoglycemia and constant tiredness are things that could be prevented? I feel like so many things like this peope just consider "normal," or attribute them to getting old, being stressed, or say "these things just happen to EVERYONE." Well what if they don't have to happen? Really the only way to find out what kind of effect food is having on you is to cut out all the potential "problem foods." This is what Whole30 does. It cuts out inflammatory foods, and all foods that cause people the most health problems. It cuts out all gluten (as many people have gluten intolerances they did not know about), all added sugar-AND any added sweeteners (natural and artificial), for the reasons of:
1- cutting out sugar can greatly help those with diabetes, and hypoglycemia by balancing blood sugar levels
2- cutting out all sweeteners for a month gets rid of sugar cravings and re-trains your tastebuds and brain to not NEED to have something sweet after meals or when you get stressed
3- it makes you become a lot more creative in your cooking and makes you aware of how many products we eat have sugar added to them
It also cuts out dairy which can cause a lot of people digestive problems. Not everyone continues eating according to the Paleo diet after finishing the Whole30, but many are inspired to change their diet in many ways because they are more aware of what our foods are made of, and how foods affect how they feel. Some people have digestive problems but by doing the Whole30, they give their GI tract a rest, and allow it to heal itself. Many, many people have noticed improvements in their health by eating these non-inflammatory foods, and are able to break food addictions-especially to sugar.
Whole30 teaches you to eat to live, instead of living to eat. Many people run to chocolate, ice cream or junk food when they are stressed, upset or lonely. This really only makes the problem worse, as sugar causes spikes in blood sugar which quickly crashes-leaving a person tired and often cranky. When you cut out all sugary things, when you are feeling down, you have to go to meat, vegetables or fruit- which nourishes your body and actually helps you to feel better in the long run.
Many people have said to me this month- "why are you on a diet? You don't need to lose weight!" Although most people DO lose some weight (obviously those who have more to lose will lose more), like I said before-this is not the point. The goal is to learn how to eat so that YOU feel the best. Everyone will have different results, and learn different things about themselves on this journey. I'm not going to lie- it is a challange. I don't really find coffee that enjoyable without it being at least a little bit sweet- so I pretty much avoided it all month. Although you CAN eat at some restaurants during Whole30 (they give guidelines on the website of which questions to ask, and what to request if you go out), it can be very difficult to find a dish that is compliant with the rules. You have to be strong and be able to tell yourself NO. To graciously decline when you are offered foods you can't eat when they are offered to you. Sometimes you just don't want to cook anymore, because you have been making every single thing from scratch for a whole month, and you feel like you don't have any more creativity inside of you. But it pushes you as a person. It shows you that you CAN go a month without chocolate, fries, pasta or bread. And once you cross the finish line- you will be glad you decided to set out on this life changing journey.
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