Whole 30 Recap!
Happy Wednesday friends! I hope your week is going well so far. If not, you’re one day closer to Friday and it can only get better from here! This week brought some humid and muggy weather to Texas while the rest of the country is still trying to thaw out. Nothing like 70 degrees in February, y’all! Well since we’re officially in February, I guess it’s time for my Whole 30 recap!
I am proud to say that I stayed on track for the month of January…er, sort of. I’ll got into further detail in a bit BUT, I began January 1st and finished up on the 30th. Honesty moment here: I did not do the reintroduction portion as recommended. By the end of the month I was going stir crazy and I just wanted it to be over. Before we get into the details, I want to share some background.
There was a point in my life where I did not have a good relationship with food. I went from extreme restriction to moments of excess that made me sick. There was an underlying issue that I was trying to solve with food. After professional help and a loving community, I have been able to overcome this. Saying that, I DO NOT restrict myself in any way. I don’t follow any sort of diet but have worked with a nutritionist to educate myself. I am very active and need to take care of my body if I expect it to perform. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll find that I post about my salads and meal prep as well as my donuts and pizza. I do not deny myself food nor feel that anyone should.
My friend Coppelia approached me with the Whole 30 idea before and I knew that I wasn’t at the point where I could do it. This time around, I looked at it as a way to help HER achieve her goals. I made it less about me and tried not to think about it too much. In theory, Whole 30 sounds good. However, I had a few issues with it.
The Whole 30 program is not designed by a nutritionist. After working in depth with a nutritionist last year, I just couldn’t get behind some of the ideas that Whole 30 promoted. No added sugar but you can have fruit juice? Kombucha is okay but only if sugar is not listed as an ingredient even though you use sugar to make Kombucha? Potatoes weren’t allowed but now they are? And the idea that you need to be full all the time and were discouraged from snacking? Yeah, I wasn’t a fan. I followed the “rules” but at times I did so begrudgingly.
After speaking with a few other bloggers who did Whole 30 for the month of January, we all spoke about how expensive it was. Looking for “compliant” foods usually meant going to a specialty store. Also the idea that organic is better? Not so. What is considered “organic” isn’t heavily regulated but that’s another story. Unless you’re willing to put down a bunch of money on Whole 30 (even more so if your spouse or family is doing it), I’d suggest passing on it.
In the middle of January, I ran a half marathon. My race routine is pretty much set and stone and it’s no surprise that it wasn’t Whole 30 compliant. I chose to break it for three meals to give my time to adapt for race day nutrition. By Monday morning, I was back to following the program. I chose not to “start over” because that’s just silly. For a program that talks about food freedom, I just felt that there was a lot of guilt involved. Knowing what I know and after getting the help I did, I know that programs that force you to start over and guilt you don’t really help you.
Overall, Whole 30 was just another way of eating for me. I don’t suffer from any food sensitivities and honestly, I don’t believe this program is a good way to find that out. Fad diets just don’t work, even if they are labeled as a “reset”. I would 100% recommend working with a PROFESSIONAL. Not someone you found online, an influencer, or a celebrity. Being able to have one on one time with someone knowledgeable in their field is best. In my experience, I found that food wasn’t the problem and I would venture a guess that that’s probably the case for most people.
After doing Whole 30, I would have to say I don’t recommend it for others. There are a few people who have gained insight about themselves from doing this program. I am not one of those people but felt that I should still share my story with you guys.
Have you done Whole 30 before? What are your thoughts on it?
