6 Reasons You Need a Whole30

I did my first round of Whole30 in February 2015, the day after my 25th birthday. I’d been reading up on everything the program entailed, what rules I would need to follow, how to prepare properly and some of the benefits I would likely experience. I was just starting nutrition school at the time and was learning how things like gluten, dairy and of course sugar, could be having a negative impact on my health. I was mostly just curious about what would happen if I gave it a try. Would I really feel that much better? I felt pretty good already, would I notice a difference? Could I finally shed a few extra pounds? 

After I finished my first round of Whole30, I couldn’t believe how much I had learned. Even though I was in nutrition school at the time and was learning how all of these foods could be having a negative effect on my health, it wasn’t until I put it all into practice that the real learning happened. After the Whole30 my energy was consistently high, my skin was brighter, I was sleeping like a rock and I realized I had so much to learn about my habits and emotional relationship with food. Ever since that first round I’ve been encouraging clients, family members friends and anyone else who will listen to give this 30-day self-experiment a try for themselves. Plus, every time I do another round myself I learn something totally new about my body.

If you’ve ever been slightly curious about the Whole30 or wondered if you should consider doing one, here are the top benefits I continually rave about.  

1. Identify Poor Habits

Before my first round, I thought I had pretty good eating habits. I wasn’t eating fast food, I was cooking almost all of my meals from scratch at home and I would only occasionally indulge in things like ice cream, pizza and wine. What I didn’t consider, was the amount of sugar I was consuming in some of these foods or the fact that I was indulging a little more often than I thought. Doing the Whole30 gave me a chance to really look into my eating habits and notice where things were falling off track more regularly than I realized. Realizing how much sugar I actually consumed was a huge eye-opener for me.

2. Increase Your Energy

Whole30 makes claims about the energy you’ll feel as you near the end of the program and they call it “tiger blood.” I’ll be honest, I was a bit skeptical about this “tiger blood.” It’s not like I was falling asleep during the day or couldn’t function properly. I was doing fine. The thing is, even if you don’t think you’re lacking in energy during the day, chances are your energy levels aren’t optimal. That 3 pm slump you experience doesn’t need to be an inevitable part of your day, and you can still feel energized after dinner! And for those of you who are feeling like your energy levels are really low – you’ll have so much more to gain by the end of this experiment. 

3. Recognize Food Without Brakes

You know how sometimes we opt for “healthy” treats because we feel better about ourselves when we eat them – things like homemade popcorn, baked chips, frozen yogurt and sweet potato fries to name a few? Have you ever noticed how easy it is to overconsume these foods? How often do you stop at just a few handfuls of popcorn, or 1/2 cup of frozen yogurt, or a handful of chips? It’s hard to do right? It’s so much easier to keep coming back for more and more and before you know it, you’ve way overindulged and don’t feel great. I’m sure you don’t ever get the feeling of wanting to overindulge in broccoli. This is part of learning to understand your emotional relationship with food and understanding how it’s sometimes just best to leave those treats behind.

4. Understand Your Emotional Relationship with Food. 

This is a BIG one and chances are you won’t fully nail it after just 30 days. You’ll need some time to really work on this and you’ll be continually developing your habits around emotional eating over time. The thing is, we reach for food for so many reasons other than to fuel our bodies and feel our best, and without recognizing these patterns they can be really hard to break. During the Whole30 if you’ve had a really stressful day at work and would normally come home to a glass of wine and a salty snack, you’ll be forced to look for something else instead of food as a stress relief. Maybe you go for a 20-minute walk outside, maybe you call a friend, maybe you have a bath, but you won’t overindulge in food and wine which will only perpetuate your feelings of stress. This will happen over and over again over the course of the 30 days, and eventually with some practice and patience, you’ll get better and better at dealing with these situations without food as your number one crutch.

5. Learn How Delicious Whole Foods Can Be. 

When people realize what we’re eliminating for 30 days they often give me a blank stare and ask, “what the heck are we suppose to eat then”. Trust me, even when you cut out all of the foods required for a successful Whole30 reset, you’re left with more than enough delicious foods to fill your plate. You’ll learn tons of new recipes, new ways of cooking and will be pretty impressed with yourself after whipping up some fresh homemade mayonnaise or ranch dressing. Plus, your whole family will be able to enjoy these recipes and you don’t have to feel like you’re a short-order cook just to participate. In fact, I’ve had so many clients tell me how much their husbands and kids enjoy their Whole30 recipes. Trust me, I love food way too much to participate in anything with a lame meal plan.

6. You Have Weight Loss Goals

I’m adding this one in here because I know you’re wondering. I know this is important to you and I know you’re going to ask. So yes, chances are you will lose weight during your Whole30 reset, and in fact, 96% of participants do report losing weight while on Whole30. But by the end of this experience, you’ll realize this isn’t why you’re here. You’ll realize how amazing your body was designed to feel, how much energy you can have all day long, how delicious real food can be, how often you turn to sugar for comfort and… So. Much. More. We call all of these benefits non-scale victories and instead of focusing on the number on a scale for 30 days, we focus on everything else positive that is changing during this process. In fact, one of the rules of the program is to not step on a scale or take any body measurements for the entire duration of the program. This is about so much more than weight, and I know that after 30 days, you will fully appreciate all the amazing things your body is capable of and how good you were designed to feel!

So there you have it! I could go on and on with dozens of other reasons why a Whole30 would be an amazing experiment for you to try, but for now, I’ll leave you with those. And just in case this is your first encounter with information about the Whole30, I’ll leave you with the most quoted line from the Whole30 book.

” This is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Quitting heroin is hard. Beating Cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard. This is for the greatest and most important cause in your entire life – the one and only body you’ll ever have. You can do this.”

 

Whole30 With Me!

If any of that sparked your interest and you’re interested in doing your first Whole30, I’d love to have you join me in our next round! I’m so confident in this program and all the health benefits you’ll notice, that I’ve designed a 6-week program around helping women complete their very first Whole30. Plus, I always find it easier when I know there are other people doing it with me, and you’ll have full support from both me and your fellow Whole30ers.

Here’s what you’ll get when you sign up to Whole30 with me:

• 6-weeks of coaching
• Private Facebook Group
• Complete Whole30 Resource Package
• 30 Day Meal Plan
• Weekly Facebook Live Calls
• Daily Motivational Note from me
• Reintroduction Schedule