Whole30 Quitter Written By: Niki Ishikawa
Over the last two and a half years, I have successfully completed three Whole30's. Just like the previous two Januaries, on the first of this year I started yet another Whole30, but only lasted four days this time.
What is a Whole30? It is a dietary reset, where for 30 days you restrict the foods you eat, to allow your body to reset and heal itself. While Whole30 is a paleo based diet, I like to refer to it as the super paleo diet, because of the intensity of the restrictions. The Whole30 plan is to focus on eating whole, organic, grass-fed, pasture raised, wild-caught unprocessed foods and stop eating all grains, dairy, legumes, sugar and alcohol for 30 days.
I completed my first Whole30 back in June of 2015. I stumbled upon the diet researching clean eating, looking specifically for books about making better food choices. At the time, I wasn't looking to lose weight so much as I wanted to feel better, more energized and healthier. I had this thought that maybe if my body felt better, my mind would function better and maybe I would actually have the energy to start writing. Turns out I was onto something.
The game changing book that I read was, It Starts With Food By: Melissa Hartwig and Dallas Hartwig. This book gave me all of the scientific reasons and history as to why foods effect us the way that they do. It was in this book that I discovered The Whole30 as the Hartwigs were the founders of The Whole30. While I borrowed It Starts With Food and The Whole 30 from the library, I made sure to order The Whole 30 book from Amazon and have since passed it around to many of my friends and family members. The book is so used the pages have pulled away from the binding and are hanging loosely between the hardback cover.
I decided at that point I had nothing to lose, if anything, everything to gain by trying The Whole30. I knew that it would be very challenging, because at that time and pretty much any time in between my Whole30s, my diet is full of highly processed sugar laden grain and dairy filled treats followed up with occasional heavy doses of alcohol. But I was set on wanting to prove to myself that I could do this diet, not just for the dietary benefits, but also for the self-discipline it would require from me, since I have a tendency to just float whichever way the wind takes me.
While I had played with the idea of buying organic produce, previously, the only reason it had even crossed my mind was because my cousin bought organic and she has been the older sister I never had, so many things that she does I have followed suit. It was upon her suggestion that I even considered starting a blog in the first place (it only took me two years to actually do it). I never did commit to buying organic produce because of the expense, plus I wasn't really sure what the difference was anyway, having never thought to find more information about it. I was sort of aware of the dirty dozen though that didn't stop me from buying them and knew that if you could peel it, it was fine not to buy organic, but beyond that I was pretty clueless.
Before my first Whole30, I had never heard of grass-fed beef nor pastured raised pork and chicken, nor had I considered the importance of it. What did it matter? In my mind I thought that there couldn't be that much of a difference in the quality of the meat, pork and poultry that was half the price of all that fancily labeled stuff that was difficult for me to find locally. I had heard of wild caught fish most likely because of the industry I worked in, our specializing in seafood and people asking me if our fish was wild caught, but I was not truly aware of the benefits of it nor the difference. Over the last decade I have seen a significant increase in people becoming gluten free and our menu changing to accommodate those needs. I had also seen people wanting to know more of where our produce and fish was sourced from, but I had never thought to consider why.
That first Whole30 I followed the rules to the tee. I bought all organic, grass-fed, pasture raised, and wild caught groceries. And boy did my wallet feel the strain. My grocery bill was double if not triple what it was prior to the Whole30. Let's face it, grains are cheap and so are bargain produce and meat. Before The Whole30, like the majority of Americans we were eating mostly grains, with a little bit of produce and meat to give those coveted grains flavor and complexity. I mean, what is a sandwich without the filling? Or pasta without meat and veggies? Bland and boring.
While I was terrified of cheating myself by cheating on The Whole30, I was also concerned that the food would be boring and flavorless. What I found though, was that because I was cooking nearly everything I put into my mouth, the food was fantastic. During my first Whole30 and subsequent Whole30s I have improved my cooking skills tenfold. I have found a new love for cooking and have learned that quality of ingredients are key. I also ended up feeling the best I had ever felt in my entire life. It was amazing how great I felt. I had no more aches and pains. I was full of energy and felt so incredibly happy. I also shed ten plus pounds.
Since that first Whole30, I have done a lot more research of how food effects your body, especially the quality of it. Slowly but surely I have incorporated organic produce, grass-fed beef, pasture raised pork, organic chicken and wild-caught fish into our diets. As this was a slow progression over the last couple of years, it has not been nearly as detrimental to our food budget as originally thought. I've also learned how to shop more efficiently and found that meal planning and shopping the sales are best for our family. While my husband is not completely on board with all the changes in our groceries, he's not necessarily against it either. Although if he is going to the store for anything, he will still buy the bargain food.
So if the Whole30 makes me feel so incredibly amazing, why did I quit after only four days this year? Well, I'm not sure exactly. I guess I just didn't have the discipline in me this time. Our cupboard full of cookies and chocolatey goodness didn't help my case either. And then after seeing the Endocrinologist and finding out that all my labs are currently normal, I thought, why torture myself? That's right folks, my Graves Disease is currently in remission. Maybe all of this clean eating is finally paying off? I do eat mostly paleo, aside from my occasional cookie and chocolate binges. For now I'm going to run with it. Not to say I won't do another Whole30 again, because I probably will. Just not now, I don't seem to need it yet, neither emotionally or physically.
What is a Whole30? It is a dietary reset, where for 30 days you restrict the foods you eat, to allow your body to reset and heal itself. While Whole30 is a paleo based diet, I like to refer to it as the super paleo diet, because of the intensity of the restrictions. The Whole30 plan is to focus on eating whole, organic, grass-fed, pasture raised, wild-caught unprocessed foods and stop eating all grains, dairy, legumes, sugar and alcohol for 30 days.
I completed my first Whole30 back in June of 2015. I stumbled upon the diet researching clean eating, looking specifically for books about making better food choices. At the time, I wasn't looking to lose weight so much as I wanted to feel better, more energized and healthier. I had this thought that maybe if my body felt better, my mind would function better and maybe I would actually have the energy to start writing. Turns out I was onto something.
The game changing book that I read was, It Starts With Food By: Melissa Hartwig and Dallas Hartwig. This book gave me all of the scientific reasons and history as to why foods effect us the way that they do. It was in this book that I discovered The Whole30 as the Hartwigs were the founders of The Whole30. While I borrowed It Starts With Food and The Whole 30 from the library, I made sure to order The Whole 30 book from Amazon and have since passed it around to many of my friends and family members. The book is so used the pages have pulled away from the binding and are hanging loosely between the hardback cover.
I decided at that point I had nothing to lose, if anything, everything to gain by trying The Whole30. I knew that it would be very challenging, because at that time and pretty much any time in between my Whole30s, my diet is full of highly processed sugar laden grain and dairy filled treats followed up with occasional heavy doses of alcohol. But I was set on wanting to prove to myself that I could do this diet, not just for the dietary benefits, but also for the self-discipline it would require from me, since I have a tendency to just float whichever way the wind takes me.
While I had played with the idea of buying organic produce, previously, the only reason it had even crossed my mind was because my cousin bought organic and she has been the older sister I never had, so many things that she does I have followed suit. It was upon her suggestion that I even considered starting a blog in the first place (it only took me two years to actually do it). I never did commit to buying organic produce because of the expense, plus I wasn't really sure what the difference was anyway, having never thought to find more information about it. I was sort of aware of the dirty dozen though that didn't stop me from buying them and knew that if you could peel it, it was fine not to buy organic, but beyond that I was pretty clueless.
Before my first Whole30, I had never heard of grass-fed beef nor pastured raised pork and chicken, nor had I considered the importance of it. What did it matter? In my mind I thought that there couldn't be that much of a difference in the quality of the meat, pork and poultry that was half the price of all that fancily labeled stuff that was difficult for me to find locally. I had heard of wild caught fish most likely because of the industry I worked in, our specializing in seafood and people asking me if our fish was wild caught, but I was not truly aware of the benefits of it nor the difference. Over the last decade I have seen a significant increase in people becoming gluten free and our menu changing to accommodate those needs. I had also seen people wanting to know more of where our produce and fish was sourced from, but I had never thought to consider why.
That first Whole30 I followed the rules to the tee. I bought all organic, grass-fed, pasture raised, and wild caught groceries. And boy did my wallet feel the strain. My grocery bill was double if not triple what it was prior to the Whole30. Let's face it, grains are cheap and so are bargain produce and meat. Before The Whole30, like the majority of Americans we were eating mostly grains, with a little bit of produce and meat to give those coveted grains flavor and complexity. I mean, what is a sandwich without the filling? Or pasta without meat and veggies? Bland and boring.
While I was terrified of cheating myself by cheating on The Whole30, I was also concerned that the food would be boring and flavorless. What I found though, was that because I was cooking nearly everything I put into my mouth, the food was fantastic. During my first Whole30 and subsequent Whole30s I have improved my cooking skills tenfold. I have found a new love for cooking and have learned that quality of ingredients are key. I also ended up feeling the best I had ever felt in my entire life. It was amazing how great I felt. I had no more aches and pains. I was full of energy and felt so incredibly happy. I also shed ten plus pounds.
Since that first Whole30, I have done a lot more research of how food effects your body, especially the quality of it. Slowly but surely I have incorporated organic produce, grass-fed beef, pasture raised pork, organic chicken and wild-caught fish into our diets. As this was a slow progression over the last couple of years, it has not been nearly as detrimental to our food budget as originally thought. I've also learned how to shop more efficiently and found that meal planning and shopping the sales are best for our family. While my husband is not completely on board with all the changes in our groceries, he's not necessarily against it either. Although if he is going to the store for anything, he will still buy the bargain food.
So if the Whole30 makes me feel so incredibly amazing, why did I quit after only four days this year? Well, I'm not sure exactly. I guess I just didn't have the discipline in me this time. Our cupboard full of cookies and chocolatey goodness didn't help my case either. And then after seeing the Endocrinologist and finding out that all my labs are currently normal, I thought, why torture myself? That's right folks, my Graves Disease is currently in remission. Maybe all of this clean eating is finally paying off? I do eat mostly paleo, aside from my occasional cookie and chocolate binges. For now I'm going to run with it. Not to say I won't do another Whole30 again, because I probably will. Just not now, I don't seem to need it yet, neither emotionally or physically.
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