My First Journey with the Whole 30 Program

My first Whole 30 experience!

I want to start this post off by saying that I HATE the word “diet.” Absolutely hate it. When I hear the word diet I think of restriction, counting calories, and focusing on losing weight rather than improving your actual health. Because of this, I was extremely skeptical when my mom told me she was starting the “Whole 30” program. No dairy? But I LOVE cheese, and Greek yogurt is my go-to ingredient for recipe substitutions. No grains, including quinoa? If you know me, you know quinoa is my best friend. I was immediately disinterested in what I thought was a silly “diet” my mom was doing… until I looked into it.

Turns out that Whole 30 is actually a really awesome program to help you eat what’s good for your body and avoid what’s not. The program creators describe it as a “short-term nutritional reset, designed to help you put an end to unhealthy cravings and habits, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, and balance your immune system.” Once I learned that, I soon became interested. I felt bad for dissing the program and I’m so proud of my mom and happy she introduced it to me!

My mom actually bought me the book called It Starts With Food, which explains the program, and had it sent to my apartment at college. The book gets super scientific and gives an in-depth explanation as to why certain foods are not ideal for your health. Some of the foods were more obvious, like sugar and alcohol, but I was completely surprised when they said grains, dairy, and legumes (beans, peas, lentils, etc.), too. Why are these foods, thought to be healthy by so many people, now on the list to avoid? I was going to try to explain it, but instead of butchering what I’ve learned, I thought it’d be best to just refer you to the information written by the creators here.

Once the foods to avoid are out of the way, the book goes on to introduce the foods you should be eating! This includes “real food” such as meat, seafood, eggs, vegetables, fruit, and good fats like oils, nuts, and seeds.

The guidelines provided for the Whole 30 program are just that—guidelines. While it is obvious that certain food, like added sugars, are bad for everyone and the foods listed above are generally good, the program is really a personal experiment. After completing the 30 days, you slowly introduce different types of food into your diet one at a time and evaluate how your body reacts. Some people may be very intolerant to milk, for example, while others don’t seem to have any type of reaction. It really depends on your own body.

Rather than being a “diet,” this program is more of a way to help you build a healthier lifestyle. Personally, I can relate to this. While I don’t eat as healthy as possible, I have tried to change the way I eat over the past few years and now certain things have become natural to me.

I was interested in starting Whole 30, but I kept making excuses like “I can’t start this week… I have dinner plans with a friend” or “I don’t have enough groceries or the time to go get them.” I finally decided that if I don’t start now, I’m just going to keep making excuses and never actually do it! So, last Wednesday I headed to the grocery store, packed my kitchen with healthy food, and started the program. Today I’m on day six and I’m feeling pretty good! I went out to eat for my friend’s birthday over the weekend and struggled picking what to eat, but other than that it hasn’t been too hard so far.

So, why am I sharing all of this with you? First, I’m super excited to be doing this and I wanted to tell more people about Whole 30. Most importantly, though, because my blog is centered on food and my recipes will be changing in order to align with the program. I can’t wait to share how this program has helped me and provide even healthier recipes with you!

*This post is in no way affiliated with Whole 30. All opinions are my own!

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