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What is the Whole 30 Diet?

The things you eat can have a sneaky, subtle effect on you. The culprit could be right on your plate without you even realizing it. Don’t believe me? Well, think about your energy level. Is it low or almost completely absent? Having trouble losing weight even though you’re doing everything you can think of? Do you have chronic pain, skin issues, or digestive problems that medication hasn’t improved on?

If you believe what you’ve been eating is the cause of your symptoms, there’s only one way to find out: start cutting out all the food that’s potentially harmful. Cut out all the things that are unhealthy, that disrupt your gut, that throw off your hormones, and that cause inflammation. Make a change for the next 30 days.

Whole 30? What’s That?

The Whole30 is a 30 day eating plan created with the goal of making a significant shift in your diet and health. It’s designed to help end awful relationships with food, bad food habits, and unhealthy cravings. Also, the Whole30 works to improve your digestive tract, soothe systemic inflammation, and reestablish a healthy metabolism. And it all starts with what you eat.

Food You Can Yes To

So what can you eat? You can have meat, eggs, seafood, plenty of vegetables, some fruit, and healthy fats from nuts, seeds, and oils. Any food with ingredients you can’t pronounce should be avoided. Look for items with a small amount of ingredients (ones you can read).

Food You Have to Say No To

No sugar. Absolutely no added sugar of any kind. That means real or artificial. This includes honey, agave nectar, maple syrup, coconut sugar, NutraSweet, Equal, Splenda, stevia, xylitol, and so on. Really keep an eye on food labels. Food manufacturers can be sneaky about getting sugar in their products.

No grains. This means no oats, barley, wheat, rye, corn, rice, buckwheat, amaranth, sorghum, millet, bulgur, quinoa, and sprouted grains.

No legumes. No peas, chickpeas, peanuts (or peanut butter), or beans. There many types of beans, which means that red, pinto, black, white, navy, lima, fava, and kidney beans are all apart of the avoid list. Also, you’ll have to skip out on soy, soy sauce, soy milk, tofu, miso, edamame, tempeh, and any other ways soy gets into ingredients (soy lecithin).

No dairy. This means no cow, goat, or sheep’s milk. No cheese, cream, sour cream, yogurt (that means Greek too), or kefir.

You Can Go For 30!

All you have to do is focus on making good food choices for the next 30 days. There’s no need to weigh yourself. The tape measure can stay in the drawer. Forget about counting calories. Take it one day at a time and just eat good food.

Yes, the plan is simple on paper. That said, it requires something from you—commitment. Committing to a new program isn’t easy, and sometimes “life” happens (holidays, birthdays, special occasions, cheats, and slip ups). Don’t beat yourself up, though. If you do have a slip up, it’s like hitting the reset button. That means your 30 days start over again (back to Day 1). Just do the best you can for the next 30 days.