Eating Clean for a Month - My Whole30 Experience
I just completed 30 days of eating and drinking clean with the Whole30 challenge. I’ve been doing some form of a Paleo diet off and on for about 2 years, but the Whole30 challenge really takes it to the next level. You can read about the whole challenge on Whole 9 Life’s site, but it’s basically a super-strict form of the Paleo diet for 30 days:
- Eat real, clean foods: meat, fish, eggs, tons of vegetables, some fruit, and plenty of good fats
- No grain, dairy, legumes, white potatoes, alcohol, preservatives, or sweeteners of any kind (including artificial)
- Focus on quality, not quantity
- No “paleo-ified” foods like paleo pizza or paleo pancakes
- Don’t weigh yourself
The purpose of the challenge is to heal your digestive system and see what it feels like to eat an ideal diet for a month. The theory is that even trace amounts of some foods (like milk or wheat) can damage your digestive tract and reset your progress. After you make it through the 30 days, you can slowly start adding back some of the “lesser evil” foods (like dairy and legumes) to see how sensitive you are to them.
My experience
So how’d it go? Well, I was about 99% compliant. I had one small glass of champagne to toast my friend’s wedding and the food at the two weddings I went to undoubtedly had sugar and butter in them. I did stick with the most paleo food options available though. I’m claiming success.
The most noticeable outcome is that I lost 15.5 pounds. Of course, Whole30 advocates will tell you that weight loss is not the point. My goal was not to lose weight, but I did want to get rid of some belly fat. My belt loop is now about 1 1/2 notches looser than a month ago and my stomach is the flattest it’s been since college.
I had a few headaches in the first few days. But, after the first week, I felt more clear-headed and had more sustained energy throughout the day.
Was it hard? Not too bad! The social pressure was by far the hardest. I had 3 major obstacles to success in my month of clean eating - 2 weddings and a 3-day conference in New Orleans. Hey, if I can make it through 5 nights of free alcohol and delicious food, anyone can. One of my favorite quotes from the Whole30 description sums it up well:
Quitting heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard.
The toughest for me was the 3rd obstacle - the wedding of one of my best friends from college. Frankly, I felt a little socially awkward drinking a bottle of water instead of holding a bottle of beer or a glass of wine. I actually did quite well until late into the evening when my friend noticed I hadn’t been drinking all night. It was hard to say, “I’m not drinking on your wedding day because I’m doing this self-imposed diet challenge.” I felt worse about disappointing him than any lack of personal enjoyment I might have had from drinking. I did toast him with one small glass of champagne, but that was the only alcohol I had for the whole month.
During these difficult social situations, I frequently thought of the tough love from the Whole30 challenge:
You’re all big boys and girls. Toughen up. Learn to say no (or make your Mom proud and say, “No, thank you”). Learn to stick up for yourself. Just because it’s your sister’s birthday, or your best friend’s wedding, or your company picnic does not mean you have to eat anything. It’s always a choice, and we would hope that you stopped succumbing to peer pressure in 7th grade.
Going out to eat is nearly impossible with the Whole30 rules, so it really forced us to plan ahead and make almost all of our meals at home. We added a ton of wonderful new meals to our recipe book (mostly from the highly-recommended Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals by Mark Sisson of Mark’s Daily Apple).
I wasn’t too hungry most of the time. Eating a lot of protein at every meal allows you to go pretty long without feeling hungry. I even skipped lunch once because of back-to-back meetings and was completely fine (which is not the norm for me). When I got hungry between meals, apples, nuts and hard-boiled eggs make excellent, satiating snacks. When you get hungry on this diet, you just get hungry - you don’t turn into a carb-craving dizzy hulk.
I also started seeking out vegetables. When you’re limited to meat, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, you learn to like vegetables because you know they’re going to be satiating.
The aftermath
After I completed the 30 days, I indulged with a day that included Mexican for lunch (burrito, enchilada, chips & salsa), burger & chips for dinner, and several beers. The food and beer were definitely a treat, but I paid for it the next day. My stomach was not pleased with me and I didn’t end up going to my morning yoga class as a consequence.
The most convincing thing for me that this diet is right is not how good I feel while I’m eating clean (which is pretty good), but just how bad I feel when I’m eating poorly (which is extremely gassy and bloated). If you’re eating crap all the time, your body surely gets used to eating inflammatory foods, but I don’t think your body is going to adapt to a diet of grains and dairy in one lifetime.
Keys to success
Interested in taking on the challenge yourself? Here are my keys to success:
- Do it with your partner - if you’re living with someone that’s not eating clean too, it’s going to be tough
- Identify your biggest obstacles for the month so you can prepare (mostly mentally)
- Get a good paleo cookbook (I highly recommend Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals)
- Plan all your meals each week and get everything in one shopping trip
- Get a slow cooker - this was a new device for us and it was a godsend to have tender, seasoned meat ready for us most nights
Whole 9 Life also recommends not to start a Whole30 challenge over the holidays, but if you start today, your last day will be the day before Thanksgiving. Do it!
My intention
In yoga, we often start by setting our intention - both for our practice and for the rest of the day. So what do I intend to do now that I’ve made it through the challenge?
I’m going to loosen the reigns on the rules just a bit. I’ll start drinking a glass or two of wine in the evenings and beer only on social occasions. I’m going to consider eating some dairy and legumes in moderation (still need to research this a bit more). I’m not going to worry about trace amounts of sugar in sauces or condiments. When I eat out, I won’t worry as much about whether the food was cooked in butter or if the sauce has sugar in it.
But there are some new things that I definitely plan to stick to. I’ve learned to like my coffee black. I’m going to avoid diet sodas. I’m going to stick to cooking eggs with coconut oil rather than PAM. I’m going to eat more fruits and vegetables.
Instead of doing a weekly cheat meal or cheat day that many diets recommend, I’m going to try to have more mindful indulgences. I really like Whole 9’s take on the cheat day (part I and part II). They encourage thinking critically about going “cheating”, and enjoying it when you do. The rationale is that your body can handle eating junk on occasion and it’s simply more practical to enjoy celebrations as they come rather than abstaining just because it’s not that specific day of the week. It also means no more binging on carbs and candy and spiking my weight by 5 pounds in a single day.
Finally, I’m going to continue educating myself on why certain foods are thought to be bad and be more mindful of how food affects me. I’m curious to find out how sensitive I am to dairy and legumes. I just found out that tomatoes, eggplant and peppers are in the nightshade family, which can be bad for the gut and joints. Excellent! Another category of food that might cause trouble sigh. The journey is just beginning.
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