My Thoughts on Whole 30! You may not know, but now you know- I am anti –diet to the Core! Been there and done plenty of diets and I always end back at square one – dare I say un healthy and more overweight than when I started! Ya feels me?
You don’t need any diet; you know that right? I know you think you do, because you may have some pounds to lose. There is a better way to body change! The better way is not the diet fix. True weight loss and management goes way beyond a diet. The first thing you can do for yourself is to STOP DIETING!
Any diet is a waste of time, blood, sweat, and tears. How many times have you said “This is the last time I will go on a diet, only to find yourself on another diet 6 months later? What happened, you say? The diet happened! It promised results by using too many rules and restrictions. The diet lasted 12 weeks, you lost the weight (scale weight) and gained it all back within 12 weeks from the end of the diet because the rules and restrictions aren’t sustainable.
Take, for example, the Whole 30 challenge. It’s 30 days of eliminating foods that cause inflammation, etc…. Whole 30 claims that you will have food freedom by the end of the 30 days. Additionally, it makes a bunch of impossible claims about the health effects that it will have for you.
Whole 30 is a Whole Bunch of Bullshit!
Excuse the language, but I’m just keeping it real! I can’t stand to hear the phrase “The Struggle Is Real” when folks embark on a diet. You’re absolutely right, in the sense of the phrase, because you will struggle through a diet. Dieting will keep you struggling. The “Struggle” does not have to be real – there is a better way than the diet programs you see every day.
You don’t need Plexus, Paleo, Weight Watchers, Beach Body, or any of those multi-level marketing quick fixes – if I wrote in all the snake oil schemes out there, it would fill up this page plus some. Today my focus is on one particular diet scam – Whole 30.
Have you heard of Whole 30? It’s one of the newer diet fads out there. They actually say, like most diets, that it’s a lifestyle and people will experience food freedom. Whole30’s premise is your not on a diet and your not cutting out food for purposes of losing weight but that you are cutting out foods that are harmful and inflammatory. I’m gonna have to disagree with that statement. I don’t know how someone experiences “food freedom” when you have to eliminate so many foods/food groups from your diet. {More info here}
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for less processed food, and eating more nutrient dense food. As a matter of fact, that’s how I eat on a regular. I also will acknowledge that the recipes and foods in the Whole 30 program look absolutely delicious. Like I said above, I eat most of the foods prescribed by Whole 30 (veggies, lean proteins, fruits, and fats). You don’t have to go on a diet to eat nutrient dense foods. You can start today by changing out a thing or two. What I can’t get on board with is a complete elimination of foods. Btw, if you slip up by eating something off plan with the Whole30, you have to start the program all over. What?
The elimination of foods is not necessary unless you have a food allergy. A medical professional should be the one to assess this, not a diet coach or a diet program.
So what is Whole 30? It’s a nutritional program to reset or change your life in 30 days. It claims to eliminate cravings and change habits, restore your metabolism, heal your digestive track, and balance your immune system.
Here’s the list of banned foods:
- No sugars of any kind – honey is even on the list – there are so many health benefits to honey, and maple syrup is my favorite.
- No alcohol consumption – so no occasional wine or any healthy version of your favorite cocktail.
- No Grains
- No Legumes
- No Dairy – not even Greek yogurt! I love Greek yogurt; you have got to be kidding me.
- You cannot recreate any of your favorite foods such as pancakes.
- The diet allows for no substitutions or whatsoever.
Straight from the horse’s mouth: “The only way this will work is if you give it the full thirty days: no cheats, slips, or “special occasions.” This isn’t us playing the tough guy. This is a fact, born of education and experience. You need such a small amount of any of these inflammatory foods to break the healing cycle—one bite of pizza, one splash of milk in your coffee, one lick of the spoon mixing the batter within the 30 day period and you’ve broken the “reset” button, requiring you to start over again on Day 1. You must commit to the full program, exactly as written. Anything less and we make no claims as to your results, or the chances of your success. Anything less and you are selling yourself—and your potential results—short.
It’s only 30 days.
– See more at: http://whole30.com/step-two/#sthash.h79XpkdV.dpuf”
The above all sounds good, right? I call Bullshit! Whole 30 is a whole lot of BS! Whole my ass! Whole lot of nothing. Whole lot of heartache and headache. Whole lot of disordered eating. All diets will keep you struggling, no matter how good they claim to be.
We all know when we eliminate things, the psyche wants them even more. You can ban foods for a moment by using will power, but we know will power is fleeting and quickly diminishing. We don’t have an unlimited resource of it.
Besides calling for the elimination of entire food groups, this diet also promises to do all kinds of miraculous stuff for you – weight loss, cure mental illness, cure diseases like fibromyalgia and the elusive “leaky gut syndrome,” etc, etc…this should be a red flag to you for any diet program. My first instinct, as with most claims such as these, is to ask “Where is the evidence?”. When you ask that question, the people representing the program will turn into your favorite side stepping politician, because there is no evidence of any of it. If Whole30, or any program, have rules like these or makes claims like this, turn and run as fast as you can! These things are scams, preying upon people’s desire to have hard and fast rules in their life, as well as our seemingly innate desire to be miserable in the pursuit of a goal. You know what I mean – the people that like to fill their Facebook statuses with posts about how hard core they are, when in fact they’re just miserable. This all or nothing extreme approach is a train wreck waiting to happen.
So, you didn’t listen to my advice, and you fell for the next quick fix – and you actually lost some weight. What’s next? Can you keep eating that way forever? If not, you’re going to be right back at the start. Diets aren’t sustainable, and as such, aren’t a long term solution. Eventually, you’re going to find that lost weight again! Additionally, the more you diet, the worse the rebound is going to be – that goes for a number of diets, or length of dieting. In fact, you may damage your metabolism so much; it will be a challenge to recover.
When you’re investigating and searching out the latest and greatest diet, ask yourself “where are these people 6 months from now?” How are they managing, and are they still thriving with the Whole 30 rules and regulation? Another question I have – if this Whole 30 just works, why must you keep doing it over and over again?
See, the thing with these diets, they don’t address issues such as disordered eating, nor balance and moderation – I believe that Whole 30 exasperates disordered eating. How can you find balance when you’re eliminating everything under the sun? You can’t really. I think it’s one more thing to obsess about and feel guilty about if you fail during the program.
So if diets don’t produce long term results, then what I am supposed to do?
For starters drop the diet mentality – stop seeking diet after diet! Another diet is not the answer. For starters, set some realistic goals. Goals that are specific to YOU! Not a cookie cutter program asking you to eliminate all the foods. Even if you like to, or feel the need eliminate some things, or change some eating habits, start with one or two things – not all the things.
Second, how do you gain Food Freedom from eliminating whole food groups? The answer is you don’t! Doesn’t make any sense to me – how about you? Food freedom is freeing yourself from guilt around ALL foods, not a list of approved foods. Food freedom is being able to sit down to a meal without dissecting every calorie in it. Eating whatever you want, within reasonable amounts, no off limit foods, or restrictions – that’s FOOD FREEDOM!!
Finally, stop chasing instant results. You didn’t get to the place that you are overnight – if you’re trying to lose weight, you can’t reverse the weight gain quickly. In fact, the faster or more extreme measures you take to lose weight, the more your body will rebel. The body doesn’t care for change, and it really hates extreme changes – it has a myriad of defense tactics to maintain homeostasis. The more gradual you make the changes, the less the body rebels. Keep that in mind when making lifestyle changes.
The noise and the nonsense around nutrition is so exhausting – eat this, not that, I am so tired of it myself! I’ve got an easy to use nutrition guide for you! It requires no counting and no eliminating foods you love – you can eat the foods you love and still lose weight! Grab my free gift centered around flexible eating while focusing on 4 things you can implement today!
Would love to hear your thoughts, hit me up on the Book of Face! 😂