Lessons Learned from our Whole 30 Experience

We finished the Whole 30 challenge on October 14th of last week.  Admittedly, we had our moments where what we ate did not quite comply, but the main reason for that is because we did not prepare adequately.

That said, check out some of the lessons we learned from the Whole 30 challenge.

Lesson #1:  Eating out is nearly impossible on the Whole 30

We found this out the hard way.  Everything is cooked with butter, or with some sort of vegetable oil.  Everybody serves fresh bread that you have to intentionally (and often reluctantly) refuse so that it never reaches your table.  Buffets sometimes don’t have any good vegetables for you to choose from…only the so-called vegetables like processed mashed “potatoes” and macaroni and cheese (which do not count as vegetables, of course).  Some people put sugar in their greens, and you don’t know until you taste them.

My point is, with little exception, you better eat at home pretty much the whole time.

Lesson #2:  Sugar and grains really do make you fat

I had learned this from my own previous diet experiences, but this solidified it for me.  After eliminating ALL sugars – including the ones hidden in products – and all grains, even when eating more, the weight came off.  It works.

For those wondering about the science behind it, I believe sugar and grains contribute to weight gain for two main reasons:

• They make your insulin production go wild, which contributes to fat storage
• They are very high in carbohydrates, which are essentially fuel your body uses…and when you eat more energy than you use, well, you get fat

Lesson #3:  Going without sugar really is not that bad

When I saw that the Whole 30 required that we go off of all sugar, I was a little concerned.  In case you have not seen, sugar is in everything…salad dressings, sausage, and even the hot rotisserie chicken you buy from the grocery store (corn syrup).

However, to me, it seemed like my taste buds quickly adjusted, and it ended up not being very hard at all.  Even now after the challenge, my desire for sugar is relatively low.  It does not mean that I no longer like sweets, but it does mean that I do not need them like I used to.

And thank God for the LÄRABARs, too :).

Lesson #4:  Unless you do the vegetarian version, you better love meat

Part of the way into the Whole 30, my wife and I decided that we would do a partial vegetarian Whole 30 (which, thankfully, the Whole 30 folks made provision for).  Why?  Because we felt like we were eating a whole lot of meat, and we were getting weary of it.

Many months ago, we made a decision to eat less meat since we felt that we did not need meat 3 times a day, 7 days a week, and I am sure this contributed to our meat weariness.  Because the Whole 30 requires that you remove filling foods like grains, you naturally start to focus more on meat.  And because we live by a budget, we started to buy cheaper meat to save money.  After a few nights of that, though, we were DONE.

We incorporated correctly prepared beans into our challenge, which, although “banned” in the regular Whole 30, are encouraged with the vegetarian Whole 30.

Lesson #5:  Plan to eat more than usual, or plan to be hungry

Like I said before, removing grains requires you to find ways to be satisfied after you eat.  Therefore, you have to eat more food…either more meat, more vegetables, or both.  The fact that it caused my wife and I to eat more vegetables was definitely something I liked.

Oh, and they allow you to eat potatoes and sweet potatoes too, so those will help fill you up.  Of course, you have to be careful with those, too, since they are high in carbohydrates.

Lesson #6:  Fasting has it’s place with weight loss, but maybe not how you think…

I know what you might be thinking…what in the world does fasting have to do with the Whole 30?

The reason that I mention fasting is, fasting is a powerful tool in that it helps the one fasting to distance himself/herself from a harmful food…and when it is done long enough, the one fasting can be released from the clutches of the harmful food.

The Whole 30 essentially has you to fast from bad stuff like sugar in all of its bad forms, and potentially bad stuff like grains and dairy (I say potentially because it depends on the type of grain and dairy, and also, it depends on whether you are intolerant of grains and dairy or not).  When you finish the challenge, you might be surprised to find that you have little to no desire for that offending food as a result.  This is great.  When you lose desire for a food that makes you unhealthy or overweight, you have potentially made a long-lasting good health change.

In other words, you are on your way to reduction of your chances of acquiring a disease, and to permanent weight loss.