For the past six years, my relationship with food has been a little rocky. While I’ve been making healthier choices than I did in college, I still find myself reaching for foods and ingredients out of convenience more than out of necessity for my body. Recently, I’ve been paying more attention to the nutrition labels on the items I’ve been buying and between the list of ingredients I can’t pronounce to the sneaky levels of added sugar, I knew I needed to make some lifestyle changes. That’s when I was introduced to Whole30.
Whole30 is not meant to be a diet. You don’t need to measure your food or count your calories; you simply need to make smarter food choices. Essentially, Whole30 is a whole body reset that’s structured to introduce more whole foods into your diet and eliminate some potentially problematic foods. Below are some of the rules, but don’t knock the idea just yet.
- Do not consume added sugar, real or artificial
- Do not consume alcohol, in any form, even for cooking
- Do not eat grains
- Do not eat legumes
- Do not eat dairy
- Don’t consume carrageenan, MSG or sulfites
- Do not consume baked goods, junk foods or treats with “approved ingredients”
- Do not step on the scale or take any body measurements for 30 days
This may sound a little drastic but remember it’s just 30 days! (I’m saying that now and will probably be dying one week in) If you look at the Whole30 Instagram page or search the cookbook on Amazon, the recipes are reassuring. The food looks absolutely delicious and will just require a lot of weekly prep.
My girlfriends and I are doing this together throughout the month of February and I’m interested to see how I feel during and after. Will I see any benefits? Does it sound better than it actually is? Stay tuned for next month’s blog to find out!
