Here are the whole 30 rules broken down.
WHOLE 30 RULES | EXPLAINED BY ME
Eat all the REAL WHOLESOME GOOD FOR YOU FOOD.
I like to focus on what I CAN eat rather than what I CAN’T. I think it’s beacuse I am an optimist through and through and I love knowing what is good for me, rather than what I am missing out on. It’s a glass half full kind of mentality and it helps my world go round!
What you CAN eat:
Meat. All the meat. Preferably grass-fed or organic. Seafood, preferably wild-caught rather than farmed and eggs! All the eggs.
Veggies. Vegetables are filling, they’re full of flavor and fiber! They’re super important to your daily diet and there are so many ways you can serve them. Fruit – I love fruit. I think it’s the only way I am able to add a little sweetness to my days. I try to be super cautious about how much fruit I consume because I have a bad sweet tooth and I crave all the sweets. Knowing this about me, I try to stay away from fruits when I’m having a sweets craving.
Natural fats – coconut oil, avocado oil, Safflower/Sunflower Oil, canola oil, mayonaise (read your lables) here’s the one I love!
Herbs, spices and seasonings – Oh this is the best way to add a punch to all of your dishes. I love everything but the bagel seasoning and all sorts of salt free seasonings.
What you CAN’T eat for 30 days
Again, this is a great time to focus on what you CAN have, but knowing what’s off-limits really helps keep me on track.
Sugar, real or artificial – that means to clean out your house of everything that includes honey, agave nectar, maple syrup, coconut sugar, date syrup, monk fruit extract, stevia, Splenda, Equal, Nutrasweet, and xylitol. Check the list of ingredients and get rid of it if it has any kind of sugar.
Alcohol – this is a given. If you’re trying to get rid of brain fog, staying away from alcohol (even cooking alcohol) is the absolute best idea.
Grains – stay away from wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, rice, millet, bulgur, sorghum, sprouted grains, quinoa, amaranth, and buckwheat. phew! Also bran, germ, and starch! So read your labels. I usually like to use starch to thicken sauces but when doing a whole30, I often opt for arrowroot powder!
Legumes – So I had no idea what these were until I decided to do a whole30. This is just a fancy word for beans – black, red, pinto, navy, garbanzo/chickpeas (so no hummus!) white, kidney, lima, fava, cannellini, lentils, adzuki, mung, cranberry, and black-eyes peas. Here’s the P word… no peanuts – so no peanut butter or peanut oil. But don’t fret – you can have almonds and seed butter – like pumpkin seed butter. No soy!!! This is all things that include soy sauce, miso, tofu, tempeh, edamame, soy protein, soy milk, or soy lecithin.
Speaking of soy. There are a lot of protein shakes that include soy. Read your labels and if you can get pea protein (that’s compliant) go for it!
DA DA DA DAIRY – I’m just going to say it. Dairy really messes up my stomach and I know that it’s a food group that is on the list of high sensitivity ratings. This applies to milk, cream, cheese, kefir, yogurt, sour cream, ice cream and frozen yogurt.
Carrageenan, MSG or sulfites – nope nope nope. These are not friendly for your gut or overall digestion so watch out for it and walk away!
Treats – ok so one of the reasons why I needed to start a Whole30 was due to my cravings. I love sweets and having a treat when I’m stressed or feeling down was hurting me in more ways than I thought. So I make sure to eat plenty and to fuel up so I’m not craving any treats during the day or at night. This also means that I can’t try to “recreate” treats because the most important part of this diet is to break habits and recreating a twix bar is defeating the purpose.
Put away the scale – this is a tough one for me too because I want immediate gratification. The thing is, this is more than just weight-loss, it’s about changing habits, feeling better and re-setting your body.
Here are a few exeptions:
Ghee or clarified butter – this is the only dairy that’s allowed as they’ve had the milk solids rendered out. So the problem is milk protein and because ghee doesn’t have any, you’re good to go.
Sweetener – whenever you are creating a recipe and need to abit of a sweetener, a bit of REAL fruit juice will do the trick.
Green beans and snow peas – these are allowed! hellp pea soup!
Vinegar – phew… I am so glad vinegar is allowed because it’s an integral part of my diet. Distilled white, balsamic, apple cider, red wine, white wine, shampagne and rice vinegar are all allowed. watch the vinegars! Some include MALT vinegar, because it contains gluten.
Iodized salt – thank The Lord! This is acceptable!
So there we go. Those are the rules, from my point of view. Here’s a forum on the Whole30 website that shares more about things that you can and can’t have.
Can I have list
Let me know if you have any questions, I would be so happy to answer them!
Want some recipe ideas? Check these out:
