Over winter break I decided to start the Whole30 challenge! My sister has done it and loved it. I had already been gluten, dairy and soy free for a few months so cutting more out of my diet seemed simple. Now that I am halfway through it, I am a total Whole30 advocate and I believe anyone can do this. Anyone can do anything for 30 days.
The way the Whole30 challenge works is for 30 days you cut out the following: gluten, soy, dairy, grains, legumes, added sugar and alcohol. I know, it sounds scary and impossible. I’ve been doing it for over 15 days at this point and I’m still alive. In fact, I feel better than I ever did before. The foods you can eat are: fruits, vegetables, potatoes (sweet and white!) and proteins like fish, meat, chicken etc. All the things you eat should be organic, wild or grass-fed. I won’t lie, it’s an expensive 30 days but you feel amazing at the end of it. This is not a diet and I’m not doing it to lose weight. It’s a great bonus of completing the Whole30 challenge but it becomes a way of life and a clean, healthy eating style that sticks with you!
Here are some of the benefits I have already experienced that make me excited to do it again and that my family has experienced:
- Those nasty sugar cravings you get in the middle of the day virtually go away
- You learn to love vegetables.
- You get really good at cooking full meals in under 30 minutes.
- Diseases like Crohns also clear up and dramatically improve
- A lot of your extra weight goes away and becomes muscle tone really fast if you work out regularly.
- Moods are a lot more consistent.
I am not a doctor, nor am I premed by any stretch so I can’t explain why a lot of these things happen and I am not someone who is hired by the program to advertise it. However, their book “It Starts With Food” goes into the science behind everything we eat in our daily lives and what it does to our bodies. I know there are a ton of eating fads out there and this might seem like another one of them. The Whole30 is really a way to give yourself 30 days of clean eating to flush out your system and it can become a lifestyle if you choose. I promise you also, it is not difficult to do as a college student if you have an easily accessible kitchen! If you are interested but don’t want to do it alone email me! I am a seasoned pro already! Check out their site for more info!