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So… my title is a little clickbaity. I actually probably won’t do Whole30 again, but I reserve the right to change my mind. But the title “Why I Probably Won’t Do Whole30 Again” just feels so wishy-washy. Who’s going to click on that?
If you remember waaaaaay back in January, I hopped on the Whole30 bandwagon with #JanuaryWhole30. I recapped my meals and challenges each week, but I failed in my promise to write about the overall experience in March. Oops.
Why I’m glad I did Whole30
Just because I don’t want to do Whole30 again doesn’t mean I regret trying it in January. I’m actually really glad I challenged myself.
I wanted to try Whole30 for two main reasons.
- I felt like I was becoming dependent on alcohol. To be clear, I wasn’t anywhere close to an addiction, but I’d noticed my tendency to have 1-2 drinks with dinner 4-6 nights a week. That’s not necessarily drinking too much, but I was drinking that much because I felt like I needed it. During Whole30, you don’t drink any alcohol. I wanted that strictness to help me stop drinking for 30 days.
- I felt like I was craving sugar too much. While my overall sugar consumption wasn’t that bad, the cravings for sweet foods concerned me.
While those were the main reasons for trying Whole30, I also figured the diet would help me eat more fruits and veggies. Plus an elimination diet can be helpful for people with Crohn’s Disease.
I already knew that gluten wasn’t a problem for me, since I was gluten-free as a teenager when I saw a nutritionist for my Crohn’s. I also already knew that I can only eat certain forms of dairy, since I’ve had weird dairy issues since I was 10.
But I figured it wouldn’t hurt to see if other foods possibly caused a reaction in me.
New Healthy Habits
By following Whole30, I learned a lot about my relationship with food. For example, it turns out I didn’t actually have as many sweet cravings as I thought, nor did I eat out of boredom. Instead, I craved flavor. It’s amazing what you discover when you walk around a kitchen trying to find a Whole30-compliant snack! I satisfied my flavor cravings with hot tea and flavored water.
This is definitely something I still keep in mind today when I want to eat when I’m not hungry. I ask myself exactly what I’m craving. Usually it’s just a desire for flavor. Hot tea and flavored water continue to do the trick!
Not drinking for 30 days also reset my relationship with alcohol. While I did drink a lot during my Valentine’s Day party, and I recently over-indulged during a day of wine-tastings, I’ve mostly cut way back on alcohol. Instead of fixing myself a drink every night with dinner, I think about whether or not a drink will enhance the meal. If I’m drinking wine, I also plan two nights of dinners that pair well with the wine so I can split up the bottle.
It did help that in March, Dan and I agreed not to buy any alcohol as a way to reduce our grocery spending. The financial incentive helped me stay on track not to drink too much.
Long-Term Benefits
More than two months after finishing Whole30, I continue to consume less sugar. Most mornings I drink hot tea without sugar, after years of drinking hot tea with sugar. Even when I drink Fast Lane, my very strong black tea that needs sugar, I use half as much sugar as I did before. Dessert is a special treat instead of a snack.
My dietary changes aren’t the only lasting result of Whole30.
Dan and I continue to cook more and depend less on processed/frozen foods. Yes, part of our reduced grocery spending in March resulted from a weekly meal of boxed macaroni and cheese… But in general, we spend more time cooking a greater variety of meals.
All of these reasons are why I’m glad I tried Whole30. However, the challenge of strict healthy eating for 30 days is why I’m most glad I did Whole30. Sometimes you just need to challenge yourself to do something hard. I made a commitment to myself, and I followed through on it.
Why I (probably) won’t do Whole30 again
With so many benefits of Whole30, why shouldn’t I go for it again? After all, my first attempt at Whole30 definitely wasn’t perfect, since I slipped up on gluten, dairy, and sugar at least once each. Would a second try for a “perfect” Whole30 be worthwhile?
Not for me, at least not anytime soon.
Weight Loss
I lost 10 pounds during Whole30, while trying to eat as many healthy fats and fried food as possible. I did gain 5 pounds back in February, which was a relief to me as someone who was underweight less than a year ago.
When you struggle to gain or maintain weight like I often have, even healthy weight loss requires close scrutiny. One goal of Whole30 is to ignore the scale for the month, to worry less about weight. I don’t have that luxury, and it actually stressed me out to focus so much on maintaining my weight.
Money
Dan and I also spent a LOT of money on groceries in January. We simply do not need to spend that much money on healthy food. Pasta, rice, beans, and sandwich bread are all so much cheaper than the continuous stream of eggs and meat I ate on Whole30. My whole wheat sandwiches are pretty healthy, even if they have gluten. Beans and rice are also pretty healthy, even if they’re legumes and grains.
Nothing New
My reintroduction phase after the elimination diet didn’t tell me anything new. Too much sugar and not enough fiber gives me diarrhea. I can eat dairy fats, but not milk, ice cream, or milkshakes.
The only reason I would try an elimination diet again is if one day, I have a biological child, and I breastfeed that child, and that child shows some irritation. If all that happens, then I would follow an elimination diet under the direction of a doctor.
Social Limitations
Finally, while this is only a minor factor, Whole30 produces social limitations. On my 30th day, Dan and I went out for a nice dinner with my twin brother Harry and my sister-in-law Celia. We went to their favorite restaurant during Charlotte’s Restaurant Week. While I did enjoy my homemade potato chips and my tuna, I would have loved to take advantage of the full menu. Restrictions on restaurant dining isn’t a huge reason not to do Whole30, but it is a consideration for me going forward.
I know it’s a month late, but these are my thoughts on Whole30. It was a good experience, and I’m glad I did it, but I don’t plan on doing it again. While I am happy with the lasting changes from Whole30, if I need to reset my habits in the future, I can just go 30 days without added sugar or alcohol. I would still have the same net benefit that I gained from Whole30.
Having done it, I can’t say that I particularly recommend the Whole 30. I think it’s more of a fad diet than anything. I do think it’s a gussied up version of Atkins from 20 years ago with some buzzwords thrown in and a heavier focus on vegetables.
Of course it’s good for you to cut out processed foods from your diet. But unless you sincerely suspect yourself of a real food intolerance it doesn’t actually make sense to cut out other foods that are actually beneficial to your health; like Greek yogurt.
If you want to be healthier and you don’t suspect a food allergy/intolerance, then just cut back on your sugar, cheese and bread intake and a call it a day.
Yeah, I definitely think it can be beneficial for certain people. Like some people really just need structure to succeed (like the people who voluntarily go to military school…). Eating on Whole30 is surprisingly simple, because it’s a short list of what you CAN eat. Plus, like you said, some people actually need an elimination diet because they’re reacting to something, but they don’t know what. I’ve been lucky with Crohn’s not to have many food issues, but elimination diets are common in the IBD community.
But the average person should just strive for a moderate diet! Wild, I know. Whole grains, full-fat dairy, fruits/veggies, protein, and you’re good to go.
Wait there are people who go to military school involuntarily???
You didn’t have kids who suddenly left your high school to go to military school after doing lots of drugs?
Not just high school either. There were definitely some students at the Citadel (SC’s military college) who were clearly there because their parents gave them no other option. At least one guy I knew whose parents sent him there still got kicked out. Your behavior has to be pretty bad to get kicked out of the Citadel.
That’s an interesting perspective, for me the Whole 30 literally changed my life. It taught me how to eat to keep my pre-diabetes at bay, it taught me what foods would peak my anxiety, so much so I was able to go off of the anxiety meds I had been taking for 10 years. It taught me that sugar was the cause of that incessant itch in my right ear. None of these were as a result of food allergies, they were just how my body reacted to too much simple carbs and sugar.
It also completely changed my relationship with food, and with 2/3 of the population overweight or obese, I would say that the benefit of this program if people were brave enough to try it could be monumental.
Nick and I did a shortened version of this a couple of years ago and while I did like some aspects of it, we both felt like it was not an effective way to become healthy. If someone resumes their typical eating habits after doing the Whole 30, they would gain all of the weight back. There are things that are restricted by the plan that I don’t believe are bad for you, so it was tough. Obviously I needed help cutting out sweets, so that was a benefit, but overall it just wasn’t for us. We find that trying to eat “clean” dinners helps us more than a restrictive diet did.
I think any dietary change is a very individual thing. On the one hand, diet plans like Whole30, or South Beach, or any other structured thing can help people who might not know where to start with healthy eating. On the other hand, those diets tend to rely on an assumption of what people are already eating. Like I read the book “It Starts with Food,” which is what encouraged me to try Whole30.
But the way the authors kept assuming that Americans who eat “healthy” food all eat low-fat, high-sugar diets really bugged me. While these short-term, structured diets can help reset some people’s eating habits, they also seem directed at people who have already figured out moderation in eating.
I think next January, I’ll just do no alcohol, no added sugar for 30 days to reset my diet after the holidays. 😉
Thank you so much for writing this. I love how educational all your Whole30 posts have been. I am currently on my 3rd attempt of the 21 Day Fix. I failed twice before for different reasons but now I’m taking supplements for my digestion and I completed therapy for my tendinitis in my elbow. Both of those things, and the fact that this time around my best friend is doing the challenge with me, give me confidence that I can finish! With that being said, there is no way I can keep this strict diet up forever. I love how you said that some of your regular foods are actually healthy even though they weren’t allowed in Whole30. That’s exactly how I feel about some of the things I’m not allowed to eat on the 21 Day Fix. I do find it very helpful so far though to get my taste buds accustomed to better food. I already crave junk food less than I did a week ago. It’s so cool how that works!
Aw, thank you! I’ve tried to be as honest as possible with my experiences on Whole30.
I do think short-term diets can be helpful to reset our habits, like you mention with your taste buds changing. Like I just have way less of a sweet tooth than I did before! I enjoy the occasional treat still, but I still consume less sugar overall.
I had no idea how many restrictions the Whole 30 diet had. I just thought it was cut out processed foods and no sugar. As a Celiac I always hate diets that cut out gluten if you don’t have an actual reason too especially because no one seems to even know what gluten is(unless you’re Celiac) so it shows to me that it’s a fad and you aren’t ACTUALLY learning about nutrition which is if you don’t have Celiac and you cut out gluten you can suffer consequences unless you’re getting adequate B vitamins(which are sorely lacking in gluten-free breads and pastas). I could go on but I’m glad that you at least didn’t hate it, even if you don’t want to do it again anytime soon!
It’s not just gluten–it’s all grains. Whole30 is actually pretty standard for an elimination diet. In fact, several elimination diets that can help with Crohn’s are a lot stricter. I’ve been very fortunate not to have many food intolerances with my Crohn’s, but I’m probably in the minority!
I’m going to take a wild guess and say that most people don’t do Whole30 to identify a food intolerance… I’m pretty sure weight loss is a greater motivation. 😉
If this is what you got out of reading the Whole 30 rules I would kindly suggest that you go back and read them again, along with the information on WHY they cut out the things they do. I am amazed that you found a way to be personally insulted by a program that encourages eating whole, unprocessed foods.
Awesome thoughts. I love being paleo and it’s helped so much with all my issues. But I cheat occionally and still eat peanut butter and organic corn so I am by no means a purist! I loved reading your pros and cons
I know it can help some people with tricky medical issues. One of my friends has Celiac’s, but he also has other food sensitivities. He eats a strict paleo diet because he’s had so many digestive issues, and paleo is mostly safe for him. But it’s not for everyone, which is why I wanted to share my thoughts!
We once did 3 weeks without any added sugars or meat, and that actually made me lose a few pounds, which made me realize I’m probably not a good candidate for strict elimination type of eating strategies. My body feels great on eating grains. I’m probably fairly relaxed as far as healthy eating goes, but I cook the majority of our meals from scratch at home (helps that I live in a country with no boxed mac-n-cheese or pizza rolls–my two fatal temptations!! 😛 )
I eat a lot of fruits and veggies, some meats, although I don’t really like meat all that much…and I don’t drink alcohol at all. When it comes to junk food, my strategy is to only buy it for parties so that I am forced to share it with other people. 😛
Ha, Dan and I ate so much boxed mac-n-cheese last month as part of our goal to reduce our grocery bill. I don’t know what we would do without it!
Limiting your junk food purchases to parties makes a lot of sense! I’m not really capable anymore of eating large quantities of food without being genuinely hungry. Breakfast is the only time I can really gorge, because I’m most hungry in the morning! So I’ve stopped buying certain junk foods not because I eat them too much, but because they go stale before I can finish them…
Hello, my name is Stephanie, I am a Whole30 drop out…couldn’t kick the one Diet Coke I drink a day habit. Or give up my Splenda in coffee.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I’m considering the whole 30 and it’s for the exact reason that you said you’d do an elimination diet in the future – our little one is sensitive to dairy and soy. I’ve already cut both of those out of my diet for a month or so now. I’m considering the whole 30 because I feel like there’s a lesser sensitivity that we’re missing. I’m looking forward to checking out your other posts on it!