Whole30 in September - anyone want to join?

[taxworries]

I'm starting Whole30 on 1 September if anyone else was thinking of doing it and wants a buddy to egg them on, share recipes and tips etc. Doing it mainly because i've been feeling a bit run down the past few months - need to sleep better, find more energy and losing 10lbs would be a bonus :)

Me! I did this last year and completely conquered my sugar cravings; unfortunately now my need to eat chocolate biscuits has returned!

Me! Have you seen that they are doing a big social media whole 30 starting on Sept 5th?They are putting lots of support and emails out for that, so I'm going to do it along with them. Have a look on Facebook and instagram, think it's #septemberwhole30

I have a lot of food issues that I need to sort, both bad habits and health wise. Been wanting to do it for ages, bought the book about a year ago! But now is a good time for me.

Great! Will def check out the thing starting on the 5th although the the 1st it is for me because then it neatly ends on the last day of September :)

Myusername do you have any useful tips? How did you find it last year? I read prep is key so I've been bookmarking recipes and going to do a shopping list and the first week's menu own.

Watching with interest - can you remind me what the Whole 30 excludes? (I've got the book somewhere but never actually attempted it properly...)

Me! Trying to psyche myself up to do this (or something along these lines) as I really need to get control of my sugar/chocolate intake. But currently feeling a bit daunted by it, despite the fact I am eating everything sweet in sight telling myself it's OK because I'm stopping on the 1st!

Do we need the book, or can most of it be found online?

bopper is all grains, legumes, soy, sugar and dairy.

sashamc you can find it all online, but the book has a good sample meal plan, lots of handy recipes and its good for motivation/tough love, and it explains the reasons why it's so strict.

I'm really excited about starting, I would definitely suggest to anyone thinking of doing it to look up the official whole 30 social media accounts, they're posting loads of helpful links and articles to help you prepare.

I've done it before and could do with another round so I'll join in!

I bought the whole30 book from Amazon and it has been useful because a good chunk is devoted to the reasoning behind it and also gives a bit of a stern talk I.e. Don't dare say this is hard as it's actually very doable. I'm kind of looking forward to it!

So with recipes from the book, Google/blogs, Pinterest, Instagram www.instagram.com/whole30recipes/?hl=en etc I'm making a list of possible dishes and will do a shop to arrive tomorrow night so I can do some cooking on Monday in preparation. Trying to be geekily organised! For the first week breakfasts I'll do mini egg frittatas and breakfast sausage as it looks like you can make in advance, then a protein salad for lunch which is basically chicken, salmon or tuna or eggs with any salad ingredients plus home made Mayo/dressings. For dinner something heartier. And snacks fruit or nuts.

One thing I'm a bit confused about is the emphasis on ghee or coconut oil as a cooking fat. Surely olive oil or vegetable oil would be compliant?

Slow cooker Cuban brisket taco bowls
Curried shepherd's pie with sweet pot mash
Squash, carrot and ginger soup
Beef, Tom and cabbage stew
Courgette ribbon salad with toms, olives and basil
Rosemary meatballs with Dijon and collard greens
Turkey meatball soup
Smokey bacon chilli
Chicken bacon salad
Breakfast sauSage
Mini egg frittatas done in a muffin tin
Steak salad with coriander lime Mayo
Halibut with citrus ginger glaze
Walnut crusted pork tenderloin
Pulled pork in slow cooker
Pork chops with spiced apple sauce

tax vegetable oil is compliant, but due to its low quality they don't recommend it (if I remember correctly!) and olive oil is compliant, but it goes rancid at high temperatures, so they suggest ghee or coconut oil for cooking, and keep olive oil for dressings.

Your meal plan look gorgeous!!

I have not heard about this but really need to address my weight. Just having a look now. Is it okay for veggies? I often find lots of weight loss programmes are way better if you eat meat and fish. I need to lose this extra weight!

Good luck with whole 30s. I have got pretty far into w30 a couple of times but never quite made 30 days! Lots of people do complete it fairly easily thoughand there are lots of helpful options in the supermarket now like butternut squash noodles etc!

Purplepandas it is possible but some concesssions either to the plan or foods that you will eat as a vegeterain have to be made as technically even pseudograins like quinoa are not on whole 30. There is lots of info here whole30.com/2015/06/veg-whole30/

Thank you so much yummy. I really appreciate your reply. It does seem very restrictive. I am not sure I would manage the whole 30 days!

Those meals do sound great. I need to look into it a bit more as I don't like eggs! Have you come across many non-egg breakfast ideas taxworries - I saw the breakfast sausage recipe but not sure that really appeals either.....but then I guess that's the point isn't it, to retrain my tastebuds away from Frosties and chocolate croissants!

sasha I found this breakfast recipes on pinterest, it's not all eggs, and some really nice ideas.

Purplepandas you could always plan to do it for say 7 days then slowly add things back following the instructions for reintroducing food for vegetarians. Then based on how you react to foods try something else to continue weightloss.

Tax vegetable oil is omega 6 which is not good news for your body and olive oil is lovely for making dressings with but doesnt fair well under high heat. It doesnt go rancid but it becomes unstable. That is why its better to use coconut oil. I like eating coconut oil (which is actually solid) from a spoon as its delicious. I use it in all my cooking and home made granola, crumbles etc. I do paleo which is where Whole 30 originates.
I will join you all if thats ok as I eat this way now but could do with losing a little more body fat.

Not sure if anyone has linked to this yet but its a good list to get you started.
www.lifehealthhq.com/whole30-shopping-list/

Sasha I eat homemade granola for breakfast some days. Its delicious and Whole 30 compliant. I use almond flour, coconut flour, mixed nuts, coconut, flaxseed, coconut oil and butter and add chopped fruit and coconut milk to it after. I bake it in the oven and keep it in a mason jar.

Good luck everyone.

I did this in January and although I haven't subsequently kept to a sugar free diet, I have maintained a low sugar diet. Planning, organisation and cooking from scratch are key - reading the labels of everything that is packaged as sugar and gluten turn up in the most surprising foods. I found it a good way to re-educate myself about what I ate.

Themoleisdead thats interesting. Thanks. What would you say are the benefits to you of eating this way? I find the best way to avoid sugar and gluten is to eat unprocessed natural food.

Thanks thermo.
Sash I'm not a massive eggs fan either to be honest but think I'm going to grin and bear it as will only have them for breakfast really perhAps one week on, one week off.. There is always fruit (and something called monkey salad which is banana, fruit and nuts) and my mum usually has a breakfast of cucumber, olives etc so I guess it is in part rethinking how you used to eat (I'm a 2 slices of toast person).

Reading the labels has been interesting. Was trying to buy Dijon mustard last night but everything tesco stocked had sulfites in. In the end I gave up and ordered some along with some coconut oil/nut butters etc from a health foods store.

cariadd - definitely unprocessed food but that is quite difficult to maintain as pp says even things like mustard contain "banned" ingredients. I was delighted to find that Nakd bars were Whole30 compliant for when I was desperate for a treat.

Tax did you see my granola breakfast?

I've done three W30s now, although I failed on the second one. The first one I lost 12lbs and felt amazing, but didn't reintroduce things slowly. The last one I did I didn't weigh or measure myself before or after, but did notice clothes fitting better.

My breakfasts were mostly egg-based, with smoked ham/salmon/veggies, served on some greens (rocket or spinach) and sprinkled with seeds on top. It's about 3 minutes to cook when you have everything sorted. Another quick breakfast is chia pudding - make the night before and chill overnight, with berries in the morning.

It sounds amazing carriadd. But I love granola toooo much and it wouldn't last beyond one day!

Hi, I'd like to join in. I was planning on doing something like this and it would be great to do it with other people!