Chat thread for whole30 in January?

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Anyone starting / continuing Whole30 in January and fancies a chat/tips/support thread? (Posted in weight loss although it's not necessarily a weight loss thing)

I'm starting 1st Jan, although since doing my first one in July I've not really stopped until this week. This time round I'm really focussing only my behaviours as I'm fairly confident with the food side. I'm cutting out nuts this time too as I rely on them heavily, and increasing veg as I have got lazy over the last month or so.

I'm also going to build in some daily yoga/meditation as well

In prep this week I am meal planning for next week, and also digging out the book (and particularly the food additives list) to revise. Since my book was out they have amended to allow peas which really pleases me as I love them and really missed them.

Yes, I’m in! I just signed up today and have convinced DH to have a go too. I am slightly concerned that I’ll find it hard as a vegan but one can add in some legumes and quinoa which is normally not allowed. DH is worried about breakfast! He loves a bowl of sweet cereal.

And I’m going to do Kaisa Fit to get fit and flexible.

How did you find it in July?

I'm not planning on doing whole30, but am thinking of doing a Paleo type diet. Which seems to be a slightly less strict whole30, but longer term.

No grains, no legumes, no dairy except butter, no sugar, I think.

Whole30 does look great I think, but I simply lack the willpower.

@Afrodizziac I found it fairly easy. I had previously done Fast800/med diet and no dairy so it was just an extension of that. I didn't really eat grains, and actually found I could eat more carbs than previously.

I am a runner and was just finding the fasting/meal skipping just wasn't supporting my running, and then I was going the other way and bingeing, so this was revolutionary- I could eat! It was so good not to weigh myself as well. After 30 days I'd lost 11lbs and then since then lost another 5/6 although that's me at target now, I don't really have any more to lose.

I wonder how it will be as a vegan- you can now have split peas and garden peas/petit poi's which you couldn't have in my edition of the book. I haven't read the guidance for vegans as it doesn't apply to me but I get there is a lot of info online

@FuckOffDailyFailure it is basically paleo really, and I found after the initial 30 days I settled into a paleo diet really. I reintroduced red wine, and allowed things like cured meat/bacon (which isn't technically paleo but just added an alternative protein source) and had no reaction to it. Paleo allows natural sugars like honey etc but I have preferred not having them.

I will also say, my mum did it with me and has taken no meds for fibromyalgia since July. She's lost 2st. I had a bunion on my foot and the swelling has gone down so much I have gone down a whole shoe size! So aside from the weight the anti inflammatory effects have been really impressive for us!

Wow, that's amazing about your mum op. More than weight loss, health benefits like that are what really sways me with diets! I don't think I'll do the whole30, but if you don't mind me hanging out on your thread while I paleo, (yes, it's a verb ), then I will? We can swap recipes at least .

Yes of course! And yes definitely share recipes, and you too @Afrodizziac, I love cooking. I especially struggle with lunch type things and tend to eat eggs + mackerel + salad but I'm so bored of that now. I'd like to find something I can prep on a Sunday and that will do me 5 lunches for the week.

How are you prepping for day 1- are you phasing in gradually or is it free for all til Friday?? I've been so good over the actual Christmas days, my Christmas dinner was even 100% whole30 but then I've sort of hit a wall since then and have had a few treats (lindor choc x 2, and today had Xmas pudd + soy ice cream- so really only a few things) but part of me wants to totally pig out til Thursday night now

@thenewaveragebear1983, I’ve heard of the positive effects on arthritis and inflammation. I have painful knuckles that can only benefit from this regime. Your mum’s weight loss is also inspirational - two stone down will make me very happy indeed!

I too have to use up things like soya yoghurt, Christmassy treats etc. We’ll have a final bottle of bubbly on NYE.

I prepped a huge Mediterranean salad that should last the week, as well as a massive heap of coleslaw without dressing atm - I’ll have to experiment with alternative dressings as I imagine my vegan mayo is not allowed. Luckily I love veg, raw and steamed, so it won’t be a big change there.

I’m looking forward to a month without alcohol as our wine consumption has gotten out of hand over the past few months due to boredom with the whole situation.

Tips and recipes will be much appreciated especially around ideas for breakfast. @FuckOffDailyFailure, any palaeo tips are welcome too - is it in any way compatible with veganism?

When I did my full whole30 'proper' in July, I would make a tray of roasted veg and season with garlic/oil/lemon/basil and then have a scoop on salad, which was really good. I tend to get into a bad habit of just using the same veg all the time and then everything tastes the same, so I find a specific veg cookbook really helpful too. I did a really nice traybake with loads of different tomatoes, tarragon and lemon.

I'm going to try more soups this time, I have already made stock from my leftover turkey bones!

Maybe I will challenge myself to a different lunch each day!

Maybe look for a paleo vegan cookbook @Afrodizziac? I think legumes would be key to success for a vegan whole30- where else would you get protein from if not lentils/beans etc as I presume soy is a key source and that's not allowed? There is a Facebook group which might be able to help you more.

I'm starting in Jan, when the kids go back to uni - aiming to finish February 14th in time for DHs birthday . Going to ease in gently from New Year's Day as this is my first time

Some tips from my first round which I'm thinking through this week ready for Friday...

Decent small stackable Tupperware/meal freezer pots and a sharpie marker. I froze a portion of virtually everything we had so had a stock of ready meals. I saved jam jars as well, brilliant for soups (freeze in portions in the jars) and also chia, almond milk & fruit pots (a bit like overnight oats), plus also for mayonnaise if you like it (the whole30 mayo is so good, plus @Afrodizziac I think Jamie Oliver does a vegan mayo which is compliant, I will check.

Sort through the cupboards and check the things which are compliant, and move everything non compliant to a high shelf or box somewhere. I found that a lot of spices etc were ok, but occasional ones like 5spice or some blends had sugar in. Ditto stock cubes (have msg in them) - however you can use marmite if you need a little bit of something to flavour a dish.

I found alpro almond unsweetened ok in coffee but shops own almond milk doesn't stand the heat. This time I might switch to black as I'm not sure that almond milk does anything other than lighten it!

Coconut milk is notoriously full of chemicals depending on the brand, but you can get a reasonably priced one in Tesco which is compliant, and some of the blue dragon ones are ok.

Very useful info, thanks! I will hunt down that mayo recipe.

Also tinned mackerel were my go to cupboard items last time. Most of the ones in olive oil have just fish, oil and salt so are compliant. Check it's olive not sunflower. Some of the tomato sauce ones are also ok, as long as they are just fish, oil, salt and tomato.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/veganmayonnaisee_50266

There's this one, it uses Aquafaba which I think is just the water from a tin of chickpeas, so should be ok if you are allowing chickpeas.

@thenewaveragebear1983, Day 1 is going fine so far. I got up really late with a slight headache (champagne-induced), weighed myself for the second-last time this month, and had a roasted sweet potato with half an avocado for brunch. I’m so happy that coffee is still allowed as I can give up either wine or coffee but not both.

Did you allow yourself constant grazing on veg in July? I have to go back and read the rulez to see if they recommend three meals a day only.

Day six today and I decided to sprinkle some paleo cereal over some fruit for breakfast . It tasted so sweet ! When I double checked the ingredients and it had ' coconut blossom nectar' which is a sugar .
I can see now why they insist on protein in every meal

@Carriemac, how did the rest of the month go? I’m down 11 pounds (similar for DH). We didn’t find it too hard to swerve sugar, alcohol and processed food. I want to do another month so that I can really see the difference. We had quinoa, beans and pulses as protein sources - not strictly listed for the programme but it is good to know I can have all of that and still lose weight.

I'm on day 19 (aim to finish 13th feb before husbands big birthday). its weird not weighing myself, and the only deviation is the occasional vodka dn soda, but I have to admit I feel great, sugar cravings gone and my skin is fantastic.
I can't tell if I've lost weight, I am eating a lot so am going to pull back on fruit for the rest of the month. Any tips?

I also found it strange not to weigh but I could see my face changing and some long-lost clothes fitting again. It is then a lovely surprise to jump on the scales. DH weighed himself every day - just couldn't help himself! Is it vaguely one size down for each stone?

I wouldn't worry about restricting fruit (unless it makes you feel hungrier). That is the great thing about this way of eating - not too much worrying about calories or portion sizes or carb contents, as long as the food is close to its original form. It is good to have a basic awareness of portion sizes e.g. I made sure I weighed out a portion of nuts so that I didn't end up eating hands full without registering. 50g nuts are about 300 calories - had this once a day for my late-afternoon snack.

Who would've thought a baked sweet potato with half an avocado would become my standard breakfast?! I will have veg soup for lunch (in the past I would've had at least two slices of toast with Naturli butter to go with it). Dinners often are courgetti (I bought a cheap spiraliser which does the job) with bean chilli or ratatouille). For something sweet we'd have baked apples stuffed with dates and raisins.

I am slightly sad that I missed out on all the lovely Veganuary offerings but I need to restrict those kind of meals and treats in future. I don't even like cake but if it is vegan, it would be rude not to!

I totally fell off this thread because I took a social media break too, but I did my January, and again in feb, and still going strong. I've introduced some compliant ingredients foods like ready salted crisps occasionally, and a bit of paleo baking. Ate 4 dairy box chocolates two weeks ago and that fully compounded my knowledge that dairy is not for me, I have had a bad hip ever since.
March has been tricky with a bad reaction to the dairy first, and then my Covid jab, and I'm waiting til after Monday to restart another 30 days of almost whole30 (eg paleo + wine)

I'm now 255 days since I first started way back in July 2020!