Whole30 Journey

About a month ago, I started really paying attention to a Facebook friend of mine's posts about Whole30.   I was not familiar with this, but she was posting delicious looking meals and was posting about how great she was feeling.  So I asked her to fill me in on what Whole30 was.  She sent me a copy of the book It Starts with Food (ISWF) by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig.  My husband and I both read it and we picked a date (April 8th) to start our Whole30.

Whole30 chooses foods based on four good food standards.  The food that we eat should:

1.  Promote a healthy psychological response.
2.  Promote a healthy hormonal response.
3.  Support a healthy gut.
4.  Support immune function and minimize inflammation.

Based on these standards, the following foods will be eliminated:  sugar, sweeteners, alcohol, seed or vegetable oils, grains, legumes, and dairy.  Over the next 30 days I am planning on going more into detail on why these foods do not pass the good food standards, based on the book.

But for now, I want to focus on what we will be eating over the next 30 days, because I am choosing to look at this from a positive view point.  All of these foods are Whole30 approved: protein from meat and eggs, carbohydrates from vegetables and fruits, and also healthy fats.  A great shopping list can be found here!  The shopping list has more details about what are the best choices for each category.

Here are the daily guidelines:
~ Eat three meals a day
~ Start with breakfast
~ Don't snack, if you can help it
~ Stop eating a few hours before bedtime

Building your meals:
~ Create each meal around your protein source
~ Each meal should include one to two palm sized servings of protein
~ As often as possible, choose high-quality meat, seafood and eggs
~ Fill the rest of your plate with vegetables
~ One to two servings of fruit per day
~ One or more fat sources per meal

"The food you eat either makes you more healthy or less healthy.  Those are your options"  

This is a direct quote from the first chapter of ISWF.  This is what directly influences the entire book.  Over the next 30 days I will blog more about what this means and more about our experience on our Whole30 journey!  If you don't want to wait for me, I encourage you to pick up a copy of It Starts with Food or check out the Whole9 website!