Hello, Beautiful!
“A beautiful day begins with a beautiful mindset. When you wake up, take a second to think about what a privilege it is to simply be alive & healthy.”
“The best part about life? Every morning you have a new opportunity to become a better version of yourself.”
Today I’m talking about my experience with the Whole30 program, which (no exaggeration, for once) was life-changing. When I would tell others I was on the program – whether it was family, best friends, coworkers, or anyone else really (I’m realizing I bring up food a lot in daily conversation at this point, lol) for the most part, I’d get the “I have no idea what you’re talking about” stare in return. This same stare greeted me back in law school when I’d tell others I was planning to study abroad in Lithuania – a lot of people just hadn’t heard of the country before, and I feel like a lot of people likewise haven’t heard of Whole30. Or, maybe you’ve heard about it but don’t know the full deetz. Maybe you know every detail, but like me love wine and cheese more than life itself and, also like me, couldn’t possibly imagine giving them up for 30 days.
Regardless of your familiarity-level with Whole30, my goal for this post is to fill you in on the basics of the plan and share my personal experience with you. My husband and I will be starting our second-ever Whole30 next Monday, March 27th, and we would LOVE for you to join us so we can offer you support, encouragement, and accountability! So, if you’re interested in learning about the Whole30 program and potentially trying it out for yourself to make a healthy lifestyle change, keep reading below.
“It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” – Sir Edmund Hillary
How I Heard About Whole30
I follow a lot of healthy lifestyle accounts on Instagram, probably for two reasons. First and foremost, I love food (Hi, Bae), and I really enjoy looking at bright, colorful photos of the food people cook. I also like the be reminded that there are people out there killing the “healthy AF” game, and I need to get on it. Sometimes these posts would say “#Whole30Approved” or “#Whole30,” and I had no idea what that meant. Then I saw a couple of ladies I went to college with posting about taking the leap and trying the Whole30 program, and I thought, “Okay, this is a thing. What is this thing?”
I reached out to my friends Katelyn, James, and Emily to ask for their insight. Katelyn and James had each completed their own Whole30 experience and had great things to say about the program. James had completed Whole30 multiple times, and told me it really helped him determine how different foods and beverages negatively or positively impacted his body. James told me that once the program ended, he was able to integrate beer back into his system in a way that showed him exactly which beers make him feel sleepy or gives him a headache, and exactly which beers paired the best with his body chemistry. That sounded incredibly science-y and also registered in my mind as, “Learn how to drink alcohol even better/more efficiently.” I was, of course, intrigued.
Katelyn also had positive feedback about the program, and she really leveled with me on the pros and the cons, which I appreciated. She described it as a good way to kick-off to a healthy lifestyle and recommended the Whole30 book as a helpful tool to learn about how foods may affect my body. In addition to the weight loss and incredible feeling of accomplishment she experienced, Katelyn was also very real with me about how tough the program can be. She helped me realize that if I was going to commit to Whole30, it wouldn’t be easy. There’d be a lot of meal prepping, a lot of toasts missed at parties, and maybe even some hunger. I started to think, “Okay, so it’s doable. I’m glad I know all this stuff going in,” but I still wasn’t dying to commit to knowingly and willingly giving up wine and cheese for an entire month.
I reached out to my friend Emily who had purchased the Whole30 book and had been thinking about committing to the program. I knew Emily hadn’t yet started Whole30 but had been researching the program and was well-versed in all the requirements. Since the Whole30 book had not been available when James and Katelyn had completed Whole30, I wanted Emily’s insight on the book’s value in completing the program and the extent of information it covered. Emily told me she was glad she bought the book because (while some of the information within could definitely be found online) it contained important pointers like recipes, a shopping list, and overall offered a way to carry around everything someone could need to know about the program while out shopping for groceries or on the go.
Why I Decided to Commit to Whole30
Armed with the information my friends had given me, I decided to head to the bookstore and see for myself. I grew up going to the bookstore with my dad every Sunday (we got ice cream before or after and brought home a Starbucks drink for my mama every time, too), so bookstores are a sort of sacred place to me. I’m forever grateful that I find contentment and feel honored to be in the aisles of bookstores. I was raised to be a bookworm and encouraged to inhale knowledge as much as possible, and I’m thankful for that. So, I drove to Books-A-Million, made my way to the healthy cooking section, found the Whole30 book, and plopped down on the floor to see what it was all about for myself. I turned to the introduction section, and my eyes fell to the first few lines:
“Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Beating cancer is hard . . . . . Drinking your coffee black is NOT hard.”
Having lost my dad to pancreatic cancer a few years ago, that was it for me.
“Well . . . yeah,” I thought. “No argument there.” I bought the book, drove straight home, and sat down to study the shopping list with my husband. A few minutes later we were at our neighborhood Publix getting the groceries we’d need to begin our once-and-for-all-dammit-we-really-mean-it-this-time-forever-and-ever-healthy-lifestyle.
“She believed she could, so she did.”
What are the Basics of Whole30?
Whole30 is a 30-day program where you’re only allowed to eat from a list of certain foods. No fast food, no processed foods, no artificial sweeteners, no dairy, no legumes, no alcohol, and that’s just for starters. If it’s on the shopping list for carnivores or herbivores contained in the back of the book, you’re good. If it’s not, you’re not compliant and (I promise I mean this in a caring way) you’re wasting your time/money. You CAN, however: eat pretty much any meat you want, including bison, pork, and other red meats; eat tons of fruits and veggies, and; drink coffee, tea, and kombucha. Say goodbye to all seasonings and learn to cook your food with pretty much only salt, pepper, and olive oil.
Note: Sometimes, when I describe the staples of the program to others, a common response I hear is that “it sounds a lot like paleo.” While I think a paleo diet means “eating foods presumed to be available in the Paleolithic (read: cave man) period,” I just don’t know enough about the paleo lifestyle to agree or disagree with that comment, but if you are familiar then perhaps that analogy will be helpful to you.
My best advice here is to stick to the program’s requirements. Use the shopping list when you get your groceries. Use the recipe section to help you decide what meals to cook. Use the question and answer sections to remind yourself of the benefits of the program and remember the success stories of others who have made it 30 days. Hold yourself accountable by trying the program with friends or family. Explain the importance of your 30-day commitment to people who encourage you to order French fries. Be firm with the temptations that come along the way, because your body and your health are worth it.
There will always be a reason to celebrate that will make you want to say, “Screw it! This is more important.” Now, this is not to say you can’t go to your best friend’s birthday brunch while you’re on Whole30. There’s no Whole30 rule that says you can’t buy a birthday gift or show up to celebrate your bestie. But you’ll just have to enjoy a mimosa with her in a few weeks; stick to water and Whole30-compliant foods, and brunch away. Borrow a mutual friend’s champagne flute if you’ve gotta take that totes adorbs Boomerang with the birthday babe, because FOMO. Live your life, but commit to the program. Because I promise you that if you commit to the program for 30 days without ANY cheating whatsoever, your health and your lifestyle will become THE most important things to you, period. Whole30 will change the way you think about food and how it affects your body . . . for the better.
“You can do anything. But you cannot do everything.”
Look, I’m never going to use this outlet to be anything but honest with you. To be successful with Whole30, it will require a lot of planning, grocery shopping, and meal prepping. And meal prepping is a lot of work. It takes time and commitment, whereas ordering Panera delivery is easy, affordable, and basically being “healthy,” right? (Wrong!) Meal prepping takes planning ahead, sticking to a list of restrictive ingredients, and the constant will power to stick with what you packed for lunch when someone so much as even speaks the words “Chik-fil-a,” or “Taco Bell.”
So again, what we all already know: Meal prepping is HARD. I’m the first to admit it. There’ve been nights when we attempted to cook, but we were so exhausted by the time we finished that we fell asleep on the couch with our pots and pans still cooling on the stove eyes. And all that food was ruined, and all that time was for nothing. There’ve also been nights when we attempted to cook and even successfully managed to store everything in containers . . . only to realize by the time we’d eaten that same, monotonous meal for both lunch and dinner for a few days that we just couldn’t. We needed to “shake things up” and go out to eat or pop by a drive-through for our own sanity. Work had been “the worst,” and we’d be damned if we’d end our night bored and unhappy with our food.
“Don’t miss out on something that could be great just because it could also be difficult.”
In reality, my husband and I were just being brats. We didn’t need to stray from all our various attempts to diet and be healthy. We just wanted to. We wanted the food that we wanted because our minds and bodies were trained to want it, trained to crave it. It wasn’t until we finally kicked everything “bad” for us and committed to Whole30 that I came to realize my body actually didn’t want any of that nasty food at all.
“The best view comes after the hardest climb.”
My Whole30 Experience
This is the part where I do my best to convince you that there is ANY reason AT ALL in this life to give up wine for 30 days, and you’re just over here like, “I mean, heckers, Elle! Every scientist and doctor EVER agrees that red wine is good for us. At this point, it’s basically proven medicine. Who are we to leave wine when wine has NEVER left us?!” I know, girl. I know. But I promise it can be worth it. And you said it yourself, wine will never leave us.
So, the benefits.
For starters, I lost 30 pounds in two months, but I caution that these results are probably specific to me and my own life’s path and overall was just not an ideal situation. (It’s only fair to you at this point for me to disclose – if you haven’t read the first post from 3/15/2017 – that I was going through serious health problems around the same time I’d committed to Whole30.) From what I could tell just by knowing my own body for 20-something years + based on the way various medications would affect me, I believe about 10 pounds of that weight loss should be attributed to the Whole30 program. Now I’m able to wear jeans I haven’t worn since my freshman year of college, jeans I was saving while knowing there was “no way” I’d ever be able to wear them again. I weigh less than my husband for the first time since I met him almost 7 years ago, and that’s a big win for me personally since he and I are the same height (5’9”). On Sunday, we spent the day shopping around at our favorite stores and running errands; Hubby encouraged me to try on a dress from the Target “Juniors” section, and although I laughed all the way to the dressing room, it actually fit. When major personal accomplishments like that keep happening for me just based on the type of food I’m putting in my mouth – which lesbehonest I was gonna do anyway, lol – there’s nothing better.
“Lose weight without working out, you say?” Yes. To be clear, I did not work out while I was on Whole30. I promise! In fact, about a week after I finished the program, I had spine surgery. Come to think of it, I haven’t really worked out (besides some physical therapy-based post-surgery stretching) during 2017 at all. I just started incorporating what I like to call “tentative and careful sort-of yoga” back into my morning routine this week, so I cannot WAIT to see how being physically active during my second Whole30 potentially changes things for the even-better!
My skin cleared up in a way thirteen-year-old-me could have only dreamed of. I stopped using face masks, face wash, toners, moisturizers, and makeup for the entire month to really determine if some of the other physical changes I’d read about were possible – whether they could really be attributed to Whole30 or perhaps a new cleanser someone had purchased around the same time as they began the program. My eyes even turned a brighter blue (swear!) and my hair became so soft and shiny.
My energy levels skyrocketed as I got adjusted to life with black coffee. At first, it was hard. I needed my triple grand/nonfat/no whip/1 pump mocha to start my damn day. But once I cut all the milk, sugar, syrup, and other unnecessary stuff out of my morning beverage, I didn’t need a second or third cup in a few hours. There was no sugar crash. There was only endless energy. From a $1.50 cup of black coffee. This coming from a former Starbucks Coffee Master (yes, that’s a thing) who used to require an iced quad venti Caramel Macchiato just to be able to “even.”
My cravings stopped completely. I simply didn’t want junk food, fast food, or late night snacks after about a week-and-a-half of the program. All my so-called favorite things stopped seeming like life and started seeming . . . gross. I started wanting a crisp glass of Strawberry Serenity kombucha by GT’s instead of a glass of champs. (All the bubbles, none of the slight headache.) Once I’d removed myself from my own unhealthily lifestyle, I saw it for what it really was. That life was not at all conducive to helping my body function like a well-oiled machine, like the only vessel I’ve been given for living this life.
And do you want to know what happened to me when the program ended and I began reincorporating certain things back into my diet? Are you sitting down?
Around the time our Whole30 ended, not only did I have back surgery . . . my husband took the dreaded bar exam to become an attorney. There are a lot of difficult professional tests out there, and I’m definitely not trying to undervalue any of them, but the bar exam is definitely its own beast. For mine, I studied for about 60 days straight (I took off 1 full day that summer, the 4th of July, because ‘Merica) for 12-15 hours per day, only stopping to run for 22 minutes and shower for 8 minutes each day. For my husband’s, well . . . he had to study his tail off while also taking care of a wife who couldn’t walk (and our 3 big ole furbabies, too!). Needless to say, the man wanted a Taco Bell Big Box to be his “last meal” before the trip to Raleigh to take the NC state bar exam this past February, and who was I to deny him of that simple request? After all, we’d just been healthy for 30 freakin’ days, and Taco Bell is life. (And it’s not exactly like I was able to cook while bedridden!)
But within 30 minutes after eating my own Taco Bell Big Box Meal, I felt really . . . hot. A wave of heat engulfed me and I felt dizzy as I started breaking out in a sweat, so I stumbled in the bathroom to splash water on my face and change my pjs. What I saw in the mirror was enough to solidify the fact that I’d probably never eat Taco Bell again: My entire body had broken out in hives that looked like little, inflamed, disgusting zits. I am sorry if that’s too much info. I am not sorry for a single second if that story encourages you to try Whole30 for yourself.
“When humans announce how perfect things are with strained smiles and guarded eyes. I wonder if they realize that they’d be much more interesting if they showed the heart that’s been gutted and somehow swam up from the depths of it. Only give me small talk when your eyes are telling the same story or else I’ll slander it by saying something real.” – Victoria Erickson
“I don’t want just words. If that’s all you have for me, you’d better go.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Other key takeaways I’ve learned about my body since completing the program include:
- Bourbon (even top shelf) gives me a headache the next morning after drinking it (even just a double on ice), while gin does not.
- Most white wines taste too sweet to me now, but red wines and bubbles are okay (although to be perfectly honest, I like my strawberry kombucha just as much as rose now!).
- I still crave pizza, but I like it without the cheese now (I would’ve eaten an entire bag of cheese cubes in one sitting prior to Whole30 if that tells you anything about my love of cheese and how bizarre that is).
- I still want French fries but am always immediately disappointed with how they taste post-Whole30, unless they’re Pal’s or Chik-fil-a.
- I’m NEVER going to stop wanting the occasional Pal’s or Chik-fil-a meal, and I’m perfectly fine with that.
I truly believe it’s okay to have whatever we want, sometimes. What’s not okay is to have whatever we want, whenever we want it; the hard truth I had to realize (and repeat to myself still) is that it’s not “treating yourself” if it’s literally every meal. *Insert every meme ever about pizza here.*
I’ve tried a LOT of different diet and workout programs, you guys. Anything ever created by BeachBody.com, a couple of different programs from BodyBuilding.com (my personal fav is Labrada’s LeanBody), my own personal trainer (a wedding gift from my mom to get me ready for those bridal and boudoir photos!), Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, various weight loss clinics + medication and shots . . . you name it, hubby and I tried it. Now we truly believe – from having seen it for ourselves – that the solution is really very simple: eating like we care about our body. Not like we care about the way our stomachs or booties (okay, admittedly this area is more of a personal concern than my husband’s – he’s got the tiniest, most non-existent booty, but I digress) look in the mirror or outlined in our clothing. Eating like we care about the way the foods we put into our mouths will have a domino effect on every aspect of our bodies for the rest of the day (and even into the next morning). Kathryn Budig said:
“We don’t empower each other by tearing ourselves apart. We empower by being real, honest, and balanced.”
I hope this post is helpful to anyone new to the Whole30 program! If you’ve been thinking about giving Whole30 a try but need that extra push, here you go: Think about a few of the hardest things you’ve ever been through in your life. We all have our own struggles, our own valleys to the peaks in our lives. My ultimate low points have been unexpectedly losing my dad to cancer, unexpectedly losing my ability to walk and having spine surgery, and studying for the bar exam. I’d say from a self-love and body image standpoint, my lowest point emotionally was this past January-February with the surgery. When I think about how hard it was to get through that and so many other difficult times, how impossible it felt to make it through each day, each smile . . . I cannot even bring myself to say something like, “I just don’t know if I could give up wine.” I can literally overcome anything. And what’s more, I believe that I will. I also believe that you can, and you will. Think about everything you’ve accomplished, everything you’ve overcome, and ask yourself what’s stopping you from conquering a once-and-for-all healthy lifestyle.
“The world gives you so much pain and here you are making gold out of it. There is nothing purer than that.” – Rupi Kaur
“I am strong because I’ve been weak. I am fearless because I’ve been afraid. I am wise because I’ve been foolish.”
“She was powerful, not because she wasn’t scared, but because she went on so strongly, despite the fear.” – Atticus
“She has been through hell. So believe me when I say, ‘Fear her when she looks into a fire and smiles.'” – E. Corona
(I feel like it’s also important to let you know that no one from Whole30 has asked me to write this post, by the way. I just really believe in it – that’s it!)
If you’re thinking about giving Whole30 a try but need that accountability you’ve been missing, I’ve got your back. Leave me a comment on Insta if you want to let me know you’re planning on giving Whole30 a try and I’ll make sure to follow along with your journey and encourage you every chance that I get! If you have any questions, just let me know and I’ll get you some answers. Follow along with our second Whole30 journey beginning Monday, March 27th on my Insta, @elle_graham and feel free to join us! We’re excited to see how adding physical activity back into our lives may give us even better results this time around!
“Repeat after me: I am stronger than this challenge. And this challenge is making me even stronger.”
Remember: You are enough, a thousand times enough.
Until next time, Wild-Hearted Wanderer.
xo
eg
“She has the mindset of a Queen and the heart of a warrior. She is everything all at once and too much for anyone who doesn’t deserve her. She is YOU.” – R.H. Sin
