Episode #34: Getting Started with Whole30

In 2009, Melissa Hartwig blogged about changing her life through clean eating. Whole30 shortly was born!

It is a 30-day mindset shift protocol that has inspired many to break free from processed foods. It has a focus on clean, whole eating.

Check out Melissa's website here: www.whole30.com

On today's podcast we talk about:

• Overview of Whole30
• Foods to avoid on Whole30
• Foods to include on Whole30
• My experiences with Whole30

Do you need better sleep? Check out my FREE 5-day protocol and challenge here! 5-day Sleep Challenge

Here is the show notes from today:

Frank: (00:00)
Do you feel like you're a slave to food? Well, there's a lot of us out there. We all feel that we emotionally eat, whether it be good, bad, or indifferent. Well, this is all a mindset that's related to our nutrition. And on today's episode we're going to talk about a diet plan that was created in 2009 that will help you change your mindset in 30 days. Join us on this episode 34 of unconventional wellness and we'll talk about the whole 30 diet. Talk to you guys soon. Hey everyone, and welcome to unconventional wellness radio as a powerful and inspiring podcast, such a revolutionize and disruptive healthcare. It's time to put you in the driver's seat and be the force of change necessary for the lifestyle you've always wanted. Everyone, and welcome to today's podcast and Facebook live. I am so thrilled that you're joining us, uh, today, but I'm, what I'm not so thrilled about is unfortunately all of the chaos that is happening off of the coast of Florida. 

Frank: (01:01)
Our thoughts and prayers are going out to those folks that are been directly affected by Hurricane Dorian. In The Bahamas. And we are definitely thinking about friends and family and folks that we may not even know that are going to be affected throughout the Florida coast all the way up into what looks like this thing might be gone all the way up in like Virginia. And so we're, you know, thinking and praying for all those folks that are going to be directly affected by the hurricane. Um, if you are a vacuum or anything, which most places are, we just, you know, ask that to evacuated safely and that you stay safe and then you come back and be able to put things back together. Excuse me, as hopefully a stress free and anxious free as you possibly can. But, uh, we are not, we're not, I don't know if it's just with a heavy heart that we hate to see natural disasters. 

Frank: (01:49)
And so our thoughts and prayers are all out for all of you guys. Um, but on another note, if we could, let's talk about something nutrition today, right? Um, if you may or may not have been exposed to it, but since 2009, a a bloggers slash real food advocate by the name of Melissa Hartwig Egg, uh, started a revolution with her then husband, uh, Dallas and it, it, it has evolved into something really huge. Okay. And on today's podcast and Facebook live, we're going to talk about the whole 30, um, extremely simple to discuss the whole 30, but performing it and then being able to make sure that you set yourself up for success. That's what I wanna do. I want to give you a bunch of tips and tricks that, uh, my wife and I have followed in order to be able to really get the most out of this particular diet play. 

Frank: (02:45)
Now I say it's a diet plan, but really to be honest with the lasts about 30 days, but this is the purpose of the whole 30, is that it's self experimentation. It's an elimination style diets. So what you're trying to do is you're trying to eliminate a, uh, non whole and processed foods out of your diet over the course of a 30 day period. It's only 30 days, which is what Melissa states all over her website. And so, uh, since 2009, so about 10 years now, lots and lots of whole 30 graduates are saying that it's just been a life changing diet. And so we wanted to talk a little bit about the nuts and bolts of the whole 30 and then how can you get yourself started? And I know the holidays are coming up and it might be the last thing from your mind that you're thinking about. 

Frank: (03:31)
Do I want to restrict certain types of foods, uh, in the next say 90 days? But this might be something that, you know, you come back, you check out this podcast, you check out this Facebook live when January happens because that is the wonderful month of resolutions. And so a lot of people actually kick off their brand new year with a whole 30. And so, um, I just want to kind of set the stage for that and, uh, and give you as much tips as I possibly can in reference to that. Okay. So the first thing is, is that, uh, with the whole 30, it is a very much a mindset. Okay? You need to have this mindset of like, I'm going to go into this, I'm going to kick it's, but it's not going to kick my butt and we're going to crush it. 

Frank: (04:16)
Okay? Um, the good news is, is that you've got a, uh, hey, what's up Chaz? How are Ya? So, uh, you've got a really great chance to be able to like drive out all of this terrible eating and be able to actually, uh, do it for good. Okay? So the first thing that I want you to understand is that there is something that is sort of known in the whole 30 sphere for the first three to five days. When you get started, there is something that is sort of like a fog, right? It's sort of a detoxification that's happening. And so if you've been eating a lot of hole, or excuse me, non whole processed foods, when you remove those, you might have this like kind of sense of fog. Okay. And that's okay. What'd you do? Is You power through it. You make sure that you stay on the Diet plan, you make sure you drink plenty of water, get those out of your system and you continue to move on. 

Frank: (05:06)
So that's one thing. And then by the time that you actually hit like daylight, gosh, for us it was like day five through day 30. It was just smooth sailing. I mean, like it was great because we had changed our ways. We had been really thinking about how to be intentional with this diet and uh, and it was really, really great. Okay. And so, um, you know, you'll catch wind and it'll sort of like be this like Kinda slow start and then all of a sudden you'll just kinda hit that stride and you'll be okay for the next 30 days. And at the end of the 30 days, I'll tell you why you're gonna feel phenomenal because you did it, you knew that you could do it. And for those 30 days, you have revolutionized the way that you feel about food. Because let's face it, folks, if you're with me, give me lights, give me loves and let me know. 

Frank: (05:51)
Like, is food your enemy? Are you frenemies with food? Like food does not need to dominate our lives. Okay. When it comes to wanting to eat right and wanting to maintain good health, we do not want to be a victim or a slave to food. Um, we often find food in various emotional states. Uh, if we're super depressed or anxious, what do we usually do? We eat okay. If we're super depressed or anxious, what do we turn to drinking alcohol if we're super depressed or anxious, what are I should say, elated and around a social community? Um, there's a social aspect where we like to eat more. So, you know, we just have to realize that we don't need to. And then on top of that comes guilt. Okay. Guilt. Because maybe we gained a little bit of way, maybe because we've been eating a certain way. 

Frank: (06:43)
We go see our doctor and then all of a sudden we feel bad because we have high cholesterol with these are all, these are all these downward spirals that are related to food. And so what we want to do is we really want to be very cognizant of food and have food work for us and not be working for food. Okay. And so that's exactly what the whole 30 sets out to do. So it's really a mindset that you want to walk into to really say, I am going to have food freedom, I'm going to eat clean and I'm going to take care of my body. That way my body can take care of me. Okay. And so what you want to do is realize that there are program rules. You can go check these out on whole thirty.com and there are laid out for you, great testimonials, coaches, if you need one all on the website. 

Frank: (07:27)
Okay. [inaudible] excuse me. And I'll link that inside of this podcast as well. But the big no-nos, okay. For the whole 30 are pretty, I mean they're, they're going to seem fairly limiting, but they're actually for a really good heart purpose. Okay. Because it is an elimination style diet. If you've ever heard of the autoimmune protocol, um, it's sort of like, what I like to say, it's on the spectrum of sort of like looking at Paleo Taquito, right? It's on that spectrum of like certain types of foods that you want to eliminate in order to be able to actually get the health benefit. Okay. So the first thing is probably the hardest for most people, which is don't consume any sugar whatsoever. And that is both real or artificial. Like that's not just like, oh, well, okay, I'll cut out pure cane sugar, but then I'm okay to do like Xylitol or z Stevia or even honey or maple syrup. 

Frank: (08:18)
You can't do those on the whole 30. Okay. So no added sugars whatsoever. All right. That's both real and artificial. All right? Not supposed to consume any type of alcohol, excuse me, for the whole 30. Why? Because it's a detoxification thing. And so we don't want to consume sugar alcohols, um, or ethanol or anything like that during the whole 30 as well. And of course, if you're also smoking, try to cut that back as well to where you're not smoking. Okay. Really good way to be able to get rid of that. The big thing is, is a very similar to Paleo. You're not going to eat any grains. These grains are any type of grains to include even sprouted grains or natural grains like amaranth or buckwheat or keynote or something like that. You just don't, um, add any type of grains whatsoever. So make sure that you're very cognizant of any types of grains that might be in the foods that you're planning on consuming. 

Frank: (09:10)
Don't eat legumes. This is number four. So legumes are like any of these types of things that are like, you know, quick, easy, like more like a bean, if you will, as sort of like a lagoon. So you gotta look at like all of the different types of paints or Pintos and monument, Lima beans and black beans, red beans, all that kind of stuff. Okay. You also want to not have any peanuts. That's also important as well. And no peanut butter because it's of course a product of peanuts. Okay. And then get rid of all different types of soy. Alright. So that's all recommended by Melissa to say like, you know, know me. So now to Tofu, Tempeh at a mommy or anything like that or I get rid of those types of legumes as well. This is a big one. Number five is don't eat any dairy. 

Frank: (09:53)
Okay. That is actually any cow, goats, sheep milk. All right. Are any of the products related to that? The reason why is because it has been seen that even a little bit of cow milk can actually be pretty inflammatory inside of the body. And so remember, it's a elimination style diet. We're trying to help repair, you know, things like leaky gut and stuff like that. And so we want to be able to like really drive the inflammation down. Um, don't have any type of sulfites okay. Don't have any type of junk foods or treats because they, here's the thing, the actually the vast majority of Americans actually consume snacks, myself included. Right? So like you're not necessarily hungry, but you're like, if I just have a snack, then I'll, I'll go ahead and Ho hold myself off and then usually I'll will consume like a meal a couple of hours anyway, uh, later. 

Frank: (10:39)
So consuming snacks is what kind of gets us into that downward spiral on that funk. Okay. I'm definitely don't have like any types of products. Melissa really talks about like don't have any types of products that like resemble other foods, but they're made with foods that are okay to be on like a whole 30. So this would be like your cauliflower crusts that you would use for a pizza. Instead, get your Kali flour, make your own crust with ingredients that you know that are in there, and then make your pizza. Okay. So, um, these, these ready to eat non grain muffins or non grain, uh, I don't know, like, like, um, tortilla shells or whatever, you gotta make this stuff by yourself because if you're not making this stuff by yourself, then really what's happening is you are not changing your habit, okay? You are actually not changing your habits. 

Frank: (11:34)
So you need to make sure that you are changing habits and by doing so you're getting rid of those like snacky foods, if you will, that uh, that are actually, um, that are actually causing these different types of mindsets that you currently have. Okay? So that's a big one. And then the last is don't weigh yourself. Don't do any body measurements, okay? Um, Melissa recommends you could do one on like day zero, right? Like the day before you get ready to start on your whole 30 and you're welcome to do one a day, 31 more than likely you are going to end up losing weight. But the most important thing about this diet is that you're going to feel great after you finished because your body and you will have overcome a large obstacle. And you'll be able to start having the journey of putting your food into place. Okay? So here's the types of things that are actually allowed on the whole 30, um, something called g, which is a clarified type of butter. 

Frank: (12:26)
You can use that, okay? Don't use whole butter, um, fruit juice or totally fine. Make sure that the fruit juice is like 100% natural. Okay. Um, you're allowed to have green beans and sugar snap peas and stuff like that. Vinegar is totally fine. Coconut Aminos is a great way to add a bunch of like really, really good, um, ferments into your diet because those are really great as well. But watch out for anything when it has like, you know, nectar or syrup or a Gaba or any of that kind of stuff. And then the last thing is salt. Just be careful about the type of salt you consume. Excuse me, to flavor your foods because you want to be like super careful about the, um, about the type of added sugar that might actually be inside of that. Okay. So that's really it. That's the whole dirty in a nutshell. 

Frank: (13:13)
There are so many wonderful, um, there are so many wonderful like cookbooks and websites and all these other great resources that are out there in order for you to have a bunch of ideas for diets. Um, it's been really awesome for us. Like what we'll do is we'll essentially plan out like all 30 days of the Diet and uh, and being able to actually march out every single thing. That way we know where we're getting, we have our snacks lined up if we want to do snacks, you know, our nuts and things like that that we can eat in between. Um, but it's really awesome and I'm telling you, we have now accomplished it at least four to six times and every single time that we come out of that hole 30, we feel great. Okay. So that's it. If you got any questions, by all means, I know that this is a little bit of a shorter podcast today, but if you've got any questions and you're checking us out on Facebook, shoot me an email, frank at ritzy essentials. 

Frank: (14:08)
You are super welcome to send me an email. I'll be very happy to answer any questions about whole 30. Um, if you have any other questions at all about like, say diet or nutrition or you know, a movement or any of that kind of stuff, please do so. Okay. Because that's what unconventional wellness is here and that's what we're all about. Alright. Um, mind you, excuse me. I said that we would be doing a giveaway. Well, I'm not, I'm not backing out on that. Okay. It is in fact actually happening. And so what is the way to get in on this free giveaway? Well, this is what you can do. I'm going to do the giveaway about three weeks from now, okay. Toward the middle to end of September, excuse me, on my podcast. And so what you need to do is you either need to leave me a rating and review on Facebook live, or excuse me, on Facebook. 

Frank: (14:55)
I will see that, leave it on the page, leave me a rating and review on my podcast, and then also make sure that you share my podcast from somebody that you know needs it. Okay. That is the way to get entered. And I will select one person, um, lucky winner that we'll be able to get a really awesome prize that I'm not even going to announce the prize because I want that to stay in suspense. So, but it will be cool. And so that's the way to do it. So either you know, or excuse me, leave a rating and review on my page, leave a rating or review on my podcast, and then make sure that you share that podcast. Okay, we're here for you. That's what I'm here to do. Um, I want to let you know that I have been there. I have done these things. I promised I wouldn't recommend anything that I did not feel comfortable with doing it myself. And so I wish you the best in your clean eating journey and I hope that you are safe if you are in the path of this tremendous hurricane. And I hope that you have a really wonderful labor day otherwise, and I can't wait to catch you again on another Facebook live or another podcast here very soon. So take care everybody and have a absolutely blessed day. Bye Bye now. [inaudible].