Rachel Bouman - Fitness

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Tag: whole30

November 19, 2015

So, What Can You Eat During Whole 30?

So, as I mentioned in my previous blog post, I am a BIG fan of The Whole30 Program. My last round left me feeling GREAT and I’m currently gearing up for my second. Like any dietary plan, there are a lot of rules and restrictions, which ultimately aim to make you the best you possible. Today I’m going to share with you a little bit more about those rules (and their loopholes!).

 

  • Although dairy is strictly prohibited from the program because of the milk proteins found therein, clarified butter (or ghee) is totally OK! Not only is this a great way to add some fats to your diet, it’s also a crucial piece in a lot of curry dishes. Here’s one recipe that I recently made and instantly fell in love with.

 

  • So, by and large, sugars, artificial sweeteners, and pretty much any other type of sucrose-like substance that you can think of is off the table. Fortunately, fruit juice is used as a sweetener in products or recipes is totally fine. Guess who’s going to be making a lot of hand-squeezed orange juice?

 

  • Some legumes are permitted: green beans, sugar snap peas, and snow peas. Basically, these legumes contain a lot more green than they do bean. Not only is this great news for salad lovers, it also permits some great stir-fry combinations. Just make sure that you make it at home and skip out on any preservatives you might find in restaurants.

 

  • As far as vinegar goes, feel free to use it to your heart’s content! Well, with the exception of vinegars with added sugar and malt vinegar which often contains gluten. White, balsamic, red wine, apple cider, and rice vinegars are all fair game. I can’t recommend this apple cider dressing recipe enough.

 

  • You might not know this, but iodized table salt actually contains sugar! Who would have thought? It turns out that sugar (in the form of dextrose) is used to keep the salt from iodizing and basically disappearing into thin air. We often think of foods as sweet or salty, but it turns out that even when they’re salty, they’re kind of sweet. Fortunately, salt (and the sugar that sneakily hides in it) are fair game for the program.

 

Now you might look at The Whole30 Program and think something like “this is crazy,” “Rachel, you are crazy for doing this crazy program,” “it’s too strict/tough/limiting/demanding, etc.”

Having done one round myself, I can assure that it’s not that bad at all.

In fact, it’s pretty easy!

And more than that, it’s only for 30 days. Think about it: 30 days. Not a year, or a decade or an eternity, but 30 days. For me, it was really helpful to stop looking at it as 30 days of limitations but as 30 days of opportunity. I think that’s one of the most appealing things about the program. You get to try something, experience a new way of eating and then see where the cards lie at the end of the month. And for me, I felt pretty freaking good.

Alright. I’m starting to feel like I’m getting way too enthusiastic about this.

Whether you think this is crazy or a fun idea, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Check out my Twitter at https://twitter.com/rachelbouman for more Whole30 thoughts.

October 23, 2015

Steps to Starting Whole30 (Part 1)

If you’ve been following my blog monthly, you’ll know that I’ve been doing Whole30. It’s changed my life for the better, and I can’t recommended it enough to my friends and family. I wanted to take some time to explain the steps you should take before officially committing to Whole30. This will be the first of a few posts that walk through the route that I took to start my first Whole30 journey.

whole 30 calendar

 

1 . Get Familiar With the Whole30 Program

The first step for any Whole30 beginner is to really understand what the program entails There are three rules:

  • The main takeaway is, yes, you can eat real food. In fact, that’s the whole point of this change in diet. There’s no skipping meals or replacing meals with powders and energy bars. You will have a specific list of goods that you can eat.
  • The most important rule is to avoid weighing yourself or measuring any aspect of your body for the full 30 days.

 
2. Make a True Commitment to the Whole30 Program

There is more preparation that you’d think when starting this program; it’s not wise to just read through the rules and jump right into it. The key to success is to fully plan your Whole30 journey. Your planning process can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks; don’t feel pressure to match anyone else’s story — do what works for you.

  • Choose Your Start Date (And stick to it!)
    • Try to pick a date that is as soon as possible within the timeline of your preparation period
    • But, wait until after any major life event – it’ll be hard to stick to your new eating regimen at a five course wedding
  • Make Your Start Date Public
    • It’ll be easier to stick to your start date once you make your intentions known to the world
    • Whole30 provides some really great ways to declare that you’re starting. There’s a facebook banner that you can use, and an instagram image you can post to make it known.
    • You can also start posting to the Whole30 forum and and introduce yourself to everyone else to establish accountibility.whole30 public start date

 

Thanks for reading!

–Rachel Bouman

September 21, 2015

So, I’m Doing Whole30 : What is that?

Image Courtesy of Jessica Quirk (whatiwore)

If you follow me on other social media you’ll know that , “Eat Good Food” is the motto of Whole30 created by Melissa Hartwig and Dallas Hartwig . An intense 30 days of clean eating, Whole30 is not a diet.  The program restricts legumes, grains, and sugars. It requires saying “no” to a lot of traditionally delicious foods.  But, it also says no to stepping on the scale or taking any body measurements for the full thirty days of the program.  The goal of Whole30 is to push the “reset” button to clear your body of hormone-unbalancing and gut-disrupting foods to improve your overall body composition.  The point isn’t to lose weight, but to impact your health and change your emotional relationship with food for the rest of your life.

Here are the general rules to stick by:

  • No added sugar of any kind, real or artificial. (maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, coconut sugar, Splenda, Equal, Nutrasweet, xylitol, stevia, etc)
  • No alcohol in any form, not even for cooking
  • No grains. This includes (but is not limited to) wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, rice, millet, bulgur, sorghum, amaranth, buckwheat, sprouted grains and all of those gluten-free pseudo-grains like quinoa.
  • No legumes.
  • No beans of all kinds (black, red, pinto, navy, white, kidney, lima, fava, etc.), peas, chickpeas, lentils, and peanuts.
  • No soy – soy sauce, miso, tofu, tempeh, edamame, and all the ways we sneak soy into foods (like lecithin).
  • No dairy. This includes cow, goat or sheep’s milk products such as cream, cheese (hard or soft), kefir, yogurt, and sour cream.
  • No carrageenan, MSG or sulfites.
  • No use of “approved ingredients” to recreate baked goods, junk foods, or treats* with “approved” ingredients. So no pancakes, cookies, or clever vegan milkshake recipes found on Pinterest.

So what do you eat?   Well, if you think of how much of what we eat is crammed between thick slices of bread, you can come up with many alternative sandwich creations.  For example, big leaves of lettuce can “sandwich” just about anything.  I personally love to stuff them with avocado, tomato, and chicken.  Another clever technique is using portobello mushroom caps as a bun option.  There are some fabulous ideas on Whole30’s website.

 

I have to admit that getting through the first week was one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done (and I’ve gone to law school).  I was hungry.  I craved my daily greek yogurt like nobody’s business.  Couldn’t I crumble just a tiny bit of bleu cheese on my greens?  This phase, however, reminded me of why I decided to take on the Whole30 challenge in the first place.  Plus, my body’s reaction to the changes proved how drastically I needed to change my relationship with what I was eating.  I had such a wonderful experience with my first round of “Whole30”, that I’m preparing for another round. I’ve learned so much about my personal nutrition philosophy in my first 30 days that I have a ton of inspiration to implement in this new month.

Image courtesy of whatiwore.