An Honest Whole30 Review (and what I've learned)

The first thing I should point out about this review is that it’s not actually a Whole30. It’s more like a Whole21 with a little floundering throughout.

Although I did stick to the premise of the diet for the most part, I decided at various intervals to bring back certain pleasantries given their minimally invasive effects on my health and their maximal improvement on my overall sense of sanity.

So, I’ve had a few glasses of wine, and for the last week I’ve been indulging in 1 teaspoon of Stevia per day, just so I could have that morning coffee. Oh, speaking of which, I’ve also added back store-bought almond milk (for said coffee), and I’ve even had two Pure Protein bars when I just felt like I had to eat SOMETHING with a crinkly wrapper or I might die on the spot.

Other than these few discrepancies, I’ve done quite well and I will admit, I feel pretty damn good, too. I have a steady, consistent supply of energy and I have only had the 3 pm slump once, and that was when I experimented with a morning bowl of oats.

Okay, yeah, I had oats once too.

Switching up My Protein Sources

But overall, I think I’m ready to start experimenting with “potentially toxic substances” like tofu and lentils. I’m so sick of fish and I fear I might have depleted the tilapia population from here to Japan, so I need to start integrating more plant-based forms of protein. 

Alcohol is Back In.

I also don’t want to feel bad when I have a glass of wine. I’ve certainly dialed back the volume of my favorite bad habit, but when I do indulge, I don’t want to feel like I’m cheating myself out of some higher level of living as I don’t think a glass here and there is bad for me.

Quite the opposite actually.

What I do think I’m done with is sugar. I haven’t even missed it in the last week. Well, most of the time I don’t miss it. Sometimes as I’m having my wine, I crave something to go with it (hense my breakdown with the protein bar), but that only happened once.

Dairy is out

I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be doing dairy again, but I’ll reserve confirmation of that assumption until I try bringing it back into my daily diet again. As you may recall, dairy is really only a recent thing for me, and to be honest, the more I ate it, the more tired I was. I didn’t realize it at the time, but if that feeling of exhaustion comes back, then dairy will stay out.

I’m also contemplating going without whey protein and sticking with a pea or rice blend like Vega or Sunwarrior.  I have learned that my digestion doesn't love the idea of dairy products.

So as I enter this last week of the Whole30 challenge, I’ll actually be testing out my tolerance to dairy, gluten, soy and legumes (oh, my beloved peanut butter, please don’t disappoint me!). Sugar will not be making a comeback, but small doses of stevia here and there are still a-okay by me.

My Perspective on the Whole30

Overall, I would highly recommend anyone giving this challenge a try. Even if you don’t want to go for 30 days (which I personally think is overkill), just trying it for a week might make you take a second look at your food choices, which at the end of the day, is the best takeaway of the Whole 30 program.

Plus, it will inspire you to be a little more creative with your food.  Like this cauliflower hummus - who knew you could make a hummus without beans?

Are you interested? You can check it out here.