Any change in eating habits can be easily derailed by a stressful day, bad news, hunger pangs or brownies that keep calling you from the cabinet. It is time to do some preparation in order to get ready for our Whole30 that begins on January 1st. Are you ready to get healthy? In my last post, I asked you to join me in choosing health! My first recommendation is to remove all food from your refrigerator and kitchen cabinets that you will be eliminating on the Whole30 eating plan.
You would think this would be easy but you will need to read the ingredient label on every box, can and bag of food in the house! Watch out for sugar in your spaghetti sauce, soy in your canned tuna fish and sulfites in your vinegar. In this post I wrote about unexpected places you might find sugar lurking in your kitchen.
Box up the brownie mix, flour, sugar, cereal, oatmeal along with the 10 boxes of pasta that were on sale 5 for $5 bucks. No sugar and grains for the month of January! Give away the mayonnaise made with canola oil, the crackers with soybean oil, half and half as well as the blocks of cheddar. We won’t be eating vegetable oils or dairy.
Bring the beer, wine and tequila to the basement along with the Diet Coke, and lemonade mix. Who needs alcohol and sugary beverages? Hide the rice, beans, granola bars and cookies. Getting all of these foods out of sight will help keep them out of mind as you embark on this healthy journey! For those of you new to the Whole30 check out the program guidelines here!Now that your cabinets and refrigerator are pretty bare it is time to stock up on some new essential food items! During my first Whole30 I just jumped into it without much planning. I didn’t have the essentials so my first few days were more difficult than they needed to be.
Here are a few things I can no longer live without! A good quality coconut oil for roasting veggies, frying chicken and sautéing greens. Olive oil is allowed on the Whole30 however it shouldn’t be cooked with as it becomes unstable when heated. Go ahead and drizzle it on your salad but replace it with coconut oil or avocado oil when cooking.
For my first 2 weeks on the Whole30 I drank black tea. I didn’t love it and it no longer felt like a simple pleasure. I was missing my half and half as well as the sugar in my morning drink. I started to experiment with replacing the half and half with coconut milk (from a can), unsweetened almond milk and coconut cream. I found the coconut cream (from Trader Joe’s) had a similar consistency to half and half and settled on that for a long time.
Before I changed my eating habits I would have told you I didn’t like coconut so this was a big change for me. Now I am happy with any of these options to lighten my tea and haven’t missed the sugar in a long time.
Eating Whole30 compliant does not require any restriction on calories or portion sizes. One of the biggest lessons I had to learn was to stop looking at fat as a bad guy. Buy a variety of raw and dry-roasted nuts such as almonds, cashews and hazelnuts. I toss them in my salad, leave a small container in my car and grab a handful when I’m not sure I am full.
Stock up on all kinds of olives including black, green, Greek and Calamata. I buy avocados by the half-dozen and eat them right out of the skin, add them to salad and serve them on top of too many dishes to count. Healthy fat is what helps you to feel full and keeps you from snacking in between meals.
When I started my first Whole30 I was a vegetarian and had not eaten meat (other than fish) for almost 20 years. After 2 weeks on the Whole30 I was getting tired of eggs for breakfast and fish for dinner. I reintroduced meat for what I thought would be a few weeks. However I felt so good eating according to the Whole30 that I have kept eating meat and enjoy the increased variety, textures and tastes of my meals.
Soy is eliminated on the Whole30 however if you are vegetarian and not ready to start eating meat then continue to eat high quality, organic and minimally processed soy products including tofu.
For those of you who do eat meat, it is time to stock up on your favorite types. Meat in unlimited quantity is allowed on the plan with the exception of meat that contains nitrates. Read labels on bacon, sandwich meat and sausage to ensure they contain no nitrates. When possible buy organic, free range – after all, you are what you eat! Also buy plenty of eggs; free range and organic when possible. I am lucky that I have a few options for fresh eggs from reliable sources pretty close to home.
My last recommendation is to buy a variety of greens and vegetables every time you shop. The 30 days of eating in this new manner is an opportunity to introduce new healthy foods to your diet. Experiment with new ways of cooking including roasting any vegetable you can think of, creating rice out of cauliflower or broccoli and adding veggies to your mashed potatoes. Despite having been a vegetarian for almost 20 years, my vegetable consumption increased dramatically on the Whole30!
January 1st is just around the corner – are you ready to get healthy with me?
Lake Girl
Just as an observation for those of us who are unsure of joining in this adventure: It’s not about the food we can’t eat; it’s about all the good stuff out there that we CAN eat. (Do the research to see all the delicious Whole30 foods that you may not have even considered eating. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.) It’s easy to feel sorry for ourselves in thinking I can’t eat this, I mustn’t eat that, etc. A wise fellow said: Don’t say “I can’t eat that food.” Say instead “I don’t choose to eat that food.” Take back the power! Choose health!
You are so right! Thanks for reading SS!