The Whole30 Diet has been super popular among my friends and a lot of the people on my social media accounts. They just love it and talk about it all the time. I’ve had a look at it – a close look – and it’s not for me. After all, no single diet is perfect for everyone. I just happen to be one of those people who won’t be using this strategy for my own weight management and overall health.
Still, just because I’m not planning to stick to this strategy, it doesn’t mean that I didn’t learn some valuable tips while I was reading into it. It’s a well thought out concept. It is basically meant to be a 30 day regime that forces you to avoid all processed foods, added sugars, grains, alcohol, dairy and legumes. Instead, you eat a tone of veggies, some fruits and a moderate amount of seafood, meat, eggs and poultry.
For me, that’s pretty extreme. I’m already trying not to eat much processed food and I’m working hard to cut out as many added sugars as I can. But I think whole grains are fantastic for my health and a bit of dairy is doing me more good than harm. I just wouldn’t be able to keep up with everything The Whole30 Diet would want me to do. Still, the following are some great things to take away from the Whole30 diet regardless of whether or not the whole thing is right for you:
• Protein is important. Get enough of it. – While I do get enough protein in total in my day, I usually get the vast majority of it from one meal, with little bits peppered throughout the rest of the day. Since I read about Whole30, I’ve been shifting that balance so that I receive more protein steadily throughout the day instead of all at once. That way, it helps to improve the way my body functions, the repair of my muscles and even offers a longer feeling of fullness from my meals because it takes longer to digest.
• Pay attention to portion sizes – I have been trying to get my portions right for some time now, but The Whole30 Diet places a very big focus on this that helped the concept to make more sense to me. The diet does not require any kind of calorie counting or restrictions. Instead, it points to the portions of foods such as meat. I’m someone who believes in calorie counting as a tool, not as a be-all-and-end-all to a diet. That said, the more I understand the appropriate portion sizes for foods, the less I have to fall back on counting the specific calories the foods contain.
• Alcohol needs a smaller place in my life – I’ve never been a heavy drinker. Still, I like to have a few glasses of something in social situations. Despite the fact that I have been cutting down on sugars and processed foods, I’ve left my alcohol calories alone. That said, after reading into Whole30, I’ve started cutting back. Even though I only have alcohol once per week or so, I was still drinking too much. For a woman, one to one and a half glasses is actually supposed to be the maximum serving. For men, it’s two glasses. I was usually having three or four (over a period of hours, not all at once). That was messing up my digestion, metabolism and was bad for my health. Now, I’m down to one or two. It’s even helping me sleep better!
