Hello again!
If you read Friday’s blog post (here) you may remember one of my big goals for 2019 was to make better nutrition a priority. That can mean a lot of different things to different people. Honestly, I think it even means different things to me sometimes.
In the past, I’ve had a few different strategies for managing nutrition, the two main ones being counting macros or completing a Whole30. For where I’m at in life right now, completely cutting out the food groups that I’ve been overconsuming, and replacing them with nutritious, simple alternatives is a better option than counting/weighing/measuring everything I eat. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with counting macros as a nutrition strategy, it just isn’t the best fit for my personal goals at the moment.
So what is Whole30?
There are honestly hundreds of articles on the topic. There are detailed lists of what you can’t eat, foods to avoid, and tips/recipes for making it all the way through. There is even a dedicated Whole30 website (here). But if you were to ask me to explain the Whole30 in a few sentences, I would say this:
Think of Whole30 as a hybrid between and elimination diet, a cleanse and a food therapy program. Whole30 is quite literally an elimination diet in the sense that you cut out entire food groups (all with potentially inflammatory properties) for the 30 day period, then slowly reintroduce them back into your life, one group at a time, so you can see how they affect you. In some ways, its like a cleanse because it tends to be a pretty immediate drastic change in your eating/lifestyle habits right off the bat, and prevents you from eating things that could trigger cravings. Finally, it serves as a sort of ‘food therapy’ because it allows you to completely clear all food triggers from your system, and really help you evaluate your psychological attachment/views towards certain foods.
Why am I doing Whole30?
None of your business! Just kidding 😉 But in all seriousness, I’m committing myself to the Whole30 because I need a lifestyle overhaul, and a complete reboot/reset after all of the holiday food. I’ve made it through one before, and it made such a huge difference in my sugar cravings and overall eating habits. It definitely requires planning and some work in the kitchen, but I’m hoping it will help kickstart 2019 in the direction I want it to go.
I’ll try to share this years Whole30 journey on the blog and Instagram stories, so be sure to follow along if you are curious.
Until next time,
Amanda
Follow along on IG: @amandadev4
Amanda Marie Kennedy 