The Whole30 Diet Is About a Whole Lot More Than Weight Loss

>While it is true that many health movements are gaining momentum today, one of the most viral is the Whole30 diet. This diet has been growing in its number of followers, and the popularity of it is on the rise. The Whole30 diet places focus on avoiding grains, alcohol, sugar, dairy, legumes, and additives for 30 days.

This is more than a diet plan. It is a lifestyle change! As with anything that enters the health industry, some followers can’t promote it enough. Similarly, some critics put it down. Learn more about this Whole30 diet right here!

Where did Whole30 Come From?

The Whole30 diet is a type of eating program that comes with the promise of many emotional and physical benefits. In the year 2009, two sports nutritionists came up with this diet plan. These two clever people designed the plan and promoted it as a method of metabolism resetting and to help reshape the relationship that people have with food.

The diet works on the notion that a few food groups can negatively impact your body and health. The idea is that eliminating all the ‘high-risk’ foods from your diet for 30 days will help your body recover and thus promotes long term health benefits. However, most people following the diet do so in the hope of shedding excess fat. Some use it to identify food intolerances as well as some who do it for the health benefits alone.

The Whole30 Diet Rules

The premise of the Whole30 diet is very simple. It is to eliminate harmful foods from your diet for 30 days. After the diet period, you can reintroduce foods gradually and one at a time to monitor the effects that they have on your body. There is a list of foods that are off-limits (eliminated) and also a list of foods that you can have. This makes it easier to make up a meal plan.

The important thing to note about this eating plan is that during the 30-day elimination, you cannot have a cheat day. If you go off track even once, you have to start the diet all over again from day 1. This is important for the body to reset in complete isolation of the potentially harmful foods. On the plus side, there is no calorie counting, point counting, or portion measuring. Besides food restrictions, you should also avoid smoking cigarettes during the diet. Similarly, you should not step on to the scale on any other day than the first and the last day of the diet. This includes not allowing body measurements.

The Whole30 Diet Benefits

Adhering perfectly to the strict rules of the Whole30 diet comes with many health benefits. Of these are fat loss, better sleep, higher energy levels, a reduction in food cravings, and improvement in athletic performance. The founders of the diet also propose that the diet will change the way you think about food, and also your taste in food! The promoters suggest that one can emerge with a healthy relationship with their body and food after the 30-day eating plan. Unfortunately, at this point, there isn’t scientific evidence to back these claims up.

The Allowed Foods List

Naturally, you must be wondering what foods you can consume during this diet.  The foods are minimally processed. It includes all vegetables, fresh and dry fruits. However, it is best to have fresh fruits over dried ones. Besides that, you can have all types of eggs, nuts, seeds, fish, beef, pork, chicken, horse, poultry, and lamb.

You can also have healthy fats like duck fat, coconut oil, ghee, clarified butter, and healthy plant oils. While you can have all these foods, it is best if you do not try to recreate your favorite dishes using these ingredients. For instance, you shouldn’t make snacks, baked goods, and treats from these ingredients. This means no cauliflower pizza crust or paleo pancakes. Also, goodbye cloud bread and energy balls!

The Whole30 diet may come with many rules, and some may seem unnecessary at first. However, consider that this diet is about more than losing weight. This is a diet designed to change a person’s mindset and to promote long-term health benefits.