Whole 30: Learning from Our Bodies

If you read my post on January 1, which detailed my history of New Year's resolutions focused on weight loss, you probably guessed (mostly from the "clues" at the end) what I'd chosen for this year's plan: Whole 30.

Am I crazy?! Coach Marilyn, aren't you the one who called tracking Weight Watchers points "cumbersome"? Or Noom's color-coded foods too "confusing"? Isn't Whole 30 one of the most complicated and restrictive plans around? And what about not being allowed to ingest any form of grains (gluten and non-gluten), legumes, dairy, alcohol, and sugar for 30 straight days?

Yes, all that's true. Let me explain why I've chosen to do it anyway, despite and because of my past experiences. Rather than start the new year by punishing my body for how fat or fatigued my mind thinks it is, I'm going to explore what my body has long been trying to teach my mind. This next month is about no longer treating my body as an object of scorn. It's about actively listening to what insights its able to share, wisdom that can contribute to my ultimate goal for 2025: to become healthy and whole, inside and out.

Experiments in elimination and healing

Whole 30 was started in 2009 by husband-and-wife sports nutritionists, Dallas Hartwig and Melissa Urban, with Melissa emerging as the CEO and driving force behind the company's massive expansion following the couple's divorce. It now claims to have roughly 5 million followers, many of who consider the program to be transformational.

Before realizing success with Whole 30, Urban had struggled with drug addiction. “I spent six years in my early 20s hustling for every powder, pill and chemical substance I could get my hands on,” she shared in her blog, as quoted in a CNBC feature story about her business empire. “The day I got out of rehab was the day I first set foot in a gym.”

Drugs soothed the pain of childhood sexual abuse, she admits, once telling People magazine that she "felt worthless" as if "something was wrong" with her. Eventually she sought help, completed rehab, and finished her degree. She threw herself into the health and fitness industry, becoming a certified nutritionist and helping run a CrossFit gym. Whole 30 emerged after a casual chat with her former husband following a work-out session.

“I was eating Thin Mints ... right out of the sleeve,” she tells CNBC, referring to the popular Girl Scout cookie. Her partner Dallas then suggested they try to eat “squeaky clean” foods for the next 30 days and see what happens. A lot did.

The benefits of eating "clean" or whole, real, or whatever terms refers to avoiding processed foods is well-documented in the medical community. They're richer in essential nutrients (without the empty calories), contain natural fiber (that aids digestion, weight management and heart health), are full of antioxidants that combat free radicals (and reduce the risk of chronic diseases), and support a healthier gut (our microbiome) that naturally boosts our immunity systems.

The couple's experiment morphed into Whole 30, today's popular "elimination" diet. It starts with eating whole foods, as so many other diets emphasize, but differs in removing triggering foods for 30 days to see if their absence can lessen or entirely rid our bodies of their effects.

The Cleveland Clinic, the reputable medical center known for its history of pioneering medical breakthroughs, posted an article about the Whole 30 program in 2022. "Whole 30 isn't for everyone, but it can be a useful tool to learn more about how your body responds to certain foods," notes registered dietician Sharon Jaeger, who's cited in the article.

By eliminating certain foods for a period of time, we can figure out if we're sensitive to gluten or dairy, with research reporting that up to 70% of people may have a lactose intolerance without knowing it. Both sensitivities can show up in more frequent upset stomachs, diarrhea, gas and bloating, headaches or migraines, and heartburn.

"Whole 30 can be a good place to start if you're frustrated with how you feel on a day-to-day basis and you think it might be related to food," offers Jaeger, as cited in the article. "It can help you figure out why your body is giving you signs and symptoms that something just isn't right."

An updated version of Whole 30 debuted in 2024, featuring a plant-based option, along with adding white potatoes and seed oils as compliant foods, while eliminating language that labels certain foods as "good" or "bad."

Could Whole 30 do any harm?

Critics of the program charge that it's not a proper medically supervised elimination plan, which can last up to 90 days and occur under more controlled circumstances than Whole 30's self-monitoring approach. Whole 30 counters that its long enough to experience improved digestion, better sleep, reduced food cravings, clearer skin, and a better understanding of food sensitivities, among other benefits. And, yes, it may also result in weight loss, but we won't know that until it's over, as it also eliminates getting on any scales.

Whole 30 claims that it goes beyond an elimination diet to embrace "the science of behavior change." That includes prompting followers to create new habits, reconnect with their bodies, and improve their relationship with food. There is no rigorous research to back up such claims, but the program's millions of followers have shared plenty of stories about what good it's done for them.

Another complaint concerns the loss of calcium with the program's elimination of dairy. Yet, plenty of other foods provide calcium beyond milk, as those who are lactose-intolerant know well. While on Whole 30, its best to seek out dark, leafy greens (like kale), broccoli, bone broths, and dried figs, among others, which contain significant amounts of calcium. In fact, eating 1-1/4 cups of cooked spinach provides as much calcium as a cup of milk.

Then there's concern over the lack of carbohydrates and fiber from grains removed for 30 days to expose gluten sensitivity and other effects. For "carboholics" like me, who'd rather eat a piece of crusty bread than a piece of candy, it'd be nice to find out what happens to my body when I stop overindulging in carb-heavy foods. Fiber is found in fresh fruits, nuts, broccoli, carrots, and sweet potatoes, all recommended on Whole 30.

The American Diabetes Association recommends being especially mindful of carbs, which in excess, are stored in our bodies as glucose (sugar), thereby raising the level of glucose in our blood. The ADA suggests trying to avoid eating refined, highly processed carb-heavy foods, especially those with added sugar. That's also a major goal of Whole 30. 

The ADA also advises eating whole, unprocessed, non-starchy vegetables (lettuce, cucumbers, broccoli, tomatoes, and green beans), and controlled portions of starchy carbs in fruits such as apples, berries, and cantaloupe, along with vegetables such as green peas and sweet potatoes.

Lucas P. Readinger, a Wisconsin-based physician with an expertise in treating diabetes and hypertension, wrote the forward for the 2009 Whole 30 book that launched the program, "It Starts With Food." He advises followers with lingering concerns to check with their doctors.

Readinger suggests we consider doctors as partners in our health care, including to explore together better lifestyle choices that invest in our overall well-being. That means looking for causes beyond heredity factors or test results to understand how they contribute to our symptoms. I went through a few doctors before finding one that did more than prescribe meds as the solution to what ailed me. Instead, she encouraged me to eat better and experiment with non-pharmaceutical approaches like yoga and meditation.

If nothing else, Readinger says to talk to our doctors about our medications to make sure they're sufficient to get us through the 30 days. Supplements may be recommended if there's concern that we're not getting enough of the nutrients in the missing food groups. This shouldn't be the case, if we adhere to the foods the program recommends.

Weight loss may still be on the menu

The fact that Whole 30 doesn't sell itself as a weight-loss program is another factor that attracted me. But most who follow the program report weight loss at the end, since we're supposed to avoid stepping on the scale until then. In my January 1 post, I talked about why a primary focus on weight loss doesn't work for me. When I was on Weight Watchers, I faced weekly weigh-ins, and with just 10% of my body weight to lose, the scale barely registered the loss of a pound or two each week, and, sometimes, none at all. When the scale is the main measure of "success," it over-privileges numbers, which may not lie, but don't always tell the whole truth.

Many weight-loss programs also encourage the use of so-called diet foods to imitate comfort foods without the added calories. This proves to be counter-productive. A grilled cheese sandwich made with waxy tasting, fat-free cheese not only sacrifices flavor, but also fails as a "healthier" choice, given what we've learned about the harmful effects of highly processed foods.

Low-fat or fat-free foods often contain added sugar to boost flavor. For example, a cup of low-fat yogurt can contain over 45 grams of sugar (or 11 teaspoons), when the total daily intake should be around 25 grams (or 6 teaspoons) for women and just under 38 grams (or 9 teaspoons) for men.

Excess sugar, in all its forms, is a major reason why 70% of Americans are overweight or obese. On average, American adults consume up to three times more sugar than they should, which can lead to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. Sugar is also addictive.

"We have studies to show your brain highlights its reward system the same as someone who does drugs like cocaine when it's consuming sugar. Meaning it's highly additive," notes Jaime Monsen, a certified health coach. "So not does it only damage our body and our health, but ... we want more and more to meet those earlier gratifications."

The FDA requires the labels on food packaging to reflect the inclusion of what researchers estimate to be at least 61 different names for sugar. These are routinely added to 74% of all the food we routinely buy in our groceries stores. There's sucrose (common table sugar) but also "high-fructose corn syrup ... barley malt, dextrose, maltose, and rice syrup, among others," note researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.

Reading labels to find its sugar content can become something of a scavenger hunt. Even the more well-known substitutes we think are healthier options, including Sweet'N Low (saccharin), Splenda (sucralose), NutraSweet or Equal (both using aspartame) are studied by researchers for their long-term effects. Even Stevia, made naturally from leaves and without the chemical processing of most substitutes, can still prompt reactions such as "bloating, gas and diarrhea," reports the Mayo Clinic.

High fructose corn syrup is probably the most scrutinized of the sugars used in industrial-scale food production. It's a sweet derivative of corn starch discovered in the 1970s that became a cheaper alternative to sugar as we know it. It's now a ubiquitous ingredient that helps stabilize flavor, prolong shelf life, and ensure that some baked goods even retain that golden brown appearance.

It's no better or worse than any other sugar, but often the first ingredient listed on foods we didn't know were this highly sweetened. We may have been aware that soda, breakfast cereal, and baked goods were full of sugar, but crackers, salad dressings, and condiments such as ketchup and BBQ sauce? It's the first ingredient, meaning the main one, listed for Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, even though there are lesser known brands that leave out the HFCS and are readily available in mainstream grocery stores. There are so many Items we've bought for years out of habit, rarely giving any mind to their ingredients or sugar content.

I can swear by the Mt. Olive brands of pickles, particularly those flavored with sea salt. They're indistinguishable in taste from those with HFCS (such as Vlassic) and stocked on the same shelves.

Doing the prep and shopping for Whole 30 (and it's helpful "cheat sheet" for deciphering labels), I've expanded this skill set that will no doubt serve me well long after the 30 days is over. I can't unsee those labels that list the amount of added sodium, sugars and chemical fillers in our foods.

Tackling Week 1 and beyond

Growing up Catholic and experiencing Lent was certainly good prep for Whole 30. I had to give up something I loved like candy or ice cream for a higher purpose. I consider this effort about going after something more meaningful than just food. Sticking with the religious intent behind such actions, this is about taking better care of the body God gave me for as long as it's mine to have.

This is a chance to see the forest and the trees of who I am. To study my own eco-system at large and up close. Stay tuned as I experience Whole 30, one week at a time. I'll post updates, including on social media. Bon appetit!

If you need help with anything that was shared in this blog, book a discovery call below. Remember I'm here to listen and help you map your path forward.

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