I am on day 28 of the 30 day diet called Whole30. I am within striking distance of successfully completing the program and thought I would record some notes from it. My thanks to my colleague and friend, a pharmacologist by training, who put me on this program.
Here are ten observations about the program:
1. The program: reset one's system over a thirty day period and strip it off foods that causing cravings, disrupt blood sugars and (something new I learned) reduce "inflammatory" food groups.
2. What not to eat: sugar, alcohol, juices, soft drinks, sodas, bread, grains, legumes, dairy, MSG, baked goods, junk food and peanuts. For me specifically, it meant no rice or pasta as well.
3. What to eat: vegetables, fruits, unprocessed meat, seafood, eggs, nuts, seeds, olive and coconut oil, ghee and coffee.
4. Jumping in: Without procrastinating, I jumped in without a plan. Days 3-4-5 were quite hard since my enthusiasm was wearing off, and I was still trying to figure out how to make the program work. But as I figured it out with my wife Mini's help I got a sense for how to handle my day.
5. Biggest aha! We consume a lot of sugar! Everything from putting it into coffee, in bread, in various processed foods, baked goods, deserts and drinks. Cutting out sugar from the system alone has been an enormous benefit. I had stopped drinking orange juice about a year ago that in itself cut out a bunch of sugar. But zeroing it out has been great.
6. Most difficult abstinence: Rice. With just the slightest exaggeration, I will claim that until I was on this diet, there was not a single day when I did not have rice, since culturally, it is very much part of my traditional diet. Abstaining from rice was a shock to my system. Indeed, my crankiness on days 3-4-5 had to do with this, I am sure.
7. Most interesting discovery: Is linked to the above. Quite by chance, I had somebody make the observation that "riced cauliflower" is a good substitute for rice. I ran, raced, sprinted, sped, zoomed to my local Trader Joe's and picked a packet up to see if this could be something that is true. After 2-3 days of experimentation especially with my wife's mom, I am super thrilled to share that it works! This weekend I am going to try my hand at riced cauliflower pulav!
8. Easiest to give up: This has never been a part of my regular dining anyway, so not consuming alcohol was not an issue. My wine and beer consumption is mostly social and quite intermittent (I think!). In any case, I have not given this a second thought.
9. What has changed: These 28 days, I have eaten more fruit, nuts, eggs, meat and fish than I regularly eat. So that was a big change. Starting day 31, I will have to restore balance on that front.
10. Impact: One of the rules of the program is not to weigh yourself. I imagine everyone routinely flouts the rule - as did I. I have dropped 10 pounds (4.5 kg) and would like to drop 5 more. I also don't have highs and lows during the course of the day.
Summary
I am thrilled to have tried this reset. I am sure that I will drift back to the list of foods to avoid. And perhaps, a periodic revisit to Whole30 will keep the balance.
Here are ten observations about the program:
1. The program: reset one's system over a thirty day period and strip it off foods that causing cravings, disrupt blood sugars and (something new I learned) reduce "inflammatory" food groups.
2. What not to eat: sugar, alcohol, juices, soft drinks, sodas, bread, grains, legumes, dairy, MSG, baked goods, junk food and peanuts. For me specifically, it meant no rice or pasta as well.
3. What to eat: vegetables, fruits, unprocessed meat, seafood, eggs, nuts, seeds, olive and coconut oil, ghee and coffee.
4. Jumping in: Without procrastinating, I jumped in without a plan. Days 3-4-5 were quite hard since my enthusiasm was wearing off, and I was still trying to figure out how to make the program work. But as I figured it out with my wife Mini's help I got a sense for how to handle my day.
5. Biggest aha! We consume a lot of sugar! Everything from putting it into coffee, in bread, in various processed foods, baked goods, deserts and drinks. Cutting out sugar from the system alone has been an enormous benefit. I had stopped drinking orange juice about a year ago that in itself cut out a bunch of sugar. But zeroing it out has been great.
6. Most difficult abstinence: Rice. With just the slightest exaggeration, I will claim that until I was on this diet, there was not a single day when I did not have rice, since culturally, it is very much part of my traditional diet. Abstaining from rice was a shock to my system. Indeed, my crankiness on days 3-4-5 had to do with this, I am sure.
8. Easiest to give up: This has never been a part of my regular dining anyway, so not consuming alcohol was not an issue. My wine and beer consumption is mostly social and quite intermittent (I think!). In any case, I have not given this a second thought.
9. What has changed: These 28 days, I have eaten more fruit, nuts, eggs, meat and fish than I regularly eat. So that was a big change. Starting day 31, I will have to restore balance on that front.
10. Impact: One of the rules of the program is not to weigh yourself. I imagine everyone routinely flouts the rule - as did I. I have dropped 10 pounds (4.5 kg) and would like to drop 5 more. I also don't have highs and lows during the course of the day.
Summary
I am thrilled to have tried this reset. I am sure that I will drift back to the list of foods to avoid. And perhaps, a periodic revisit to Whole30 will keep the balance.
20 comments:
Excellent, there is hope for us lesser mortals ! How many of these are needed to disappear (at 10 pounds a pop)
Great effort , not an easy one especially to keep away from Desserts, wine and beer.
Super
Some doubts.....why no peanuts but nuts allowed? Does this cauliflower rice have preservatives? What’s wrong with weighing. I agree it doesn’t give a very accurate picture but atleast we will know in which direction we are going.
On weighing I think, it is better not to weigh as the expectation can play good or bad and will play spoil sport
Dev is 100% correct. Weighing is not the goal but a secondary outcome. The program is about changing ones biome rather than just weight.
Peanuts grow below the ground and are “inflammatory “
The riced cauliflower is organic with no preservatives
🙏✅
Good notes. Good luck to complete Whole 30 and to maintain weight and fitness beyond that.
I’ve seen some friends who were on other diets lose weight- but they would look tired and easily agitated. But you looked healthy and cheerful.
Excellent!!
The crispness and the sumptuousness of the notes relegated to the back burner the endeavor you had undertaken!
Great points, well covered (except for one point) and very informative!!
But we must not forget to commend the tremendous resolve that would have gone behind achieving this.
Very well done Surya!!!
Now my two questions are;
1. What is supposed to be the primary objective (benefit) of the program? I understand weight loss is an outcome but I suspect the reset is more about something else?
2. What was (if at all) the compromise on the happiness quotient? As Bharani mentioned, you looked your better self in the pics you published, but we would like to know if the inner self was happier... (the achievement drive to a great extent is gratifying...notwithstanding...)
Thank you - I’m pumped!
Some bottom line reasons:
- changing eating habits (generally hard)
- becoming conscious of what we eat (equally hard)
- avoiding stress eating (hard!)
- recomposing our biome (if you deprive your body of certain types of god for 30 days, the microbes change!!)
- keeping energy constant through the day (this is cool!)
- I’ve been getting a lot of compliments on looking trimmer (that is a positive feedback loop)
- on day 31 I’m not confident about my will power (we shall see!!)
- internal happiness - even though im a “Scorpio” zodiac - I’m genetically disposed to an optimistic outlook - so that has not changed or noticeable moved on a scale
- my weight dropping approximately 0.5 pounds everyday - that has been jaw droppingly exciting (even though against the rules!)
Great step ! I have read and heard through friends about such diet programs. But your will power to stick to the diet for a month is amazing!
I have read another thing - like concentration improves, enables learning , enables meditation etc. Did you have any such experience?
I am very impressed by your progress.Keep it up!
Great plan!
How do Vegetarians manage. They have virtually restricted everything. It’s only veggies (luckily they haven’t restricted vegetables).
Not sure if Dal is allowed.
Are sprouts and soups allowed.
Great challenge achieved well. I know how goltis love their rice! Since dairy is no, so must be yogurt? I read about the Cauliflower rice in the hindu sometime back. Lucky it is readily available there. Family support is must for such exercises. Results there to see. Enjoy the experience
I did manage to see some messages on your new diet and saved a few messages as I can use them to shed a few pounds myself
off rice by itself is a big challenge and an achievement
We need to
break away from our rice conditioned diet....
Very interesting. Glad you liked it!
I’ll be equally interested to hear when you have a ‘cheat meal’ and see what you decide to divulge in!
When you are tired of the current fad, I will give you another. Do not consume any calories from about 6 pm in the evening to about 6 am in the morning. The advantage of this is that it is sustainable as you can pretty much eat anything sensible that keeps your palate happy including sambar and rice. The disadvantage is that it needs time discipline, but on this, I am preaching to the choir.
There are two caveats. No precautionary hogging of anything including “health” foods (dark chocolate, coconut, etc.) Two, tinge artificial sweeteners, if used, with microdoses of regular brown sugar of 15-20 calories. I can discuss the supporting research for these points. A last suggestion. Read up on the virtues of Moringa powder. It is available in the US and is amazingly effective for various gut issues.
Congrats
Today I got a message which five foods one should avoid to get rid of or lessen the pains of arthritis. I spent 40 minutes patiently in listening to the advice. Ultimately it ended with an ad that Don't be sad you had to avoid your favourite food. Take this capsule and your problem gets solved.
Amidst all the confusion about the right kind of diet regime,
Your first hand experience of a month is a proven one for people like me to adhere.
And amazed by your willpower too.
Last year I followed full fruit diet, end of 1 st week was very difficult but later it became easy. Rice was biggest hurdle and switched to cauliflower to arrest the temptations. In 2 months I dropped 20 lbs. Got rid of almost all my medications. I still do fruits for BF and Lunch. I find that I am more active and energetic when only on fruits.
We feel stopping milk made a big difference also.
Read it. We have been following many of these principles for years now. We have been making cauliflower rice on and off for some time now. Many cannot tolerate it because of its high fibre content and the consequent bloating. The world has started swinging to the other extreme about saturated fats. Some caution due here. America still hasn't discovered millets!
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