I did the Whole 30 so here is everything you need to know about it
Alright, so I did it. The Whole 30. The big 3-0. (For those of you misled by my obvious maturity and adulthood, no I did not TURN 30). I did the 2010 diet fad from September 26th to October 26th – easily the hardest / proudest / most sober month of my 23 years.
Here’s how it goes: No grains, no dairy, no sugar, no alcohol, nothing processed, 30 days.
Now, I know what you’re all thinking. Serria, you’re a walking loaf of bread, how do you think you won’t be able to eat grains for 30 days? Serria, you treat wine as a food group. Serria, you haven’t gone on a diet since you were an infant and your mother controlled your food intake. I KNOW, OK? And yet, I dared to try it anyway.
So here are the deets of why and how in the world I did it.
Why did I do it?
I decided to do the Whole 30 for the same reason ANYONE changes their diet: for the satisfaction of others for myself! Kidding, kind of.
The number one reason I did it was because I was feeling like complete garbage. I wasn’t feeling comfortable in my body, in my clothes, with my eating habits, with my drinking tendencies – I just felt like trash. And this was the chance to clean out my system completely.
Also, my friends were doing it – clearly some grade A, 16-year-old logic, here. One of the hardest parts about dieting is doing it alone, in my opinion, so my friends Jen, Chelsea and Allie (and Zach for a moment) took on the challenge with me. Chelsea is actually a Whole 30, paleo professional, so her site / Instagram / peppy personality kept us going with recipes and encouragement. Jen and I, however, struggled together.
I was also in it for the body change (read: weight loss and energy gain). I’ve never been happy with my shape, so I figured this would be a great way to jump-start the change I needed to see. Along with weight loss comes more energy, which in turn would turn into me making more trips to the gym (or the movies or shopping or running away from Times Square), which I really wanted to do while living in this magical city.
Money. This city is expensive and I am broke. What better way to NOT spend money than not eat and drink at Barfly twice a week (asking for a friend)?
I didn’t think I could do it. Super encouraging, I know, but honest. I’ve tried eating better and going to the gym and eating less and everything in between, but nothing sticks. I assumed this would be the same, but I was pleasantly surprised by my will power to not eat trash all month long – something I was so accustomed to.
How did I do it?
Threw away / bought new, of everything. This was expensive in the beginning, but really did help to commit. There are few things harder than throwing away every cookie, donut and bag of chips you own – seriously, you try doing that and tell me you don’t feel a little like a mother abandoning her child. But once I got the allowed flours, condiments, meats and veggies the first time, grocery shopping was a breeze.
I told EVERYONE I know I was doing it. I’m not sure if you know this about me, but I’m a little/very social (@serriadarling, every social channel, follow away). So what better way to hold myself accountable than to tell every friend, colleague and follower I have that I’m doing it. This way if I did screw up, I’d have a bunch of people yelling at me and incredibly disappointed. (I even bet a coworker, and won $20 at the end so TAKE THAT.)
Meal prepping is the only way to make this work. Now some people cook on Sundays and eat for the week, but there’s no way I could do that. I needed the differentiation in meals, so I’d cook at night and take leftovers for lunch.
Things I Really Missed for 30 Days
Happy Hours. Being an adult with a full-time job in NYC means one thing – aside from stress, a paycheck, a reason to put on pants in the morning – and that is happy hours! Everyone goes, and not drinking and no bar food makes them way less fun.
Donuts. I’m not exactly sure why, because I was never really a “sweets” person, but all I wanted the entire Whole 30 was a big donut. And a donut I got.
Chinese food. I live right above a Chinese place and it is my kryptonite.
Sandwiches. I really love a good turkey sub, and while I could have the turkey and veggies on the sammy, the bread, mayo and BBQ kettle chips were a no go.
Things I Didn’t Miss for 30 Days
Pasta. I realized after not eating pasta for 30 days how bad it makes me feel. I did not forget how delicious it is, believe me. But it slows me down and makes me feel even heavier than I am, not to mention how long it takes me to finish a plate of it.
Other beverages. While I would have loved to have a glass of wine sometimes, I didn’t miss soda or juices or lemonade. I had water and coffee for 30 days, and loved it.
Pizza. I did miss it, but we found an amazing paleo pizza recipe and it was legitimately UNREAL. No dollar slice, but very delicious.
Dairy. It turns out I don’t miss milk. Or yogurt. Or cream cheese. Or cheese. There are so many substitutes for these that after a week or so, you don’t notice them missing.
Things I Learned That I Love
Sweet potatoes. I used to physically gag when sweet potatoes were brough to family holiday dinners, and now nothing sounds better than roasted sweet potatoes and asparagus. Truly, I barely recognize my own taste buds.
Drinking my coffee black. It was always a goal of mine to order my coffee black, refusing room for cream and only spending $2 at a coffee shop. Well when you can only have a specific type of almond milk that NO WHERE carries, you learn to drink it black. And wow did I feel adult as ever.
Eggs. I always steered clear of them – scrambled, hard-boiled, omelette – I was just never a fan. But with them being an amazing food on the Whole 30, it turns out I actually love them. Also, they’re like $1. It was a win-win.
Tomatoes. Now my mother will tell you I’ve liked them my whole life but what does she know? (Everything, she actually knows everything.) Well either way it turns out I love them in, on and with everything. There is truly nothing a tomato can’t make better.
General Things I Learned
I ordered a coffee at a bar and IT TASTED LIKE GARBAGE – I DO NOT ADVISE THIS.
Bartenders / waiters really do not like when you order water with lime at the bar. I’m going to assume this has everything to do with their tips and nothing to do with crushing my paleo dreams.
I really like my friends, a lot. I picked a good group of friends, in that I can tolerate them with or without a beer or cheeseburger in my hand.
My skin looks AMAZING. I’m talking, Neutrogena commercial drench the entire bathroom when I rinse my face and pat it dry with a bleach white towel, amazing.
You can get a piece of meat and vegetables from literally any restaurant.
When your office celebrated birthdays, asking nicely will get your office manager to buy you and your fellow Whole 30-colleague a fruit plate for everyone to laugh at you eating in place of the cake.
My sleeping habits were garbage. I don’t know how I functioned before the Whole 30 on the crap sleep I was getting.
Cool. So now what?
Well, I’m about a week out from being done, and I’ve had some very non-Whole 30 items. I’ve had a donut (worth it) and alcohol (not worth it), and a few other special things, but I’m not craving these things as much as I thought I was.
The goal, for me, was to cut these things out and see how I felt and looked. Turns out I feel amazing and look pretty decent too – down 15 pounds, but who is counting? (Me, I am people, I AM COUNTING.)
I committed to something I didn’t think I’d actually be able to finish and the results were exactly what I wanted them to be – so I think the Whole 30 is here to stay, in some form. I’ve found that I crave the veggies and healthy things day-to-day, and meal prepping is easier + cheaper than buying food. Combined with allowing myself to have a treat every now and then, I’m excited to keep this lifestyle going and (hopefully) feel better as the months go on.
As I’m sure none all of you want my advice, here it is: I would highly recommend anyone and everyone try it. It’s truly amazing to see and feel your body change over just a month. Plus, everyone is super impressed with you at the end and you start paying way more attention to exactly what is in your food (which is a lot of sugar, by the way).
This post was originally published on November 1, 2016.