Starting on Thursday, my husband and I will be doing a month of the Whole 30 diet. It’s basically just eating really clean, whole foods for 30 days. There is a lot to it, some science, a lot of positive reviews, but really we’re trying it as an elimination diet to see if anything specific is causing either of us stomach issues. My goal was to start on Saturday, that way we could have 2 full days of 3 main meals and snacks hashed out at home, and if I absolutely had to, I could run out and get stuff from the grocery store. Based on the amount of off limits foods (basically his lunch meat and cheese), we’re going to start on Thursday when he runs out. Oh, and we’re doing it totally vegan.

Technically, I’m not following the Whole30 to a tee. I’m more like using it as a guideline. The biggest ways I’m straying are with fruit and I will probably make some SWYPO foods. I know that’s one of the biggest rules, and I don’t plan on making them for every meal, but as long as the ingredients are whole, I’m considering them fair game. I guess instead of following the Whole30, I’m just trying to eat whole foods for 30 days. (BTW, I hate any way of eating that has a commercialized name or trademark.)

We are only doing it for about a month, maybe a few extra days if we get tired of eating the same foods over and over again. Which definitely falls back on me not being creative enough, because I realize the huge abundance of fruits and vegetables there are out there.

I’m breaking the fruit rule because the W30 says to only eat it occasionally. I’m far from a fruitarian, but your cells and brain need glucose to function, so it seems counter intuitive to limit it so much. (We will strictly adhere to the no added sugar rule though.) I know part of the W30 is to mentally break the addiction to sweet foods, and eating fruit could undermine that, but I guess that is just more evidence that I’m doing a “Whole30 inspired” month.

As for the SWYPO foods, again I’m not really doing this for the psychological aspect. I’m not opposed to making some banana pancakes with almond meal. I really  decided to break this rule when trying to come up with breakfasts for my husband. I plan on making tofu veggie muffins (like mini quiches) but they will get old quick. I have no problem eating fruit for breakfast, but it won’t fill him up. A really weird, but whole, SWYPO breakfast is banana cinnamon rolls. You slice and dehydrate bananas, mash some dates and cinnamon (and maybe chopped pecans) on them, roll them up, and then dehydrate them again. They’re not even close to looking like traditional cinnamon rolls, but they taste really good.

I’m not going to lie, we haven’t even started yet, and I’m already exhausted. Mainly because I wanted to plan out a month worth of meals (or at least the first two weeks), so that I would be prepared, and in case I was really busy at the end of the week, the following week would already be planned out. I also think the easiest way to fail is to not be prepared. Already, I’ve spent hours planning meals and I feel like I’m doing it wrong. We’re going to eat simpler, so I feel like the whole meal planning/cooking thing should be….simpler!

Resources:

I printed out these meal planner sheets from Free Homeschool Deals and stuck them in a 3 ring binder.

This checklist is super helpful.

And I’ve started a vegan Whole30 board on Pinterest.

I’ve planned out my first week of meals, along with a full shopping list that I will post in a few days.

Have you done the Whole30? Do you have any meal suggestions?