What is Whole30?
Everything you need to know about the Whole30 diet, including the whole30 program rules, a printable food list shopping guide and 100+ free Whole30 recipes to get you through your Whole30!
What is the Whole30 Diet?
The Whole30 program is designed to kickstart a better relationship with food and overall health. Many of the foods we eat (sugar, grain, dairy, legumes, alcohol) have a negative impact on our health. The goal of the Whole30 diet is to strip all these foods from your diet for 30 days to give your body a chance to heal, and to help you form a healthier relationship with food.
Whole30 Program Rules
The program was founded by Melissa Hartwig. She wrote a book about it in 2009, It Starts With Food, where she describes in depth the reasons behind the program and the results you can expect.
In a nutshell, during the Whole30 diet you will only eat high quality meat, protein, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and fats.
No sugar or sweetener of any kind (this includes honey and maple syrup). No grain (bread, rice, corn, oats, etc). No dairy (milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, etc). No legumes (beans, peanuts, lentils, peas, etc). No alcohol (beer, wine, liquor, etc). No unhealthy additives (carrageenan, sulfites, MSG, etc).
Benefits of the Whole30 Diet
After the 30 days, you can expect to experience: weight loss, enhanced quality of life, and a healthier relationship with food – accompanied by stunning improvements in sleep, energy levels, mood, and self esteem.
More significantly, many people have reported the “magical” elimination of a variety of symptoms, diseases, and conditions in just 30 days including:
diabetes • high cholesterol • high blood pressure • obesity • acne • eczema • psoriasis • chronic fatigue • asthma • sinus infections • allergies • migraines • acid reflux • Crohn’s • celiac disease • IBS • bipolar disorder • depression • Lyme disease • endometriosis • PCOS • autism • fibromyalgia • ADHD • hypothyroidism • arthritis • multiple sclerosis
Whole30 Eating Guide
I’ve created a printable Whole30 Eating Guide that outlines all the foods to eat and avoid. Click each image to print the pdf version to have on hand at the grocery store.
Whole30 Recipes
I have over 100 Whole30 recipes, including breakfasts, lunches, dinners, coffee drinks, appetizers, side dishes and homemade condiments. All for free!
Click here to visually view all of my Whole30 recipes.
What Do I Do After I Complete Whole30?
Congratulations! You did it! I bet you’re feeling, sleeping, and looking better than you have in a long time!
If you’re up for it, go for another Whole30!
Personally, I transition to an 80/20 of the Paleo diet. I love the paleo diet, it is a much more realistic eating plan for our family since it allows natural sweeteners (honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, maple sugar).
I do 80/20, meaning 80% of the time I am eating a strict paleo diet, and 20% of the time I’ll allow myself to indulge. Because I’m not going to go through life without ever having rice or bread again! I am fortunate that I don’t have any issues digesting gluten/grain, but I do have issues with dairy so I very rarely indulge in any dairy.
12 Comments on “What is Whole30?”
Hi i really need this 30 day experience however, i work so much i have no time for prepping these meals and cooking them to say the least do you have a pre-prepped meal one could order to save time?
Hi! im just starting for my entire family. This list has made the start of this journey soooooooooooooo much easier. In fact your entire website has been a blessing for me allowing me to easily navigate such a big change that we are making. I just wanted to make a quick correction. I printed out the official Whole 30 program rules that was sent to me in a starter packet from the Whole 30 website and it says in big fine print you can eat most peas. :)
Thanks a bunch!!!
You are just the sweetest! Thank you for your kind words!
And yes! Good point! This is a change they made in the last year or two. I need to update this to allow peas now!
Wishing you all the best luck in your Whole30! Honored to have you here following along!
Hi Natalie! Thank you for your helpful articles, especially the shopping lists! I want to do this but it is overwhelming so I truly appreciate it.
I have read different things about potatoes, that the white ones aren’t ok for the Whole30 or the Paleo. What is your opinion? I’m a nursing mother so I would like all the carbs I can get. But I’m willing to cut them out.
Thank you!
Christina
Thank you so much for your kind words about my site and recipes Christina. It really means the world to me! Potatoes are okay on Whole30 but not on Paleo. So enjoy! Congratulations to you on your new little one! Such a sweet time!
I love iced coffee i used to make it with hazelnut creamer, coffee, heavy cream, and Hershey syrup, and I sure cant have that on paleo, or the whole 30 diet. So do you know what i could replace? Also! Can i have Agave?
I do have a recipe for homemade creamer that is dairy free:
https://www.tasteslovely.com/homemade-dairy-free-heavy-cream-creamer/
Here are some of my coffee recipes:
https://www.tasteslovely.com/paleo-whole30-mocha/
https://www.tasteslovely.com/keto-iced-mocha/
https://www.tasteslovely.com/paleo-whole30-bulletproof-creamy-cashew-coffee/
https://www.tasteslovely.com/how-to-make-cold-brew-coffee-in-a-mason-jar/
https://www.tasteslovely.com/whole30-vanilla-latte-coffee/
Per Whole30 guidelines agave is not an approved sweetener.
It is very interesting to see that paleo in the USA is allowes those type of sugar, what you mentioned. Those sweeteners are still sugar like cane sugar, coconut sugar or simple white sugar.
Paleo in my country is almost like Whole30 diet, except, it’s allowes very limited amount of high quality, dry wine, and potato is on the “don’t eat” list. We use stevia and/or erithryol to sweeten something.
A huge thank you for your shopping guides, those are really helpful for me. ? I didn’t have to read every label, so I saved more time for cooking. ?
That is so interesting! Paleo allows coconut sugar and maple syrup and honey. Glad the shopping guides are helpful for you! Big hugs!
Thank you for the shopping guides. Do you ever shop at Sprouts?
Thanks Mimsy! Glad they were helpful for you!
I do shop at Sprouts occasionally! They have great Whole30 options as well. It’s on my “to-do” list to do a shopping guide for them in the future. Keep an eye out for it!