“You can think of the Whole30 like pushing the reset button with your health, habits, and relationship with food,” Urban says. “For 30 days, you’ll eliminate the foods that scientific literature and our clinical experience have shown to be commonly problematic in one of four areas: cravings and habits, blood sugar regulation and hormones, digestion, and immune systemand inflammation.”
The Whole30 program is popular because it emphasizes eating whole foods. And if you’re living with chronic health issues, this program can help you understand how your body reacts to certain foods.
“Over the course of 30 days, you’ll see what improves when you remove potentially problematic foods,” explains Urban, noting that you could see improvements in energy, sleep, mood, focus, digestion, pain, and athletic performance. In addition, you might have decreased incidences of conditions like eczema,migraines,asthma, and allergies, proponents say.
You follow Whole30 similarly to a traditional elimination diet, where you eliminate foods that may be causing you unpleasant symptoms.
“At the end of the 30 days, you’ll carefully reintroduce those foods one at a time, like a scientificexperiment,and then compare yourexperience physically and psychologically.”
Some people refer to the Whole30 program as a diet, but it’s not a diet in the traditional sense. Rather, it’s a nutritional program. So it doesn’t involveexercise, portion control, or calorie or macronutrient (carbohydrates, protein, or fat) counting. Additionally, this program isn’t intended for weight loss, although you might drop a few pounds on the plan.
