12 Tips to Follow Before Starting Whole30
These 12 tips to follow before starting the Whole30 can help set yourself up for success. Whole30 can be overwhelming. The rules are simple but it’s easy to slip up. But with a little planning and knowledge, you’ll be able to complete the Whole30.
12 Tips to Follow Before Starting Whole30
- Read It Start with Food.
- Drink your coffee black.
- Choose your start date
- Clean out the Kitchen
- Tell everyone that you are doing a Whole 30
- Join a Whole 30 Facebook page.
- Find Compliant recipes
- Meal Plan.
- Go Shopping
- Meal Prep
- Take your measurements and weigh yourself
- Print out common additives cheat-sheet
Read It Start with Food
Read the book! It Starts with Food tells you everything you need to know about the Whole 30. You need to educate yourself before you commit to the program. If you are not knowledgeable about what you can and can’t eat then you are setting yourself up for failure.
Start drinking your Coffee Black
Say bye-bye to sugar and creamer. A month before I started my first round of Whole30 I stopped putting sugar in my coffee. I would put a teaspoon of sugar in each mug. I liked it sweet! So I wanted to know if it was the coffee I needed in the morning or the sugar.
Turned out I love drinking my coffee black. I enjoy the flavor so much more. It is more than two years since my first round and I still drink my coffee black every morning.
Choose Your Start Date
Don’t plan a start date around a special occasion. If your birthday or anniversary falls within the 30 days you might want to wait to start. You never know if you’ll be too tempted to have a piece of cake or a drink to celebrate.
Clean out the Kitchen
To avoid temptation clear out your fridge and pantries of non-compliant foods. If it’s not in the house then you won’t have to worry about giving in to tempting foods. If you can’t get rid of the food because it’s also for other family members than hide it so you can avoid looking at it.
Tell Everyone You’re Starting the Whole30
Let family and friends know that you are starting the Whole 30. That way they’re not surprised when you turn down dessert or pass on going out for drinks. They might even want to join you on the Whole 30.
Join a Facebook Group
Joining a Whole 30 Facebook group helped give me inspiration and motivation. It was helpful to go to a place with like-minded people who were having the same struggles I was having.
Find Compliant Recipes
You can check out my post Follow these 7 bloggers for Whole 30 recipes to give you ideas of what to make for your meals.
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Meal Plan
It’s always best to have a plan. Meal planning is a must for the Whole 30. At the beginning of the week plan out what you are going to have for your 3 meals a day. You may be more likely to give up when you’re hangry! When you plan out your meals, you’ll be less likely to give up.
Go Shopping
Get your grocery shopping done before day 1. Make sure you have compliant food in your fridge and pantry. On my first day, I went to make scrambled eggs and realized I couldn’t use the cooking spray or butter to grease the pan. My first meal didn’t go as I wanted. Make sure you have all the items you need before you start!
Meal Prep
Meal Prep is a must. You don’t have to go all out. You could start by roasting some veggies, roasting a chicken and boiling eggs. That way you’ll have a start for your meals. Which will make your life a little easier.
Weigh and Measure Yourself
Weigh yourself and take your measurements. I always forget to do this and wish I would have remembered. It’s always nice to know that you did something for a reason. The Whole 30 isn’t about weight loss but it’s still nice to know if you lost any pounds or inches with all your hard work.
Print Out Common Additives Cheat Sheet
Not knowing what additives to avoid had caused me to fail my round several times.
5 Off-Limit Additives:
- Carrageenan
- Corn Starch
- Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
- Soy Lecithin
- Sulfites
Once you start reading labels you’ll find out how common these additives are. You can print out the sheet here. Make sure to remember these!
Know these Tips
I have completed 3 rounds of the Whole 30. Though I’ve failed a few attempts. The times that I did fail is when I didn’t tell my family that I had started a round. Someone asked me if I wanted something that wasn’t part of the program and I caved and gave up.
The other times I have failed is because I didn’t check the ingredients in a product and sure enough it had an additive that was off limits!
These 12 tips to follow before starting Whole30 will help you complete your round. All it takes is a little planning and knowledge to be successful!
Related Posts:
- Whole 30 Reintroduction Tips and Mistakes to Avoid
- Free Whole 30 Planner
- 7 Whole 30 Mistakes to Avoid
- Follow these 7 bloggers for Whole 30 Recipes
- The Basics of Whole 30
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