WHOLE30 cohesion, or not?

[Summer]

I am interested to know how many of you have someone in your daily or weekly life who is also participating in the Whole30 program and therefore understands and appreciates everything you are doing? Or are you embarking upon this by yourself?

I know many of us have acquaintances at our Crossfit or other community activities, but I am curious to know how many have someone around you interact with regularly about the Whole 30 program, or not?

[Megan Claydon]

I have my husband on a daily basis. He eats paleo and supports me/endures W30 periodically as well. I also have a few girlfriends who don't do crossfit but have done a whole 30. So when we get together we often talk about recipes and what not. Its nice to have the support for sure.

It didn't start out that way though. I flew solo for a while. Eventually as friends and family saw the results I had and my persistence with the program, they began to ask about it. Now a few of them are on board.

[Johnny M]

I've been solo but as such, made it a point to find a community around me. I happen to be lucky as there are a TON of us in San Francisco. The support definitely helps.

[Emily]

My boyfriend is on board with this way of eating (we live together) and that is HUGELY supportive. He cooks and works as hard as I do to figure out where I food came in, to read labels, etc. I really appreciate him.

When I lived by myself I attempted a W30 but didn't finish it. He is much better at the planning and prepping aspect than I am.

[Shaunna]

The only person in my life who eats Paleo/understands Paleo is my boss! She goes to Crossfit and eats Paleo the majority of the time. It's nice because she will make Paleo friendly meals and share with me

I'm trying to get some of my family/friends on board but no luck so far.

[OldFarmer]

I was so amazed just 2-3 weeks in that I talked with my sister about it. She revamped her diet, is slowly adding hours of sleep, and is looking at making W9 changes throughout her life. As am I.

I'm living far away from family right now, which has probably made it easier to make the dietary adjustments. I am going "back home" for the summer in a couple weeks, and am starting to worry a little bit about the lack of understanding, and the potential discord my food choices might provoke (as insane as that sounds, there's often a lot of emotion wrapped up in eating, isn't there?). It feels good to know that at least my sister has my back.

That said, I am hoping to find some reading materials (non-Internet) for my parents to take a look at while I'm there.

[Carie Skeahan]

_{OldFarmer - their book is coming out in June. Perhaps this will help with your parents. I plan on giving it to my mom...in addition to the stuff I print out for her almost daily.}

_{http://astore.amazon...tail/1936608898}

_{I just came across this as well: http://whole9life.com/2010/08/a-house-divided/}

[OldFarmer]

Thanks, Carie. The book is definitely part of my plan, along with the latest Taubes book. My parents are both voracious readers; the biggest obstacle is the giant paradigm shift in food thinking. Lifelong conventional farmers. And the fact that my mother expresses her love through food. In fact, my sister reported breaking form at Mom's, having a tiny taste of one of Mom's treats, and promptly breaking out in a rash. How bout that?

I also hope to bring along healthy, delicious, appropriate treats when we get together. It's weird because now that I am in the thick of it, I realize that the changes in diet, while significant, really didn't set me that far away from the rest of my family. The biggest differences are that now I use coconut milk in my coffee, and I don't have the bread along with our usual dinners of grilled meats, grilled vegetables, salads and olives. Rarely do my kids see Mom pull up to the table with entirely separate food, which makes me feel good.

[ambermae]

My husband is reluctantly going along with this Whole 30, our first, but he is looking forward to eating bread again way more than I am. I think even his current level of involvement made a big difference in my ability to stick with this one, especially when I started feeling bad in the second week. A local friend of mine reads my blog and now she is starting to think about a Whole 30, too!

[JimS]

My wife supports my W30 but isn't participating. She has been eating paleo for the most part for several months, and appreciates how changes in diet can have huge impacts in all aspects of life. Our kids are slowly changing their ways based on what we serve and make available at home, but we haven't pushed too hard.

[Liz Powell]

My best friend started this with me and roped her husband into it too. Now we can all go grocery shopping together, swap recipes, do some cooking, and go in on bulk meat purchases. It's great to have that support. I also do CrossFit so there are tons in that community who are paleo and I have friends back in California who are paleo too. I'm appreciating all the support and looking forward to having plenty of people to call when my cravings get bad.

[LindaLee]

My husband actually is the one who got me looking for it - him and a couple of other friends whom I primarily communicate with on Facebook, who are HUGE Crossfitters. I saw the husband's Facebook post with his "Whole30" meal, asked Ron about it, and we were off and away. He likes everything simpler than I do - he prefers a good steak and sweet potato to the recipes I put together - but hugely supportive. I also have friends at work who've been doing Crossfit for a while - and once I started posting Whole30 stuff, started talking to me about their Paleo experiences. It's more common that I ever would've thought!

[Adagio]

I'm solo with Whole 30.

Most people I know think it's impossible to give up bread and cheese, and/or still think that low-fat, high carb starvation diets are the answer to good health and slim figures. One of several reasons why I decided not to continue personal training sessions and a Pilates class was because the trainer/instructor kept hammering the non-fat, calories-in-calories-out mantra, and thought Paleo was a fad diet and made fun of people who ate low carb. She and the entire class talked about low fat low cal diets, cupcakes (!?) and low-fat frozen yogurt ALL THE TIME. I just could not stand it anymore, lol. :-)

My husband eats what I eat, plus rice and gluten-free pasta. He's in the moderate carb range. He wants to cut out sugar. He's very supportive of my doing Whole 30.

Two close friends eat Primal. They both live far from me. Sure, it would be nice to know someone IRL who is doing Whole 30, but I am used to going solo. :-)