ShannonM816

Broth, potato or sweet potato, chicken with simple seasonings, scrambled eggs, peppermint or ginger tea.

I can't actually read the ingredients in that picture, but bread is not allowed on whole30. Check the rules here: https://whole30.com/whole30-program-rules/. "Some specific foods that fall under this rule include: pancakes, crepes, waffles, bread, tortillas, biscuits, muffins, cupcakes, cookies, brownies, alternative flour pizza crust or pastas, granola, cereal, or ice cream. No commercially-prepared chips (potato, tortilla, plantain, etc.) or French fries either."

It's fine. Some ways of cooking some vegetables makes them taste sweeter, but as long as you're not adding sweetener to them, you haven't broken any rules.

Yes.

You probably want a serving or two in addition to the oil you cook in, because some of what you cook in stays in the pan and you don't actually eat it, and if you cook multiple servings at a time, you're probably not ending up with a full serving of fat by the time you divide the food up. Having fat with each meal will help keep you satisfied longer between meals, so if you find you're hungry an hour or two after eating, you might look at adding a little more fat, especially if you know you had plent of vegetables and protein with the meal.

Yes, as long as there's no ingredients in it that wouldn't be allowed on whole30, you can have beef in whatever form you want.

The ingredients you've listed there are fine. Check each variety, as ham and some smoked meats are more likely to have sweeteners, and soy and carrageenan sneak into all kinds of things.

Pine nuts are fine.

You're not allowed to make pizza crust, it's specifically called out in the rules (https://whole30.com/whole30-program-rules/). There are options like meatza (http://meljoulwan.com/2010/02/16/dinner-and-a-movie™-meatza-pie-and-the-vancouver-olympics/) or frittatas made with pizza toppings if you're just wanting the flavors of pizza. As far as the cheese, here's the official word: Nut “Cheese”: Read your labels, use with caution Technically, almond “ricotta” or cashew “cheese” dips are allowed on the program, as long as their ingredients are compliant. But as with Larabars or nut butters, USE YOUR BEST JUDGMENT. If you have an unhealthy emotional relationship with cheese, use cheese as a comfort food, or find cheese is a trigger food for other cravings (like wine or crackers), it’s absolutely for the best that you leave these recreations out of your Whole30. It’s only 30 days. This is from the Can I Have list (https://whole30.com/the-official-can-i-have-guide-to-the-whole30/) and while it says nut cheese, I think it applies regardless of what compliant ingredients your cheese substitute is made of.

Normally for whole30, we're all about the ingredients list and basically ignore the nutrition info with its grams of this and percents of that, but when you're wondering whether something counts as protein or fat, it can be helpful to look at the numbers. I don't know if you're making your own flax milk to make the yogurt from, or buying it, but just to demonstrate how this might work, I'll use the info from this flax milk: https://goodkarmafoods.com/buy-flaxmilk/unsweetened-flaxmilk/ If you look at the nutrition info, this has 0 grams of protein. So clearly it doesn't count as protein. In one cup of the milk, there's 2.5 grams of fat. According to this site: https://www.californiaavocado.com/nutrition/nutrients, there are 8 grams of fat in 1/3 of an avocado, and for whole30 purposes a serving of avocado is 1/2 to a whole one, so 12-24 grams of fat in a serving of avocado. So there's no protein and very little fat in your flax milk yogurt. It might be a nice addition to a meal, but it's just an extra, it's not really filling any of the major components of the meal. Obviously this could vary depending on the flax milk you start with. The one that I linked to, I noticed they make a version with extra protein, that might change how you use it. I would still try to compare it with other protein sources to see how much you'd need to aim for to be getting similar amounts of protein. You can do this comparison with any of the other options you've listed to see how they compare. Please note: counting calories and macros is still not in the spirit of Whole30. I'm talking more about doing some comparisons beforehand to decide how to incorporate foods into your meals, not tracking every bite to make sure you hit particular numbers. There will be variations in your macros from meal to meal, and that is fine, but the difference here between 2.5 grams of fat versus 12-24 grams could make a huge difference in how well your meal keeps you satisfied over the course of several hours.

Right, that would be out for Whole30.

Yes, once you've done reintroductions you can eat whatever you want.

The sodium bisulfite that looks like it's in the lemon juice wouldn't be naturally occurring.

You reintro a food group at each meal one day, then go back to whole30 without that food group for at least two days (or more if you had any reactions that leave you with lingering effects for more than that). Then you don't have that food group again until you are completely done with your reintroductions.

Corn is a non-gluten grain, it's still something you'd be reintroducing that you haven't had for 30 days. The reason to do reintroductions one food group at a time is so that if you have any reaction, you know what you reacted to, which can help you decide if that food is worth it to you going forward. If you reintroduce several food groups at once and end up feeling crappy afterward, you have no way of knowing which food group caused that, or if it's a combination of them.

If you buy hearts of palm and slice them into pasta shapes with a julienne peeler or a spiralizer, that's fine, that's cutting your vegetables into different shapes to make your meals a little more interesting. What I'm not 100% clear about is if that's what they've done for this product, or if they've processed it more by drying it and grinding it to a powder and then using that as a flour to make pasta. If they've done that, it would be against the rules ["Some specific foods that fall under this rule include: pancakes, crepes, waffles, bread, tortillas, biscuits, muffins, cupcakes, cookies, brownies, alternative flour pizza crust or pastas, granola, cereal, or ice cream. No commercially-prepared chips (potato, tortilla, plantain, etc.) or French fries either."] From here: https://whole30.com/whole30-program-rules/. Maybe I missed the information on how it's made on their website.

Caffeine is okay, just double check all the other ingredients to make sure there's nothing off plan like sugar or other sweeteners.

You still eat carbs on whole30, they're in all plant-based foods to some degree, some have more than others (so, celery has fewer carbs than sweet potatoes or bananas, but there are carbs in all fruits, vegetables, and nuts). The body breaks down complex carbohydrates into simple forms, including glucose, which your body can use.

A good place to start for any restaurant is to Google the restaurant name plus the word ingredients -- that will usually bring up lists with allergens and ingredients, especially for chain restaurants. That gives you a place to start. Even if they only list major allergens like soy, wheat, and peanuts, you can rule out a lot of menu items. From there, you can ask the restaurant about things like sugar, honey, molasses, and other sweeteners. Even if someone replies to this and says, I just ate there, here's what I ordered -- double check. Recipes can change, or vary from location to location, or people can make mistakes, so it is up to you to check on anything you plan to eat.

Maybe this strata: http://meljoulwan.com/2010/07/27/baked-eggplant-farmesan/ Or these look good: https://whitneybond.com/whole30-eggplant-roll-ups/ I think the baba ganoush ought to freeze pretty well, although I haven't actually tried it, so if you like it that might be a way to use some eggplants up now, but still have them to enjoy this winter.

You'll need to check the ingredients of the particular teas you're interested in. Tea in general is fine, but there are teas with soy or barley or stevia or sugar or other non-whole30 ingredients that would not be. If there's a particular ingredient you're not sure about, try googling whole30 plus that ingredient, more than likely it's been asked about before and forum discussions about it will be among the first results you get. If you don't find anything, then definitely come back here and ask about the ingredients you aren't sure about.

There is no official whole30 app. What are you wanting the app to do? Someone might have suggestions that could help.

At any restaurant you'll need to ask questions about any dish to verify ingredients. Even if the filling of the tamales is compliant (you'd have to ask to be sure) you'd need to carefully remove the masa, the dough part that the filling is in, which is made of corn meal, and which might be difficult to completely remove if it breaks apart as you try to get the filling out. The roasted pork might be ok, but it's possible the marinade has sugar in it. The chicken chimichurri might be ok, you'd have to ask about what is in the chimichurri sauce and any marinade, find out what oil they cook it in, be sure they don't top it with cheese, and see what sides it's served with since you can't have rice or beans, the typical sides on a Mexican restaurant. If they have a salad, you might be able to get that topped with grilled chicken or carnitas, checking what marinades and cooking oils they use. Fajitas might be compliant. Carne asada might be compliant. Any of these things are going to require you to ask questions. If you don't want to ask while you're at the table ordering, try calling ahead at a non-busy time and talk to someone so you know exactly what to order when you get there.

Caramel color is made from sugar, which is why on the forum mods have always said avoid it. I am not sure why it didn't end up on any of the additives or sneaky sugars lists. What I would say is, avoid it going forward, but for now, just keep going.

You might want to browse this part of the forum: https://forum.whole30.com/forum/26-success-stories/ -- there are a lot of us who have felt better and more energetic after whole30. What I would say is, you have absolutely nothing to lose by trying. It's 30 days, plus 10 or so more for reintroductions, of eating lots of vegetables, protein, and healthy fats. If nothing else, it may help you find new recipes that you enjoy, and you may feel better at the end of 30 days than you've felt in years.