ShannonM816

What do your meals look like? People are often surprised at how much food they can and should eat on whole30. Remember that each meal should have 1-2 palm-sized portions of protein, or if eggs are your only protein, as many whole eggs as you can hold in one hand, so probably 3-4. Then add one or two servings of fat from the options listed on the meal template, generally in addition to any oil you cooked in, so you might have some mayo or ranch to dip your veggies in, and some olives. Finally, add at least one cup of vegetables, but really aim for 2-3 cups. The template says to fill your plate up with vegetables. If you want fruit, add a small handful with a meal. Most people find they feel best if they have at least one fist-sized serving of starchy vegetable each day, like potato, sweet potato, other root vegetables like beets or carrots or turnips or parsnips, or winter squashes like butternut or acorn squash, or plantains. Some people need more than this, some do fine with less, but this is a good amount to start with. Meal template can be downloaded here: https://whole30.com/pdf-downloads/

Rebaudioside A is a sweetener, so no. (Source: https://sweetgreenfields.com/question/what-is-rebaudioside-a/) I think there's one or two options listed on the Whole30 Approved page: https://whole30.com/whole30-approved/ and there may be some other options as well. For some people coconut water, possibly with a tiny bit of salt, helps. Google whole30 electrolytes and you should find some past discussions here in the forum.

Both of these look okay.

Yes.

All coconut aminos are okay, here's the explanation: https://whole30.com/2017/03/chips-and-aminos/ The vinegar is fine as well.

If there's no ingredients list, I'm guessing it is just collagen powder, in which case it would be fine. You could always double check with the company to be sure, but if there were flavors or sweeteners or other stuff added, they'd have to be listed.

They are an almond milk based coffee creamer, you can buy them on Amazon or they might be available locally in a store near you, depending on where you live.

Anything that ends in sulfite is out for whole30. Have you checked out the common additives cheat sheet and sneaky sugars guide? You can download both here: https://whole30.com/pdf-downloads/. Many of the ingredients you'll come across are listed on one or the other of these.

Good job! As far as stress relievers, different things work for different people, so hopefully you'll get lots of suggestions and can find what works for you. For me, I color or draw or do craft things. Sometimes journaling what I'm feeling and thinking about can be helpful. If I can't sleep, especially if it's because I have achy muscles or can't get comfortable, sometimes I take a hot bath to help me relax.

Anything that ends in sulfite is out for whole30.

No, the sucralose, carrageenan, and inulin definitely rule it out.

You probably need to eat something, but having a few meals that are smaller than normal is ok. Try having just a smaller meal -- maybe a hard boiled egg and some vegetables with ranch or guacamole for dipping. See how you feel after that.

This is why whole30 recommends not counting calories or macros: https://whole30.com/2013/02/you-count-more-than-your-calories-do/ Instead we encourage you to follow the meal template at every meal. If you do, you'll be eating lots of vegetables along with adequate amounts of protein and healthy fats. You can download the meal template here: https://whole30.com/pdf-downloads/

Timeline is here: https://whole30.com/2013/08/revised-timeline/ Tired and moody is pretty normal the first few days. Be sure you're eating enough, drink lots of water, salt your food, rest when you can. Try peppermint or ginger teas to help with the queasy feeling.

There are these: https://whole30.com/2018/11/walmart/.

Ah. I think they'd have to list msg or sugar if they're in there, and most brands will list if something contains soy or dairy or peanuts just for the allergy factor, to keep from being sued if someone has an allergic reaction. It's probably okay. It is really annoying that companies won't just list the ingredients.

To know if a food is ok, you check the ingredients list and see if the ingredients are all allowed. There are helpful downloads here, including the rules, a common additives cheat sheet, and a sneaky sugars list, that can help you figure out what ingredients are ok or not: https://whole30.com/pdf-downloads/

New kitchen stuff is fun, and if you've got the budget for it and space in your kitchen for it, go for it -- but please don't feel you need these things. It's easy to look at all the food bloggers and think you need a bunch of gadgets, but you really don't. Focus on the basics, see what kind of meal prep works for you each week, and then think about which items will work well for you. I say this as someone who has bought some of the cool gadgets, and some of those purchases I'm still happy with, but some were just not as neat as they sounded. The meat thermometer is a must for me -- I'm super paranoid about undercooked chicken and pork and use the thermometer all the time to double check that it's really done. Other than that, if you have pots and pans and knives and cutting boards and storage containers for leftovers, you probably have everything you really need, anything beyond that is bonus. If you want to make your own mayo and other dressings and sauces, an immersion blender is nice, although if you have a regular blender that will also work. Make sure you have a good chef's knife that is comfortable for you to use -- sharpen it if it needs to be sharpened, you're going to be using it a lot -- and at least two cutting boards (one for vegetables, one for raw meats). As far as pots and pans and such, I use my rimmed baking sheets a lot, because I roast a lot of vegetables. I have a big (like 12 inch maybe) stainless steel straight-sided saute pan that I use for browning ground meat and pan-frying burger patties or chicken pieces, and then two non-stick skillets, the ceramic coated ones, one's probably 10 inch and the other 6 or 8 inches, that are great for eggs and stir-frying vegetables. I have a big soup pot I use a lot in the winter when I cook a big pot of soup pretty much every week. A crockpot can be nice if you already have one, but I don't know that you ought to go buy one if you don't, I suspect that if mine died tomorrow, I wouldn't be in any rush to replace it. Those items got me through my first few Whole30s. I have since added a spiralizer (which I hardly ever use, could totally live without), a really nice food processor (I go through phases with this one, sometimes it's faster just to chop the vegetables by hand, but when I do want them more even or want the onions sliced super, super thin, the food processor does a much nicer job than I can do, but it does take a big chunk of counter space), and an Instant Pot (which I used a bunch over the fall and winter, using it to cook a whole chicken almost every week, and then make broth from the carcass, but which I haven't touched in weeks now -- overall, I don't regret buying it, but I could also have lived without it). Obviously, everyone is going to have different opinions, and there's no wrong answer. There are people who use their spiralizers every week and love them and eat lots more vegetables because of them -- that's great! There are people who depend on their crockpots so they have hot meals ready when they get home from work -- also great! Just, not me. A lot of deciding what you need is figuring out what kind of meal prep you do to fit with your life. If you already cook most of your meals from scratch, you may have a good idea of that, but if you currently do a lot of takeout or even things like sandwiches that don't require a lot of prep on your part, Whole30 may be a huge change and you may not really know what is going to work best for you yet. It is okay to just use what you have and decide later what else would be helpful.

No, you only reintroduce one thing at a time, even if you don't feel you've had any reaction to the things you've already reintroduced. This is because, even if legumes in your meals today didn't bother you, it's possible that if you continued eating them, you could hit a point where they do -- sometimes small amounts of something are okay, but something in them builds up in your system if you continue to have them every day, and you start to notice issues. If you continue eating your chili, and you do your other reintros, you won't know for sure if a reaction is to, say, non-gluten grains, or if it's because you've had enough legumes that you are starting to see a reaction to them. Chili usually freezes pretty well, set it aside and wait until you're done with your reintroductions.

There shouldn't be anything about whole30 that would lead to stomach bugs. Occasionally people starting out, especially those who have focused on eating very low fat for a long time, feel queasy as they adjust to eating healthy fats at each meal, but they usually adjust within a short time, so I wouldn't think that's what's happening here. Is it possible that there are particular foods that some of you seem to be reacting to? Have you tried to track for that to see if there's a pattern? It would require keeping a food log and noting which days people are ill. It's also possible it's truly just some kind of virus or even bacterial infection and you've just been particularly unlucky with the timing. It might be worth talking to a doctor just to be sure, especially if these bugs are accompanied by fever.

Generally, we direct people to read this article and decide for themselves whether to restart: https://whole30.com/2014/06/really-start-whole30/

I'm not sure how they were labeled, so there's a couple of possibilities. One, the soybeans could have been roasted in soy oil or flavored with seasonings that used dairy or flour in the seasoning mix. In either of these cases, these items should be listed as ingredients. Or the second possibility is that this was just a way for the company to warn people of possible cross-contamination from these items, meaning the sunflower seeds were shelled, roasted, or packaged in a facility that also produces things that use soy or wheat or dairy. In this case, these things would not be listed as ingredients in the seeds because they weren't actually put on the seeds, but the warning lets people who are very sensitive to these items know it's possible trace amounts could have ended up in these seeds so that if they have a severe allergy where even the tiniest hint of those allergens could send them to the hospital they can avoid them. If it's the second option, you're fine, you haven't had anything non-whole30. If it's the first one, you'd want to read this and consider whether you need to start over: https://whole30.com/2014/06/really-start-whole30/

While there are recipes in the whole30 books and on the whole30 site, you never have to follow them. All whole30 really cares about is the ingredients you're eating, you can cook them any way you want to. I haven't looked closely at every single recipe put out by whole30, but I've seen ones that don't sear first, so I assume that the ones that do either want the color from searing for appearance, or it's a way to ensure more even cooking or a way to make part of the cooking more hands off.

If what you had was just the sprouts, not the actual bean, you're probably okay, as far as whole30 rules go. The issue is with the bean part, not the sprout part. However, since you seem to have had an adverse reaction, you probably want to avoid them for a while and maybe do a reintro for them to double check that that's what caused your reaction. Go back to whole30 eating at least until the end of your 30 days. How long ago did you stop eating nuts? It can take a couple of days for bloating to clear up, so if you just stopped having them, it might be that you see changes soon.

One of the most common questions here on the forum is, what can I eat for breakfast? Maybe it's someone used to eating pancakes or pop tarts or just coffee or nothing at all, or maybe it's someone who's been eating eggs and is tired of them or wants to try the AIP protocol that doesn't allow eggs, but most people at some point during a Whole30 wonder about this. I thought maybe we could have a thread about unusual but tasty breakfast options that we could direct people to when they ask. So, if you eat the kind of breakfast that makes your non-W30 friends think you're weird, things that aren't your standard eggs and bacon or sausage combos, tell us about them here. If you want to show pictures, go for it. (Posts showing or describing obviously non-Whole30 foods like paleo pancakes, fauxtmeal, or coconut yogurt-fruit-nut creations will be deleted without warning. Please stick to meals that meet the meal template.) I'll get us started here -- this morning, I had leftover braised round steak, belly dance beet salad, and crisp sweet collards with pecans and raisins. So what did you have for your Meal1 this morning?