ShannonM816

"Defer" means postpone, but "defer to" means to allow someone else to choose. Check out the definition from Merriam Webster: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/defer to

If your meals are keeping you satisfied 4-5 hours at a time, you're good. Often, we see people who come from a background of calorie restriction who continue to limit their meal sizes the way they would if they were counting calories, sometimes purposefully, sometimes subconsciously. Mostly, this was a post to encourage those people to eat as much as they need to eat, even if it seems like a lot of food, and to say that it is okay to eat more than what they may be used to, if that's what it takes to stay satisfied and avoid snacking between meals.

You should work on making your breakfast meet the meal template as well. You're very heavy on fruit and fat and need at least one more egg, probably two, to meet the recommendation for protein, and of course, some vegetables. Also note that chia pudding is not permitted on the program. If you're staying satisfied 4-5 hours between meals, then you're probably eating enough. If not, then you may need more. If you've been eating enough, and drinking plenty of water, but you haven't been salting your food regularly, that's probably the main thing causing your headaches. Obviously if you're concerned, or if you up your salt intake and they continue, then you'd want to talk to your doctor to be sure there's not any other cause for them.

Definitely salt your food. That will help a lot. What do your meals look like? People are often surprised by how much they can and even need to eat on whole30. Try to make each meal meet the meal template -- a palm-sized portion or two of protein, or if eggs are your only protein, as many whole eggs as you can hold in one hand; a portion or two of fat from what's listed on the template, typically in addition to any oil you cook in; and a bunch of vegetables, like 2-3 cups or more. Occasionally have fruit if you want it. At least once a day, have a fist-sized serving of starchy vegetable, like potato, sweet potato, carrot, parsnip, beet, rutabaga, winter squash (like butternut or acorn or kabocha squash) or plantains. Some people do okay with less than this, some need more than this, but a serving a day is a good place to start for most people. You can download the meal template here: https://whole30.com/pdf-downloads/

This is compliant, but we really, really recommend you make all your meals match the meal template. This meal is lacking protein (almond butter is a fat), and is pretty light on the vegetables. Maybe try sweet potato toast topped with taco-seasoned ground meat, guacamole, tomatoes, and if you like a little spice, some jalapenos. Or sweet potato toast topped with smoked salmon, avocado, tomato, and red onion.

This is the official word on kombucha: https://whole30.com/2016/08/kombucha/ It has been a while since I checked the labels for any GT's, so definitely check for yourself to be sure, but as far as I know, it is.

I would probably at least check in with your doctor and let them know what's going on, just in case, and see if it's something they feel you should be concerned about or if there's a length of time when they'd start to be concerned.

Do each reintroduction separately, and regardless of how you react, don't have the reintroduced food again during reintroductions. Here's the article about reintroductions if you want to review: https://whole30.com/step-two-finished

When I first started, i had bought a kit with my scoby and some other stuff, and it came with ph strips, so I used them, but once I figured out how it tastes when it hits whatever level it was supposed to hit, I quit doing that. So if it makes you feel more secure, go for it -- be sure you get ph strips that will work with kombucha, I remember reading that some don't have the right range to show the level kombucha is supposed to get to.

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Just to note for anyone who is still doing Whole30, beans are not okay to have during your Whole30 (unless you're talking green beans?). Yes, this is definitely true for many people. It's also a matter of experimentation -- I technically can hold four eggs, but never actually finish four eggs. Three eggs and a plate full of veggies, or two eggs, some sausage, and a plate full of veggies does keep me satisfied 4-5 hours, so for me, that's what I go with. But I did try four eggs to see how it worked, more than once, to figure that out for sure.

You have to use actual sugar, and it's fine to use whatever kind you normally use. I've used plain white sugar and organic, sugar in the raw type of stuff, though not that brand. I mostly settled on a mix of those two. I have heard of people using things like coconut sugar or honey or maple syrup, but from what I've read the results with those were inconsistent. For some people they worked out fine, for others they didn't. So if you try something different than you usually use, be sure you have an extra scoby or two in case you need to start again from scratch -- look for information on starting a scoby hotel, for when you get to the point that you have extra. Kombuchakamp.com is a good source of information. For tea, any black, white, or green tea is fine. I wouldn't do flavored ones as sometimes the oil from the flavors can damage the scoby. Don't use herbal teas, as they don't actually have real tea in them, they're just herbs or fruit dried and boiled like tea.

Bloating and other symptoms are pretty common in the first week or so, especially if this is a pretty big change from how you ate before. If you hang in there, it'll probably get better in a few days. If you're eating a lot of nuts, cut back on those (try to have not more than a closed handful every other day or so). If you're eating a lot of raw vegetables, try cooking them for a few days, or if you're eating a lot of cruciferous vegetables (like cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower), maybe cut back on those and eat some different vegetables for a while. Also be sure you're drinking plenty of water, aiming for 1/2 oz per pound of body weight, so a 120-lb person needs at least 60 oz a day.

@Fernsk there's no hard and fast rule, so just whatever makes sense to you, I guess. Think about how you'd use these things in a typical meal -- if you're having bread, and you'd mostly just want a piece or two at the end of the meal to sop up the last bit of sauces on a plate, you might just have slightly less of everything so you wouldn't be too stuffed to have the bread. If you serve something over rice, even though rice is not a vegetable, for the average person, it's kind of taking the place of vegetables, so instead of having your food over cauli rice or over a potato, you have it over rice. Just try to eat these things the way you normally would want to have them and do the best you can to build your meal around that.

Be careful with information found anywhere other than the official Whole30 site or books or the official Whole30 social media accounts -- there's lots of stuff on the internet that says it's Whole30 that isn't. Always read your labels, even if someone else tells you something is okay.

Larabars are not really protein bars. They're dates and nuts with some other fruit for flavor. If you have a sweet tooth at all, you probably should avoid them, because they're as close to candy bars as you can get on whole30. Even if you don't have a sweet tooth, they should really just be for times when you have no other options available.

There's nothing about eating lots of veggies, protein, and healthy fat that would be unsafe, but what we do see a lot is people not eating enough -- maybe not enough fat or not enough starchy vegetables or just flat out not enough in general. Or we see people not salting their food, so they end up with their electrolytes out of balance, which can result in tiredness and dizziness. If you do decide to try Whole30 again, I'd recommend following not just the rules, but the recommendations as well, and hanging out here on the forum to get feedback on your meals early in your 30 days, before you start having major issues. More on rules vs recommendations: https://whole30.com/2015/01/rules-recommendations/

Yes, as long as they're all from the same group, all legumes or all dairy, so not beans cheese on the same day, but hummus and peanuts one day, cheese and milk another day.

Hello everyone and welcome to the Whole30 forums. We welcome everyone to join the forum and have discussions about Whole30 -- just please be sure you follow the rules. If you're not sure you want to make an account, feel free to browse as much as you want while you decide, but please know that if you want to post on the forum, you do need to make an account. You will also need an account to report posts that you feel don't meet the forum rules as well as to send private messages to members and mods. Signing up is free and easy to do; you don't even have to tell us your real name if you don't want to, just make sure whatever name you choose complies with the forum rules linked above.

Sometimes you do have to take medicine. Extending your Whole30 is an excellent way to deal with this, and I hope you're feeling better. You're looking for sugar in the actual ingredient list. Any plant-based foods have naturally occurring sugar, so coconut milk (and tomato paste, and even raw nuts) will have some grams of sugar. That's not important. What's important is the ingredient list. If the ingredient list contains any sugar, honey, stevia, or any other sweetener (or any other off-plan ingredient like sulfites or carrageenan), it is not allowed. It is possible for food manufacturers to make a food that lists sugar in the ingredients but has 0 grams in the nutrition info -- they can make the servings small enough to get the number down to 0 -- but because there is sugar in the ingredients list, it would still not be okay for Whole30.

I'm not a doctor, but my understanding is that it is not unusual for women who are approaching menopause to sometimes have a period even if it's been a couple of months since they had one, and that you won't be considered post-menopausal until it's been a year since you had one. I do not know if seven days into a whole30 would cause this, it seems a little soon, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. If you are ever concerned, you should talk to a doctor, or at least maybe call and talk to a nurse at your doctor's office to see if they think it's something you should be concerned about. They'd be better able to tell you what to expect.

This kind of depends on you and your comfort level. I bought a kit (from Kombucha Kamp) because 1) I was a little intimidated by the process and didn't want to screw up, and 2) I didn't want to wait any longer than I had to (growing your own scoby takes at least a couple of weeks, plus then waiting for the first batch to be done on top of that. With a kit, you just have the waiting for the first batch to be done). So are you more the type who is willing to wait longer to do it all yourself, or are you more the type to want things to be done as fast as possible? Lots of people have had good luck doing their own from scratch, and now that I know more about it, if I needed to restart, if I lost my scoby or something, I'd be okay with starting from scratch without the kit.

Post-workout is about half the size of a full meal usually, so try 2-3 egg whites and see how that goes. If you feel you need more, that's fine as well.

I'm not sure, you'll just have to read labels. Obviously, avoid cookie dough, cookies & cream, or anything with candy bars in it. Probably easiest to find plain vanilla or chocolate.

Sugar is less likely to cause physical issues and more likely to cause emotional reactions/cravings, so if there's sugar in with your dairy, or sugar in with your wheat, you're still probably going to be able to separate out what's a reaction to the dairy versus what's a reaction to the sugar. However, if you have ice cream that contains wheat, you really don't know whether it's the wheat or the dairy, since they can cause similar reactions.