slc_melissa

It looks like Wild Zora had recently taken over Paleo Meals to Go and then created some new flavors as well. This has been really handy for me, thanks - I'm about to go on a backpacking trip and although not currently whole30, I'm always GF. I often make my own meals but am feeling far too time crunched to do it this time around. However, you save TONS making your own meals, plus can make exactly what you like.

Check the ingredients to your nuun tablets! Most of those have sweeteners as far as I know!

Thanks for following up with that info!

If you've got an underlying medical condition, there'd be nothing wrong with eating 4 smaller meals a day. Skip all the nuts and fruit, just add in another meal that also has protein, veggies, and some fats.

Also, if everyone was hungry to the point of anger after 1.5 days, check portions and the template. It's easy to under eat at first. A lot of recommendations include making sure there's fats and maybe some starchy carbs. And you can do it!

Some brands are different. I tried the Trader Joe's version once and did not like it. I had one from Whole Foods that was better but still meh. Then I tried making my own clarified butter from Mel Joulwan's Well Fed 2 cookbook recipe and blammo! The best.

Nowhere did I call into question your personal commitment. Presumably you are "are following through with what they (you) decided to do for themselves (yourself)" which is exactly what I said. Smoothies are not recommended. That's it. You can do a complete technically compliant whole30 using only smoothies. Or only almonds and compliant bacon. Neither would be recommended. When people come to this forum, they are often looking for advice and troubleshooting. Moderators and others are not going to recommend things that are not recommended.

I've never particularly thought of or noticed soups as "highly recommended," I've more just thought of them as a food option. Smoothies don't need defending, they are specifically called out in the program as not being recommended in the Whole30 101 page. It's not resistance to the smoothie, it's people who looked at a program, liked it enough to commit to the rules and recommendations, and are following through with what they decided to do for themselves.

You may want to reconsider your professed lack of attachment to smoothies if you need to keep defending them. Have you read "It Starts With Food?" They talk about some of the considerations of of a liquid diet and how it influences hormones. This is going to come off slightly harsher than I want, but as has already been stated, there's no Whole30 police, you can do what you want, it's in the recommendations of the program not the rules, but no one here is going to tell you that you cracked the smoothie code and it's OK. It's good that you're eating protein on the side since that is a thing often missing in smoothies, but I'd try to get the protein amount up to template standards (the template is also just a recommendation, not a rule). Here's a quote from a few years back on exactly the same subject.

We'd need a lot more details about what/how much you're eating (as related to the template) in order to give any directed feedback. But: Eat more. Eat more fats especially. Drink water. Salt your food. Check out the timeline: https://whole30.com/2013/08/revised-timeline/ It's not exact and not all people follow it at the same rate, but....it's funny at least. I have Hashimoto's, and this might be specific to me and have nothing to do with the autoimmune condition, but Whole30 helps me tremendously. During Whole30: I need to eat cooked vegetables at breakfast. There's a noticeable energy dip in the afternoon if I do not, even if I get plenty of calories. (Note: not just carbs like fruit, vegetables. Specifically cooked. Raw does nothing for me. Favorites are asparagus, zucchini, sweet potato, and arugula. I try to have leftover roasted vegetables available in mornings for ease.) If I do need an afternoon something, I eat something high fat, like olives, with some protein if I have it. Nuts destroy me. Both digestion-wise (problems), hunger-wise (they make me hungrier), and energy-wise (see you later, energy). Good luck.

I'd at least count it as an accessory protein. Think of how much you'd have to eat to get a palms-sized worth of it. Yikes!

Depending on your activity level, gender, and how your body personally responds, you may need more or less starchy vegetables. I personally do much better energy wise and mental clarity-wise with 1-2 fist sized servings of starchy veggies per day. I assume you know, but just for future readers, corn is not a vegetable, it's a grain, despite all the "vegetable" sides in restaurants that are corn (and peas, haha). Good luck! I'm very into artichoke hearts right now. If you do a google search, the american diabetes association has a list of starchy/non-starchy vegetables. I'm not going to link to it because it includes off plan things. It also, surprisingly, includes most squash as non-starchy, but only butternut and acorn as starchy.

It doesn't say anything about starchy vs non-starchy, it's just a list of vegetables. You can feel free to cross off vegetables you don't want to eat. (Why are you avoiding starchy veggies?)

You'd still have to ask what's in the burger, what kind of oil they've been cooking on, etc, etc. Eat something beforehand and sneak some beef jerky or something in for yourself.

I'd really recommend doing the re-introductions as suggested. Instantly eating a bunch of cake and ice cream will do you no favors. Also, keep in mind any body composition changes - you may lose 5 lbs of fat (great!) but gain 5 lbs of muscle (even better!) and be the exact same scale weight with way better body composition.