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Hi all! I'm a 28 y.o. web developer. When I was in my late teens/early 20s I started developing a pile of health problems and at some point I realized the prognosis for my life couldn't be good if I felt so crappy so young. I decided to turn my life around by fixing my lifestyle. I've lost 57 pounds, cured severe acid reflux, and learned how to exercise for the first time in my life (I'm now an avid cyclist, skier, and yogi). However, my relationship with food is still super complicated. I seem to develop new or worsened food sensitivities all the time, and now I've progressed to having hives for 9 months straight and newly developed moderate-severe asthma. I feel run down and exhausted all the time, and I'm constantly getting sick. This makes it really difficult to hold down a full time job. I have already pinned down a number of my allergies, but I end up eating those foods anyways because 1. My allergist cautions against cutting foods out lest you become more sensitive to them and 2. Junk food is delicious and I want to enjoy my life. Long story short, it's time to stop harming my body and to get to the root of the issues before it gets even worse! I considered GAPS but the foods list is complicated and contains a lot of things that I can't eat. So instead, I'm trying Whole 30 minus eggs and nuts.... except I plan on doing it for at LEAST several months, maybe longer, while drinking bone broth and eating fermented foods every day as per the GAPS diet protocol. I've already been 95% whole 30-ish for 9 days while I use up what's left in my fridge, and I'll start the real program next week. I just couldn't wait to get started, I was feeling so crappy that I had a moment where I realized that I needed to jump in right then and there! I'm terrible at being concise, but I just wanted to say that if there is anyone else out there doing whole 30 to deal with allergy related maladies, I'd love to hear from you! I definitely feel alone and wish I knew others who could share knowledge as I go down this path to what will almost certainly be radical, permanent changes in my lifestyle once again. Happy to be here!

I just found out I am allergic to olives and I have to eliminate olive oil from my diet. Can anyone recommend a good cooking oil that is not going to completely break the bank?

I'm on day 21 of the Whole 30 and I'm itching all over. I've been trying to take out foods I thought suspect like cashews and new supplements but nothing has worked so far. Going to take out coconut next... No red rash or hives. Just feel like my whole body is one big itchy thing. It makes it hard to sleep! Help. Just itching in my head, arms, legs, back, stomach, and privates. Basically every where. Antihistamines don't help much. Heard there was such a thing as a KETO rash. When you don't eat enough carbs. There are carbs on the Whole 30. I eat cherries, blueberries and sweet potatoes. I know vegetables are low and meat has none. Most of my meals are lots of cooked veggies with meat and a little fruit for dessert. I have pre-diabetes so I try and keep my fruit and sweet potatoe content low. Not sure how high I need to keep my carb content to feel my best yet and not affect my blood sugars. Could it be a mild form of that? or a yeast or hormones? I am in Menopause.

I have tried to start the whole 30 quite a few times in the past few months. I either make it half a day, a few days, or my longest attempt-9 days. I am in the middle of reading It Starts With Food, and completely love it and how much sense it makes! I have grown to have some allergies/ intolerance to dairy and I think gluten, and know my body runs best while either paleo or on the whole 30. And yet, can't seem to do it! Any tips, accountability buddies, or words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hey everyone! I have done whole30 in the past. Currently, I am 2 weeks into the program for the third time and I started back up because of a strange rash that started at work. It appears on my legs, lower arms/back of elbows & hands, and sometimes my stomach if something rubs against it. It is SO ITCHY. I had to leave my new job because I couldn't stop itching and was miserable. I can't afford that! They look like pimples without a whitehead. Small, raised and scattered sporadically. It doesn't look too much like eczema of dermatitis formatitis (sp?.. the celiac disease one). Has anyone had an undiagnosed rash for awhile? What did it end up being? I've been to the doctor's office and dermatologist. I've heard it's contact dermatitis because of my detergent (even though it also occurred on my arms past where my short sleeves hits) and possibly something I'm eating. I cut out caffiene because the derm said it could cause allergies. I don't eat MSG or dyes on a regular basis. The only artificial sweetener I have is possibly my Orbit gum. I was put on prednisone taper, given steroid shots and steroid cream. I'm off my prednisone (after starting a taper three times now)... and it's still here. My dermatologist said I should take both Allegra and Zytec every day for a month to reduce my histamine and see if it goes away. I don't want to take any medications. The combo does stop it from itching, but it is still present and I can see more spots popping up since I got off my steroids a couple days ago. Has this happened to you?! What was your strategy to narrow it down? Thank you!

I was taking Singular and one of the ingredients is lactose monohydrate. I'm thinking I can't have it but I just want to make sure. So can I continue to take this? If not, what allergy medicine is whole30?

Hello all, my name is Ryan and I'm a intern architect as well as a watercolor artist in Dallas, Texas. I heard about Whole30 from a friend at work. After researching and convincing myself along with my girlfriend to try this, our journey begins tomorrow! I just wanted to introduce myself and say hey. Would love to have some Whole30 support friends if there are any other newbies out there starting around the same time or something! Also, any thoughts for someone who does a lot of strength training and cycling / spin? Looking for something after workouts to help in place of protein drinks. I had a rough moto injury 2 years ago and broke my collar bone so looking to help with the continued inflammation of that, seasonal allergies, and my super sensitive skin. Best, Ryan

I am on week 3 on whole30 and everything is going great except I noticed my seasonal allergies are a lot worse. I have to double up on my allergy medicine. It's mostly lots of mucus and congestion, not itchy eyes I normally deal with. Any idea what is causing this? the only thing I am eating more off than before is coconut oil and plantains.

My friend is wanting to do Whole30 with me in January, however is feeling concerned about how to do this with her allergies to nuts and coconut, as well as sensitivity to eggs. I rely on eggs, nuts, coconut milk and almond butter for much of my whole30 recipes and snacks. Any recommendations on snacks and meal recipes - especially that get you the fat and non-meat protein?? Also, I known it's not compliant, but what are thoughts on using soy milk occasionally, since coconut and almond milk are out for her? Thanks!!

Hi everyone I am a newbie (notreally a newbie to clean eating but first timer to the whole30) and I am in to my day 12 (happy dance!). However while I am not facing any of those junk food craving related issues (i hv moved all non compliant ingrediants out of sight to help me) i feel like the following are areas of concern: 1) body odour (i was never smelly!!! And now i feel like my smell changed and sorry if this is TMI but i feel like my urine smells oddly different too!?!?) 2) my allergies are feeling kind of aggravated day 9 onwards - as a child i was allergic to jewelry made of impure metals and now once again after years i have an itchy rash after i wore an old oxidised silver bangle. A dermatisis patch i had ages ago at the nape of my neck has suddenly flared up again. I have always suffered with bouts of hay fever but again day 9 onwards i feel like im sneezing way more than juat in the mornings. 3) my insomnia is back and how. Everyone is talking about sleeping bwtter on the whole30 but that is not yet happening for me. Any tips? May I add here that I am doing the whole30 from India and my reasons for taking it up now are - a) i suffered a miscarriage in january and had to have a d&c, so as i wait 3 months to try to conceive again my husband and i felt this is the right time to go on a food reset. b ) our beloved dog who was no less than a son to us passed away after a freak accident very suddenly. I felt i needed the whole 30 to be disciplined at this time as i am emotionally vulnerable and i dont want my grieving to turn in to unaccounted binge eating sessions. C) i am not working a full time job at the moment which gives me more time to meal prep and plan and focus on how the kitchen runs. Looking forward to help and auggestions from co participants and moderators! Thank you! rohini

I'm on day 30 of my whole30 but I'm extending to 45 days because I still have some issues to work on. I started this program with multiple health problems and tons of food allergies and have made great improvements, including identifying some new allergens. I feel like there are still some issues that could be caused by food so for the next 15 days I want to try to eliminate more stuff, the question is what? On the one hand, I have serious OAS (oral allergy syndrome) with many known reactions to birch, beech, and ragweed family foods. I still have some of them in my diet though, so I could go all the way and also eliminate white potato, artichoke, banana, zucchini, almonds, carrots, coriander, celery, parsnips, and peppers. On the other hand, one of the things I reacted to during my whole 30 was eggplant, a nightshade, and I also have arthritis- which has been recommended to cut out nightshades to reduce symptoms. That would require cutting potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and most spices. Of course, I could do both, then do a really, really long reintro to try all these different veggies one at a time... I am mainly reluctant about the tomatoes, peppers and spices because I use them in everything. I can't imagine cooking to a whole 30 meal plan without them. IDK, I may be rambling, I'm just wondering does anyone have experience with multiple food allergies/ OAS/ nightshade issues? Any advice on doing a VERY restricted w30 (I already have a list of about 3 dozen fruits, veggies, and nuts I can't eat). thanks!

Last week when I started my Whole30 and noticed all the information on nightshades, I kind of pushed it aside and figured naah not a problem for me. Well I think I've been proven wrong. Although my digestion/IBS is doing well - which I talk about more in this thread http://forum.whole9life.com/topic/3462-ibs-success-stories-advice/ and overall I'm feeling better rested and better in general I am still dealing with a fair amount of nasal congestion, sore throat, and fatigue. This happened in a big way many times over the summer (read 5 serious bouts lasting 3-5 days) that I thought I was getting colds/flus from overworking. However, the symptoms were never accompanied with fever, bodyaches or other flu like symptoms. Just the sore throat and painful ears usually on one side or both and clear phlegm (not colored or cloudy like with a cold or flu. Sorry for the details but it's important in figuring out the cause!). Important to note that I have hypothyroidism (treated since 2008) and despite my blood levels indicating it's well balanced, I have fatigue and cycle issues that seem to indicate otherwise. Last night I used a new to me Mrs. Dash spice blend and last night and today the right side of my throat and right ear canal or SO painful and I am phelgmy. Looked at the ingredients I saw that it contains black pepper and chili pepper high up on the list and then red bell pepper further down. Considering my dinner consisted of... Roasted Chicken Roasted sweet potato topped with coconut milk and Sauerkraut (from a local farm made with nothing but salt) I really think spice blend has got to the be cause of my symptoms. So nightshades are gone for a while to see if it gets rid of this really annoying and hurtful inflammation. My questions are... *Do you agree with my possible self-diagnosis? *What symptoms do you (other people that have nightshade issues) get when you eat them?? *Am I missing any nightshades on my list of things to avoid.... All peppers Tomatoes and Tomatillos Eggplants Potatoes but not sweet potatoes (thank goodness!) Paprika and other pepper based spices Hot sauce and salsa (I've heard blueberries as well but am unsure??) Thanks so much guys!

I'm discovering intolerances to food that I used to eat on a weekly basis before starting Whole30. Foods that are compliant, such as eggs and canteloupe. I'm really curious to know the science behind this. Why are they making me so sick now when I've been eating them my whole life? Does anyone know?

Hi everyone! I am on Day 9 of my first Whole30 and so far it's going great. The first few days were challenging but with plenty of prep work (and support from my family and friends) I feel like I have hit my stride. The challenge I am having is that my seasonal/environmental allergies have flared up to the point that I'm having difficulty functioning. 10 years ago my allergies were so severe that I started on shots. In fact, the testing showed I was allergic to virtually everything they test for, in varying degrees (I know, right?)(do you care to guess how sick I was of blowing my nose?) Shots reduced my symptoms by nearly 100% but in the last year they've slowly started to return. Since starting WHole30 they are B-A-N-A-N-A-S. As in, took a double Zyrtec dose this morning to cope. Couldn't sleep for sneezing and itching last night. Dust has always elicited the most severe reaction (level 4+). I do have a level 2 allergy to wheat (and I have Celiac Disease) and a level 1 allergy to dairy, string beans and shellfish. Naturally I have been avoiding those things stringently for the last 9 days (and it's worth noting that I am following the template exactly). The rest of my allergies are too numerous to name but they were all 2-3+ at the time of testing (mold, pollen, dogs, cats, horses, parakeets, you name it). But I should add that we've never finished my food allergy testing. I'm curious whether anyone else saw their allergy reactions increase while on Whole30 (itchy eyes and nose, stuffy/runny, sinus headaches, sneezing)? Or is this related to something else entirely?

Hi. Most of my life i didn't eat eggs - I just didn't like them. Then, about 15 years ago, when I was pregnant, I ate 4 eggs every morning. When I was nursing I continued this. Then I became sensitive to eggs and my doctor told me to cut them out for a few years and then hopefully i'd be able to eat them again. So for the next ten or so years i'd try to avoid them and cheat and get a 12 hour stomach ache. then one day it just no longer seemed like a problem. So I started eating them again and things seem fine. However... I have chronic reflux for the past MANY years and it's effected my voice. I have chronic post nasal drip which I've been told is due to chronic allergies. I do have some environmental allergies, but i am wondering if it might not be food that is bothering me. For instance, when I eat sheep yogurt (not now, but before the whole 30), i have to clear my throat constantly (more than my normal, very frequent throat clearing). And i don't breathe well at night and feel a fullness in my sinuses for years. SO - MY QUESTION - should I avoid eggs? I don't feel bad in any way after I eat them, but am wondering, if due to my history and current symptoms, if it might make since to take them off my whole30. I have gone ahead and planned my menu for the next 7 days, egg free. but i don't want to cut them out unless i need to. laslty - I have been diagnosed with 2 autoimmune diseases - mostly based on blood work, though I do have some symptoms such as dry eyes, and areas of my body that seem to flare up and cause pain, as if i've sprianed something for several months (though I've done nothing - it just comes out of no where) and then months later, it just as mysteriously, goes away, only to happen the next time, somewhere else. oh, and also - some seborrheic dermatitis. Any thoughts much appreciated.

I tried to search and have come up with nothing. I hope I'm not being repetitive: I'm new to this forum and be to Whole 30. I'd really like to try it, but I'm nervous that my food allergies will be too limiting. I can eat anything cooked but am allergic to the following fruit, veggies and nuts when eaten raw: -apples -carrots -peaches -plums -celery -almonds -apricots -cherries -pears There may be others I simply haven't encountered or reacted to yet. Has anyone had experience with this? I always struggle with healthy grab-and-go options without things like apples, celery, carrots and almonds... I guess maybe I'm just looking for encouragement, especially from someone who's been through it and been successful! Any ideas or tips would also be helpful. Thanks.

I completed the self reflection exercise suggested in the whole 30 daily email today. I felt like sharing in hopes of encouraging and inspiring others, Here it is: This is what my life used to be like. I started the Whole30 as part of a longterm healing process from a traumatic birth and 3.5 month NICU stay for my first child and the end of my dysfunctional relationship with his father. Things I did to help myself leading up to the whole30 - yoga, meditation, herbs, acupuncture, psychotherapy, exercise, allergy shots, self-help books and CDs, Zoloft. Not to mention embarking on a new career path, which has involved college classes and volunteer hours. I also work from home. The problems I sought to tackle by changing my diet included: extremely low energy, depression, and horrific allergies. Juggling life as a working single mom and student felt impossible with my health. This is how I found the Whole30. Around the same time, my acupuncturist and therapist both suggested my diet might be contributing to my low energy, depression and allergies. I have always been a healthy eater, but my relationship with carbs and sugar was unhealthy. My acupuncturist explained that the gut creates some neurotransmitters and it finally clicked for me - that my depression and energy problems could be directly linked to my diet. This was totally new information to me. She also explained that in traditional Chinese medicine, they don’t consider depression an illness, but consider it a symptom of other problems. I had alarmingly low chi (life energy in traditional Chinese medicine). My therapist handed me the one page whole30 meal plan as a template for me to work with when I told her I felt confused about what was healthy to eat. I immediately said, “There are no grains on here.” She told me I could add them in limited quantities if I wanted. I went home and Googled whole30. That night I knew I had to try it. I had a family reunion and a wedding to get through before I could begin, so I calendared it and announced the start date to my immediate family. During my whole30 experience: I was so scared before I started. I feared intense cravings that almost hurt. I pictured HUNGER. I feared headaches and low moods and misery. My first week was actually a breeze. I immediately had more energy and my moods were more stable. The cravings were not very intense at all. I barely missed alcohol, even though I had a drink or two every night before whole30. I lost weight with out hunger. I ate big yummy meals and didn’t feel tired afterwards. On one or two days I suffered short-lived headaches. On day 11 I was hella tired. Other than that, I was living the dream. I had drank the Kool-Aid. I got my period 2 weeks early, which really surprised me since I am on birth control. I was so tired for 3-4 days. This was right around the time I was supposed to feel Tigers Blood. My tigers blood was stolen from me! That was a bummer. On the flip side, I have felt happy in a way that I have not felt in ages. I’m on Zoloft, which I know is helping, but I can’t wait to wean off of it when the doctor thinks its advisable. I have a lot of faith that I will be able to stabilize my moods much more with my new healthy diet and I don’t plan to be on Zoloft long term. Eight years ago I lived in Peru for a summer, working at an archaeological site museum. While there, I developed allergies that have stuck with me ever since. I sneezed loudly, had copious mucous, and felt so incredibly itchy. Allergies would come and go all year long. I’ve taken medications, gotten steroid allergy shots and regular old allergy shots. I do the neti pot, take herbs and make Chinese teas, have allergen free bedding, an air purifier, and started getting acupuncture specifically to target my allergies. The allergies have not bothered me one bit since I’ve been on the Whole30. I won’t know until I do reintroduction, but I am guessing I was more mucousy from dairy and the tissues all over my body were inflamed and my immunity was on overdrive from foods I was eating. I want to scream from the rooftops that everyone with seasonal allergies should try this! While calming the allergy beast was big, by far the hugest milestone for me has been my increased stamina and patience with my toddler. Before the whole30 I was running on empty. Now, I can play actively with my beautiful boy. He is a fireball, so that means a lot. It means more than I am able to express in words. I felt so much guilt for having so little energy for him despite knowing he is the most important thing in my life. I have been struggling since he was born to keep up with him! The past two days I’ve played in the waves of the ocean by our home, which he absolutely loves. I was literally unable to do this with him before because I would get exhausted immediately. Keeping him safe with his high energy runs and jumps into the crashing waves was simply too much for me to handle. The past two days I felt tired after our wave jumping, but in a good way. I was proud of myself. Now that I've finished my whole 30. I look forward to being a proud paleo! I’m excited for reintroductions because they will tell me what I need to know to make good food choices. If I find out I have no negative reaction to certain foods I love, I will happily eat those too. However, if it turns out I have bad reactions to all the things I eliminated in whole30, then I will be able to live with it. I know I can make delicious food. I’ve learned that grains aren't a NECESSITY, which I truly always thought they were. I believed I would feel hungry and unsatisfied if my plate didn’t include a grain. I will eat meat for breakfast or an egg with spinach. I never thought that would be a regular thing for me, but 30 days of steaming spinach and cooking an egg or some Applegate chicken and apple sausage, or paleo bacon, has shown me that this is a feasible thing for me. And I enjoy it!

Hi! So, I've never tried Whole30 before but I would definitely like to! A few of my cousins have given it a shot with good results, one of them just started a second round. I have been having an issue with my weight not going down. I've kind of already started following a bit of the Whole30 on my own, as I seem to have an issue with some grains/gluten. I have not been able to pin-point what exactly, but I have been enjoying edamame as a snack, and using mainly quinoa and chia seeds as a replacement for grains. I do eat rice occasionally as well so I know that will have to stop, but generally, my diet has been heavy on the protein more and more. I used to be a pescatarian, but I have low iron and had to re-add in red meat. But I am also apprehensive about doing Whole30, as I have some dietary restrictions. I have an issue with dairy (I've been lactose intolerant most of my life) and use soy, almond, and coconut milk as a substitute for regular milk. It's the only way that I get any kind of calcium in my diet besides gummy vitamins, but I can survive without it as well, as I had not discovered any of those at one point and just didn't do dairy for a bit. But I also take the gummy vitamins to up my Vitamin D, iron, and B-12, as I am deficient in all of those (despite living in Florida and soaking up way too much sun). I have tried the horse pill supplements but discovered that my stomach just doesn't break them down. Also discovered that my stomach doesn't soak in the vitamins via blood tests, but gummies seem to help a bit. I'm willing to try not taking vitamins and just getting them from food, but I can be picky and have some other allergies. I have read a few other threads on the forums but have not gotten the book yet..... So! A few questions! Are any alternative milks okay? Soy? Almond? Coconut? Cashew? How do you get vitamins? Are the gummies okay? (I only take 2 before bed, super cool brand that uses carrots and berries to dye and flavour them.) Is Edamame okay? Chia seeds? Quinoa? Any tips for people with allergies? Should I just keep at my current diet and hope for the best and skip Whole30? How do you get around picky eating? Alternative ways to get protein besides red meat and chicken? How much exercise do you do with your Whole30 program? (I'm limited currently as I'm recovering from knee surgery, but I can do walking, elliptical, or stationary bike, no swimming yet, but hopefully by the time I start.) Thanks for all of the tips, tricks, and help! I've already found some cool recipes from the sources that I can't wait to try like chocolate chili! Also thanks if you have read this whole thing, just trying to get everything figured out before I start.

After having my first successful run with Whole30 in January, I have encouraged my family to try it with me starting the day after Mother's Day! DH is finally onboard and ready to commit. DS is willing to give it a go, but a little scared, especially the thought of having to commit to 30 days (he did a 7 day sugar/gluten cleanse when I started my W30 in Jan). My main reason for pursuing this with my family is to alleviate some symptoms I've noticed in my son's health (low energy, weight gain, moodiness, mild gluten allergy, dairy intolerance, not hungry in the a.m., adult-sized appetite). Aside from the usual advice about reading the Whole9 literature about Kids doing the program, I would love some general tips and tricks from those of you that have had success with Kids' Whole30 or are in the process right now. Is there a mantra that helped you guide your kids through the program? A kid-friendly recipe website you couldn't live without? Did you modify the program at all for your kids? How did you explain the program to your kids to motivate and educate them? How did you manage slip ups? Any other words of wisdom to help with a 9 year old? Any advice you can offer is greatly appreciated!!

I'm on Day 4 of my second Whole30 and finding it much easier this time around, although still not easy, of course. One thing I'm focusing more on this time is eliminating excess nuts and fruits from my diet, which was a problem for me last time and which I know can be an impediment to a successful experience. However, the reality is that I have blood-brain barrier hypoglycemia, which means my blood glucose will test perfectly normal but my brain isn't getting what it needs out of it all. It's a life-long problem that no amount of proper eating can take care of, defective physiology in other words. Sometimes I get flat-out HANGRY and need something to give my brain a kickstart, and prevent myself from verbally eviscerating people until I can eat a proper meal. I know that Larabars are permitted as emergency snacks for situations like that (I don't like having hunger rage, or passing out for that matter), but about three weeks into my last Whole30 I got back some allergy testing results: Turns out that I'm allergic to almonds, which are an ingredient in all Larabars. Are there any other compliant bars that I can buy, or can anyone suggest a compliant recipe? I'd almost rather buy them, so that I only have a limited number on hand and am not tempted by a pan of them. I looked at every single bar I could find today and they all had sugar in them, usually as the first ingredient! I did see in another thread that Epic bars are ok, but they're painfully salty for me and it's the carbs that I need. I also looked at RXBars, which were also mentioned, but they all had sugar (by any other name). Any suggestions would be very much appreciated! <3

Hi everyone! I'm new here. I just decided to try the Whole 30. I've been struggling with digestive problems since I was 17 (I'm 24 now) and they seem to be getting worse recently. When I was 19, I got my first food allergy test and it reported that I was highly allergic to gluten and beans, and somewhat allergic to many other things. I cut the highest allergy foods out of my diet and 2 days later woke up with more energy than I'd ever felt! Over the years though, digestive problems have come and gone. Two weeks ago I had my first allergic reaction with more than digestive symptoms. My lips swelled and got so chapped! It worsened over a couple days until my face was a balloon and my eyelids weren't able to fully open. I don't know exactly what caused this.. it could have been a face lotion, but I guess I'll never know. After 3 days of double-dose Benadryl my face returned to normal. My recent food allergy blood tests have reported that I'm allergic to nearly everything they test for. Today I decided to do a 1-day Pressed Juicery cleanse because my stomach has been upset all weekend. Right after drinking the first juice (almond milk, dates, sea salt, vanilla bean), I started feeling tingles and swelling in my lips and roof of mouth. This is exactly how the last face swelling incident began, so I'm a bit nervous it's coming back. I have an important talk to give on the 17th and am ready to do whatever it takes to be done with these awful food reactions. Tonight I'm going to clean out my kitchen and go grocery shopping!

This will be my first time doing the Whole30 program, although I already keep a gluten and dairy free diet most of the time. I need to take it to the next level. Here are my reasons for doing the program: I get frequent, severe sinus infections when I eat dairy. My under-the-tongue glands swell when I eat various grain-based foods. I thought it was just wheat and my symptoms were very mild for a few years but they've become severe in the last month. Within a few hours of eating/drinking anything grain-based, my glands are throbbing. I need to listen to my body and stop giving it things it doesn't want. My mom is battling cancer and in her journey, has learned the true value of caring for your body through food choices. I, too, have learned a lot about the effects of less-than-great food choices through watching her and observing myself. Thus, the only reason I still make bad choices is out of sugar addiction or self-destructive tendencies. My hope is that after completing my first Whole30, I'll be able to see a big enough difference that I will be motivated by the benefits of living a whole life, rather than being motivated by the pain/exhaustion of making less-than-healthy daily choices. I'm 23, about to graduate college, and I manage an office that must remain open 24/7 for student safety. My schedule is all over the place, I never get near enough sleep, and I'm surrounded by booze and peers who are as far from a whole30 lifestyle as can be. It won't be easy, but I'm tired of feeling horrid half the time from sugar, grains, and booze. There may never be a perfect time to do this, so no excuses from here on out. Now is as good a time as any, and this way I'll by happier and healthier by graduation:D

Hi y'all - I'm joining this forum on the third day of my first Whole30. I say "first Whole30" because I estimate I'll be starting a new Whole30 every month for the next year. I'm battling a lot, so this won't be a "one and done" situation. I'm looking forward to finding an informative and encouraging community here on the forums. Here's to our health! Bests, Britta

Almost a decade ago I was diagnosed with Oral Allergy Syndrome, specific to chicken meat (not eggs). Over the years I have rarely and inconsistently reacted to pork and various fruits as well. Knowing this, I eliminated chicken during my Whole30 and severely limited exposure to any other food items to which I have previously reacted. I am 20 days in today and reacting to ground turkey - a product which has never given rise to symptoms before. Has anyone else seen increased food allergies during W30 or familiar with adverse reactions related to OAS?

Hi all, I finally got the results of my RAST testing and will begin my first Whole30 round in the morning. I've been fighting serious allergy and joint issues for quite a while, plus I have crohns disease so trying to figure out how to eat in a way that will make my body happy has been a tedious and ongoing process. Luckily according to the RAST test the only Whole30 food I definitely need to avoid is eggs. I have a level 5 reaction to whites and a level 4 to yolks. I'm very sad since I raise my own duck and chicken eggs! Other than that, I avoid seeds and some whole nuts (almonds, peanuts, macadamia nuts) but can have others and can have all nut butters except peanuts. I have to be careful of too much fiber because it can cause a blockage, but as long as I'm strategic, I like most vegetables and fruits. Breakfast is where I'm clueless. I've been eating an egg sandwich (now egg, dairy and wheat intolerant) or omelet 95% of the mornings for the past 5 years. Thanks in advance!