KnottyMama Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Hey guys! I am on day 1 and I have spent the past few week reading up on the whole30 plan, but I don't understand why white potatoes are banned? They are a natural food and have no additives or preservatives. There are things on the "good" list that have lots of natural sugar, like bananas, that seem like they should be banned that I don't understand. I am not trying to be rude or rebellious, just trying to understand! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnottyMama Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 I want to add that I live in an extremely small town and there are not many healthy food options for us. I am feeding a family of 6 and would like for all of us to follow the whole 30 plan. I forgot that white potatoes were forbidden and I bought some. I still think that potatoes are way better than eating gluten and processed foods! I am sorry if this is already explained in another post, I searched for it and didn't see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Tom Denham Posted July 16, 2013 Moderators Share Posted July 16, 2013 The Whole30 includes several arbitrary decisions and this is one of them. The ban of white potatoes was designed to force Americans who think eating a variety of vegetables means mixing it up among french fries, tater tots, baked potatoes with butter and sour cream, hash browns, and potato logs. It is not that there is anything wrong with potatoes. The problem has been over-reliance on potatoes and how they are frequently cooked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan W Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 I want to add that I live in an extremely small town and there are not many healthy food options for us. I am feeding a family of 6 and would like for all of us to follow the whole 30 plan. I forgot that white potatoes were forbidden and I bought some. I still think that potatoes are way better than eating gluten and processed foods! I am sorry if this is already explained in another post, I searched for it and didn't see it. You go girl. Tom is agreeing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnottyMama Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 So if I promise to eat more greens than potatoes, can I keep them? I am really trying to stay true to the spirit of the Whole30, but I do want to make sure we have enough food to last the week. My kids are eating machines! I do think that we already are getting fuller on smaller servings. We have been doing this for a few days now, but I realized that I bought the wrong coconut milk. I didn't realize that the organic type still had carrageenan in it. Grr. So we are back at day one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GFChris Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 I realized that I bought the wrong coconut milk. I didn't realize that the organic type still had carrageenan in it. Grr. So we are back at day one. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stay away from coconut milk in a box - that will typically contain carrageenan. Buy it in a can, look in the Asian food aisle. When buying in the can, be sure it does not contain potassium metabisulfite. Thai Kitchen and Whole Foods' 365 brand are Whole30 compliant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnottyMama Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 Also, I want to add that the whole reason I have decided to do this is because my husband had open heart surgery (at 35 yrs old!) A quadruple bypass. I just wanted to make sure that If I slip in a potato here and there during the month of the Whole 30 just to stretch things out I wouldn't be hurting him. He is trying to lose weight and has other health problems that I am hoping this will help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnottyMama Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 Thai Kitchen and Whole Foods' 365 brand are Whole30 compliant. Thanks for the tip! We don't have a Whole Foods anywhere near here, but I think my local grocery store carries cans of Thai Kitchen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GFChris Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Does your family like sweet potatoes? Could they eat those instead of white potatoes, so you are maintaining the integrity of your Whole30? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Tom Denham Posted July 16, 2013 Moderators Share Posted July 16, 2013 I did not read the guidelines carefully before doing my first Whole30 and ate white potatoes 2 or 3 times before I read them again and realized I was eating something off-plan. I still did well. And when my local farmer puts potatoes in my basket, I eat them happily. However, to really do a Whole30 right and be a part of the in-crowd, we all have to follow the same rules. The Hartwig's have adjusted the rules once or twice. I provoked them into adding ghee and clarified butter by asking probing questions about why not. I am really looking forward to seeing if they make any changes for the August Whole30... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vian Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 From my understanding, most paleo people will accept white rice and peeled white potatoes to add bulk and extra calories to meals for people who are very active and need extra carbs. The reason it is white rice and peeled potatoes is because it is the bran of the rice and the peel of the potato that contain the lectins and phytic acid that cause digestive and absorbancy issues for some people. Removing the peel and bran removes almost all of the harmful compounds, but leaves you with fairly simple carbohydrates that absorb quickly and give you a blood sugar spike, and then an insulin spike, which can lead to high cholesterol and hormone disruptions. What I might do is offer white rice and peeled potatoes to your kids, who are growing and eating like crazy and probably burning a lot of calories too, but you and your husband avoid them as much as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnottyMama Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 I did get sweet potatoes too, but we just go through them so quickly! For a family of 6, we go through EVERYTHING fast!! My husband is a cajun boy and addicted to rice so I was thinking that potatoes would be a better alternative... I don't plan on having them with every meal, just occasionally. I tried to "trick" him with cauliflower rice, but he didn't like it. You have got to understand, I live in a tiny town in Louisiana. People here don't eat healthy and the stores don't carry many healthy options. The only healthy things that they do have they really charge too much for! I lived in New Orleans for 8 years and it was much easier to eat healthier because they had a farmer's market, Whole Foods, and even at their local grocery stores they had huge veggie sections to get a lot of the things we needed. Here in Winnfield, There is no decent farmers market close by. The closest one is in the next town and it is more of a jam and jelly and homemade cookies type of affair. The only stores here to buy groceries are Wal-Mart and Brookshires which have tiny veggie sections. I'm not trying to complain, I am just trying to give you a picture of what I am working with. I am doing the best I can with what I have available to me. I am working on growing a garden, but that takes time and I haven't seen a harvest from that yet. I plan on growing lots of greens this fall! I have also started growing sprouts in jars inside so we can have that too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnottyMama Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 From my understanding, most paleo people will accept white rice and peeled white potatoes to add bulk and extra calories to meals for people who are very active and need extra carbs. The reason it is white rice and peeled potatoes is because it is the bran of the rice and the peel of the potato that contain the lectins and phytic acid that cause digestive and absorbancy issues for some people. Removing the peel and bran removes almost all of the harmful compounds, but leaves you with fairly simple carbohydrates that absorb quickly and give you a blood sugar spike, and then an insulin spike, which can lead to high cholesterol and hormone disruptions. What I might do is offer white rice and peeled potatoes to your kids, who are growing and eating like crazy and probably burning a lot of calories too, but you and your husband avoid them as much as possible. I thought brown rice was a healthier option? I am not eating it now on Whole30, but I was thinking about adding it back when we were finished to see how we do. I feel like with white rice I get bloated and feel more of a sugar rush than I do with brown rice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee Lee Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Depends on what you mean by "healthier." White Rice is pretty much 100% starch with nothing else going for it. Brown rice still has the bran and germ in it, which gives you some extra minerals and nutrients (fiber, etc)...but those things are also what hold all the anti-nutrients that can be inflammatory. If you're going to eat rice (after your Whole30) for a cheap calorie/carb source, going with white rice is going to be least problematic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlaccini Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 KM - Does your Walmart and Brookshires have a frozen food section? There may be some plain frozen broccoli, mixed veggie or green bean options there. Although I have found that sometimes (depending on the city) that they will not have great options here as well only having frozen veggies with butter sauce or the blends with pasta in them. But double check and see what you have to work with. If you are able to grow a garden - that can help supplement. Essentially do the best with what you've got. Would you have access to a CSA possibly? A lot of CSA's will deliver a bundle of fresh veg to your door once/twice a week. You can google to see what might be available in your area. If it is small town I have my doubts but you can always see..... Could you possibly gather some friends together and plan a big shopping excursion to the nearest big town/city? We have a tendency on doing that for clothes and such so why not for food? Of course, being from Canada (and I was only in New Orleans once) I do not know how remote your area is. But I am originally from a fairly small town myself so I do know it carries limitations. I'm just trying to throw around some ideas for you to think about..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megmac Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Don't forget about Amazon! I buy all my coconut milk, coconut oil, coconut butter there. It's WAY cheaper and so far I've always gotten free shipping on my order (I do not have Prime). I have a friend who buys almost ALL of her pantry items that way, and it works out really well for that kind of stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnottyMama Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 Depends on what you mean by "healthier." White Rice is pretty much 100% starch with nothing else going for it. Brown rice still has the bran and germ in it, which gives you some extra minerals and nutrients (fiber, etc)...but those things are also what hold all the anti-nutrients that can be inflammatory. If you're going to eat rice (after your Whole30) for a cheap calorie/carb source, going with white rice is going to be least problematic. Hmm, I am learning all kinds of new stuff with this. My hubby will be happy, he doesn't like brown rice. Although, I don't know if I feel good going back to white rice because he kind of has an addiction to it. He wants it with every meal. That is part of why I wanted to do the Whole30. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnottyMama Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 KM - Does your Walmart and Brookshires have a frozen food section? There may be some plain frozen broccoli, mixed veggie or green bean options there. Although I have found that sometimes (depending on the city) that they will not have great options here as well only having frozen veggies with butter sauce or the blends with pasta in them. But double check and see what you have to work with. If you are able to grow a garden - that can help supplement. Essentially do the best with what you've got. Would you have access to a CSA possibly? A lot of CSA's will deliver a bundle of fresh veg to your door once/twice a week. You can google to see what might be available in your area. If it is small town I have my doubts but you can always see..... Could you possibly gather some friends together and plan a big shopping excursion to the nearest big town/city? We have a tendency on doing that for clothes and such so why not for food? Of course, being from Canada (and I was only in New Orleans once) I do not know how remote your area is. But I am originally from a fairly small town myself so I do know it carries limitations. I'm just trying to throw around some ideas for you to think about..... Yep, we do have a decent frozen veggie section. I just think I have been over-thinking all of this. My diet before the Whole30 wasn't dramatically different from what it is on the Whole30. I did eat corn, rice, potatoes, and cheese, no processed food, no gluten, no soy. When I switched to Whole30 I began trying to buy more organic/ clean items and I think that is where all the extra cost is coming from. Also, I realized today that a huge expense for us right now is bottled water. We used to have a filter on our fridge and wouid just drink out of that. Since we moved to Winnfield, we have had to buy 100% of our drinking water because the water comes out of the tap BROWN. I don't even feel safe drinking it after its been through a brita filter or anything like that. Its gross! So that is one grocery expense that we have that has nothing to do with Whole30, but it is still something we have to buy. We have only lived here for about 6 months after moving around for a while. I don't think there are any CSA's around here. You would think in a rural area there would be more farms, but they are all pretty far from us. We are hoping to move to a bigger city (Shreveport) soon because I have family there. This is just temporary. When I do go to Shreveport, I do stock up on stuff. Sorry to vent so much about my life! Thanks for all the great suggestions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnottyMama Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 Of course, being from Canada (and I was only in New Orleans once) I do not know how remote your area is. But I am originally from a fairly small town myself so I do know it carries limitations. I'm just trying to throw around some ideas for you to think about..... I don't live in New Orleans anymore, if I did, that would eliminate most of my small town problems! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Re: water. Do you buy individual bottles or are you able to buy larger quantities? I know our Walmarts and grocery stores have the option of filling larger containers with clean water. We can also buy 1, 3, or 5 gallon containers of water. This may save a bit. As for your potatoes, I'm pretty sure they will last 30 days. Maybe you can find other root veggies to fill in some of the gaps. I recently read a long thread about money saving tips and root veggies were discussed. Today, I made a puree of rutabaga, parsnip, carrot, and sweet potato. I had never had rutabaga or parsnip before W30. Two more things: 1. There are is a shopping guide that describes how to plan and shop on a budget. 2. I commend you for doing this with your family. You can follow every rule except for one and you will see benefits (but it won't be a Whole30). Finding a way to do an actual Whole30 will be of the most benefit, if that is something you can make happen. If your budget requires you to eat potatoes this week and re-group, are you able to use this is practice and extend the 30 days by a week or so? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnottyMama Posted July 17, 2013 Author Share Posted July 17, 2013 Re: water. Do you buy individual bottles or are you able to buy larger quantities? I know our Walmarts and grocery stores have the option of filling larger containers with clean water. We can also buy 1, 3, or 5 gallon containers of water. This may save a bit. As for your potatoes, I'm pretty sure they will last 30 days. Maybe you can find other root veggies to fill in some of the gaps. I recently read a long thread about money saving tips and root veggies were discussed. Today, I made a puree of rutabaga, parsnip, carrot, and sweet potato. I had never had rutabaga or parsnip before W30. Two more things: 1. There are is a shopping guide that describes how to plan and shop on a budget. 2. I commend you for doing this with your family. You can follow every rule except for one and you will see benefits (but it won't be a Whole30). Finding a way to do an actual Whole30 will be of the most benefit, if that is something you can make happen. If your budget requires you to eat potatoes this week and re-group, are you able to use this is practice and extend the 30 days by a week or so? With the water, my dh prefers the individual bottles of water so thats what we get. I tried to get him to switch but he didn't like it. I have been buying the one gallon bottles in addition to help that stretch a little. I didn't see the shopping guide and I have done a search on this site for budget ideas. If you can, would you mind posting a link to it, please? I was already thinking that this week may just be a practice week for us. Or I may just stick to the Whole30 since I have already started it and let the rest of my family pretty much do the Whole30 but just let them eat the potatoes. I haven't eaten any. I think one thing really threw me into shock was the cost of the meat. I was trying to buy cleaner meat options for the Whole30, but it was way more than I was used to paying. I typically buy the least expensive that I can get. I do usually buy lots of veggies, but I also supplement our diet with grains like rice or quinoa, beans, potatoes, and corn meal. For the past 3-4 years I have cut gluten and processed food from my diet (with the occasional slip), and I have been soy free and 80% dairy free (compared to my previous diet) for about 2 years. Taking away all the grains and starches really threw me for a loop because I have really relied on them to fill all of our tummies It was overwhelming years ago when I decided to take away gluten and processed foods, but I figured that out. I know I will get this too, I just have a bit of a learning curve Thanks everyone for all of the great suggestions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GFChris Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Here's a recent thread of feeding a large family on a budget: http://forum.whole9life.com/topic/11711-feeding-a-family-of-5-on-a-budgetneed-suggestions/?hl=budget Here's the Whole30 shopping list: http://whole9life.com/book/ISWF-Shopping-List.pdf If you can't swing grass-fed meat all the time, go for the leanest cuts you can find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Here is the link I was thinking of and another thread I read a few days ago. http://whole9life.com/book/ISWF-Grocery-Shopping.pdf http://forum.whole9life.com/topic/9559-spending-way-too-much-on-groceries/?hl=cost#entry95991 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnottyMama Posted July 17, 2013 Author Share Posted July 17, 2013 Ok, great! I will definitely read those! I think you all have convinced me to nix the potatoes. I am going to use this week as a learning week and officially start this weekend because I will do my shopping on Friday. Today I ate some homemade cashew mayo (I made for dh before W30) and I forgot that it has a little honey in it. So, back to square one. I guess we will be eating lots of potatoes tomorrow! lol I have thought of some ideas that I wanted to get your opinions on. My kids and I go through 1-2 dozen eggs per meal, so I am trying to think of other inexpensive choices so we can have some variety and I don't have to keep 12 dozen eggs in my fridge every week. (dh has been reacting to eggs so I have been making him porkchops and kale for breakfast) I saw a recipe on a paleo blog where a lady made a "porridge" out of sweet potatoes. I like that idea but of course it included eggs, so if I use nuts for the protein would that still be W30 compliant? Does it need to be a meat protein for every meal? I was also thinking I could change it up some mornings and use canned pumpkin or butternut squash. I think I may start making frittatas for breakfast too. A couple of things I have noticed this week is that we have been very hungry this week. I researched this site and realized that we are not getting enough fat. Today I added more olive oil at breakfast and lunch and then olives for supper and I think that helped a lot. I am thinking that it will help a lot with the amount of food we eat next week too. I am having a hard time getting my dh and my son (5) to eat more veggies. I put them on the plate, but after dinner the veggies are still sitting there on the plate. I asked dh what veggies he likes and he told me french cut green beans and corn. I know corn is out, but the only french cut green beans I can find are canned. Is that ok? I have been just using fresh or frozen veggies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee Lee Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 Nuts aren't considered a protein source, they are a fat source. If you're going to do those sweet potato porridges, I think it's important to get a real protein in. I like hashes, because you cover all your bases. Ground whatever, onions, peppers, spices and shredded sweet potatoes. Just throw it all in a pan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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