Final Stretch Cravings/Bad to Crave Healthy Foods?

[Mattyo3000]

I'm on Day 23 and feeling good overall.  My clothes are definitely looser and I indeed have more energy.  However, I definitely feel like I'm lacking some variety in food choices and really can't wait to have the luxury of going out for a meal!  (My wife is looking forward to that too!)  To be honest, I think that my cravings have crept up on me over the last three weeks.  I started really strong and-- to this day-- have eaten completely Whole30 compliantly.  Oddly, the first two weeks were not bad for me at all.  It's these final 10 days that have me really looking forward to finishing the program, mainly to mix up my food options!!

 

And really, the things I'm craving aren't even sugary junk foods.  I could care less about having ice cream next week.  Pizza... whatever.  But some of the things I'm looking forward to the MOST are Fage nonfat Greek yogurt with breakfast.  A few slices of Ezekiel toast.  Some brown rice with a stir fry.  A warm lentil soup.

 

So here's my question: is it such a bad thing to crave foods that are actually good for you?

[amberino21]

Are the foods you're craving good for you?

They've been eliminated from the whole 30 program for a reason - that suggests they could possibly not be the best choices for a healthy body.

You may personally not feel affected by eating these foods, but many people do - the benefit of the reintro plan is to determine whether these foods are something you want to include in your diet. Id suggest doing reintros - dairy, gluten and non gluten grains, sugar, legumes etc to discover what works for you. You may find that they aren't as nice as you originally thought, or cause unpleasant reactions that aren't negated by the pleasure of eating the food.

[melbournegirl]

I threw out all my wholegrains the week after I completed my first whole30, I realised I no longer wanted them. I kept my brown rice flour thinking I might want to use it for pancakes, it was 9 months before I used some!

It is normal to get extinction burst cravings around day 23, so you may not crave these foods after day30.

Non fat Greek yoghurt, grains and lentils aren't good for you. You may tolerate them okay (I don't) but they won't increase your health.

[Tom Denham]

I had eaten more variety of foods by the time I got to the end of 30 days than I had eaten in the previous year. I started looking at every vegetable in the grocery store and figuring out how to cook them, which led to me trying dozens of new things. And I did the same thing over at the meat case, eating lamb, bison, duck, and rabbit for the first time in my life. 

 

I did my first Whole30 about 4 years ago and finally got around to eating pizza a few weeks ago. Not Pizza Hut pizza, but authentic wood-fired Neapolitan style pizza at a new place near my house. Honestly, it was good and I went back and ate another one week later. The pizza is not going to become a regular in my life, but I did not suffer any symptoms from eating it and may eat one occasionally. But for me, I've read enough of the science to know that there is nothing health promoting about grains or cheese or anything else that the Whole30 bans. And I know how valuable our food is to giving our bodies the building blocks they need to be healthy. I am simply unwilling to deprive myself of health-promoting foods very often by eating things that taste good, but do not help my body be better. 

[Robin Strathdee]

Your original post reminds me so much of this section of the Timeline:

 

(Interlude) Day 21: I am so over this.

You've solidly settled into week three of the program at this point. Your clothes fit better; your skin is clearer; your inner awesomeness is shining through. But despite the many benefits you're seeing, you went to bed last night dreading the thought of breakfast. You weren't much more excited about it this morning, either. Come to think of it, you're not thrilled with any of your meal options right now.  In fact, if Iron Chef Bobby Flay were to walk into your kitchen right now and offer to cook you any Whole30 compliant meal you wanted, you're not even sure you could think of one. Just about anything sounds like more fun than sitting down to a big plate of Whole30 grub.  You're loving the way your body is responding to the program, but you're just not sure if you can make it through 9 more days. And if you see even one more egg, you are going to scream.

Somewhere in the third week of the program, serious food boredom sets in. For some folks, it gets so overwhelming that they lose their appetite altogether for a few days. Don't let the food fatigue overtake you – plan ahead! Get to work in week two and hunt down some new recipes to keep the fire burning! Find inspiration from our recent meal plan round-up, cruise the Whole30 section of Chowstalker or The Foodie, or pick up a new cookbook (like Well Fed 2…wink wink, nudge nudge). Find some exotic produce in the grocery store, try some exotic recipes – do whatever you can to get over this little speed bump. Being bored and hungry is just a recipe for disaster, and this, too, shall pass.

 

- See more at: http://whole9life.com/2013/08/revised-timeline/#sthash.Y79xvbH8.dpuf

[Farrah]

Thank you for posting this Robin, as it is completely where I am at. Day 21 and I AM SO OVER It. haha