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prevalence of post-W30 binging?


kirkor

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I came across this blog entry -- http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/2012/09/whole-30-wrap-up.html -- and lot of the phrases (and emotion behind them) really jumped out at me:

...It felt like punishment to me in many ways.

...a lifetime of shame and ridicule from the superior people that CAN do the Whole 30

...the Whole 30 actually made it harder for me

...I might have totally gone off the wagon and spiraled out of control

 

Clearly, the intended psychological benefits of W30 did not work for this person.

I wonder how many people complete a W30 and just go in the complete opposite direction, nutrition-wise?  Or quit early and end up eating even worse than they did on Day 1?

I know a lot of people come on the forum and are quite gung ho in the beginning, and then we never hear any followup.  Some people come back and update their struggles, but I bet the majority "stay away" because of perceived peer pressure and other reasons.  Many times more people probably undertake a W30 without ever posting online about it, and either throw in the towel or, if they complete it, feel let down or disillusioned or something afterwards.

 

With the black-and-white, the-rules-are-the-rules, comply-or-fail aspect of the W30, perhaps for some segment of the population there is the danger of the stereotypical 'diet yo-yo'?  If people approach the W30 looking for a quick fix, if these same people have also tried the hollywood cabbage soup diet, or raspberry ketones, or whatever other miracle cure Dr. Oz and Oprah are pushing, perhaps they were "doomed" from the start because they never had the right frame of mind in the first place?

 

We've talked in other threads about how people have begun a W30 from a whole spectrum of eating frameworks: from tradition SADs of McDonald's and pizza to "pert near" compliant paleoness.  The results one gets don't seem to be correlated with where one begins, but instead are quite subjective depending on a person's physiology, psychology, and degree of adherence with the spirit of the program as well as the text.

 

I for one think tiger blood is oversold (plus I can't stand being reminded of Charlie Sheen's madness all the time), but I do understand why people who have had dramatic life-changing results with the W30 protocol want to evangelicize and help others help themselves.

 

This is all pretty rambling, but I figured it'd make good "coffee talk" for us here on the forum ---

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"Talk amongst yourselves"

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Thinkity....very thinkity.

 

If you fix the head, the body will follow.  I believe it begins and ends with the head.  If you're not engaging your brain as you tick off the days, I  do see copious amounts of bingeing after 30 days.  Then there is guilt and an immediate return to another Whole 30.  Some have never read the book or thoroughly looked over all of the Manifestos that have been written.   

 

I gave my sister the book and she's like me...she wanted to read every page, the rules, shopping list, all of the micro minutiae before she began her Whole 30.   I like reading all of the Whole 9 posts from the very beginning of the Whole 30.   I liked the tough language and cutting straight to the chase.    No bending, no wiggle room....ahhh, I like kickin' it old school.

 

I go back there now and I read all of it.   I like the Slow Roll Reintro, that's my style.

 

I think this is where some are going off the rails, they don't believe they need a reintro.  They're motivated by feelings and not thinking about the long haul.    Miss Mary said she would rather have a compliant Whole 30  with less focus on "weight loss" than lose 20 lbs and have every single one of them show back up with "more friends".     Ohh, ain't that the truth.

 

Rebound weight gain with "friends".   The psyche, intellect, mind,  true inner being is such a huge part of this....if you don't engage the brain along the way - you'll be back at Groundhog Day before you know it.   Sonny and Cher will be singing, "put your little hands in mine" and you'll back at square one before your eyes open in the morning.

 

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I think you're right, and part of it is the language used "I wonder how many people complete a W30 and..." from your post even. If the reintroduction isn't used, the gained knowledge isn't applied, it is just another crash diet. Even if the food is better than most crash diets. 

At the end of your 30 days, you aren't done, and some of the language makes it seem like you are finished, which probably emphasises the feelings of "shame ... from the superior people that CAN do the Whole 30"

 

Just musings

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Just me, but W30 has helped me a TON with binging.  I didn't get the physical benefits I hoped for, but I'm still here a year and a half later because I got some unexpected mental benefits.  I've found a way to make the W30 guidelines sustainable for me and it has helped me get to a calm place regarding food.  I don't think about it as much as I used to.  I don't count calories in my head all day long.  I don't try to exercise off those calores.  I don't weigh and measure my food.  I still slip up, but my binges are much less and farther between than they were and, when they happen, are often carrots and almond butter instead of cereal or candy.  And with that, I don't have the vicious cycle of obsessing about food and then obsessing about the guilt over eating too much or eating what I didn't want myself to eat.  All of that mental energy can be spent somewhere else.  I hang out here and post often just to keep reminding myself to stay in that calm place and because I like the people and because while I'm striving for calm, I still do think about food and it helps to have a place to put my thoughts down.  But, it's not angst ridden.  It's just calm observations.  Most of the time. :) 

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I work in marketing and advertising so as a general rule, i am always extremely skeptical of anything anyone tries to sell me on.  Health, fitness and nutrition is one of those markets where your target audience is already primed and ready to drink whatever kool-aid you want to sell them on; it really is a marketers dream.  You have overweight people that want to lose weight, you have sick people that want to feel better, you have the fitness junkies that will jump on the latest trend whether it's been tested or not.  All these people have one thing in common, they all WANT to be sold on the latest and greated miracle or cure.  It's like shooting fish in a barrel.  The problem with the majority of these people is that they want the easy solution, the miracle, the quick weight loss, the quick cure, the six pack abs in a month.  So you see all these programs that promise these things and people jump at them!  It's almost funny to watch but at the same time sad and somewhat disgusting.

 

There are many marketing elements in Whole30 that leave a bad taste in my mouth.  For example, if you read through the book, you have all these testimoniols of people that have been cured miraculously of their lifetime ailments or the list they show of diseases that could be linked to your diet (lists pretty much every disease including infertility and schizophrenia.)  So i'm like, ok, slow your roll there Hartwigs.  Are you trying to help people or are you trying to give them false hope?!  Suuureeee, maybe my mom's schizophrenia is caused by her diet but you know what.... probably not.  These are the parts of the Whole30 that those people looking for hope or the quick cure SEE, this is what stands out to them... the marketing ploys and gimmicks.  Unfortunately, these are the most vulnerable people and those that are most likely to fail.

 

I like Whole30 and i think it is a solid program with some solid recommendations.  I also think, as the title of the book states, it starts with food.  I really like their recommendation to make yourself your own self experiment and the suggestion that we are all different.  I agree with all these things but you have to dig to find them.  I read the book, i'm sure most people that attempt this program have not read the book or the details or the why of what they are doing.  And then you have the moderators on this forum that strike down my questions regarding Kombucha with the zealousness of a islamic extremist responding to cartoon images of the prophet Mohamed.  Nothing is above reproach, not whole30, not kombucha.  Black and white?  I think not; I like to live in the gray...

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Interesting thoughts and ambling rambles. And an interesting read from IBreatheImHungry--I enjoy her blog. 

 

This is my 5th W30. @Santip80 I'm in marketing, too, and I will say that I was skeptical of much of the evangelization of the program participants--until I got into (and through) that first W30 and the lightbulb went off. Did I have all those monument moments? Well. I suppose to some degree I did (including the totally psychotic food dreams, but that is another story). 

 

@Kirkor, Have I stayed the course since? No! Not that I made a 180 at day 30 (or 45, or whatever it may have been during the re-intro period), but here and there, habits that are easier to sustain would creep back in. Not healthier, but easier. Skip this. Sugar that. Accept the office cakes. We are, ultimately, in a society that is founded on making our lives easier. But that does not make it synonymous with healthier lives. And that is, I think, where the roads need to diverge. At least for me.

 

I have to say, I never felt any kind of peer pressure or shame on the forums here. On only a few occasions I've seen perhaps more of a gung-ho sort of moderator or W30 alum--but that has been rare, and forgettable--and I understand and get they are trying to be helpful. 

 

Whole30 is simply a choice of how to eat--not a prison sentence. We hold the keys, and I don't personally see the shame in that. But I would agree on the Tiger Blood front--and the reference to Sheen! 

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I think you're right, and part of it is the language used "I wonder how many people complete a W30 and..." from your post even. If the reintroduction isn't used, the gained knowledge isn't applied, it is just another crash diet. Even if the food is better than most crash diets. 

At the end of your 30 days, you aren't done, and some of the language makes it seem like you are finished, which probably emphasises the feelings of "shame ... from the superior people that CAN do the Whole 30"

 

Just musings

Forego the reintro - waive, give up, eschew, cut out, refrain from gaining knowledge about yourself and it can be  a quick slippery slide right back into 'dietland'.    I don't see any superior people that can finish a Whole 30...I see motivated, dedicated and being brave enough to try again.

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I did have a "bingey" moment, but I will say that I was better able to handle it than I would have pre whole 30. Pre whole 30, I would have just resigned myself to eating that whole thing of ice cream, and would have had less awareness of the "addiction" component. Post whole 30, i did have more than one serving, but I put it away. I started to think "well, I'm addicted, and I really can't control myself.... " and then I had an epiphany. I just did a whole 30. I sure as hell CAN control myself! I walked away from HOW MANY sugary, tempting things in the past 30 days? Ummm.... a lot. So that ice cream has sat in the fridge now for three days, and I haven't devoured it. And I'm not going to. I tasted it. It was amazing. I know what it tastes like now. I also know that the day after eating said ice cream, I felt like I was recovering from the flu. So.... it's kind of like the calculations we make when we decide to drink. Do I have time to sleep in/sleep it off tomorrow? No? Then avoid. 

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