Larabars - When to eat?

[kirkor]

I used a boiled egg as an example (of being less than ideal) because, for ME, I'd only be eating it to sort of "choke it down" to stay compliant with W30. 

...

I can eat a Larabar as a fuel source without it feeling like a candy bar or it setting off a sugar craving.

 

The question then becomes why one has negative associations with the egg (or other fully-endorsed food) and positive associations with the Larabar.

W30 is also about improving our relationship with food

The argument could be made that, in these situations, it would behoove the person to improve their relationship with non-convenience-type food (including the processes that led up to being in need of food on the go).

[AmyS]

First off, I do want to reiterate that while you are doing a Whole30 we ask you to regard Larabars specifically as emergency food, rather than planned-for food. That doesn't mean they are out, but it does mean that we ask you to consider what else you might take along (when you have time to plan food to take) that would more closely fit the meal template of protein/fat/veg.

 

However, the point cinagain made is valid, and it took me back to my first Whole30. I remember asking myself if, for instance, that fruit I was eating at that moment was pushing vegetables off my plate. I would pretty much always answer "Um, NO, it's pushing those barbecue chips off my plate." So the banana was a much better choice. Also, they grow near my house, so YUM.

 

The overall point of this is that if you're asking how best to plan for meals at home and on the go, we in turn ask you to consider the meal template of protein/fat/vegetables and do your best at the time to incorporate those elements into your meals.  BUT it's entirely possible to do a compliant Whole30 without making your meals according to the template, and as cinagain points out, part of this is where you are on your food journey. Another personal example - I now recommend that folks eat their meal 1 within an hour of waking, as per Whol30 recommendations. But for me, that journey took over a year. I just couldn't wrap my brain around the concept.

 

These are personal examples of course and not instructive of what any other person should do - but we do ask you to look at what Whole30 is, look at your context, and make your best food choices within Whole30 compliance. And you never know, you could end up hanging around the place so much that they give up and make you a moderator.

[cinagain]

Kirkor, I don't agree.  I don't like the texture of boiled eggs.  I enjoy my scrambled eggs, but only with compliant sausage and sautéed veggies...otherwise, they are too "bouncy."  It's a texture thing...NOT a negative connotation.  Same with a Larabar.  Larabar doesn't have any particularly positive associations with it.  It's just dates and whatever else...so not only is it NOT some "special trigger" food, it's not a "feel happy, eat for the mood" type thing.

 

Your post kind of emphasizes how some people take things too seriously sometimes...so, in a real sense, instead of the journey being about a moderate and healthy approach to food, it becomes something "more."

 

For me, I don't like boiled eggs.  Making myself eat one to more perfectly follow W30 would be going down the UNhealthy relationship with food path.  Yes, one could say that the BEST thing is to plan ahead and never need emergency food...but again, is that really living life?  You're going to have days where you simply do NOT want food to be the first and last thing you think about, or you have an afternoon where you're playing in the park with your children instead of going to the grocery store.  There are all sorts of GOOD reasons why you can simply run out of time to plan ahead and be prepared...because it is, after all, a choice between a boiled egg in a baggie and a Larabar. 

 

It's like being on fitness boards where someone says "If you didn't get in your workout, you're a failure!  You should have planned better!  Worked through the pain!  Gotten out of bed sooner!  Something!  Anything!"  But sometimes, the healthier thing is to NOT work out.