Please settle an argument for me!

[Laurathegoth]

"The meal template is a recommendation not a rule, fruit is just as healthy as vegetables and just as good a choice for a meal".

I disagree with this-but is it right? Am I wrong? I avoid fruit as it awakens my sugar dragon but I didn't think fruit counted as part of a meal and certainly shouldn't replace vegetables??

[Tom Denham]

The meal template is a recommendation and not a rule. People can ruin their Whole30 experience by ignoring it and still claim to have completed a Whole30.

 

Fruit is never as good a choice as veggies. The nutritional value of fruit is usually less than one half or even one third of the nutritional value of veggies. We warn people all the time never to let fruit push veggies off their plate. We make it clear that fruit should be limited to one or two servings per day and we are fine with fruit being absent. However, people have a right to erode the value of their Whole30s.

[kirkor]

If someone is looking to rationalize their excessive fruit consumption, or excessive snacking, or excessive non-template meal construction, or basically any time they are going to claim "but it's just a recommendation not a rule," then I think the argument is settled. That person has already made clear they want to do Whole30 in name only.

[LorieB55]

I've been using some fruit mixed in with the meals. Examples: I cooked a pork loin with apples, onions, and carrots. I toss blueberries or strawberries into spinach salad, made a pineapple/pepper chutney for grilled fish, oranges with chicken and cauliflower rice. That way we don't get stuck in the rut of thinking of fruit as "dessert." I hope that's following the spirit of W30.

[ShannonM816]

I've been using some fruit mixed in with the meals. Examples: I cooked a pork loin with apples, onions, and carrots. I toss blueberries or strawberries into spinach salad, made a pineapple/pepper chutney for grilled fish, oranges with chicken and cauliflower rice. That way we don't get stuck in the rut of thinking of fruit as "dessert." I hope that's following the spirit of W30.

Yes, this is a great way to use fruit. And to be clear, if you just really wanted an apple with a meal, not cooked with something or part of a salad, you just wanted an apple, that also is fine. There's nothing inherently bad about eating fruit, and Melissa has said that eating more fruit in the summer when so much is in season is pretty normal. It's when people are having just fruit at breakfast to replace sweet, carby cereals and donuts, or eating it when they're craving sweets, or thinking they don't have to eat their veggies if they have fruit, rather than trying to change those kinds of habits that they're just not going to get the very most out of their whole30. It may still be an improvement over their previous way of eating, but it's not the very best they could do if they'd really embrace all the recommendations.