Too much food??

[nursleshunt]

I just started Whole 30 yesterday and I am having a hard time with the amount of food to eat at meals and which snacks to eat as well. I know the book discourages eating too many snacks and encourages eating more at meals but how much to too much food? I have been on Weight Watchers on and off (because of pregnancies) since 2010, so my WW trained brain is having a hard time with eating more at meals and some of the snacks (like nuts. They are a lot of WW pts for a small amount). Does everyone eat a serving size or just enough at meals to make you feel full??

[QuilterInVA]

For optimum results follow the meal template for every meal and ditch the snacks. We are NOT encouraged to snack on nuts. Nuts can be used as part of meal such as on a salad.  If steamed fish and broccoli sound good to you and you are really hungry and not feeding the snack habit, have a snack but it should include at least 2 of the meal template components. Right now your hormones are probably out of whack and eating proper meals will get them back to optimum. Forget WW Points. We do not weigh, measure, count points or calories. We eat healthy meals of 1-2 palms of protein + 1-3 cups of vegetables (aim for 3) and 1-2 thumbs of fat. You forget that you are no longer eating grains and they had a ton of WW points. 

[ShannonM816]

Hi, nursleshunt.

 

Whole30 is definitely very different than Weight Watchers, and it can be a little hard to wrap your head around what we're asking you to do, since it's counter to what WW encourages.

 

Here's the deal -- ideally, your meals will keep you satisfied for 4-5 hours. To do that, they really do have to be fairly large, and contain a mix of protein, fat, and vegetables, in amounts that match the meal template. Having three meals like this allows time for your food to work its way through your digestive system, and then allows it a little time to rest before you eat your next meal. (For more on this and the reasoning behind the rest of the rules on Whole30, I'd really recommend finding a copy of It Starts With Food.)

 

Ideally, you won't need snacks, but if you are truly hungry (the usual test is, would you eat something fairly bland and boring like steamed fish and broccoli?), then it's okay to eat. We'd encourage you to have a mini meal of protein, fat, and vegetables, or at least two of the three. If you're consistently needing snacks every day because you're not able to go 4-5 hours between meals, you need to look at making your meals bigger. If you have long enough days that even eating every 4-5 hours, you need a fourth meal, it's fine to have one -- some people who work long shifts find they need at least a mini meal every day, or possibly a full meal.

 

You never have to eat nuts, they are a fat source for Whole30 purposes, and there are plenty of other, better fat sources like olives, avocadoes, coconut, different oils (and the sauces/dips/dressings you can make from them). Nuts are often a food with no brakes for people (meaning they can't stop eating them once they start, or they easily overeat them without realizing), they don't have a great omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, and for many people they cause digestive problems if they eat very many of them at a time. Obviously, all fat sources tend to be high in calories for their size, because they're fat sources -- that's okay, don't worry about it, you need healthy fats. The meal template I linked to tells you serving sizes for different fat sources -- pick one or two at every meal.

 

If you're ever not sure if you've got your meals right, feel free to post in the Troubleshooting part of the forum what you've been eating, along with approximate portion sizes, your water intake, exercise, and sleep, and we can give you some feedback on what you're doing right or wrong.