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Not getting hangover/rest of timeline?


LemhiRG

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After reading the "timeline" for Whole30 emotions/feelings: http://whole9life.co...ole30-timeline/, I expected to get a few of these. However, I haven't gotten many at all. I'm on day 5.

No hangover. No "kill all the things!" No overwhelming exhaustion. No carb flu.

At first I thought "awesome!" and then I immediately started to wonder if that means I'm doing it wrong. I had a pretty healthy diet going in. I've felt low on energy, and had an hour long headache midweek, and have horrible breath (ha!) but that's been it.

Am I failing at Whole30?

Thought it might help to include my food by day:

  • Brunch: hardboiled eggs, kalamata olives, carrots, fruit leather
  • Afternoon snack: apple
  • Dinner: chicken, green salad with carrots and avocado dressing, mash of cauliflower/buternut squash/pumpkin and coconut milk (steam all veggies, blend with coconut milk using immersion blender, spice to taste)

  • Breakfast: black tea, applesauce/pumpkin/coconut milk/frozen berry smoothie, hardboiled eggs
  • Lunch: chicken, green salad with radish, tomato and avocado dressing, carrots, apple
  • Dinner: chicken soup (homemade chicken broth, chicken, butternut squash, sweet potato, carrot, curry spice), kalamata olives, pistachios

  • Breakfast: applesauce/pumpkin/melon/coconut milk smoothie, hardboiled eggs with avocado
  • Lunch: salad with pork/radish/tomato/cauliflower and avocado dressing, slice of melon, pistachios
  • Dinner: chili (base of pureed cauliflower/butternut squash/pumpkin, then peppers, onion, ground beef, tomato, sweet potato and zucchini), fruit leather, sweet potato chips

  • Breakfast: hardboiled eggs seasoned with garlic
  • Lunch: leftover chili from last night's dinner, carrots, guacamole salsa with tomato and garlic
  • ​Snack:​ pistachios, fruit smoothie
  • ​Dinner: chicken and beef with fajita spices, salad with vegetables and homemade mustard dressing, homemade guacamole salsa

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Hi Renee - the fruit leather I made myself, and the smoothies are mostly veg (heavy on the pumpkin) with just a little fruit (with the exception of yesterday).

But besides having "too many smoothies," that wouldn't cause things to "not be working," would it? I'm below two servings of fruit a day.

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I didn't say that things aren't working for you. The timeline fits for the majority of people, but not everybody.

The fruit leather and the smoothies are still missing the spirit of the program, though. If you aren't getting any carb withdrawals, it's either because you didn't eat many pre W30, or because of the insulin spike/blood sugar spike from the smoothies and leather.

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Whole30 is so wonderful and specific. No smoothies and no fruit leather. No matter who made the fruit leather. Just a sugary snacky thing. Just try doing it as written. Smoothies are not a part of the Whole 30 so there you go. Just abstain.. :)

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I understand that smoothies aren't in the "spirit" of Whole30, but the ingredients certainly are. If it was a kale/pumpkin/coconut milk smoothie, I wonder if I'd have gotten the same reaction? I don't see how blending the food makes it any less acceptable then putting it in a stiryfry.

In the comments here, Melissa even says smoothies are ok as long as they are vegetable driven and eaten with, not in place of, solid food.

I understand tough love, but the plan isn't actually as specific as you are making it sound.

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Lemhi, I think you've got some selection bias going on here. Melissa and Dallas have never and will never tell you that smoothies are better than real food, regardless of what's in them. I believe that your interpretation of Melissa's comment is incorrect. It's all about context. That poster made no mention of the W30. M did not give the thumbs up to W30 participants to go crazy with smoothies. The question was, "I know this is not ideal. Given that this is not ideal, how bad is it?" Her answer was, "It's not awful. you could do worse." Our goal here on this forum is to tell you what is ideal. Smoothies are not.

The program discourages smoothies because even with perfect ingredients, they violate the Good Food Principles; mainly that they do not support a healthy hormonal response. Liquid food isn't processed the same as whole foods. It doesn't send off signals of satiety like ghrelin and leptin. It is absorbed a lot more quickly than solid food, which means a faster blood sugar/insulin spike, which is something we are trying to avoid.

Additionally, it allows you to take in more fruit/veggies/etc than you would practically be able to if you ate it whole. You have to remember that even though [X] is good, but MORE of [X] is not necessarily better. Excessive amounts of raw kale, collards or other cruciferous veggies is A LOT, and can suppress thyroid function. This doesn't mean "don't eat kale," this means, "be careful of how much raw kale you're taking in and vary your sources of greens...especially when you can juice 6 cups of raw kale into an 8oz glass."

So, would we say the same thing if you had made a bunch of kale smoothies? YES, because it still violates the contraints of the W30. If you want to keep them in afterwards, go for it...or keep them in and keep doing what you're doing. You came here to ask why you weren't following the timeline. The answer is either you're one of the lucky ones that doesn't go through the normal chain of emotions, or your smoothies are holding you back. It's your call what to do with that information.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's the thing (and this is an interesting discussion)... there are Whole30 "rules," which are strict, clearly outlined, and very well defined. No grains - and here are all the things we consider grains. No dairy - and here are all the dairy items excluded. No Paleo-fied food choices, and here's what those look like.

Then, there are Whole30 suggestions for success. They're not part of the official rules, but they're things that we've seen really help (or harm) people as they move through the program. Fruit smoothies for breakfast - not a good idea. Skipping breakfast - not a good idea. Eating every two hours, all day - not a good idea. These things won't necessarily affect your Whole30 results (although they might), but if we can give you additional suggestions that will make your transition and your program easier and more effective, we're going to give them to you.

Of course, you're all big boys and girls, and you can choose to modify the program in any way you wish - including ignoring our well-intentioned suggestions for success. You won't get any judgment or scorn from us if you choose to indulge in smoothies, keep eating your almond flour pancakes, or step on the scale once a week - but if you complain that the program didn't work for you, we'll not be shy about telling you why.

So, are smoothies the worst thing you could eat? Of course not. Might they be a healthy addition to an already healthy Whole30 program (like if you use them to get in extra veggies, on top of the ones you're already eating)? Sure thing. But in our experience, in general, liquid food is never your healthiest option, and that's the best suggestion for success we can give you on the subject.

Appreciate the dialogue here, folks!

Melissa

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