Preparing to start Whole30 - any hacks or suggestions??

[GretchenFromOdenton]

Hi everyone!  I am a 47 year old mother, wife, and corporate attorney.  Between work and my kids' sports, I have very little time.  I am starting Whole30 on April 1st.  Any suggestions or hacks to get me started?  Any hints for preparing for the journey??  Thanks!  Hoping this program addresses my (numerous) food issues!

[ladyshanny]

Morning Gretchen! We have tonnes of folks here with full, vibrant lives. Often you'll find the most communications in the group threads or the kids threads.

Our most common tip is to pre-cook and/or when you do cook, make extra. Like....twice or three times the amount you actually need. As far as suggestions, there's a wealth of info on the Whole30 site and you'll get lots of info by cruising around the forum.

As far as hacks and wanting to address your numerous food issues. Here's the direction I would go with that if it were me:

In my pre-Whole30 life I wait until the last minute to get out of bed before I have to get ready/prioritize everyone else's needs ahead of my own/never make a menu or grocery list/rely on my evening wine as reward for the day/blow off poor choices by saying I'll start tomorrow/use words like "deserve" to justify and rationalize bad choices. In order to address these issues I have with food, during my Whole30 I need to go in another direction entirely. Make a meal plan, grocery shop properly, say no to car pool/sports shuttle/last minute pickup game for the kids/overtime at work/being fundraising chair etc, so that I can prioritize my own needs for these 30 days. I need to remind myself that my goal is to make caring for myself well a priority and because I am going to put focussed attention on that, some other things may need to get back-burnered.

Do you see where I'm going with the story above? Instead of trying to hack the Whole30 to fit into the exact framework you're living now (which may not be working well for you), maybe consider that changing the framework is the key. Or, if you're using the word "hack" in a way that doesn't mean trying to find sneaky workarounds, then just ignore what I said above.