I need to GAIN WEIGHT

[bwp]

I have an overactive metabolism and have been eating very 'clean' for years; I keep losing weight. I am on Day 5 of my first Whole30. I am a female, in my mid-sixties, and my mother had the same problem: we both got thinner and thinner as we got older. Would love some good tips on how to GAIN WEIGHT!!! Thank You!!

[ShannonM816]

The tips in this article might help:  https://whole30.com/2013/12/keeping-weight-whole30/

In general, eat lots, and eat lots of calorie-dense things -- so starchy vegetables are your friend, because while leafy greens are definitely good for you, you'd have to eat truckloads to get any noticeable amount of calories from them. Be sure you're adding fat to every meal. 

[bwp]

Wow Shannon! Didn't expect such a speedy response!!! Thanks so much; I really appreciate you.

Did you see the 2 questions I asked a few days ago on Rice (hull) in good-quality supplements? And on Kombucha?

What love your input. 

[ShannonM816]

6 minutes ago, bwp said:

Wow Shannon! Didn't expect such a speedy response!!! Thanks so much; I really appreciate you.

Did you see the 2 questions I asked a few days ago on Rice (hull) in good-quality supplements? And on Kombucha?

What love your input. 

I had missed those -- I just answered the Garden of Life one (the rice makes it not okay), and someone else had answered the kombucha one, linking to the same article I would've linked you to. 

[bwp]

Thanks again! I didn't see the Kombucha reply; so it's a GO?

I just read the article you sent me: The Whole9 says to eat a lot of Tapioca! I used to make my own, many years ago; I never added gelatin as tapioca is enough. So, are tapioca flour and coconut flour allowed on Whole30?

[slc_melissa]

Coconut flour and tapioca flour are allowed, depending on their use. No recreating baked goods with them.

[ShannonM816]

Kombucha is fine as long as you don't add sugar to the second ferment.

It's not that they say to eat a lot of tapioca -- one of the recipes listed is a tapioca thing that would be compliant, although this is a place where you're going to have to consider your own context. It seems to be a pudding-like dish, and while it is one way to add calories, there are other ways, so if you find that this particular dish leaves you craving other sweets, or that you're using it to avoid eating savory foods, you'd want to limit that. You can make soups with sweet potato or pumpkin or butternut squash and cans of full fat coconut milk to get in calories, you can add whole avocadoes to your meal, or handfuls of olives, big dollops of mayo, focus on choosing fattier meats (salmon over white fish, skin-on chicken, fattier cuts of beef). Those recipes are one way to add calories, but the article listed others as well.

Here's what the Can I Have list says about those flours:  

Quote

Yes, you can have almond flour, coconut flour, tapioca flour, cassava flour and other non-grain-based flours, but it’s context-dependent. You can use it in place of breadcrumbs in your meatballs, to dredge a piece of chicken, or to thicken a sauce or stew.  You may not use it for Paleo baking—to make muffins, pancakes, bread, cupcakes, cookies, waffles, biscuits, tortillas, pizza crust, or anything of that nature. We call those recipes Sex With Your Pants On (SWYPO) foods, and they are expressly off-limits during your Whole30.