Scared to go off whole30 and embrace food freedom

[Em41]

I'm just about to end my whole30 and find myself really nervous about life after the reintroduction phase without all of the guidelines to hold me accountable.  The book suggests to live "whole30-ish" forever but I just don't see that being a sustainable lifestyle with all of the cooking, cleaning, and limitations.  I'm really worried I'm slowly going to start going back to my old habits for convenience... thanks for your help and support!

[Amura]

I personally believe that the cooking and the cleaning are essential.
Might be bothersome, but essential nonetheless.
Because if you rely heavily on eating out and/or highly processed foods, it's way way harder to eat heathly (Whole30-ish or not).

On the "whole30-ish forever" subject, I recall the book mentions it as an option but I believe it's a very personal choice.
You may have noticed huge changes and are not ready to give up on the Whole30 as yet, so it's ok if you keep going, it's also ok if you decide to reintroduce just a few foods and otherwise stay whole30-ish... but it's also ok if you don't.

I personally did not notice any reaction to any type of food, so I don't see the point in keeping the strict limitations. BUT I've learned some things about how I eat, why I overeat, what triggers some bad habits, and I'm using all those lessons in my everyday food choices.
So, yeah, I eat diferently than I did before my Whole30, but I do not eat Whole30-ish at all. That's my food freedom, which may be completely different to everybody else.

And if we notice that we go back to old habits, we can always go back to what we know works well, hopefully learning a new lesson and changing yet another food-related habit.

That's the beauty of Whole30: it's fully customized.

[Angelia]

On ‎11‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 4:00 PM, Em41 said:

but I just don't see that being a sustainable lifestyle

I get that, I do.  But one thing I did not count on... IS ALL THE MONEY I'VE SAVED!!  I was online paying bills lately and I was rolling in cash!!!  I was afraid I'd forgotten to pay something important so I started to look through trends from the past few months v. earlier in the year and I'm spending much, much less on food.  I'm eating MORE, eating better, feeling better, losing weight very slowly and saving money.  It's phenomenal.  I also spend more time standing up and moving around the kitchen either in prep, cooking or clean-up instead of spending that time being sedentary looking at a screen.  For me personally, I haven't missed a single thing by reducing screen time.

I'm still mostly W30 except for sauces/condiments, breakfast meats, and wine.  OK, and the occasional REAL dessert.  But when I find myself slipping back into old habits, I take a W30 "break" for 4 - 5 days and go back 100%.  That's usually enough to make me behave again.