The Whole30 diet is basically a clean-eating regimen that gets devotees to adhere to a restrictive eating plan for a duration of 30 days. The point of Whole30 is two sided. First, this eating plan aims to simplify and clean up your diet *bye, bye sugar, caffeine, alcohol, white bread and pasta). Secondly, the Whole30 means to identify trigger foods that may be causing digestive issues, sleep problems, migraines, blood sugar spikes, and other negative health implications that will become apparent as you move through the 30 day elimination style meal plan.
When you commit to the Whole30 it may seem like you’re giving up a lot of foods you enjoy (i.e., beer, take out pizza, french fries, cake, etc.), but remember, it’s only meant to last 30 days. Let’s take a look at what foods you can’t eat on the Whole30 diet:
1. MSG and sulfites
The idea is to trim down the frequency you order Chinese takeout while sipping wine and binge watching Netflix on Saturday nights. MSG (or monosodium glutamate) is a common seasoning found in processed deli meat, fish, aged cheese, and fermented sauces. While sulfates are often found in high levels in wine, dried fruit, and pickled veggies.
2. Alcohol
The Whole30 has a strict no alcohol policy. So that means no beer, wine, sprits, or even vanilla extract during your 30 days. The idea behind this rule is that the above mentioned drinks are alcohol derived from fruit juices.
3. Grains
The Whole30 no-nos grains across the board. From wheat, bulgar, corn, rice, rye, millet, buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth, and even lowly sorghum, this is certainly low starch and even complex carbohydrate diet. It also starts to get dieters to substitute alternatives (i.e., white pizza crust for cauliflower crust) and so forth to make better overall eating decisions.
4. Real and artificial sugar
For your 30 days, you’ll also be asked to eliminate all real and artificial sources of sugar from your diet. On that list is white sugar, maple syrup, splenda, agave, stevia, and xylitol. This gets dieteres to start noticing added sugars in unsuspected places, like condiments, bottled sauces and salad dressing, and more.
5. Beans and legumes
Say bye, bye beans and legumes of any kind while you’re adhering to the Whole30 diet. This means everything from black to kidney beans, chickpeas, lentils, soybeans (i.e., soy sauce, miso, and tofu), as well as peas and peanuts.
6. Dairy
Dairy, like wheat and grains, is certainly a common source of digestive upset for many people. On the Whole30 you’ll be forsaking everything dairy (i.e., yogurt, ice cream, butter with an exception to ghee or clarified butter, cottage cheese and all cheese, sour cream, kefir, and cow’s milk and cream.
