This past weekend I sat in on a day long nutritional seminar presented by the folks behind Whole9Life.com. A lot of what was presented wasn’t new to me, but I came away with a much better understanding of how and why our body reacts in certain ways to certain foods. The Foundations seminar is something I’d recommend to anyone interested in learning more about paleo-based nutrition and how it fits into a modern lifestyle.

Whole 9 has developed the Whole30 program which is a 30-day nutritional reset, for lack of a better/more concise description. While far more strict than what we see elsewhere in the primal/paleo ecosystem, the ends justify the means. In conjuction with the strength cycle I kicked off today, I also started the Whole30 program. I’m not going to document everything I eat every day, but I will make notes when I think they’re appropriate or when a recipe comes up that I want to share. I’ll also leave tips for others jumping into their first Whole30 as well.

Day 1 Thoughts

My coach made a comment I appreciated this evening when I complained about the weights I chose for this 1st day of lifts (I should have gone heavier). He said that he always considers the first week of a cycle to be “week zero”. This pre-cycle week allows for some acclimation to the routine, choosing weights, etc. At the end of today, I feel like this first week of the Whole30 should actually be a week 0. I managed to eat within the boundaries of the program, but my planning for the day was poor and it ended up costing me time, stress, and money. I did a little bit of prep yesterday, but having a few more days to digest what I’d learned and what I would be jumping into would have been beneficial. My time throughout the day is incredibly limited, so anything that slows me down just isn’t going to work.

I’d recommend anyone starting their first Whole30 to set aside a week prior to the kick-off day and warm into the program. The idea is to get as close to compliance as you can, but as you work out the kinks, you don’t want to beat yourself up. Now, as Dallas and Melissa would say, this really isn’t that hard, and I’m not giving anyone an excuse to make a poor decision. I’m simply pointing out that it might take a couple days to get in the groove, and having that time to ramp up could prove useful to those who already foresee a struggle on the horizon. However: don’t take 3 weeks to ramp-up. The change needs to happen immediately, so don’t put it off because you’re “getting use to it.” Take a week; less if you can but definitely no more.

Catfish with Red Peppers, Tomato, and Sweet Onion

This one saved my ass tonight. Super easy, relatively cheap, very fast. Thanks to WholeLifeEating.com for that one. 

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