Happy Labor Day weekend! The August Whole30 has come to an end, and it’s safe to say that everyone who participated saw positive changes in their bodies, their habits, and their relationships with food. We want to send a big CONGRATULATIONS! to all of you who completed the program this month – as we say in It Starts With Food, you’ve already begun to change your life just by changing the food you put on your plate.
Many of you also became better acquainted with some of the more…unique…characteristics of a Whole30 participant. Our friends over on the Whole30 forum put together an incredible thread with a collection of the many ways you can tell someone is “doing the Whole30.” Here are some of the highlights (and a few others collected here and there). Sound familiar?
You Know Someone’s Doing a Whole30 When…
… they go to a restaurant and ask for a salad with no cheese, no dressing, no croutons, and no candied pecans.
… they walk into the sushi restaurant and tell the waiter, “What do you have that doesn’t contain soy, rice, or tempura?”
… they bring their own coconut aminos to sushi.
… they bring their own salad dressing to restaurants.
…people ask them out to dinner and they say, “Thanks, but I’d rather eat at home.”
…”grocery shopping” takes place at more than three locations in one day, and multiple times a week.
…grocery shopping takes an hour longer than usual, because of all the label-reading.
…they look forlornly at the bacon aisle, sigh, and then keep on walking.
…they check for sugar free bacon every time they go to the grocery store, even though they were just there two days ago and they didn’t have any.
… they are visibly disappointed to learn the pre-cooked shrimp at their grocery store seafood counter contains sodium tripolyphosphate.
…you see them in the sausage aisle saying, “Are you kidding me? Seriously? Who puts sugar in that?”
…they pay $4.99 for a small bag of dried cranberries for their salads, because they are sweetened with fruit juice instead of sugar.
…they know the origins of carageen, soy lecithin, citric acid, and guar gum.
…they have coconut milk, coconut flour, coconut oil, coconut wraps, coconut butter, coconut aminos, shredded coconut, and coconut flakes in their pantry.
…after spreading peanut butter on toast for their son, they don’t even lick their fingers.
…they hesitantly kiss their significant other who just ate a sandwich and drank a beer.
…their dogs take pills with almond butter instead of peanut butter.
…they buy four dozen eggs a week. For two people.
…they are angry if they see Paleo pancakes appearing on a “Whole30″ Pinterest board
…they know what “SWYPO” stands for.
… they realize coconut butter is totally legal, and dissolve into fits of joy.
…they go through an entire batch of homemade mayo in under a week.
…they cheerfully have four cooking projects underway at 7:30 on a Saturday morning.
…they ran the dishwasher three times on Sunday and still washed several mountains of pots and pans.
… they go to the doctor and refuse to get on the scale.
And finally, our special bonus entry:
…they have this conversation with the Trader Joe’s cashier:
Me: Do you have Larabars?
Cashier: Yes, many kinds. Do you want me to hold your place in line while you run over?
Me: No. Thank you, but I can’t have them right now.
Cashier: But they’re just fruit and nuts
Me: I know, but I have an unhealthy psychological relationship with them.
Cashier: But they’re just fruit and nuts…
How can YOU tell when someone’s doing a Whole30?
Add your own fun observations in the comments below! (And welcome to all who have started their September Whole30. Some of these may already sound way too familiar…)
… Your puzzle making skills vastly improve due to having to get all you veggies in the fridge after shopping.
Cheers
DJ
You have to go to the co-op to buy canned tomatoes because you can’t eat any of the ones at the regular grocery store.
Happy Hour is 5-7 AM…
DJ: I can relate! We call it “freezer tetris” what with all the frozen chickens, beef parts, and organ meats we have stored in ours.
Melissa
*When co-workers ask you if you want chocolate and then quickly pull it back saying…”Oh, that’s right, your not DOING sugar”, and you’re totally ok with that.
* When you evening glass of wine is replaced with a glass of CALM…in a wine glass. (You know, cuz’ I’m fancy)
* When you eat more fat with your breakfast than the yoplait-slurpers have all day.
*When people look longingly at your homemade lunches as they heat a tray of food-like things in a tray in the microwave
*When you need to reign in your, sometimes overzealous, love of the Whole30 and remind yourself that this is YOUR journey. If people want to know they’ll ask, and they usually do when they see how good you look and how happy you are.
There’s just a few.
These are hilarious! We, too, are often “fancy” in our house.
You blog every day about what you’re eating!
What does SWYPO stand for, I finished my w30 in August and did not use this acronym!
got it.. sex with your pants on, cute
Ha! We have experienced the “coconut invasion” before… one time we were out of all of our coconut products in the same week. Dave does the grocery shopping, so when he was going through check out, the cashier kept eyeing all of the products. She finally asked him, “Is your wife from Thailand or something?” He laughed so hard at that, and couldn’t wait to get home to tell me!
you buy organic sweet potato baby food (even though your ‘baby’ is 10) to add to recipes because it’s the only sweet potato puree w/out sugar.
Your GF Beef Farmer remarks to others “They must be giving it away..nobody eats that much!”
You get freebies at the Farmers Market, because you put their kids through college.
Between the farm and the market, the only thing you buy at the store is 60 eggs and some nuts.
Robbie! “You get freebies at the Farmers Market, because you put their kids through college.” is spot on! Our GF meat supplier at the FM has given us freebies 2 weeks in a row! Probably because I spend half of my paycheck at their stand every. single. week.
When you only refer to restaurants by their one dish you CAN eat…
When your BAS has more ingredients than most people eat in a day…
When the thought of a double-double makes you gag where previously it was nectar of the Gods… (may be just a Canadian Whole30 phenom)
When you use the 2nd refrigerator in the garage for food, not beer.
@Lauren L. SWYPO=Sex With Your Pants On: http://whole9life.com/2011/10/sex-with-your-pants-on/
When your significant other comes in the door at the end of the day and is afraid to make eye contact because there’s a Tim Hortons steeped tea in his hand–with milk in it.
When your significant other has to sneak out to the garage in order to drink a can of beer–and it’s minus 30 outside.
When, instead of hoarding them, you suddenly start trying to entice the kids to eat your baked paleo-cookies in order to get them out of the house before they break your willpower
When thinking of bacon makes you cry.
When you eat small meals every two hours at work and your coworkers think you and your “diet” are crazy
I said that same thing “Are you serious, they had to put sugar in this?” of course I saw this when I was half way through salt and pepper pistachios on our road trip this weekend. Really, who would have thought. GAH!
When you are buying Kale by the cart full two or three times a week and the produce guys are asking you what you are doing with it all.
haha I love these. I just started my whole 30 today. I’m sure I will have a few to add in a month!
Haha! These are great. I’ve been through all of that, though I’d like to think it’s just how we get through the beginning phases, and perhaps gets less awkward as we find a groove. I still scare people with my eating habits though…
When you go to a restaurant and ask for “just steak (no spices, please)”, “dry sweet potato”, and dry garden salad w/o cheese or croutons. Then you open your purse and get out your olive oil and vinegar dressing and your ghee which is stored in a zip lock bag.
@Stacy – I find that my way of eating causes a few wrinkled brow reactions in others, as well; the main difference is that I typically only eat 2-3 large-to-gigantic meals/day, and I love it.
When you’re proud of yourself for not having to/hardly having to shop at your local supermarket, since finding a local farm and co-op or farmer’s market.
For people like me, who are people concious it is really hard to say all these things to the waiter. However when it comes to personal health then nothing is above health.
You know you’re on a whole30 when you get really excited for finding tuna without added soy!
You know you’re on Whole30 when…you geek out over the fact that you get to meet Dallas and Melissa!!!!
See you in Copenhagen in a few weeks
Heather,
Is there tuna without soy? What brand?
-Hilar
Hilary,
I just found some wild caught tuna at kroger’s Signature in the “natural” section. It is a bit more expensive…$4.50 per can.
Honestly do not understand the ‘doing more cooking’ comments on whole30 discussion boards. I LOVE cooking but on whole30 I’m having to make stuff so plain that I spend much LESS time in the kitchen. Salads, roast veggies, roast meats, eggs….simple and fast. I actually miss complex gourmand cooking and flavors.