With the release of our New York Times bestselling book, It Starts With Food, we’ve seen an unprecedented number of people new to the idea of paleo/primal jumping straight into the Whole30. And in the beginning (just like we say in our Whole30 Timeline), doesn’t it feel pretty easy? Your first day or two are a breeze, and you go to bed each night wrapped in a warm blanket of Whole30 confidence and optimism.
And then, somewhere along the way, things get… rough.
It happens to everyone who does the Whole30. It happens to us when we do the Whole30. (Ask Melissa about that time she threw a temper tantrum in a Mexican restaurant, when she discovered they put sugar in their salsa.) Life stress, unexpected events, social pressures, even our own bodies and brains can turn “easy” into “I just want to quit this stupid thing!” in 0.24 seconds. So today, we offer you Whole30’ers one of the best pieces of advice we’ve ever given (borrowed from a pretty famous saying).
Keep Calm and Whole30 On
When your brain is screaming for sugar, and you are one tiny stressor away from giving in and raiding your office candy jar…
When your friends whine yet again that you’re no fun when you’re on this Whole30 thing…
When you discover that the canned tuna you ate last week actually contains soy…
When your Mom swears there isn’t any sugar in the dressing (but later mentions it’s got all-natural agave syrup!)…
When your digestion is wonky and you’re trying hard to justifying returning to bread and cheese…
When you’re tired, headache-y, cranky, and thinking it’s gonna be a long month…
When you’re tempted by the next Super-Diet that promises you can lose 20 pounds in 4 hours just by following their magical (!) protocol…
When you’re stuck at the airport/in a meeting/at a party and there’s practically nothing you can eat…
When you’re on Day 15, and still haven’t lost weight/kicked your symptoms/felt “the magic”…
When you’re on Day 26 and you start worrying about what’s going to happen after your Whole30…
When your family blatantly tries to sabotage your efforts at every Sunday dinner…
When you try to tell yourself, “One little bite/sip won’t really hurt anything, will it?”….
When you stumble across mainstream media broadcasts that proclaim that whole grains are heart-healthy, but eating egg yolks are worse than smoking…
When you’re tempted by the notion that you won’t have to change your habits at all, if you just make all your cookies/pancakes/muffins/brownies with almond flour…
When you lose your job…
When a family member gets ill…
When your relationship breaks up…
When you get injured or sick…
Keep calm and Whole30 on.
No matter what life throws you; the tricks your brain tries to play on you; or the pressures you feel from your friends, family, society, or your own expectations; the key is to keep calm and Whole30 on. The program is just one step—your first step—in building a lifetime of healthy habits. We don’t expect your Whole30 to be all easy, all the time—and you don’t have to get it all down on your first try. (Or your second. Or your third. You have a lifetime to solidify these lessons, and some paths are longer than others.)
All you have to do is follow the program one day, one meal, one bite at a time, paying just as much attention to the spirit and intention of the Whole30 as the rules.
Download Our Graphics!
Need a little extra support (or a reminder to keep calm) during your Whole30? Download our free Keep Calm Whole30 graphics for your Facebook page, Pinterest board, or website! (Just click on the image to pull up the full size, and save to your computer – or “pin it!”)
Keep Calm Whole30® Facebook cover photo
Keep Calm Whole30® Facebook profile picture
Keep Calm Whole30® for Pinterest
Got another situation to add to our “keep calm” list? Drop it in comments—and rock on with your Whole30!
Thank you for the encouragement!! I have 14 Days left and life is getting a little stressful! I will choose to finish this completely!
Thank you as well – we have 13 more days to go and things are a bit rocky…will keep Whole30ing on….these are just the words that we need right now….
Uhhh this post is so timely for me. I’m re-starting my Whole30 journey, even though I was a week away from finishing this round but I realised I’ve been eating things I wasn’t supposed to and I want to do this thing properly.
Doesn’t help that I had a TERRIBLE night’s sleep the other night and now have what I think is a cold
Lacking in energy but I’m determined to do this right!
Yes, we have to add this one…
When you only get a few hours of good sleep, and your brain is desperate for quick and dirty carb-energy…
Glad you’re finding inspiration!
Melissa
Thanks for this, just made it my desktop background. I’m on day 2 of my first Whole 30 and it’s goind well. But I was just sitting here thinking that sitting at my desk at work is a trigger for the desire to snack out of boredom. I took a drink of water, pulled up the site and found this. Serendipity:)
When your significant other asks if we can order pizza/chinese/etc…
When after a business lunch, your stomach call’s the waiter’s bluff…
When it’s football season again…
When you feel like a horrible mom because your child has angrily insisted for the 115th time that there is “nothing I can eat in this house!!!”
Yes, the horrible mom thing that doesn’t go away, even after 6 months of eating this way. And only gets louder during a whole30. (and then you hear them tell their friends how this is the best way to eat, and they feel better and have more energy, etc, etc. I think they just like giving me a hard time
.)
My family has isn’t doing it so…cooking non-compliant meals and doing my best to season to taste without tasting. I’m on Day 8 (second try in as many years) and it has been quite easy so far. But I know that may change mid-way. I imagine having items in the kitchen that my family eats, tempting me, will be difficult when the cravings do come.
Those are some good additions! (Especially the “nothing to eat!” one from the kiddos.) Thanks for sharing, all!
Melissa
Hi Shannon,
I’ve been Paleo for a month and a half and am just now on my 2nd day of Whole30. When I cook for my family (who I am trying to move toward Paleo), I just make a Whole30 compliant meat and veggie and then cook some potatoes or rice as a side for the rest of the family. I encourage fruit as dessert and serve up a big bowl of sliced berries for after dinner. I think you should try to make a compliant meal for the family, but then just add some non-compliant sides for everyone buy you. Its been working for me.
Good luck and keep up the good work!
-Hilary
Okay, so last night I really needed the reminder “keep calm and whole30 on” so here’s another one for ya Melissa……. When you just finish cleaning, peeling and deveining some fresh wild Georgia shrimp to be turned into fajitas and when you turn back around after heating up the pan and gathering a few remaining ingredients and there are only 3 out of the 6 shrimp left because the CAT DECIDED he wanted to WHOLE30 it with me!!!!!! Yes he did it ever so quietly to and jumped up on the counter waited till I finished perfectly cleaning the shrimp and snagged 3 raw shrimp. I was only turned for barely a minute. I look in the dining room and I find my Siamese hovering in the corner protecting these three shrimp like he just found gold and doesn’t want to share with the other cat, and just chewing down. Uuuuuuggghhhh!!!!!! Oh and I’m on day 28…..staying calm and moving on!!!!
Okay, so last night I really needed the reminder “keep calm and whole30 on” so here’s another one for ya Melissa……. When you just finish cleaning, peeling and deveining some fresh wild Georgia shrimp to be turned into fajitas and when you turn back around after heating up the pan and gathering a few remaining ingredients and there are only 3 out of the 6 shrimp left because the CAT DECIDED he wanted to WHOLE30 it with me!!!!!! Yes he did it ever so quietly to and jumped up on the counter waited till I finished perfectly cleaning the shrimp and snagged 3 raw shrimp. I was only turned for barely a minute. I look in the dining room and I find my Siamese hovering in the corner protecting these three shrimp like he just found gold and doesn’t want to share with the other cat, and just chowing down. Uuuuuuggghhhh!!!!!! Oh and I’m on day 28…..staying calm and moving on!!!!
Ugh I am on day 19 and I had two tequila and sodas last night. I’m feeling like I ruined my whole30! Someone please tell me I’ll still get the benefits if I finish out the 11 days! I plan on doing a 2nd round starting November 1st and sticking to Paleo between now and then.
Love the graphic – makes for a great wallpaper image for my iPhone and iPad!
So on Psycho day 4 it would have been nice if I had read this first. I thought I was losing my mind. Glad to see that it is normal for some. It has been a real adventure and feeling better every day.
Finished Whole30 and felt great! I lost 10 lbs. had energy and IBS problems were non existent. My husband was also on whole30 and he lost 15 lbs. and felt great as well. He had acid reflux so bad that he was on medication and sinus problems that caused him a lot of pain. After the whole30 program his reflux and sinuses were completely normal! After the 30 days were up we kept following the program but began to add a little here and a little there. Now, we both feel awful again and we know why. Whole30 begins again TODAY!