Whole 30, round four. And maybe I’m a weirdo, but every time I decide to embark on this program, I get wicked excited about the process. If you’ve never tackled this before, you really need to spend time the days before getting you and your surroundings prepped, and there’s something incredibly cathartic about this process, especially around the new year.
We traveled for the holidays and were delayed getting home with some snow, so I pushed my Whole30 start date to January 5 so I would have plenty of time to do those things I know I need to set myself up for success.
Clear out the crap. Go through the cupboards, go through the lazy Susan you never touch, blow through the fridge and freezer and get rid of the things you know you won’t be able to say no to if you go prowling for food. Ditch the stuff that has expired or will expire while you are on the program. Those leftovers you keep saying you are going to eat? Dump them. If you have a hard time getting rid of these kinds of items normally, this is a great way to give yourself guilt-free permission to do so. What it’s going to do is clear your space and your head to be able to fill it with the foods you need to succeed for the next 30 days.
Restock. If you are like me and have done this before, go treat yourself to the things you love and you know will set you up. I have my favorite “splurge” salad dressings and sauces because I love getting to use them, and I’ll treat myself on day one to them. First go round? Don’t buy all the things just yet—but make sure you look at what you’ve eaten in the past that DOES fit the program and you like, and stock that. We did a grocery haul today, and I’ll likely go shopping again mid-week, and we’ll be making a Thrive Market order to get the specialty items we can’t get here in our more rural than not location.
Get inspired. Go read all the books. Follow Whole30 Recipes on Instagram and make some friends that way. The key to this (or any program) for that matter, is just to get lit up about the process, and talking to others who are this excited about kale? You best believe you need them in your life. And when you make those in-person connections…
Get swapping. One of the things I did last January was do a meal swap with some of my friends in town who were also Whole30-ing. We had 5 folks in our swap, and every week we’d make enough servings of something for everyone in the group, meet up on the playground Sunday afternoons like normal 30 something year olds do and swap away. These swaps forced me out of my comfort zone, but they also gave me prepackaged lunches for the week, which save the day last January. A coworker and I are swapping away this go round, and I’m super grateful for it!
So here’s to us, and here’s to starting 2020 on happy and healthy start.
Tags: Whole30
