The Whole30 is a 30-day
elimination fad diet
A fad diet is a diet that becomes popular for a short time, similar to fads in fashion, without being a standard dietary recommendation, and often making unreasonable claims for fast weight loss or health improvements. There is no single defini ...
that emphasizes
whole food
Natural food and all-natural food are terms in food labeling and marketing with several definitions, often implying foods that are not manufactured by processing. In some countries like the United Kingdom, the term "natural" is defined and regu ...
s and the elimination of sugar,
alcohol
Alcohol most commonly refers to:
* Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom
* Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks
Alcohol may also refer to:
Chemicals
* Ethanol, one of sev ...
, grains, and
dairy
A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...
.
The traditional Whole30 also eliminates
legume
A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock f ...
s and
soy
The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses.
Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu and ...
, while a plant-based version of the Whole30 allows consumption of those food groups. The traditional Whole30 is similar to but more restrictive than the
paleo diet
The Paleolithic diet, Paleo diet, caveman diet, or stone-age diet is a modern fad diet consisting of foods thought by its proponents to mirror those eaten by humans during the Paleolithic era.
The diet avoids processed food and typically incl ...
, as adherents may not eat natural sweeteners like
honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
or
maple syrup
Maple syrup is a syrup made from the sap of maple trees. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring. Maple tree ...
.
There is no scientific evidence to support health claims made by Whole30 and limited independent research has been conducted on the diet.
[
]
Description
Foods allowed during the traditional Whole30 program include meat, nuts, seeds, seafood, eggs
Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...
, vegetables, and fruits. During the Whole30, participants are advised not to count calories or to weigh themselves.[ After the program is complete, participants are counseled to strategically reintroduce foods outside the endorsed Whole30 list, document the health consequences and culinary value of these additions, and determine whether the addition is desired. The program's founders believe that sugar, grains, dairy, alcohol, and legumes may affect weight, energy, and stress levels. Losing weight is not a focus of Whole30; calorie-counting and weigh-ins are not allowed.][
]
History
The program was created by then wife and husband Melissa (Hartwig) Urban and Dallas Hartwig in April 2009. They both became certified sports nutritionists; he worked as a physical therapist, and she was working at an insurance company during the day and doing nutritional consulting in her spare time. She quit her job to run the Whole30 business in 2010.[ They co-authored ''It Starts with Food'' (2012) and ''The Whole30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom'' (2015). They separated in 2015. Melissa (Hartwig) Urban took over the business,] and published ''Food Freedom Forever: Letting Go of Bad Habits, Guilt, and Anxiety Around Food'' in 2016.
In July 2016, a ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' article on use of Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
by dieters noted that participants in the Whole30 program had shared over one million Instagram posts using the #Whole30 hashtag
A hashtag is a metadata tag that is prefaced by the hash (also known as pound or octothorpe) sign, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services such as Twitter or Instagram as a form of user-generated ...
, and noted that those sharing the tag were "one of seemingly endless like-minded communities," comparing it with the over 3.5 million posts under the #WeightWatchers hashtag.
As of 2018, the "Whole30" trademark had been licensed to Applegate, Blue Apron
Blue Apron Inc. is an American ingredient-and-recipe meal kit company headquartered in New York City, operating its services exclusively in the United States. It offers weekly boxes containing ingredients, which also includes suggested recipes th ...
, Whole Foods Market
Whole Foods Market IP, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon, is an upscale American multinational supermarket chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from hydrogenated fats and artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. A US ...
, Snap Kitchen, and Thrive Market.[
In 2022, the Whole30 launched a plant-based version of its 30 day program for vegans and vegetarians. In the plant-based version of the Whole30, participants consume no sugars, alcohol, grains, or animal proteins for 30 days. Protein sources include legumes, nuts, plant-based protein powders, and soy.
]
Reception
No studies that specifically look into the health impacts of the Whole30 had been conducted as of 2019. While most dietitians generally agree with the program's emphasis on proteins, vegetables and unprocessed foods and the avoidance of added sugars and alcohol, some also view the diet as too extreme.[
The diet ranked last among 38 popular diets evaluated by '' U.S. News & World Report'' in its 2016 Best Diets Rankings; one of the raters, dietitian Meridan Zerner said: "We want behavioral changes and dietary changes that are slow and progressive and meaningful."][ David L. Katz said of the diet: "The grouping f banned foodsis both random, and rather bizarre from a nutrition perspective. If the idea is good nutrition, cutting out whole grains and legumes is at odds with a boatload of evidence."] It was selected as one of the worst health trends for 2013 by ''Health
Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...
'' magazine
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
.
In 2017, the diet was ranked last (out of 38 diets) by ''U.S. News & World Report'' on account of its extremely restrictive nature and likely adverse effects on a dieter's social life.[ In 2018, the Whole30 was ranked 37 out of 40 by ''U.S. News & World Report'',] and in 2019, it was ranked 38th out of 41.
References
External links
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{{Fad diets
Diets
Fad diets
Gluten-free diet