How to “Whole 30” [with 4 Week Meal Plan & Grocery Lists Included]

Heads up to all: this is the longest post I’ve ever written. Please use the links below to navigate to where you want to go if you want to skip ahead. If you’re familiar with the Whole 30 approach in general, you can probably skip quite a bit of the beginning.

• The Basics – What is Whole 30?
• My Tips for a Successful Whole 30
• Approved alternatives that you will see on the meal plan
• Structure of the Meal Plan
• The Meal Plan

The Basics – What is Whole 30?

For 30 straight days, you only eat whole, unprocessed food.  Meat, seafood, eggs, vegetables, fruit, natural fats, herbs, spices, & seasonings.  “Eat foods with a simple or recognizable list of ingredients or no ingredients at all because their whole and unprocessed.” (whole30.com)  

This is intended to be an elimination diet. This is, in my opinion, not a sustainable way of eating long term. I think that doing a strict & guided way of eating for a short time is a great way to jump start healthy habits. Strictly following the program rules for 30 days is considered “a round” of whole 30. I will sometimes loosely follow the rules & sometimes strictly. Do what is right for you.

Also, drink lots  of water!  Coffee, tea, and some flavored sparkling waters are acceptable but you should be getting at least half your body weight in ounces of water every day.  Weigh 150 lbs? Drink at least 75 oz of water.  Withhold any flavored drinks until this goal has been met.  (This is my own rule; amount of water to drink is not specified in the W30 rules.)  If you struggle with drinking enough water, consider the tips in this article for sprucing it up with different flavors.

You will NOT be counting calories or tracking carbs.

You should be eating 3 meals a day with no snacking between meals.  If you are getting too hungry between meals, consider adding more protein or fat to keep you full.  You should try to follow the meal template for each meal as well … 1-2 palm sized protein portions, fill the rest of your plate with veggies, & include a ‘plated fat’ of some kind (see linked template for details).  An occasional serving of fruit is encouraged as well.  The meal plan serves fruit with every breakfast, and about half the dinners – feel free to adjust this as needed for your preference/needs.

After 30 days, the reintroduction period starts (clickable link to the ‘reintro basics’ including fast track or slow roll options).  Disclaimer* that I do not follow the reintroduction phase because I am not doing this to determine which foods I am intolerant to.  If you are doing W30 to eliminate foods that cause negative effects (ie. bloat, headaches, RLS, blood sugar spikes), then the reintroduction phase is key.

What to Avoid

• Added sugar in any form, including natural such as honey or maple syrup.  There are lots of names for sugars that could be on the ingredients list.  Check out this pdf for the full list.
• Alcohol, even for cooking.  (Ideally, no tobacco products either.)
• Grains of any kind.  Including wheat, corn, rice, sprouted grains, & quinoa.
• Legumes – beans of all kinds, from black & pinto to chickpeas & lentils.  Peanuts are included in this too.  Also includes any form of soy (soy sauce, tofu, miso, edamame).
• Dairy – including cow, goat or sheep’s milk products.
• Carrageenan, MSG, or Sulfites (common flavor or preservative add-ins).
• Recreated baked goods or junk foods using compliant foods.  Recreating sweet treats with compliant foods is a no-no while doing a round.  This rule is in place to help break bad habits, which is the ultimate goal of this program.
• Weighing yourself or taking body measurements.  This program is about how food makes you feel – not how it makes you look.  Focusing on your weight will detract from the goal of focusing on the other benefits eating this way provides.

My Tips for a Successful Whole30

Find Your Why

Why are you choosing to eat this way?  Finding this will help you narrow in on what you hope to accomplish, and what it will take to get you there.  A ‘true’ Whole30 may be exactly what you need, but it all depends on your goals.  Be honest with yourself and use this as an opportunity to challenge yourself.  This should not be easy – it should challenge you at least a little bit.  Otherwise, what’s the point?

Plan, Prep, and Plan Some More 

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

Read the meal plan ahead of time.  Read the recipes ahead of time.  Being mentally prepared is very important.  You may want to rearrange the dinners on the meal plan to better fit your week’s activities. 

You might realize you have time on the weekend to do some meal prep to make your weeknight cooking go faster.  Maybe there’s a sauce that can be made a few days in advance, or some veggies that you can chop up ahead of time.  You won’t know what you can do unless you take the time to read what’s coming.

You’ll notice that your body reacts differently to this new way of eating.  You may find that you are absolutely famished come meal time for the first few days, until you get a better sense of the portions your body needs to stay full.  If you’re not prepared with a plan, it’s very easy to go off the rails when this happens.  You might get so hungry that you just grab the first thing you can find – so taking a few minutes to do a little prep work will save future-you from giving into temptation.  

Have some colorful & fresh veggies ready on your fridge door for a quick snack to save you from grabbing some chips or other ‘non-compliant’ food.  You could even have some dip ready with them too, like a little guacamole or dump ranch (both recipes included in meal plan).  *Snacking does go against the program rules though, so if you are sticking to the rules, and this is a regular occurence, you probably need to readjust your meal portions to keep you full between meals.  Consider adding some more protein or fat to your plate.

Grit Your Teeth & Just Do It

There are some days where you will feel on top of the world!  You’ll feel like you could do this forever & everyone else would too if they only knew about it!  You’ll want to preach the good news of Whole 30 to everyone who will listen! 

And then there will be some days where you get bored & frustrated.  Nothing tastes quite as good as it should & you’ll want to quit.  

These are the days where you have to stick it out.  Grit your teeth, eat until you’re satisfied, & think about how good your body feels.  Notice the lack of constipation & lack of bloating, while simultaneously getting an abundance of energy & better quality sleep. Check out these “non-scale victories” for motivation.

Eating yummy, bad for you, food is a temporary ‘mouth pleasure’, but making good food choices (whether they taste amazing or just meh) has a lasting effect on your overall happiness in life.  When a meal or a day starts to drag, think of the bigger picture.  Think about how much your body & mind are benefiting from the choices you’re making.

I can almost guarantee you have accomplished more difficult goals in your life.  

 You. Can. Do. This.

Approved alternatives that you will see on the meal plan:

• Ghee instead of butter.  Ghee is clarified butter; the butter is heated until the lactose parts separate & can be skimmed off the top.  You can make your own, however I feel it is time-consuming & not cost effective compared to buying it.  Some people swear it tastes better homemade.  Aldi sells ghee that I’ve used & enjoyed – I recommend it.
• Coconut Aminos to replace soy sauce. I actually prefer coconut aminos now; I haven’t purchased any soy sauce since before doing my first round of W30. All coconut aminos are acceptable, even if they list ‘coconut nectar’ or ‘coconut syrup’ on the ingredients.  I get mine in the Asian food aisle at most grocery store chains (I have not seen it sold at Aldi, but have gotten it from Family Fare, Meijer, Wal-Mart, & Harvest Health.)
• Canned Coconut Milk in place of any dairy.  This will be the base of your dump ranch, and provide the creaminess for the stroganoff.  I’ve also read of it being used to make creamer for coffee.  Be aware – the fat separates from the liquid while in the can (this is expected / normal), so either shake the can vigorously before opening or whisk it together after.  Note “canned” – this is not the Coconut Milk that is in the cooler with the other milks.  Shopping for this is the same as Coconut Aminos: I get mine in the Asian food aisle at most grocery store chains (I have not seen it sold at Aldi, but have gotten it from Family Fare, Meijer, Wal-Mart, & Harvest Health.)
• Almond Flour instead of breadcrumbs.  My Aldi sells Almond Flour for a reasonable price; most grocers have this product now, but the price can vary greatly from brand to brand.
• Note: only one recipe on the meal plan calls for Nutritional Yeast.  (It’s the Pesto Baked Chicken, on weeks 2 & 4.)  I am opting to not use this ingredient because I don’t want to spend $$ on a product I will use a “heavy pinch” of twice.  Nutritional Yeast is supposed to give a cheesy flavor, so you may want to purchase it & try it out.  I’m sure you could find multiple uses for it & you would eventually use it all.  It’s up to your discretion.  

Structure of the Meal Plan

The Meal Plan is designed to feed 1 person breakfast & lunch, but the dinners will feed a family of 4 (some dinners will provide more than 4 servings, the leftovers can be used for lunch the following days).  

You may want to have some glass dishes for meal prep to make reheating easier.  Read over the recipes & think about how you will store them.  You may also want to get some small and large mason jars for the egg scramble cups, chef salad, & various sauces you will make throughout the meal plan (ketchup, ranch, pesto). *The products I suggest are examples but not necessary; get whatever fits your budget & lifestyle.

Breakfasts:

• 4 breakfast options are included; my thinking is that you would use one each week
• 3 of the 4 can be meal-prepped on Sunday & reheated over the week

Lunches:

• 4 lunch options are included; again my thinking is that you would use one each week
• They can all be prepped in advance, stored, & used throughout the week.  I plan to prep the Chef Salad a Mason Jar Salad.

Dinners:

• 4 FULL weeks of planned dinners!  
• Each week has 1-2 seafood meals & 1-2 red meat meals.  The rest are chicken or turkey. *Weeks 1 & 4 don’t have Turkey, if you’re not a fan.
• Most of the dinners are on the meal plan twice, but no two weeks are exactly identical. 
• Look over the plan & see which weeks look best to you. If you want to repeat “Week 2” over & over all month, go ahead & do it! Make it work for your tastes.

Grocery Lists

The lists are separated by week and include everything for the dinners – only.  You will need to add your breakfast & lunch ingredients to the lists.  For formatting purposes, the grocery lists are in separate documents from this one.  Here are all four lists. The meal plan document also contains links to each week’s grocery list.

• Grocery List – Week 1
• Grocery List – Week 2
• Grocery List – Week 3
• Grocery List – Week 4

Inspired & motivated by pictures?  

If you love beautiful pictures of food (like me!) check out this version of the Meal Plan calendar too! It may be easier to see it this way for choosing which weeks you want to try or avoid.

The Meal Plan

Click the white button below to open the meal plan document. All of the grocery list links are included in the meal plan. If the layout of the meal plan is confusing, scroll back up to the structure of the meal plan for an explanation. Leave any questions below & I’ll reply asap!

I’d love to hear any feedback you have about your Whole 30 experience, whether you use this meal plan or not! Please let me know in the comments what it was like for you. What recipes did you enjoy the most? Or the least? What non-scale victories did you notice?

Hope this has been helpful! Happy cooking!

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