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Busy people can succeed in the Whole30 program by planning and learning a few helpful time-saving hints along the way.
Healthy eating should be simple, right? Just blend a protein shake, swallow an herbal supplement, or adhere to restrictive dieting?
That is what the food industry would like you to believe.
After one round of the Whole30 program, you will learn to weave your way through the grocery store aisles with a renewed vision of food.
The program helps to invoke awareness about eating so that you can resist food fads and diet trends.
Healthy eating is not just about filling your plate with the “right” foods. It’s also about educating yourself about food in general, about how certain foods affect your body, and about the emotional aspect of food.
Sometimes we need a boost or a good old fashioned kick in the pants to put us on the right eating track. In truth, sometimes all we need is a resource to foster awareness about food.
The Whole30 program serves as a resource to help you make food choices that better serve your body. For the most part, eaters consume food without much consideration for how or where it is grown.
Here at No-FUSS Healthy Living, I want to provide you with tools, like the Whole30, that help to cultivate a lifestyle approach to healthy eating and living.
Experience food on a deeper level with the Whole30
For 30 days, you commit to exerting thought and effort into meal planning and exercising restraint in specific areas of food.
A bonus feature of the program is that it improves your food shopping skills. You won’t mindlessly stroll through the store plucking boxes of processed foods off the shelf and tossing them into your cart.
The Whole30 helps to rebuild your relationship with food by learning to cook and eat wholesome foods that improve and sustain your health.
Whole30 Hacks and Shortcuts
1. Pre-cut, pre- riced veggies
Anything to reduce prep time is a win. If you can find pre-cut or pre-riced veggies, either fresh or frozen, then you want to grab a few to have on hand.
Often, there is a cost for this convenience. You may pay more for these products, but on those busy days, they will save you time.
2. Nut Pods
A Whole30 approved coffee creamer that you can easily stash in your lunch bag. Most coffee creamers contain sugar and other mysterious ingredients. Not Nut Pods.
Before Nut Pods found their way into the supermarkets, Whole30 participants drank coffee black. Not anymore, unless you want it black.
3.Whole30 Emergency Stash of food
While it’s getting easier to find on-the-go Whole30 compliant foods, feasting on the fly still requires a bit of planning and preparation. Whole30 founders Dallas and Melissa Hartwig-Urban suggest keeping a stockpile of approved snacks in your car or backpack.
- Larabars, Epic bars, RX Bars
- No-sugar-added trail mix
- No-sugar-added dried fruit
- Pureed Fruit Pouches
4. Freeze and puree over-ripe fruit in ice-cube trays
Jazz up your sparkling water with fruit enhanced ice-cubes.
5. Use Fresh Herbs
Fresh herbs are a simple way to enliven your cooking. Snipping a handful of cilantro and sprinkling it over fresh salsa adds a new layer of flavor.
6. Freeze Larabars as a refreshing snack
Not much to add here other than cut your bar into bite-sized pieces and freeze on parchment paper or a small cookie sheet. The Lemon Larabar is by far my favorite flavor frozen.
7. DIY Trail Mix
Trail mix is a fast way to get nutrients by the handful. Most commercially produced trail mix contains soy or canola oil and some form of chocolate. Marcella Friel rightfully reminds consumers that the “food industry’s primary tactic is to deflect consumer attention away from the processed condition of the food.”
8. Order Tessemae’s Dressing Packets and condiments
You can order a nutritious salad just about anywhere these days. Some establishments allow you to customize your bowl of greens. When it comes to salad dressing, the fast food and restaurant industry falls woefully short with healthful options.
Surprisingly, the salad dressings at the Whole Foods salad bar all contain canola. On the bright side, they offer a bottle of olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette so that you can mix up your concoction.
My advice is to order a case of Tessemae’s dressing packets to keep at work, in your lunch bag, or purse. The Maryland based company partners with Whole30 and offers several Whole30 approved products like vinaigrettes, marinades, creamy dressings, dips, and condiments to help you on your healthy living journey.
Tessemae’s offers a Whole30 starter kit.
9. Stock up on Sparkling Water
When everyone at the BBQ sips soda, you will break out your sparkling water. Learn to create mocktails that your friends can’t resist.
Lemon Verbena Spritzer (serves 2)
1⁄ 2 lemon, juiced
12 ounces of sparkling water
2-3 lemon verbena leaves or lemon balm leaves
crushed ice
Stir lemon and sparkling water until combined. Pour over crushed ice. Add lemon verbena or lemon balm leaves.
Variations: You can add other herbs with the lemon: a rosemary sprig, thyme sprig, or mint leaves.
Watermelon-Blackberry Spritzer
2 cups of blackberries
4 cups of watermelon
Juice of 2 limes
Crushed ice
1 cup of sparkling water
lemon verbena leaves
Place fruit and lime juice in a blender. Blend until smooth. Fill glass with crushed ice. Fill glass two-thirds full with blended juice, then add sparkling water. Top with lemon verbena leaves.
10. Prep on the Weekend
I can’t emphasize this enough. I am experiencing a hectic season of my life and carving out several hours on the weekend to meal prep is tough. For the past several weekends, I haven’t devoted enough time to planning meals and prepping food for the upcoming week.
Because of this, we are struggling during this round of the Whole30. We’ve managed to stay compliant, but I am making far too many last minute trips to the grocery store than I like.
11. Contact Local Restaurants to Request a Whole30 Compliant Meal
I wouldn’t have suggested doing this had I not done it myself a few times. Just before my recent Whole30, I emailed a local cafe that specializes in locally sourced, organic foods and asked if they would create one compliant menu item. They happily offered a Whole30 salad.
Another local restaurant has a Whole29 (they use butter instead of ghee or clarified butter) on their menu year round. If we call ahead, they will turn the meal from Whole29 to Whole30.
12. Shop Farmer’s Markets
Farmers want to woo consumers into trying new crops. This year at our farmers market, we are selling Thai basil and lemon basil in addition to the traditional Genovese basil. To encourage customers to try new varieties, we offer cooking instructions or recipes with the herbs.
At the end of a long market day, farmers are willing to strike a deal. Don’t be shy, make a fair offer for the product, and I can guarantee most farmers are happy to part with the end-of-the-day fruit or produce rather than haul it back to the farm.
13. Never Run Out of Eggs
The ideal situation is to buy eggs from an organic backyard flock. Not everyone who does the Whole30 has access to a backyard flock; I get it.
High-quality eggs are available at most supermarkets. Choose free-range, preferably organic, eggs.
During the Whole30, you will consume eggs in more ways than Julia Childs thought possible.
14. But Avoid Egg Burnout
Meal planning will help you avoid egg-burnout. Breakfast seems to be the most challenging meal because we are a cold cereal nation. To prevent egg redundancy, think outside of the breakfast box.
15. Stockpile Frozen Cauliflower Crust
I wish that I invented the cauliflower crust. Many cauliflower crusts contain cornmeal, which is not Whole30 compliant. Before you load up your cart with this delightful short cut, check out the ingredients.
Cauliflower crusts make a tasty base for a breakfast pizza (no cheese, thank you, just meat and veggies).
16. Whole30 Compliant Meal Delivery
At some point during your Whole30, you may need extra help with meal planning. Exceedingly busy weeks call for a mealtime back up plan.
True Fare meal deliveries are Whole30® Approved, meaning they’re free of added sugars, fillers, stabilizers, and suspicious ingredients. They source only the highest-quality ingredients for their meals. That means organic produce, grass-fed beef, heritage breed pork, organic or free-range poultry.
True Fare knows that you care about how you fuel your body. Customize your Whole30 meals according to what fits best with your schedule. If you find that breakfast is the problematic meal to plan, then let True Fare fix it for you.
17. The Crockpot and Instapot are Your Best Friends
The crockpot and Instapot are small kitchen appliances that usually end up as relics housed in the back of your cabinet.
It’s time to dust off these time-saving appliances and allow them to reclaim their rightful spot on your countertop.
There is nothing more satisfying than walking into your kitchen after a long day to find that dinner is waiting. With a little planning the night before, you can assemble a crockpot meal.
With the Instapot, your only requirement is to have the ingredients for a meal available. Simple.
Sometimes All You Need is A Little Help
After finishing numerous rounds of the Whole30, I figured out a few ways to save some time in meal prep and planning. If you have any time-saving tips, please share them in the comments section!
Happy Whole30ing,
Denise
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