Dear Melissa: Exploring your bio-individuality with the Whole30

Dear Melissa,

There are so many devices that we can use to collect health data. Fitness trackers, blood glucose monitors, watches, hydration sensors…are these examples of “bio-individuality”? I’m hearing a lot about bio-individuality and personalization when it comes to health and fitness, but what does that really mean? —Data Confused

Dear Data Confused,

Trust me, as a WHOOP-wearing, Strava-tracking, Eight Sleep-sleeping Whole30er, I get it. There is more data available to us now, as laypeople, than ever before. Is it helpful? Harmful? Just plain confusing? All of the above?

I can answer your first question easily. The reason these health and fitness wearables are so popular right now is because of a concept called bio-individuality. And it’s all the rage in health and nutrition right now.

The concept is both common sense and a breath of fresh hair, to be honest. I’ve seen (and am still seeing) a lot of “one size fits all” approaches to diet, exercise, and health. Everyone should do zone 2 training. Everyone should cold plunge. Everyone should eat low-carb. Everyone should be vegan. Bio-individuality says, “Wait—we’re all different, and we should all craft our health, fitness, and nutrition plans in a way that works for our unique bodies.”

Hallelujah! That’s a premise I can get behind, as the Whole30 is designed to do exactly that. (I’ll come back to this.) However, as you’ve alluded to in your question, creating a personalized plan can prove supremely challenging. How do you know what your body needs, or what might work best? Where do you even start?

Here is my best advice for applying the concept of bio-individuality to your health, nutrition, and fitness plans.

Start your bio-individuality journey with a Whole30

The Whole30 can jump-start any health effort focused on bio-individuality. In fact, personalizing your diet by eating the foods that work best for you will have the biggest impact on your overall health and fitness. If you’re eating foods that support your energy, sleep, digestion, and mood, you’ll probably improve all of those wearable metrics too—automatically.

The Whole30 is specifically designed to help you identify and create a truly personalized nutrition plan. Through elimination and reintroduction, you’ll identify the foods that work best in your unique body. Once you know the impact of foods like dairy, grains, or sugar, you’ll be able to work them into your diet (or leave them out) to support your health and fitness goals. 

The Whole30 can also help you identify the triggers for a variety of symptoms, like joint pain, tendinitis, allergies, asthma, migraines, and anxiety. The relief of symptoms could also organically improve your metrics for sleep, energy, mood, and stress resilience.

Pro Tip:

Choose from dozens of chef-prepared Made By Whole30 meals each week, and we’ll send them straight to your door. Our fresh meals feature a variety of proteins, vegetables, natural fats, and sauces so you can choose the ingredients that work best in your body. You can even filter our meals to select higher protein, lower carb, or nut-free offerings.

Pick one area

Wearing a WHOOP band and a glucose monitor and an Apple watch means you’ll be swimming in data. If you’re new to any of these technologies, it can easily feel overwhelming. It also makes it harder to know where to focus your efforts. 

If you want to get into data-driven health decisions, prioritize one area of focus. 

• If your Whole30 did improve your sleep, choose a wearable that will show you how other habits, like no screens before bed, mouth taping, or meditation, also impact your sleep.
• If you’d like to dial in your food choices even more, wear a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) for a month, and see how sweet potatoes vs. white potatoes (or grapes vs. strawberries, or whole fruit vs. a fruit smoothie or juice) impact your blood sugar regulation.
• If you’re working on your fitness, choose a fitness wearable to help you balance strain with recovery.
• If you’re trying to manage stress, try a wearable designed to rebalance and strengthen your nervous system.

Note, many wearables cover multiple areas of focus. As an example, a WHOOP band provides sleep, stress, health, and fitness data. It can also provide targeted recommendations and insights, and incorporates a daily journal function. If you’re interested in exploring bio-individuality, choosing a wearable that can do it all is a great idea! This gives you access to a broad range of data points and recommendations across a variety of health and fitness efforts.

Pro Tip:

Even if your wearable can provide a wealth of data, stick to one area of focus at a time. If you’re focusing on sleep, prioritize looking at your sleep metrics, and comparing them to activities that may have helped (or hurt) your sleep score. And remember, one area of focus often spills over into another. If you’re sleeping better, chances are you’ll have more energy for your workout, fewer sugar cravings, and more capacity to manage stress.

Take breaks as needed

The Whole30 taught you to trust the signals your body is sending you. You know better than any wearable whether a behavior, habit, or food is working well for you. Still, it can be easy to let the data take over, and that can lead to anxiety and an unhealthy fixation.

Data is often the most helpful when you’re starting a new health effort or initiative. However, after a month on a glucose monitor or a month of tracking your sleep diligently, you know the foods, habits, and routines that work best for you. At that point, you can probably be less rigorous about checking, analyzing, and comparing your data.* 

Only you know where that balance lies—that’s one of the principle tenets of bio-individuality. If a high sleep score feels motivating and a low score after a hard day doesn’t stress you out, keep it up! But if you find the data is making you feel defeated, frustrated, or anxious, it may be time for a break.

In fact, I’ve found my wearable can actually detract from my fun during a run, hike, or vacation. I’ll purposefully take it off during a trail run so my pace, heart rate, or mileage doesn’t distract me from the joy of moving my body.

Pro Tip:

I know some of these wearables are designed to be used daily. I’d suggest a morning check-in with yourself (physically and mentally), followed by a quick check of your wearable. This can help you stay in tune with your body and make data-based decisions without feeling compelled to follow your wearable’s every instruction. And if at any point you find the data is giving you anxiety or you’re making decisions that feel counterintuitive to what you think your body needs, take a break. 

Bio-individuality: Trust your body first

The concept of bio-individuality and personalized nutrition is a hot topic these days. You’re already well on your way to the diet that works best for you, thanks to your Whole30 elimination and reintroduction. Feel free to take those learnings even farther with a wearable—but do use these tips to keep your relationship with the data healthy and productive.

Best in health,

Melissa

*Regarding a CGM: the recommendation to “take a break” only applies to those who do not need to monitor glucose continually due to a medical condition.