You committed to 30 days of dietary experimentation. And you did it! Finishing the Plant-Based Whole30 is a great accomplishment. You’ve built healthy habits, learned more about what type of foods your body likes, got better at cooking, understand labels a bit better, and are ready for reintroduction and beyond. But, now what?
Welcome to life after a Plant-Based Whole30 elimination. Here are some ideas of what to do next.
Making a plan for after reintroduction
Reintroduction is a key part of the program. It’s where all the learning happens. So the first step after your 30-day elimination finishes is to do a full reintroduction.
After you’ve followed the reintroduction steps and are jumping into food freedom, you might still be looking for some structure or direction on what to do in your life after a Plant-Based Whole30. You know you definitely want to keep your momentum, and you might like a more laid-out plan.
So here are the next steps and some considerations for the upcoming days to create a plan that works for you.
First: reflect on the last 30 days
A lot has happened in the last month. You may have noticed positive changes, new taste preferences, and found foods that don’t make you feel that great during the reintroduction.
With all the information you’ve collected, you can use it to your advantage to create a sustainable, long-term plan that suits you. We call it a Food Freedom plan. To start making the plan, start with a reflection. Look back at the last 30 days and ask yourself a few questions.
- What did I love, and is it sustainable for me long-term? If not, what would make it sustainable?
- What were my favorite foods and recipes from my Whole30?
- What didn’t I love? Why not?
- What can I see myself doing long-term?
- What did I learn?
The answers to those questions should give you a sizable list of the foods you’d like to keep eating. With this roster of ingredients, you can find recipes that will make meal planning easier.
If you look back on the last 30 days and love the number of vegetables you ate every day, keep that habit and make a list of all the veggies you tried and liked. This will help so you’re not stuck trying to remember which vegetables you want to include when planning future meals.
During your reflection you might find you would like to include whole grains (or another eliminated group) back into your diet. They haven’t caused any gut issues. So you can plan around how you’d like that to look by asking yourself what type of whole grains you’d like to explore, or what recipes you want to try.
You can start building a plan for yourself with the answers to reflection questions. And you can find more guidance on crafting your food freedom in Melissa Urban’s The New Whole30 or Food Freedom Forever.
Focus on sustainability over perfection
The Plant-Based Whole30 is about getting to know your eating habits and to help identify foods that cause negative symptoms. With all the information collected in the last 30 days on what does and doesn’t make you feel good, the world is your oyster on what to eat. You don’t have to have strict food rules forever—that’s the point of living your food freedom.
Aim for doable and sustainable changes instead of trying to make everything exact and perfect. Getting stuck in the wheel of perfection can lead to increased stress and burnout. Sustainable changes look different from person to person, but the best way to build a lasting goal is to work off an established habit. For example, if during the Plant-Based Whole30 you got into the habit of eating fruit at breakfast, but now want to improve your hydration in the morning, couple those goals together.
You can also use the techniques and resources you did during elimination. For example, you can use the same meal template principles when making and planning your meals in your life after a Plant-Based Whole30. Using these tools and resources can help you transition seamlessly and help you build confidence in planning more independently—without the structure of elimination and reintroduction.
Sometimes we make eating more complicated than it has to be. Eating to support your health can be easier when working one-on-one with someone like a registered dietitian. If that’s the support and accountability you need and prefer to reach your goals.
Practice mindful eating
Find joy and success in your food freedom with mindful-eating techniques to continue to feel confident you are choosing the foods that make you feel the best. Tune into your body during meals or snacks by avoiding distractions, like scrolling on your phone or watching TV. Instead, slow down at meals by chewing slower and taking time to taste, recognize, and enjoy the foods you’re eating.
Using these mindful-eating techniques helps you know your hunger and fullness cues, too. This can help guide you to a deeper understanding of whether the meal was satisfying enough, if you overdid it, and when the signs of hunger are approaching again. Identifying hunger levels helps avoid under- and overeating. If you get too hungry, it can lead to overeating, and overeating can lead to restriction. You can quickly find yourself on a horrible ride you’d like to get off.
Mindful eating is a great practice to explore after the Plant-Based Whole30 to continue learning about yourself and your body.
Life after a Plant-Based Whole30—and beyond
The last 30 days have been insightful and have helped establish a routine to help prioritize healthier eating. The Plant-Based Whole30 elimination phase is not meant to be followed in the long-term. However, you can use the recipes, techniques, and habits that you’ve learned to help guide you in making nutrition choices better aligned to your goals in the long-term.
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