Melissa Hartwig

I’ve actually had a physical copy of this book since 2013, but back then I only read as much as I thought I needed to in order to do the Whole30 (we actually did the whole Lent season — 46 days, instead of 30). We were looking for solutions for persistent stomach pains that our youngest was experiencing.

I recently started downloading audiobooks of books that were still sitting in my Goodreads library unfinished, and this was one of them. And so, while commuting, I have been listening to books, and this was one of them.

Listening to this all the way through, I realize now that I have never done the Whole30 the way it was intended. And looking back through my journal, I found that I’ve done it at least 8 times!

I have to honestly say that I find the Hartwig’s writing style very annoying, very cutesy — but their information is VERY important. So, if — like me — you don’t care for this style of patronizing writing, please grin and bear it, and listen/read ALL the way through, like I have now, and give this lifestyle change (not diet — as I had been treating it) a try.

I will be digging in and doing so myself.… (mer)

This was recommended to me by the same person who got me to try the Whole30, and it was a good follow-up for me. The Whole30 has been vital to my health and weight these past 3 years, and I have enjoyed huge benefits from doing it. The downside is that, because of these huge positive changes with my body, I’m hesitant to deviate far from the reset plan, which eliminates a lot of food choices, resulting in a fearful attitude toward food. And that’s not good.

This book, sprinkled with the sass and humor of the original Whole30 book, was just what I needed. The idea that there’s a cycle to this—reset, reintroduction, freedom, and eventually the need to do another reset to start the whole thing over again—that this is normal and OK, is comforting and freeing. I didn’t relate to every chapter, particularly the ones that tell you how to talk about Whole30 to friends and family (I guess I’m fortunate that the people in my life don’t give me a hard time about it).

She pushes the Whole30 a lot at the beginning too, so much so that even I, its biggest fan, got a little annoyed. But neither of those quibbles is enough reason not to read it. You can learn about and adopt her food freedom philosophy without signing on to the Whole30 specifically, and I’m glad she lists other reset plans in the book.
There are probably other books that say the same thing without being so rah-rah-Whole30, but I don’t know what they are. This will resonate most with Whole30 fans, but I think it could be beneficial to others who struggle with their attitude toward and relationship with food.… (mer)

I have a coworker who loves this, so I decided to check it out. I read it out loud to my husband on a long road trip last spring, and we agreed to give it a try.
It's an adjustment to change eating habits so drastically, but we've both experienced health benefits since we did it—weight loss for both of us, and a huge improvement in my breathing for me. I've had asthma since I was a kid, and in the past couple of years, it felt like it was getting worse. After changing my diet, I'm completely off the steroid inhaler I used every day, and only occasionally need the rescue inhaler. This wasn't a result that had even occurred to me when I started this thing, and it kind of amazes me.
I can't say a lot about the recipes. My husband does more inventions of his own than uses the ones in the book.
The tone of the writing in the first part of the book, the part that describes the mentality behind the diet, the strict Whole 30 and what happens afterward, is friendly, conversational and funny. It's not a chore to read through to get a good idea of what to expect.
Cheese and candy fiend (not together—don't be gross) that I was, I never thought I'd be able to give those things up, but it wasn't that hard. Now that I'm not on a strict 30 day stretch, I make periodic allowances for things that were no-no's during the Whole 30—I just don't eat them on a daily or even weekly basis.
It's worth looking at for the weight loss alone. I've gone down a couple sizes in 5 months. But the other health benefits we weren't anticipating have made this something I expect to permanently affect how we eat.… (mer)