When you are at home with just your spouse and kids, it is easy to follow the Whole30 lifestyle. You cook your meals and do your grocery shopping, and it doesn’t really become an issue. However, when you attend family gatherings where food is a main component, this changes quite a bit. It turns into you having to explain your dietary restrictions so that there is enough food for you to eat while there, or you cook the meal and explain the variations that will be included. Here are some tips for dealing with family questions about the whole lifestyle.
Start with the Benefits
When you begin talking about the whole food lifestyle, start by sharing all the amazing benefits. By now, you should have already seen some of the benefits that are often talked about, such as weight loss or lack of cravings. Explain that it was a struggle in the beginning, but soon you no longer had cravings for sugar, grains, and bread. Tell how much weight you have lost, or how much better you feel in your body and mind. Mention any specific physical benefits, such as extra energy or lack of the headaches you were struggling with before. People want to know why you are doing something, so this is a really good place to start.
Explain the Medical Advantages
Also bring up the many medical conditions that can be linked to eating grains and sugar, and then go into how the whole foods diet can help with these same ailments. It is good to mention the ones that affecting you or your loved ones directly, but also talk about some of the other ones. For example, you can talk about how your friend’s skin conditions and hives are better, that your spouse no longer has severe allergies, and everyone in the family now has a lower risk of diabetes. But also mention some of the other medical conditions often linked to food, such as:
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Asthma
- Mental disorders
- Celiac disease
- Chronic fatigue
- Joint pain
- Thyroid conditions
- Infertility
Bring Your Own Whole30 Dish
If you are going to someone else’s house, they won’t change the entire holiday meal just to fit one person’s dietary restrictions. However, Thanksgiving dinner often allows guests to each bring a dish, so this is the perfect opportunity to have at least one side dish you know you can eat. Then you can have that with turkey, and one of the vegetable side dishes that appears to also be safe on your diet.
