your whole30 plate
“Before my first Whole30, I knew how to cook with instructions from a package. Even then, I was actually proud of when those dishes came out correctly. Meat was so foreign to me. I hated to cook it because I was always afraid of undercooking it, or it being bad. Now, my fridge is constantly full with home-cooked meals. I know how to work around what I have, how to food prep, and how to feed my family good food instead of packaged food. I will keep learning, thanks to what my Whole30 taught me.”
—Kimberly H., Fort Worth, TX
Should all of my meals follow your meal template?
This isn’t an official Whole30 rule, but it’s a good general guideline to keep your program on track. The template includes a balance of protein, fat, and carbohydrate in amounts that will keep you full from one meal to the next, give you enough energy to sustain your activity levels, and provide a healthy variety of micronutrients. Of course, not every meal is going to look exactly like the meal template—sometimes you eat a stew, a casserole, or a frittata where your meat, vegetables, and fat are all mixed up together. Don’t stress—just estimate your portion, eat slowly and chew thoroughly, wait ten minutes and evaluate whether you’re still hungry. If you are, go for seconds! It’s really hard to overeat real food, and everything on your Whole30 plate is doing your body good.
Do your recipes follow the meal template?
No, because not all of our recipes include a protein and a side of vegetables or fruit. (Our One Pot Meals are the exception.) However, with every dish that doesn’t follow our template, we’ve given you “Make it a Meal” recommendations to help you build your own Whole30 plate. For example, if you’re making our Braised Beef Brisket, we tell you to add sweet potato, butternut squash, or carrots to the dish to make it a complete meal. Or, we’ll give you recipe pairing suggestions, like suggesting our Halibut with Citrus-Ginger Glaze goes well with Green Cabbage Slaw and Coconut Cauliflower Rice.
If you’re cooking from our Fundamentals section, you’ll have to build your own plate there, too. Start with our template, including the appropriate protein amount for your context and goals, fill the rest of your plate with vegetables, add some fruit (if you choose), and build in some healthy fats, either in the form of cooking fat, added fat, or both. For example, make our Perfect Seared Chicken Breast, grill some green beans, peppers, onions, and mushrooms using the technique found here, then make a garden salad with one of our Vinaigrette Variations as your added fat.
Shouldn’t I be counting calories?
No! Isn’t that good news? One goal of our program is to get you back in touch with your body’s natural regulatory mechanisms—in this case, trusting your feelings of hunger, and intuitively knowing when to stop eating. That means after a few weeks of eating foods with brakes (providing both nutrition and satiety), you’ll be eating when you’re hungry, and stopping when you’re full. By the end of your Whole30, these signals will actually work, perhaps for the first time in years! And we’ve specifically designed the amounts and proportions recommended in our meal template so you won’t need to count calories or plug your food into a calculator—not even if you’re trying to lose weight.
✪Tip: Please, trust us on this one. One of the biggest mistakes you could make is listening to some calculator you found on the internet over the cues your own body is sending you. Skip the weighing, measuring, and tracking for the next 30 days—it will help you foster a healthier relationship with food, and turn mealtime into a relaxing, enjoyable experience instead of an arbitrary math session.
Can I have snacks?
Again, this isn’t a Whole30 rule, so if you choose to snack, just make sure they are Whole30-compliant. However, we do not generally recommend snacking for some important reasons. Snacking between meals turns your daily dietary habits into grazing, which can disrupt the normal functioning of your hormones and may promote inadvertent overconsumption. It may take you a while to figure out the right size meals for you, however, so if you find you ate too little in any given meal and need additional nourishment, then we’d rather you have a snack to tide you over than spend the rest of the afternoon cranky, tired, and hungry. Ideally, your snacks are just smaller meals—don’t snack on veggies or fruit alone, as they’re not very satiating all by themselves.
If you find your meals are never big enough to tide you over, then it’s time to start making each one a little bigger. Start by adding a little more protein and a little more fat. (You’re already filling your plate with vegetables, so you’re good on that front.) You can go slow here—just keep adding to your plate until you find an amount that will successfully get you from one meal to the next comfortably.
✪Tip: If you’re on the go and can’t plan a mini-meal, just follow this rule of thumb: include at least two of the three macronutrients every time you eat. So maybe that’s protein and fat (like hard-boiled eggs and a handful of macadamia nuts), or protein and carbs (like deli turkey slices and an apple), or fat and carbs (like carrot sticks dipped in guacamole). Following this rule will ensure your snack actually tides you over until your next meal, and that you get enough overall calories in your day.
I’m pregnant or nursing—now can I have snacks?
Yes, but we’d still rather you eat more small meals than graze constantly like a gazelle. In the early stages of pregnancy, you may be too nauseous to eat a big meal. In later stages, your stomach may not be able to physically hold enough nutrition in just three meals to keep you healthy. (And when you’re nursing, your schedule may be hectic enough that you find yourself eating every three hours, timed around your baby.) In these special circumstances, eat more frequent, smaller meals to ensure you’re getting enough calories and nutrition. Try to leave at least 2 to 3 hours between meals, if possible—it’s better hormonally to eat five smaller meals than pick at food all day long. (See Pregnancy and Breastfeeding for more tips on customizing the Whole30 when pregnant or nursing.)
What about my growing kids—can they survive on just three meals a day?
Kids are another exception—they’re growing so fast (and their stomachs are so small) that they’ll likely need more frequent, smaller meals or snacks in between meals. Our rule of thumb for growing babies and younger toddlers is, if they’re hungry, let them eat! Once they’re out of toddler stage, however, transitioning them to three meals a day, preferably with their family, is ideal. Feel free to add a snack between each meal to tide them over and ensure they’re getting enough calories and nutrition; just follow our previously mentioned snacking guidelines. (See Kids for more tips on customizing the Whole30 for kids.)
I work a really long day—can I have more than three meals?
Absolutely. If you’re up really early and get to bed pretty late, you may find you need four (or even five) meals to keep you fueled throughout the day. Just try to keep them around 3 to 4 hours apart, if you can—any closer than that and your hormones may not have time to do their proper jobs in between.
I’m really active or regularly exercise—should I have more than three meals?
You can and should, especially if you’re participating in a high-intensity exercise program, bodybuilding program, or endurance activity like running or biking. Eating a bonus post-workout meal (as outlined in our meal template) is the best way to ensure your body gets extra nutrition and calories to help you sustain your activity levels. Timing this meal right after your workout (ideally within a half-hour) also helps you start the recovery process faster and more effectively. Have a meal-sized serving of an easily digestible protein like egg whites, chicken breast, or salmon; and some carbohydrates in the form of starchy vegetables like potatoes, butternut squash, or acorn squash. (Don’t worry about adding fat—that’s less important for this post-workout meal.) Then, eat your next normal meal 60–90 minutes later.
✪Tip: We also like the idea of a pre-workout snack, to send a signal to your body that activity is coming. Eat a small serving of protein and a little bit of fat anywhere from 15 to 60 minutes before your workout, but skip the carbs here. Try a hard-boiled egg and a handful of macadamia nuts, or a few pieces of jerky and some avocado. If you exercise first thing in the morning, something is better than nothing, so do the best you can. Not sold on the idea of eating before exercise? Try it for a week! You may be surprised at how much stronger or better your workouts feel with a little something in your stomach.
I don’t like eating breakfast. Can I skip it?
You’re an adult, which means you can technically do anything you want. However, since you asked us, we’d strongly recommend against skipping breakfast. If you’re not hungry first thing in the morning, it’s a good indicator that your hormones are off. One of the best ways to get those hormones back in line is to eat something in the morning, when it’s biologically appropriate. If you start eating too late in the day, your entire hormonal rhythm can be thrown off—so come nighttime, you’ll tend to crave more food. Usually not the good kind, either. Which means that you’ll be prowling through your pantry or freezer after dinner looking for a snack, leading to more hormonal disruption. In summary, eat breakfast within an hour of waking to keep your metabolism on track.
✪Tip: If you’re really not hungry first thing in the morning, here’s our rule of thumb: no coffee before breakfast. We know, you hate that idea, but coffee is an appetite suppressant, which will make it even harder for you to eat. So fire up the frying pan before the percolator—it’s for your own good.
I’m hungry all the time.
This is common, especially in the first two weeks of the program. You’re probably used to running on sugar for energy, but you’re not eating sugar all the time anymore, so your body is craving energy. That translates to hunger, even if you don’t actually need the calories. The good news is that your body has an alternate fuel source (fat) that you’ll be really good at using in the next week or two. So remember, this too shall pass. In the meantime, if you’re hungry, go ahead and eat an extra meal or a snack—just make sure it follows our guidelines. Trying to prop up your energy levels with handfuls of dried fruit or a fruit smoothie is only setting your cause back.
I’m never hungry.
This is also common, especially in the first two weeks of the program. The food you’re eating on your Whole30 is much more satiating than the foods-with-no-brakes you used to eat, and your body isn’t used to being this well fed. This may make you feel less than hungry when lunch or dinner rolls around. However, three meals a day is really the bare minimum you need to stay healthy, both calorie and micronutrient-wise, so stick with it. Generally by the second or third week, your hunger will self-regulate, and you’ll find yourself ready for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
How much fruit is too much?
That depends on a few factors. What season is it? It’s really normal to eat lots more fruit in the summer, when it’s fresh and available, and you’re generally more active (hiking, biking, and spending more time exploring the outdoors). Why are you eating it? If you’re reaching for a banana or grapes to prop up your sugar cravings, we’d ask you to rethink that strategy. You don’t want to end up with the same cravings after your program, and continuing to feed your brain the sweetest stuff allowed every time it pitches a tantrum isn’t really changing your habits. How active are you? If you’re an athlete, weekend warrior, or generally active person, you may need to purposefully incorporate fruit into your day to provide more carbohydrates.
In summary, how much fruit you eat is up to you. We generally recommend starting with two servings of fruit a day, eaten with meals (not by itself), but don’t stress if you end up with four or five servings on a hot summer day, or no fruit at all over a cold winter weekend.
✪Tip: Be extra cautious with dried fruit. It’s basically nature’s candy—especially dates—so save it for outdoor activities like a long hike or bike ride, or on-the-go emergency food. In addition, read your labels when it comes to things like cranberries or cherries—make sure they’re unsweetened (or sweetened with apple juice, not sugar).
How many eggs are too many?
You’d be hard-pressed to eat too many eggs in one sitting—Dallas will eat a five-egg omelet some mornings. As we explained in Chapter 13 of It Starts With Food, you don’t have to be afraid of the fat or cholesterol in eggs if you are eating a healthy, anti-inflammatory diet like the Whole30. Of course, you should vary your protein sources—if you eat eggs every day for breakfast, you’re missing out on the different micronutrients found in salmon, steak, or other protein sources. But don’t worry about eating two, three, or even five eggs at a time.
✪Tip: Pastured, organic eggs are a great bang for your protein buck—even at $6 a carton, that’s still just $1.50 per (average) meal. Look for words like “pasture-raised” on the carton (which is very different from “free-range” or “cage-free”), or better yet, ask your local farmer what the chickens are fed and how they live.
That’s a lot of meat.
That’s not really a question, is it? You may be thinking “so much meat” because we’re asking you to include an animal protein source with every meal. Please note, however, that the serving sizes are actually quite moderate (as low as one palm-sized serving three times a day, which is right in line with the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance), and it’s balanced with lots and lots of plant matter. Plus, not every meal needs to include red meat, bacon, or sausage—mix in fish and shellfish, poultry, pork, and eggs to get a good variety of amino acids and micronutrients.
That’s a lot of fat.
We know it may look like you’re eating tons of fat with each meal, but that’s only because we’ve been conditioned to see all fat as bad. If you’re trying to train your body to effectively utilize fat as fuel, you’ve got to give it some of that fuel, don’t you? Plus, fat is a huge player in satiety, and makes your food taste 73 percent better. (That’s science.) So don’t be afraid of a half an avocado or a few tablespoons of cooking oil with each meal. In fact, you may find you need to add even more fat than the meal template calls for, if you’re large or active.
✪Tip: We’ve got safe, healthy, sustainable weight loss built right into our model, because we know that is a major goal for the majority of you—so do not cut your fat intake below the low end of our recommended range. Trying to outsmart the system in an effort to lose weight faster may very well backfire. Your delicate hormone balance will be thrown off if you’re chronically underfeeding yourself—plus you’ll be hungry all the time, and your energy levels will take a dive, and you’ll be cranky because you’re tired and hungry. So stick to the lower end of our spectrum if you want, but resist the urge to cut your fat intake even more, because as crazy as it sounds, eating less could be counterproductive to your weight-loss efforts.
Should I add less fat if my protein source is fatty?
Nope. Some meals, your meat will be fatty (like salmon or a rib eye), other meals it will be lean (like chicken or pork chops). As you are varying your protein throughout the week, it all evens out in the end. Just stick to the template and add the recommended amounts of fat at each meal, regardless of your protein source.
Does cooking fat count as added fat?
It does, but that’s generally not enough to satisfy your “added fat” requirement. (You’re generally using only a tablespoon or two of fat per meal, and some of that gets left in the pan.) If cooking fat is the only fat in the recipe, and/or if you choose to drain the naturally occurring fat from your meal (like with ground beef), make sure you add some fat back in some other form. Also, feel free to combine fats in any one meal; just choose from the lower end of the spectrum if you’re eating more than one. For example, if you want to top your Perfect Burger with both Buffalo Sauce and Guacamole, just use a smaller serving of each.
✪tip: Don’t stress about this! Use your body’s hunger and fullness signals to guide you, and remember that because you’re eating a wide variety of foods and meals, a little more fat in this meal will naturally balance itself out with a little less fat in a meal you’ll eat later in the week.
When I make these recipes, I end up with too much or not enough food for two people.
The serving sizes here are just general guidelines—it’s impossible to choose one serving size that will suit everybody’s needs. If you find you need more protein in each meal, go ahead and up the amounts in each recipe—unless you need to double the meat, you shouldn’t need to adjust the amounts of accompanying dressings, sauces, or spices. If you find you have too many leftovers, scale back appropriately. (And always feel free to add more vegetables to any of our dishes!)