It Starts With Food Book Review

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I hope you all had a great weekend! I know I shouldn’t complain since I get 4 weeks off school, but I feel like time is flying by way too quickly! Haha okay, I’ll stop. While at home I’ve been getting in some reading. Mostly I’m working my way through Anna Karenina (only 1/3 the way through…) but I also got a chance to read It Starts With Food, written by Dallas & Melissa Hartwig.

The book outlines their plan to change the way you eat and feel. It’s not a diet, but lifestyle change. I was very interested when I first started reading, since they claim that the diet can significantly help with many symptoms and diseases during the 30 day elimination diet period, such as diabetes, high cholesterol and blood pressure, acne, fatigue, asthma, IBS, celiac disease, depression, Lyme disease, and many many more.

  

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The book starts out by telling you the science behind their diet and how they came up with it. Then they discuss why they cut out certain food groups, and why they include others. Part 6 discusses the process of what happens during the 30 days and then how to re-introduce certain foods if necessary. They also talk about special cases, such as IBS sufferers and other conditions in Part 7, along with other topics. Finally, Appendix A contains a TON of great recipe ideas and how to cook certain foods, and Appendix B has plenty of resources.

Although intrigued, I was then taken aback at all the foods that are cut out from the diet. Here is an outline of what you can and can’t eat/do:

They explain that this is NOT a diet, it’s a lifestyle change and they don’t expect you to completely eliminate these foods forever:

I did like how they don’t just drop you after the 30 days, they fully explain the reintroduction process. You don’t just go back to grains, dairy and legumes on day 31, you slowly reintroduce them to determine which foods give you trouble:

So what did I think of the book and the program? I put the book down feeling very intrigued, but confused at the same time.

I’m intrigued because it sounds like a good program. It sounds like if I really stuck to this for 30 days then I might actually feel a lot better since it cuts out just about everything that I know that bothers me. I’m actually REALLY tempted to do this when I get back to Chicago since I’ve been feeling pretty bad digestion-wise over the past several weeks.

HOWEVER, I am confused. I feel like there are SO MANY different philosophies on how to eat. Cutting out whole food groups is always a red light to me. Plus this book says to eat 3 meals and try to reduce snacking, whereas other programs I’ve considered say to eat 5-6 small meals a day. Who is right? What’s the best choice?

I guess it just depends on the person? Either way, as I said before I’m seriously considering giving this a try. I won’t be running high mileage during the 30 days when I get back (won’t be running at all the first week) so missing the extra carbs shouldn’t hurt (they also talk about how to eat for athletes). Hmmm I just can’t decide. It’s only 30 days, right? That’s the blink of an eye in a lifetime.

If you’re dealing with symptoms or diseases that you can’t get under control, I recommend picking up this book and checking it out. Despite any hesitations I have, I do completely agree with the premise of this book: that the food we eat plays a HUGE role in our health. For more information on the book and resources, visit their website.

Don’t forgot, the Chef Earl’s giveaway ends tonight at 11pm central time! 

 

What do you think of the Whole30 program? Would you do it?

 

Have you followed any eating programs?