5 Risks of Whole30 Diet to be aware

The Whole30 diet consists in cutting dairy, alcohol, legumes, added sugars and processed foods for 30 days. Potential risks include constipation and inability to lose weight while following it. The diet can also be expensive to follow, as it can involve buying a lot of meat and fresh produce.

Any changes in your eating pattern may cause you to experience side effects, and the Whole30 Restrictive Diet, although designed to be temporary, carries some risks.

The Whole30 diet is a food pattern in which participants eliminate dairy, alcohol, cereals, legumes, added sugars, and processed foods from their diet for 30 days. Those who follow the diet are encouraged to eat lots of meat, poultry, seafood and fresh produce.

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You may not be able to avoid losing weight while on a diet

You can eat a lot of meat while following the Whole30 diet.

If you try Whole30, you may lose some weight. But because the diet varies so much from the eating habits that most people usually follow, the weight will probably not be maintained after 30 days.

“When someone goes on a diet like this, I would be surprised if they didn’t lose weight quickly because they cut so many foods, “Taub-Dix told Insider.” But chances are the weight loss isn’t long-term. I see it with clients who have done this diet and a million others. “

The diet will cause you to eliminate whole food groups, which is not always a good idea

According to the official diet website, Whole30 eliminates cereals, legumes, alcohol, dairy and added sugar in the name of preventing inflammation.

While eliminating some of these foods may benefit some people, Taub-Dix said eliminating whole grains and legumes may be too extreme for others.

“They call these foods inflammatory, but some foods like legumes and whole grains can fight inflammation and lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels,” he said.

“Any diet that eliminates an entire food group is a diet that you should stay away from,” Taub-Dix added.

Eating certain foods can cause digestive problems and discomfort

Suddenly eliminating high-fiber cereals and legumes from your diet while increasing your intake of animal protein can do you more harm than good in terms of digestion.

“You’re losing fiber in foods like legumes, whole grains and bran, so constipation could be an issue with this diet,” Taub-Dix said.

Not eating processed foods can cause you to lose some nutrients

The Whole30 diet causes followers to eliminate processed foods, which may lead one to believe that not all technically processed foods are healthy, but this is not exactly true.

“I love the idea of ​​eating food as close as they were to when they grew up on the ground, but the fact is that the word‘ processed ’is not a dirty word,” Taub-Dix told Insider. “If you brought home a carrot from the farmers market and peeled it, cut it and washed it, you would process it.”

In fact, according to Taub-Dix, some “processed” foods, such as canned tomatoes, may contain more nutrients than tomatoes you buy at the grocery store, which may lose nutrients during transportation. In addition, technically processed frozen vegetables can also be as good for you as the fresh version.

“Highly processed and ultra-processed foods are foods without which you can definitely live much better,” Taub-Dix told Insider. “But processed foods aren’t all bad news.”

Whole30 may be more expensive to follow than your normal diet

The Whole30 diet includes lots of fresh produce and expensive meats.

“Some people find the diet more expensive,” Taub-Dix told Insider. “They may not necessarily be buying seasonal things, they may just be buying things with their diet. So for some people, it may actually be more expensive or they may find that it is not accessible to them where they live.”

This is likely because the diet eliminates some sources of low-cost vegetable protein, such as beans and tofu, and replaces them with meat and poultry-based protein sources that may be more expensive.

In addition, Whole30 includes many fresh produce that can also be a little expensive, especially if you buy fruits and vegetables out of season.

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