This Nutritionist's Manifesto Against the Whole30 Will Shake Your View of Healthy Eating

People everywhere are trying Whole30, a program that requires followers to completely eliminate all sugar and sweeteners, grains, legumes, dairy and alcohol for 30 days. Cutting out these food groups, followers hope, will allow them to identify -- and then eliminate forever -- those foods that are causing digestive issues, allergies, chronic pain, hormonal imbalances, skin problems and pretty much any other problem they're trying to solve. Weight loss is just an "added benefit," they say.

Given Whole30's widespread popularity and highly appealing promises, you might wonder, "Should I try it too?" In short: Hell, no! In long, read on.

The Whole30 Trap

Yes, Whole30 encourages consumption of healthy, unprocessed foods, including plenty of fruits and vegetables. Yes, Whole30 doesn't involve calorie counting or monitoring your weight. Yes, Whole30 is "only" 30 days.

But -- but -- Whole30 is a distraction from true mental and physical health. Why? Because it's an incredibly restrictive diet that espouses the idea that your worthiness is tied up in your weight, appearance and ability to resist temptation. In many ways, the Whole30 "program" is even worse than a self-titled "diet" because it pretends it's not a diet at all.

[See: 8 Food Trends Nutrition Experts Pray Will Never Return.]

"Our premise is simple," co-founder Melissa Hartwig writes on the program's website. "Change your health (tastes, blood sugar regulation, hormonal balance, digestion, immune system), habits (how you reward, self-soothe, comfort, and show love to yourself), and emotional relationship with food (losing cravings, attachments to, and dysfunctional thoughts around food), and a healthy body composition has to follow. It HAS to."

But here's the problem: Your body doesn't have to change because we are not all meant to be one size, shape, height or weight, thanks to genetics. Plus, we humans (thankfully) are built to survive restriction and increase our drive to eat the very things we've been avoiding.

What's worse, for me, is the psychological damage this message could cause. If you buy into the idea that losing your dysfunctional thoughts around food will result in body composition changes, you'll blame yourself for the body you have.

This fantasy that you have absolute control over your appearance and that your emotions are problematic is ripped from the diet rule books -- keep people coming back, make them hope to do better next time, encourage them to repent for all their "sins." This looks more like the cycle of addiction than any sort of helpful plan.

Plus, to truly tackle emotionally driven behaviors around food, you have to remove biological forces, like restriction, that trigger emotional urges in the first place. This important work should not be done in a chat room; it should be explored in collaboration with health professionals who value mental health and well-being over body changes.

Setting Yourself Up for 'Failure'

Sure, some people who try Whole30 may realize that it's unsustainable and walk away pretty much unscathed, save for some wasted time, money and a new negative attitude about what it takes to eat healthy.

But for many people, Whole30 is unsustainable (even for just 30 days). It essentially bullies them into believing they aren't "good enough" if they can't completely eliminate the laundry list of foods not allowed. There's a dash of sugar in your salad dressing? Fail. Your barista used (gasp) regular milk for your latte instead of almond milk? Fail. You opt for the carrots and hummus at a party over the pizza? Doesn't matter; both are fails.

[See: 6 Darn Good Reasons to Eat Sugar and Not Apologize for It.]

"What I dislike most about the Whole 30 -- even more so than the exclusion of foods that are known to promote long-term health -- is the rigidity of it," says Diana Rice, a registered dietitian in St Louis, Missouri. "The second you 'slip up,' you have failed. And yes, you have to start the 30-day cycle over at that point, which extends this nonsense even longer."

That experience promotes the notion that you did not have the self-control or intelligence to follow the program, and so are not only failing your own health, but your very self-worth is lacking because you were not able to adhere to someone else's strict, arbitrary guidelines, Rice adds.

This cycle of trying (and failing) at yet another diet creates a shame spiral and lets negative thoughts start to creep in. "I can't go to the reunion looking like this." "I can't give the speech." "I don't want to wear that bathing suit." "Why can't I be successful at this program?" In a nutshell, you're wasting your life when you feel you can't show up just as you are.

Unhealthy in a Healthy Disguise

Whole30 is especially dangerous because, to the average person, it appears to be a legitimate and safe way to go. But the list of foods to eat and not eat are not based on solid science, and the nitty-gritty rules are rather arbitrary. In fact, Whole30 is precisely the type of thing that lands folks in eating disorder specialists' offices.

"Want to know the easiest way to become obsessed with certain foods, and potentially start bingeing on them?" asks Jennifer Rollin, a social worker in Rockville, Maryland, who specializes in treating eating disorders. "Cut them out of your diet. When we restrict certain foods, it increases the appeal and may cause us to feel out of control around them." Restrictive diets have "real potential for harm," Rollin adds, and at the very least are a complete waste of time and mental energy.

From a practical standpoint, Whole30 can create a lot of unnecessary waste. One of Rice's clients who was following the diet experienced this when she cooked a "compliant" slow cooker meal for her family that sounded really delicious. But it wasn't until hours of simmering had passed and she was about to serve it to her family that she realized one of the ingredients contained a minuscule amount of a "non-compliant" food. (Think: a single chick pea, a dash of Parmesan or a crushed peanut.) She was devastated at her own lack of vigilance, and felt that she had failed her family because she could no longer serve the meal that everyone had been looking forward to all day.

Finally, Whole30 often falls very short of its claim that it will cause all of your food cravings to magically disappear. Most people I've talked to report counting down the days until the program was done so they could go back to eating the foods they enjoyed. Re-entry to normal eating patterns is not usually a smooth process. Clients have shown up in my office day one crying about their date night with doughnuts and ice cream, feeling physically ill and overwhelmed with shame.

I call BS on Whole30 (and all other diets for that matter). You absolutely can improve your life and make positive habit changes, but that doesn't involve "dieting," no matter how well disguised. The more people who realize our society's version of "wellness" is actually very sick, the better we will all be at doing what's truly right -- respecting all bodies no matter what, and choosing compassion over shame.

[See: How to Find the Best Mental Health Professional for You.]

If you're someone who has struggled with diets and body image for years, I want you to know I have been there too. My life changed when I stopped seeing my body as a problem, rejected diet plans once and for all and committed to pursuing positive self-care habits in personally meaningful ways. I'm not saying it's easy, but I am saying it's worth it. The first step is to decide that your health and well-being are more important than your appearance because you are worthy right now, just as you are.