When I first approached my wife about doing a Whole30, she immediately responded with a forceful, “No.” I asked her to elaborate a bit more about why she didn’t want to try it, and she told me that she needed variety, flavor, and satiety in her foods. She felt that anything that aided weight loss and promoted good health had to be boring and consisting of nothing more than tuna, chicken breast, and salad. I took what she told me and did my research and came back to her. “The food on Whole30 is actually pretty decent. Here; take a look,” and I showed her sites devoted to Whole30 recipes. She was surprised, but still a bit skeptical. “Ok, we can try it. But if the food stinks, I’m off of it.” I agreed, and onto Whole30 we went.

We have thrived on Whole30, Paleo, and Keto largely due to the variety of recipes that were available to us in cookbooks and online. The recipes were all delicious, they were filling, and they allowed us to eat something new and different at almost every meal until we built up a list of favorites we now like to go to. Of course, Sherry is always on the lookout for new recipes for us to try, and we still find new favorites almost weekly.

I still see people starting diets and posting on Facebook or Twitter photos of salad with tuna or chicken breast on them, touting their “Healthy meal.” When I see that, I want to cry, because I know how bland and boring salads can be after a while, and eating bland and boring diets are a large part why so many people fail in adopting healthy lifestyles. They just don’t understand how important the role of food variety plays in our ability to stick to a healthy diet.