This project kicked me in the crotch every dang day

At the same time, it LIT ME UP with energy and excitement. The dichotomy!

This issue is sponsored by the May Group Whole30, starting Thursday May 1st! Join thousands of people just like you in changing your health, habits, and relationship with food.

Have you ever had an experience that sucked your soul of the will to live AND had you feeling more excited and energized than anything you’ve done in a long time? A project that fueled your creativity, passion, and intellect—while at the same time made you want to curl up in a bathtub, fully clothed, with a Cadbury creme egg and a heavy blanket? (That last thing is highly specific, I am aware.)

That is the project I’ve been in the middle of for the last few months. And it’s brought me so much energy for the Whole30, and also had me crying in my husband’s high-protein oatmeal this morning.

From concept → reality

I’ve been wanting to make a “how to do the Whole30” video course for years. Though we’d spent a lot of time conceptualizing the project, I haven’t had capacity to actually make it happen. First it was our salad dressing line (RIP), then the pandemic, then Boundaries, then The New Whole30. The last six years has flown by.

As soon as The New Whole30 book tour wrapped, I knew it was time. We had new program rules, updated science, and a new framework for talking about the Whole30. Plus there were so many nuggets of wisdom, science, and personal experiences that I couldn’t put into the book. (Unless you enjoy slinging around an 800-page tome that weighs as much as a chonky cat.)

It’s been a long time since I’ve walked people through the Whole30, step by step. (Day by Day, you might say, which was published in 2017.) I’ve gained eight more years of experience since writing that book. As the program and our community has evolved, the way you go through the Whole30 has evolved too. More significantly, the way I’d coach you through the program has also evolved—tremendously. So I sat down with my laptop, a camera, and six different lights to show you exactly how I’d do it today.

Such fun, many tears

Creating the themes and scripts for each daily video was so energizing! It allowed me to think about the Whole30 and your journey through elimination and reintroduction in a whole new way. I was able to go even deeper into habit and behavior science, biology, and physiology. I also got to share many personal stories about the Whole30, my fitness journey, and more. It felt like I was breathing new energy into your Whole30 journey in a way I hadn’t in years.

And also, making this course has been so. damn. hard. I had to be my own videographer, because we didn’t have the time or budget for a fancy film studio. I cannot tell you how many videos I had to do over because the microphone didn’t work, the lighting changed dramatically, or I forgot to hit record. Memorizing all of my 15+ minute scripts was exhausting, until I bought a teleprompter that took me an entire afternoon (more tears) to set up, but saved me hours of recording time. On Day 8’s video, I accidentally welcomed you to Whole30 Day 9, and cried so hard that my husband suggested I just put an edit in the captions. (The edit remains—it’s fun—until I have the fortitude to do it over at some point.)

Thank god for my husband, who actually IS a videographer, and spent an entire day resetting my “studio” when yet another video turned out too dark to use. He was so patient, even while I was yelling at the SD card I forgot to format again. I could not have done this without him.

Maybe it felt so hard because this course is so important to me. Maybe it’s because launching this project after so many years feels like a lot of pressure. Maybe it’s because the 30-ish videos I planned to make expanded into 54(!) once I realized there was so much more I wanted to say.

Either way, it was a bumpy ride—but I wouldn’t change a thing. I know how I feel about the course. It’s good. Really good. It’s my best work, period. And if it helps just one of you succeed in a way you haven’t been able to before, then my mission has been served.

What IS this dang course?

Whole30 Foundations is a daily sit-down with me, in video format, talking about the topics relevant to that day of your Whole30. It’s like waking up every morning, FaceTiming me, and saying, “Hey, it’s Whole30 Day 3—what do I need to know today?” You’ll get what you need, when you need it—and not a minute sooner. This is a big change from past Whole30 guidance. In the earliest days, I’d give you all of my the best-of-the-best practices right out of the gate. Today, I recognize the program has a flow; a progression. In Whole30 Foundations, I won’t ask more of you than necessary for success. (Which means when I do challenge you to take your program deeper, you’ll trust that the timing is right.)

The course includes:

• 12 planning and prep videos

• 30 days of elimination

• 12 days of reintroduction, including an introduction to food freedom

• Worksheets, downloads, recommended reading, recipes, and more

And you don’t have to start with us on May 1st! Whole30 Foundations is open 24/7/365, so you can join now, and you can start your Whole30 Day 1 anytime you’re ready.

It’s a both/and

This project was both the most exhausting job in recent memory, and the most rewarding. I could give you a speech like, “The heaviest lifts build the strongest muscles,” or “The work that asks the most of you is often the work that gives the most back.” That’s not always true, though. Sometimes the hardest jobs are just things you need to get through. They don’t inspire, they don’t elate, they just need to get done, so you put your nose to the grindstone and do them.

Building this course was special. It proved that after 16 years of running my own business, I still know how to work hard. It proved that when it comes to the Whole30, I still have that passion, that spark, and so much more to give. It taught me a whole new skillset (videography) that, despite its steep learning curve, was fun to pick up and will serve me well in the future.

In a world where so much of our hard work feels like a slog, it’s a blessing to do something that feels like a both/and. It’s especially exciting to create it from scratch, out of your own ideas. It makes me wonder, how often should I be challenging myself like this? Or could I scale this back to experience this sensation more often, but in smaller doses?

To watch this project come to life has been surreal. And I’m sure at some point in the near future, when the adrenaline has worn off and I finally accept that the Day 8 fumble is here to stay (for now), I’ll heave a giant sigh, spend a moment appreciating my efforts, and take the rest of the week off.

I can’t wait for you to see what I’ve been pouring my heart into for the last several months. Also, with this project, feedback is specifically requested. Especially from you, because you’ve been around for a lot of this evolution. Thanks for sticking with me. I hope you love this as much as I’ve loved making it for you.

XO, MU

The May Group Whole30 starts on May 1st, just in time to solidify your Food Freedom plan for summer. How can you spend your weekends, vacations, and holidays eating foods you love while feeling as good as you want to feel? Whole30, that’s how.