Melissa Hartwig Urban - The Whole30s Food Freedom Forever: Letting Go of Bad Habits, Guilt, and Anxiety Around Food

This book presents the research and ideas of its author and was created for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for consultation with a professional healthcare practitioner. Consult with your healthcare practitioner before starting any diet or supplement regimen. The publisher and the author disclaim responsibility for any adverse effects resulting directly or indirectly from any information contained in this book. The testimonials provided in this book are not a guarantee, promise, or indicator of results and/or experiences while participating in and after completing the Whole30 program.

First paperback edition 2019
First published in 2016 as Food Freedom Forever: Letting Go of Bad Habits, Guilt, and Anxiety Around Food

Copyright 2016 by Thirty & Co., LLC

Whole30 is a registered trademark of Thirty & Co., LLC.
The Whole30 logo is a trademark of Thirty & Co, LLC.

All rights reserved.

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to or Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10016.

hmhbooks.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-0-544-83829-1 (hbk)
ISBN 978-0-544-83830-7 (ebk)
ISBN 978-0-358-097426 (pbk)

Designed by Vertigo Design NYC
Ebook design by Rebecca Springer

v12.0120

For Atticus

Contents

My list is long, but you never know if youll be in here, so you should definitely read the whole thing.

First, to Justin Schwartz, my editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Just, like, THANK YOU. After three books and three ridiculous deadlines (who did that?), I only adore you more. Not only are you incredibly talented, but you get so excited when you like something I write, and Im not sure if you could possibly understand what that meant to me during this process. Id want no one else in my corner here.

To Bruce Nichols, Ellen Archer, Marina Padakis, Claire Safran, Rebecca Liss, Adriana Rizzo, Brad Thomas Parsons, Jessica Gilo, and the entire Houghton Mifflin Harcourt team, thank you for believing in me, the Whole30, and my dream of food freedom for all. I am so incredibly proud and honored to be an HMH author.

To Andrea Magyar and Trish Bunnett at Penguin Canada, I have loved every single second working with you. Thank you for your enthusiasm, advice, and encouragement, and believing in me enough to take on this project too. Call Mark, because Id like those donuts now.

To Christy Fletcher, youve been there for me through it all, and there arent words enough to express how grateful I am. All the late-night calls, reassurances when I needed them most, the tough decisions you helped me make... youre my gladiator in trendy wedge sneakers, and Id close with xx but were both thinking twice about that.

To Grainne Fox, Melissa Chinchillo, Erin McFadden, Hillary Black, Sylvie Greenberg, and the Fletcher and Company team, thank you for helping me bring this project to life. I am so lucky that people as strong and dedicated as you have my back.

To Leslie Goldman, you are literally the best and Im so glad I swiped right. (See what I did there? I wanted an exclamation mark BUT I WONT.) Your insights, humor, suggestions, and red pen were brilliant, invaluable, and probably the only reason I made my deadline. Next time we take a month and work from an oceanside cabana in Mexico; our kids will be fine.

To my family, thank you for believing in me. Thank you for sharing all my media clips with your Facebook friends. Thank you for texting and not calling. Thank you for sending supportive cards, Mom; and grilling the best steak, Doug; and being such a good listener, Susan; and coming up with so many crazy-yet-brilliant Whole30 ideas, Dad; and always being My Person, Kelly (even when I make it hard); and eating English muffins so I can have one when I visit, Ryan. I love you all so much, even if I never listen to your voice mails.

To my #bossbabes: Jane, Jen, Missy, and Tess, your influence, energy, and love make me want to heart emoji. I am stronger, happier, and far more badass with you in my life. To Michael, your good looks were the actual inspiration for this book. I love you almost as much as you love me. For Mel, Diana, Julie, Steph, Stephanie, and Michelle, thank you for being my sanity checks, and for all you have so generously contributed to the Whole30 community. For Ann, I would not have survived without you; thank god youre such a badass because I really needed you. For all my friends who supported me, encouraged me, bribed me, and forced me to change out of yoga tights occasionally throughout the writing process, thank you.

For my BFF Jenn, you will always and forever be the only person I allow to tough-love me that hard. Its for my own good. I love you.

To my talented, passionate, creative, hardworking Whole30 team: Shanna Keller, Kristen Crandall, Jen Kendall, Karyn Scott, Tom Denham, Renee Lee, and my Whole30 forum moderators; you are the heart and soul of our community, and I am so lucky to have you. Thank you for loving this program and these people as much as I do, and for giving so much of yourselves to the community. Take November off.

To Dallas, thank you for creating this with me. The Whole30 community and I will always be grateful for all that you have contributed.

For Maria Barton, Im not sure youll ever know how much of you went into this book. Thank you for being so open with me, and inspiring me to give even more of my heart to this project.

Finally, but most important, to my Whole30 community: This book is for you. Its always for you. And what you give me back in the form of your stories, comments, photos, messages, and stopping-me-in-the-middle-of-the-airport enthusiastic hugs is everything. I love what we have built together, and I hope this book is all that you wanted, and then 27 percent more.

I like cupcakes.

Cake is fine. Ice cream is not my thing. Whoopie pies just dont bring it, and cheesecake is damp and squishy and reminds me of the M word (moist, ew). My favorite go-to yummy treat is, very specifically, a cupcake. Its the frosting-to-cake ratio that seals the deal, and there has to be a generous heap of dense, gritty, so-sweet-it-hurts-my-teeth frosting on top. Like, inches of it.

Maybe I should have just said, I like frosting.

Every year on my birthday, I eat a cupcake (or two). Its been a tradition for as many years as I can remember. This year, on a gorgeous late-winter Saturday, I rode my motorcycle over to my favorite cupcake shop, fully intent on taking something (maybe two things) home with me. I got there, practically skipped inside, gazed at the huge variety of cake and frosting combinations, and... meh. I stood there debating every sugary-sweet option with the intention of celebrating my favorite day of the year with my favorite decadent food, but when I really thought about it, I just didnt want one.

So I went home.

Turns out, my birthday was just as awesome as usual. I celebrated just as hard. I didnt feel deprived, because it was my decision. I knew that if I wanted a cupcake the day after my birthday, or the day after that, or every day for a week the following month, I would just have one. Because adult, money, motorcycle, and free will.