What is the difference between Whole9 and Whole30?

Founded in 2009 by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig, the authors of the book It Starts with Food, the Whole9 is a community focused on health, fitness, balance and sanity, all built on a foundation of real food and healthy nutritional habits. The 9 in Whole9, comes from 9 factors they believe are all important for our overall optimal health. These factors are important to implement in our lives during and post Whole30. What we know now is that good nutrition is not the only critical factor for our health and quality of life.

9 Factors…

Nutrition, Sleep and Healthy Movement are the three most important building blocks to living a Whole9 life. We have now established the first block of nutrition, but we need to now have a restorative sleep every night. This means, we don’t get up at 4 am to do sprints if we have not slept well the night before. Stay in bed! Healthy movement involves walking, yoga, easy bike ride or hiking. In other words, low intensity, natural movements. It can also mean our high intensity training, but it can also actually mean a nap in the afternoon!

We have now established the first block of nutrition, but we need to now have a restorative sleep every night. 

Following healthy movements, we also want to have Fun an Play in our lives. That might be a game of frisbee golf, tossing the toy with your dog, or wrestling and running around with your kids.

Stress Management is another critical factor that encompasses all the others. Not eating or sleeping well and over exercising, being socially isolated and not having any fun in your life can all contribute to stress.

Socialization is extremely important in living a full Whole9 life. Creating a healthy support network/community (and NOT virtual one) has been shown to reduce depression, stress, anxiety and provide support, motivation and inspiration… which are all critical to making big life style changes.

Being in our Natural Environment is a key factor and it is not just about getting your vitamin D3 from the sun. Research has indicated that just being outside has in our natural open spaces has more far reaching benefits that we knew before.

Finally, the Whole9 includes Personal Growth and Temperance. Personal growth can encompass everything from spirituality, expanding new knowledge of the world, or doing volunteer/charitable work. It means that developing new hobbies, having goals in regards to your work or workout, can have huge positive impact on your stress levels and social relationships.

Temperance, and often ignored, is key to a Whole9 life. Temperance is all about self-restraint and moderation. But this isn’t your typical “everything in moderation” stance. It’s more about applying critical, introspective practices to your own life, and creating awareness about your own habits and preferences. It means taking a good, hard look in the mirror, and truly owning what you see— whether you like it or not. And if you don’t, it’s about being brave enough to take that first tough step and do something about it (hopefully, with the support and aid of your social in-person network).

At TruFit, we believe these Whole9 factors, when properly balanced, will help move us toward optimal health in our post Whole30 lives. We hope you find this summary useful and are able to apply them as we move forward with a new outlook on nutrition and a new relationship with food in 2014!