Giana Holt had always been skeptical of trendy diets. So when a friend suggested she try Whole30, she resisted. “I imagined bland chicken, steamed broccoli, and me staring longingly at a loaf of bread,” she says with a laugh.
But a particularly sluggish winter—combined with stress, sugar cravings, and mid-afternoon crashes—pushed her to try something new. “I didn’t want a forever diet,” Giana explains. “I just needed a reset.”
She committed to 30 days of no sugar, grains, dairy, legumes, or processed foods. The first few days were rocky. Her coffee without cream tasted like punishment, and she missed toast more than she expected. But something clicked around day five. “I realized flavor doesn’t have to come from sugar or cheese,” she says. “It can come from real ingredients.”
Instead of chasing convenience, she started cooking with intention—using spices, citrus, fresh herbs, and healthy fats to bring life to her meals. A roasted chicken with rosemary and lemon. A vibrant Thai-inspired coconut curry. Cauliflower mashed with garlic and olive oil. “Nothing felt like ‘diet food,’” Giana recalls. “It just tasted good.”
What surprised her most wasn’t just how flavorful her Whole30 meals became—it was how much better she felt. Her skin cleared, her mood stabilized, and she started waking up without hitting snooze.
“I thought I’d be counting the days,” she says. “But I actually didn’t want it to end.”
Now, even post-Whole30, Giana still rotates those recipes into her weekly meals. “The reset was worth it,” she says. “But learning how to cook with flavor instead of shortcuts? That’s the real win.”
