Podcast 206: Hitting Reset and Your Health with Melissa Urban, creator of Whole30

This week, WHOOP VP of Performance Science Kristen Holmes is joined by Melissa Urban, co-founder and CEO of Whole30. Melissa is a recovered addict, nutritionist, and a seven-time New York Times bestselling author who realized she needed to change her habits and her life in order to maintain her recovery – which caused her to examine her relationship with food and its impacts on her body. She shares more about her personal journey in understanding the direct impact of food on her body (and mind), how she feels about sticking to habits, and how she has been using WHOOP as a critical tool in understanding her concussion flares ups.

Want to see your questions answered? Email us – Podcast@whoop.com – or you can call our listener line (508-443-4952) and leave a voicemail, and your question might be answered on a future episode.

EPISODE CHAPTERS:

• 3:03 – Melissa’s background and battling addiction
• 5:40 – The importance of setting boundaries
• 8:05 – How to deal with others while trying to make personal changes 
• 10:40 – How Whole30 started and how it has grown over the years
• 12:51 – Changing the relationship with the scale
• 14:50 – The process of eliminating foods
• 16:13 – The point where Melissa realized the positive impacts and the possibility of productizing Whole30
• 19:40 – The concept of a health reset
• 22:48 – Making Whole30 accessible to everyone
• 25:10 – Reintroducing foods back into a diet
• 27:35 – How context matters when it comes to eliminating foods
• 28:35 – Using WHOOP data to make better food and sleep choices
• 34:31 – How Melissa started tracking her sleep
• 36:35 – Keeping people motivated to stick to their programs
• 38:55 – Melissa’s new book The Book of Boundaries
• 43:20 – Melissa’s concussion and how it has impacted her over the years
• 47:05 – How Melissa combats anxiety and other recovery tips
• 54:23 – How nutrition is the foundation for a healthy lifestyle

Resources:

Melissa Urban 

Whole30

The Book of Boundaries