Pancake Rule - The Whole30® Program (2024)

FAQs

Pancake Rule - The Whole30® Program? ›

During the 30-day elimination phase of the Whole30, the Pancake Rule asks you not to include: All baked goods made from alternative flour (bread, tortillas, wraps, crackers, pizza or pie crust, biscuits, pancakes, crepes, waffles, muffins, cupcakes, cookies, and brownies)

Since 2010, the Whole30 has included a rule that says, “Do not recreate or purchase baked goods, 'foods with no brakes,' or treats even if they're made with Whole30-compatible ingredients.” We called this the Pancake Rule, because in the early days, that was the food participants tried to create the most often.

The idea behind the first pancake rule is that it's okay if the first one doesn't turn out perfectly; it's a practice round for getting the cooking conditions just right. Once you've made the necessary adjustments, the subsequent pancakes are expected to turn out fantastic.

Foods allowed on the Whole30 diet mostly consist of minimally processed foods, including: Meat, eggs, and poultry: beef, veal, pork, horse, lamb, chicken, turkey, duck, etc. Fish and seafood: fish, anchovies, shrimp, calamari, scallops, crab, lobster, etc. Fruits: fresh and dried fruits.

Whole30 bans legumes like chickpeas. Still, you can whip up a tasty chickpea-free hummus using avocados, cooked cauliflower, and a few other healthy ingredients. Try out this avocado hummus recipe and pair it with bell peppers or any other crunchy, non-starchy vegetable of your choice.

While we recognize that potatoes are a real food, we also know that eating them in the form of fries and chips has turned them from “produce” into an adulterated commercial “product.” It's easy to find sweet potato, beet, or vegetable chips or restaurant fries that meet the Whole30 ingredient standards.

Pancake Flipping is the problem of sorting a stack of pancakes of different sizes (that is, a permutation), when the only allowed operation is to insert a spatula anywhere in the stack and to flip the pancakes above it (that is, to perform a prefix reversal).

“You cannot mess up the first pancake because it's not supposed to be good. It's a sacrifice to the pancake gods to ensure the rest of the batch comes out.”

Since 1982 we have studied a group of atopic patients who developed severe allergic symptoms immediately after eating foods prepared with wheat flour contaminated with various species of mites. This syndrome was designated as oral mite anaphylaxis (OMA) or "pancake syndrome".

Can I eat bananas on Whole30? ›

What about bananas? Yes, both pickles and bananas are allowed on Whole30. Yet if they are a potential trigger food for you (for instance, the sweetness of bananas sets off a craving for other treats or makes you want to binge on the fruit), then you may consider including them on your “don't eat” list.

The truth is, weight loss can be a natural byproduct of your Whole30, without tracking or purposefully restricting calories. You may lose weight naturally by eliminating alcohol, baked goods, soda, and other high-sugar foods.

But white potatoes are an accessible, nutrient-dense, whole food, and it was an easy call to bring them back into the Whole30 along with other starches and varieties of potatoes. They were added back into the program in 2014, with the exception of commercially-prepared fries or chips.

Here's their official stance on coffee: “Yes, you can have your coffee. You're welcome. You can drink it black, add unsweetened compatible nutpods, coconut milk, almond milk, or add cinnamon or vanilla beans to the brew.

Since yogurt, cereal, toast, and even oatmeal are off the table, breakfast tends to be the toughest meal on the program. A few of us here at Greatist HQ completed the Whole30, so we can attest to that. Eggs get old — fast.

After an interesting experience at Blue Star Donut in Portland, I posted my “One Bite Rule” on Instagram. I encourage you to read the whole post (and the experience that prompted it), but I'll summarize it here: If you get one bite into a less healthy treat and realize it's not worth it, stop eating.

On Whole30, adherents must cut out all sweeteners including maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, coconut sugar, date syrup, monk fruit extract, and stevia. However, followers are permitted to use fruit juice as a sweetener.

No pasta recreations are allowed on the Whole30, per the Pancake Rule. However, single-ingredient veggie “noodles” such as spaghetti squash noodles or spiralized zucchini noodles are compatible and easy!