Althea Brown

 Meet Our Whole30 Expert

It's that time of year again, when food-related new year's resolutions are top of mind. And one such eating reset that piques a ton of interest, especially after a long holiday season, is Whole30. For 30 days, participants eliminate added sugar, alcohol, grains, (most) legumes and more from their diet and then slowly reintroduce them to identify any personally problematic ingredients. The goal is to enjoy "whole" foods including meat, seafood, eggs, veggies, and fruit, and recipes with a simple list of recognizable ingredients. A key guiding principle? Keep it simple. 

Althea Brown is a certified Whole30 coach and the creator of @metemgee and @wholesomecaribbean, where she shares "wholesome remixes to traditional Guyanese and Caribbean recipes." Born and raised in Guyana, Althea now lives with her family of 5 in Denver, Colorado. You can find her daily on IG Reels and TikTok sharing recipes that remind her of her culture and heritage — that also happen to be dairy-free, gluten-free, and Whole30 compatible.

How Althea's Whole30 journey began: 

"I had the most massive heartburn of my life and didn't understand that it was my food making me feel that way. My friend told me to do an elimination diet, and Whole30 came up. After it was done, a lightbulb went off. I invested in the book [The Whole30] and actually figured out that a lot of the things I normally ate were making me sick. I decided to cut those out and started sharing about it on my blog about Guyanese food. At the time, Whole30 didn't have a place in there — it was almost like I was living two lives. 

Despite that, I decided to apply to become an official coach. I got accepted, earned a scholarship, and became certified. Ever since then I feel more confident sharing about the process of Whole30 and feel like I really understand the purpose. The most important message for me as a coach is that you have to understand that a quick fix won't help you in the long run. The goal of Whole30 should actually be to have a different relationship with food and diet culture." 

Why the new year is the perfect time to try Whole30:  

"I think there's a lot of negativity around 'new year, new me' attitudes, and setting those goals at the start of the year. But for me, January is an opportunity to be mindful about the past year that's now behind you and think about what you can do to make yourself better. You cannot fault anyone for wanting to set new boundaries if it's going to move their life towards where they want it to be. As long as you're nourishing your body, you're doing great." 

On using the microwave and her Anyday dishes:  

"I'm not anti-microwave at all. I use my microwave every day, several times a day." says Althea. "One of my favorite meal prep tricks is to make my sweet potatoes in the microwave! It takes minutes in the microwave instead of an hour in the oven. The first time I told someone that they were like, 'why haven't I thought of that?'" 

"Sweet potatoes take minutes in the microwave instead of an hour in the oven."

"I use my Anyday dishes mostly to make vegetables. Instead of boiling water on the stove, blanching broccoli, setting up an ice bath, the whole thing, I microwave it with garlic and salt for 3-5 minutes. As a busy mom of three, if I can do something that saves me time and still makes delicious food, why not? The Deep Dish has become my personal lunch bowl. I love using it to store leftovers and it's so easy to reheat them."

We believe that the microwave is the perfect tool for or helping people nourish their bodies while keeping it simple. (After all, what's more simple than the microwave?) To prove that it's possible to cook healthy, Whole30 compatible dishes in the microwave, we adapted two of Althea's popular Whole30 recipes (with her permission) to the Anyday: Spaghetti Squash Mac and Cheese and Sweet Potato Gratin. Check out the microwave versions below!