Whole Life Challenge Kickstart Dietary Guide: Bread, Pasta, Seed Oils, Soda, and What the Level Bans on Labels

The Whole Life Challenge (WLC) is a six-week lifestyle game built around seven daily habits, with nutrition as the first. Players pick one of three nutrition levels before the game starts and cannot change it once it begins. Each day starts with five nutrition points, and a point is deducted for each serving of a food that is non-compliant at the player's level.

The three levels are Kickstart, Lifestyle, and Performance, and Kickstart is the entry level. The program describes it as the place to start for someone new to changing their diet, cutting what it calls "junk" by removing one or two things in each of its main nutrition categories. Lifestyle is described as similar to a Mediterranean pattern, and Performance is the strictest.

Two rules of the game shape how Kickstart should be read on a label. First, the non-compliant list is exhaustive: a food on it costs a point, and a food not on it is allowed. The compliant list is only a suggestion list. Second, when a product is built from compliant ingredients it is compliant, the way basic mayonnaise made of eggs, oil, lemon juice, and salt is compliant. When something cannot be checked, the game rules give a plain fallback: if you do not know whether something is allowed, do not eat it.

Kickstart is a game rule set, not a medical protocol, and its published food list was last revised in January 2021, so treat the current official list as final.

The official Kickstart food list has ten sections, and only some of them contain any non-compliant foods. Protein, vegetables and legumes, and nuts and seeds have none at all. The bans are concentrated in six areas, plus one fruit item: dried fruit with added sugar.

Grains and flours carry the largest share. Non-compliant items are bread (including bagels, muffins, and Ezekiel bread), cereals other than oatmeal, flour tortillas, pasta or noodles of any kind (including bean, rice, and quinoa pasta), and flours made from any grain, such as wheat, rice, quinoa, or corn flour. The list also names barley and pearled barley, couscous, farro, wheat berries, cornmeal and polenta, and potato starch. This is a food-form ban rather than a gluten ban: a gluten-free bread or a chickpea pasta is still bread or pasta and still costs a point.

Industrial oils are the second area. Industrial vegetable and seed oils are non-compliant, and the list names soybean, corn, peanut, sunflower, safflower, grapeseed, and canola oil. Other nut and seed oils, such as flaxseed oil, are compliant. Hydrogenated oil is also non-compliant. On labels these show up in dressings, mayonnaise, crackers, frozen foods, and baked goods, often as "vegetable oil" or as a blend.

Beverages are limited to two bans: beer, and soda of any kind, diet or regular. Wine or spirits are allowed at up to one per day.

Sweets are banned by category. Candy and dessert are non-compliant, and so is sugar or sweetener used as an ingredient in dessert, baked goods, pastry, or oatmeal, except for stevia and coconut sugar or nectar. Monk fruit is compliant in general, but the dessert exception does not name it, so treat monk fruit in a dessert, baked good, pastry, or oatmeal as non-compliant. Sweeteners of any kind are allowed in savory recipes and pantry items such as broth, ketchup, and prepared soup, and to sweeten coffee or tea.

Dairy has a single ban: ice cream. Every other dairy food is compliant, some in moderation.

Fried and snack foods round out the list. Fried white-potato french fries, fried chips of any kind (including vegetable chips), and popcorn are non-compliant. Sweet potato fries (baked or fried), baked white potato fries, and baked chips are allowed but marked for moderation.

All meat, poultry, fish, seafood, and eggs are allowed, as are all vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, and peanuts. Oats, rice, quinoa, buckwheat, amaranth, and corn tortillas are compliant grains, and every dairy food except ice cream is allowed. The list also allows arrowroot, tapioca starch, guar gum, xanthan gum, natural and artificial flavors and colors, nitrates and nitrites, benzoates, and MSG, all marked for moderation. A scanner should not flag those additives under Kickstart.

Grain flours hide under front-of-pack claims. "Gluten-free," "grain-free," and "made with ancient grains" say little. Enriched wheat flour, whole wheat flour, semolina, durum, spelt, and farro all point to bread, pasta, or baked goods. Gluten-free products often swap in rice flour, corn flour, or quinoa flour, which the list bans just as it bans wheat flour. Nut, seed, and coconut flours are not grain flours, and the WLC explicitly treats almond flour and coconut flour as compliant.

Starches split in two. Potato starch is on the non-compliant list. Tapioca starch and arrowroot are on the compliant list as thickeners. Modified food starch with an unstated source is worth a second look, since the source decides which side it falls on.

Seed oil is a blend problem. A product may list several oils, and one banned seed oil is enough to make it non-compliant. Oils the list does not name are a judgment call: cottonseed is an industrial seed oil and fits the category, while palm oil belongs in manual review.

Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils are banned outright. The FDA determined that partially hydrogenated oils, the main source of artificial trans fat, are not generally recognized as safe, but fully hydrogenated oils and small residual amounts can still appear, so read the ingredient words rather than the nutrition panel.

Sweeteners follow context. Honey, maple syrup, cane sugar, and dextrose are acceptable in a marinara sauce but non-compliant in a sweetened oatmeal packet, a muffin, or a pastry. The rule turns on the product type, so the same ingredient can get a different answer on a different product, and the added sugars line on a US label only shows how much sugar there is.

Sweet and snack products are judged by type. A fruit snack or bar that works as candy or dessert falls under the sweets ban. For vegetable chips, straws, and puffs, check whether the product is fried or baked, since fried chips are banned and baked chips are allowed in moderation. Popcorn is banned in every form.

Kickstart's food list is the same everywhere, but the label you read is not. Three differences matter for this level.

Oil naming. Under US rules, each fat or oil is declared by its specific name, or grouped as a blend of vegetable oils followed immediately by each oil's name. In the EU, refined vegetable oils may be grouped as "vegetable oils" only if the list immediately names each specific origin, and a hydrogenated oil must be labelled "fully hydrogenated" or "partly hydrogenated." Either way the oil's name is on the label, so scan for the name rather than the word "vegetable."

Trans fat. The US route was the FDA's determination on partially hydrogenated oils. The EU took a numbers approach: since April 2021, industrially produced trans fat may not exceed 2 grams per 100 grams of fat in food for consumers. A product can therefore meet EU law and still contain a small amount of hydrogenated oil that Kickstart bans.

Sugar. The US Nutrition Facts panel shows an added sugars line. The EU nutrition declaration lists total sugars only, so for a dessert or baked good you have to read the ingredient list to see what was added.

Moving up a level adds rules to the same categories. Kickstart places no limit on which sweeteners can go into savory foods, while stricter levels narrow the allowed sweeteners and Performance also removes grains, dairy, soda, alcohol, and artificial ingredients. A savory sauce sweetened with honey or cane sugar passes Kickstart but fails Performance, so IngrediCheck treats Kickstart as its own diet rather than applying a stricter program's rules.

Strictly Avoid

Any product containing the following is non-compliant under Whole Life Challenge Kickstart: wheat flour in any form (whole wheat flour, enriched flour, bleached flour, all-purpose flour, semolina, durum, spelt, kamut), any other grain flour (rice flour, corn flour, quinoa flour, oat flour), bread, bagels, muffins, and Ezekiel bread, pasta or noodles of any kind including rice, quinoa, and bean pasta, flour tortillas, breakfast cereal other than plain oatmeal, cornmeal and polenta, barley and pearled barley, couscous, farro, wheat berries, and potato starch. Also non-compliant are industrial vegetable and seed oils (soybean oil, corn oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, grapeseed oil, canola oil, cottonseed oil), "vegetable oil" blends built from those oils, and any hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil or shortening. Only those industrial oils are banned, and other nut and seed oils such as flaxseed oil are compliant. Beer, soda (regular and diet), ice cream, candy, dessert, and fried chips of any kind (including vegetable chips), fried white-potato french fries, and popcorn are non-compliant. Sugar or any sweetener (cane sugar, brown sugar, dextrose, glucose syrup, corn syrup, honey, maple syrup, agave, fruit juice concentrate) used as an ingredient in candy, dessert, baked goods, pastry, or sweetened oatmeal is non-compliant unless the sweetener is stevia or coconut sugar or nectar, and monk fruit is not exempt in these products. Dried fruit with added sugar is non-compliant.

Generally Safe

Whole and minimally processed foods are compliant: fresh and frozen meat, poultry, fish, seafood, and eggs (including bacon, pork, and, in moderation, deli and processed meats); all vegetables, plus corn, white potatoes, yams, yuca, taro, beans, lentils, chickpeas, and soy foods such as tofu, tempeh, miso, and edamame (moderation); all fresh, frozen, and unsweetened dried fruit; all nuts, seeds, peanuts, and nut and seed butters; almond flour, coconut flour, and other nut, seed, and coconut flours; oats, oatmeal, rice, quinoa, buckwheat, amaranth, and corn tortillas; butter, ghee, olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, flaxseed oil, other nut and seed oils that are not the industrial seed oils listed under Strictly Avoid, tallow, and duck fat; every dairy product except ice cream, including milk, cream, cheese, yogurt, kefir, cottage cheese, sour cream, buttermilk, and whey protein; water, coffee, tea, coconut water, kombucha, and juice; and wine or spirits at one per day. Sugar and sweeteners are compliant in savory recipes and pantry items such as broth, ketchup, sauces, and prepared soup, and to sweeten coffee or tea, and stevia, honey, maple syrup, monk fruit, coconut sugar, allulose, gum, and mints are compliant outside desserts. The following additives and thickeners are compliant: arrowroot, tapioca starch, guar gum, xanthan gum, natural and artificial flavors and colors, nitrates and nitrites, benzoates, and MSG. Sweet potato fries (baked or fried), baked white potato fries, and baked chips are compliant in moderation.

Ignore on Labels

Several front-of-pack claims do not decide Kickstart compliance and should be treated as marketing: "gluten-free" (gluten-free bread, pasta, and crackers are still bread, pasta, and crackers, and often use rice, corn, or potato starch), "grain-free" (still check for potato starch, dessert sweeteners, and seed oils), "whole grain" and "multigrain" (bread and pasta stay non-compliant), "made with real fruit," "natural," "organic," "non-GMO," "no artificial colors," "no artificial flavors," "no preservatives," and "MSG-free" (colors, flavors, and MSG are allowed by this level), "dairy-free," "vegan," "plant-based," "keto-friendly," "paleo-friendly," "lightly sweetened," and "no added sugar" (a product can still contain a seed oil, grain flour, or fried-snack form that the level bans).

Scanning Checklist

1. Identify the product type first. Bread, bagels, muffins, pasta, flour tortillas, breakfast cereal other than oatmeal, soda, beer, ice cream, candy, dessert, fried chips, and popcorn are non-compliant by type, whatever the ingredient list says.
2. Scan for grain flours and starches. Wheat flour and its forms (enriched, bleached, whole wheat, semolina, durum, spelt, kamut), rice flour, corn flour, quinoa flour, oat flour, barley, farro, couscous, wheat berries, cornmeal, polenta, and potato starch are non-compliant. Tapioca starch, arrowroot, and nut, seed, and coconut flours are compliant.
3. Read the oils by name. In the US every fat or oil is named individually, or a blend of vegetable oils is followed by the name of each oil, and an oil that may be present can appear after "contains one or more of the following." In the EU, "vegetable oils" must be followed immediately by each specific origin. Soybean, corn, peanut, sunflower, safflower, grapeseed, canola, and cottonseed oil are non-compliant, while other nut and seed oils are compliant.
4. Look for hydrogenation. The US FDA determined that partially hydrogenated oils are not generally recognized as safe, and the EU caps industrially produced trans fat at 2 grams per 100 grams of fat, so these oils are now rare. Any oil labelled hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated, or partly hydrogenated is non-compliant, and so is shortening made from one.
5. Judge sweeteners by product type. A US Nutrition Facts panel shows an added sugars line, while an EU panel shows total sugars only, so read the ingredient list either way. In a dessert, baked good, pastry, or sweetened oatmeal, any sweetener other than stevia or coconut sugar or nectar is non-compliant, monk fruit included. In sauces, broth, ketchup, soup, and coffee or tea, sweeteners are compliant.
6. Send unclear items to manual review. If a product type or ingredient is not named on the list, such as palm oil or a modified starch with an unstated source, do not guess.

Because Kickstart bans food types more than individual ingredients, a scanner has to weigh what a product is as well as what is in it. IngrediCheck reads the ingredient list against the shopper's saved profile and flags the grain flours, seed oils, hydrogenated oils, and dessert sweeteners covered in this guide, and it can check several dietary profiles at once. For help spotting sweeteners under unfamiliar names, see the guide to the hidden names for sugar.

• 30 Hidden Names for Sugar
• Artificial Sweeteners Dietary Guide
• Anti-Inflammatory Dietary Guide

IngrediCheck lets you save Whole Life Challenge Kickstart as a Lifestyle Diet in your profile, then checks a scanned label or barcode against it. It flags the grain flours, seed oils, hydrogenated oils, and dessert sweeteners covered in this guide and shows which ingredient caused each flag.