My Vitamin D supplement had soybean & corn oil :(

[Risa]

I'm on day 23 and have been doing so well. I can't say I feel very different but I haven't struggled much either, even at the beginning. I've  enjoyed cooking more and challenging myself to try new recipes, and I've been extremely careful with label reading and avoiding anything I can't be 100% sure is compliant. Except...

 

I've been listening to It Starts With Food as I go and just got to the part on supplements today where they warn to look out for oils mixed with Vitamin D supplements. With a pit in my stomach I took out my Vitamin D supplement, which I started taking last year on my doctor's recommendation due to a deficiency. I was completely crushed to see the ingredient list: Soybean oil, gelatin, glycerin, water, corn oil.

 

I would love honest input on whether I need to restart my Whole30 because of this. I take a 5000 IU pill once a day. Does this tiny amount of soybean and corn oil mean the last 23 days go out the door? I guess I know that technically the answer is yes but I am interested to know if such a small amount, completely by accident, makes a physiological difference?

 

Thanks.

[cindytree]

The NOW brand doesn't have soy or corn oil. Most gel caps have glycerin but that can't be helped for those of us who need certain supplements. My doctor has me on vit. D too after my lab work showed a deficiency and I haven't found one without glycerin.

I wouldn't think you have to start over because of the supplements, but I'm not a Whole30 expert and hopefully one of the moderators will shed some light on this.

[mantishugo]

Besides taking soy or corn oil for vitamin D, can we use Vitamin D supplement spray?

[ShannonM816]

I'm on day 23 and have been doing so well. I can't say I feel very different but I haven't struggled much either, even at the beginning. I've  enjoyed cooking more and challenging myself to try new recipes, and I've been extremely careful with label reading and avoiding anything I can't be 100% sure is compliant. Except...

 

I've been listening to It Starts With Food as I go and just got to the part on supplements today where they warn to look out for oils mixed with Vitamin D supplements. With a pit in my stomach I took out my Vitamin D supplement, which I started taking last year on my doctor's recommendation due to a deficiency. I was completely crushed to see the ingredient list: Soybean oil, gelatin, glycerin, water, corn oil.

 

I would love honest input on whether I need to restart my Whole30 because of this. I take a 5000 IU pill once a day. Does this tiny amount of soybean and corn oil mean the last 23 days go out the door? I guess I know that technically the answer is yes but I am interested to know if such a small amount, completely by accident, makes a physiological difference?

 

Thanks.

 

For whether or not to restart, read this article to help you decide. I wouldn't say that the time you have spent for the last 20-something days now goes out the door -- you were still eating healthy and doing really good things for your body. Ideally, you'd go 30 days without soybeans and corn before reintroducing them to see how they affect you. I'm honestly not sure to what extent having taken these vitamins will affect your reintroductions of those two ingredients, I just know that it could.

 

It is possible to find compliant vitamin D supplements if you want them in the future, you'll just need to read labels. I know there are some liquid ones out there that are just vitamin D and olive oil.

 

 

 

 

Besides taking soy or corn oil for vitamin D, can we use Vitamin D supplement spray?

 

Just to clarify, don't take soy or corn oil for vitamin D -- those are extra ingredients that happen to be in many vitamin D supplements, though it is possible to find some without them.

 

For any supplement in any form, you want to make sure it doesn't have any non-Whole30 ingredients, so you'd need to find out what is in the vitamin D spray you're looking at. If there's nothing non-compliant in it, it would be fine. For more on how to choose supplements, you might want to check out this supplement evaluation checklist.

[Risa]

For whether or not to restart, read this article to help you decide. I wouldn't say that the time you have spent for the last 20-something days now goes out the door -- you were still eating healthy and doing really good things for your body. Ideally, you'd go 30 days without soybeans and corn before reintroducing them to see how they affect you. I'm honestly not sure to what extent having taken these vitamins will affect your reintroductions of those two ingredients, I just know that it could.

 

It is possible to find compliant vitamin D supplements if you want them in the future, you'll just need to read labels. I know there are some liquid ones out there that are just vitamin D and olive oil.

 

Thanks for your response. I did wind up resetting my 30-day clock and have already made it through that additional 30 days. Doing reintroduction now. It was interesting to read the article you posted now, as it made me feel better about my decision to restart the clock. On the one hand, I felt like this was more like the "honey in mom's salad dressing" example b/c it was not a "slip" or "cheat," and even though it was in fact careless it felt more innocent than being sloppy and not reading a food label carefully! But since soy is one of the foods that article lists as promoting gut permeation in any amount I do feel that restarting the clock was the right choice. Unforunately after 32 days fully compliant + 23 compliant-sans-Vitamin-D-supplement I still can't say I feel any of the effects I hoped for or read about, aside from losing a few pounds in the first couple weeks. Still glad I did this, but am a little disappointed. C'est la vie.

[ladyshanny]

Unforunately after 32 days fully compliant + 23 compliant-sans-Vitamin-D-supplement I still can't say I feel any of the effects I hoped for or read about, aside from losing a few pounds in the first couple weeks. Still glad I did this, but am a little disappointed. C'est la vie.

Hi Risa, sorry, I just saw this.  If you are interested, why don't you post a few days of typical food consumption (include timing and portions), fluids, stress, exercise and any other relevant details (autoimmune conditions, pregnant/nursing, bowel illness) and we can take a look and see if there are any tweaks you can try in order to get you some of the effects you were hoping for.  And let us know what it is you were hoping to see too, maybe we can help you get there?

[Risa]

Hi Risa, sorry, I just saw this.  If you are interested, why don't you post a few days of typical food consumption (include timing and portions), fluids, stress, exercise and any other relevant details (autoimmune conditions, pregnant/nursing, bowel illness) and we can take a look and see if there are any tweaks you can try in order to get you some of the effects you were hoping for.  And let us know what it is you were hoping to see too, maybe we can help you get there?

Thanks so much for the offer, LadyShanny. I should have also said (as I have in other threads!) that I couldn't expect to see huge improvements in sleep, energy, mood, etc. because I'm a grad student in a super stressful period and my sleep habits are terrible. I frequently pull at least one all-nighter a week and only get 2-6 hours on many other nights. This has been the case for much of the time since I started eating Whole30 at the beginning of October. Tons of cooking, prep, and grocery shopping time has only made my schedule tighter, but preparing in advance has definitely had its benefits when I don't have time to cook but have plenty ready to go in the fridge! Other than the 23 days with the Vitamin D supplement I've eaten 100% compliant but have not always kept to the perfect portions or timing. I try my best but sometimes I only pack two meals and wind up staying at school very late and missing a meal. So that all is my fault, and given how I've enjoyed the education, cooking, and healthy eating I hope to try Whole30 again in the future when I have a more regular schedule and ideally someone to do it with me (the friend who convinced me to do a Whole30 didn't end up doing her half of cooking so I found myself flying unexpectedly solo!).

 

The thing I really hoped for despite my poor sleep and meal-tiem habits was to see an improvement in IBS symptoms, while I've suffered for maybe 15 years (I'm in my early 30s now), and especailly my chronic hives, which came on out of nowhere almost 2 years ago and have my allergist completely clueless as to cause. I've been tested for any food allergy but when I learned about systemic inflamation from ISWF I felt hopeful that Whole30 might help (although when I told my allergist I was doing Whole30 he asked what that was and when I explained, asked "WHY are you doing that?" - sooo I guess he didn't think it would help). The hives are under control w/ treatment (6 pills a day + monthly shots) but I hate putting all of that in my body and as soon as I'm close to due for my shot or if I miss a pill I'll feel my skin start to get prickly and the hives start to creep in. I also feel like certain conditions just feel like they are "part" of my body at this point but the hives have always felt like an unnatural invasion on my body.

 

Please tell me if anyone thinks I'm wrong but my thinking is that if a certain food group was triggering the hives then going fully compliant for 32 days as I did (+23 days compliant except the vitamin D supplement before that) should help, regardless of my sleep habits or missing a meal occasionally - right? So while I feel hopeful that doing Whole30 again in the future might show better results in terms of energy and sleep, I can't imagine that it would do anything for my hives...

 

Anyways, I appreciate the offer to look at a typical couple days of meals but since I'm finishing up re-intro now and already have some insight into what I was doing "wrong" I don't want to waste your time! I will definitely be back here for support next time I'm ready to do a Whole30, though!

[thegoldengrahamgirl]

Risa, congrats to you for doing so many Whole30 days!

 

If you've finished ISWF, you know that many of the harmful effects of the SAD are silent.  I'd encourage you to remember that many of the benefits of the Whole30 are silent as well, and may not come to bear in your life for decades to come (but may just as well have ADDED decades to your life!).

 

That being said, I do think you will benefit from posting the meals and getting some feedback.

 

Also, SLEEP is SO important.  I too have poor sleep hygiene and it DEFINTELY can sabotage some of your results.  Honestly, we can put so much care and effort into our nutrition, but we're really selling ourselves short if we don't put the same care and effort into our sleep.  Your stressful schedule and sleep deprivation are causing hormonal havoc (consider the impacts of cortisol and all other hormones).  Stress in all of its forms can increase oxidation and free radicals in our bodies, leading to immune responses and possibly even IBS symptoms (I am NOT a medical professional, though).  Consider what you've learned from ISWF and your own personal experience with Whole30 and see if any of this line of thinking rings true for you.

 

I challenge you to try a Whole30 for sleep!!  It's my goal for January.  This means going to bed and rising at consistent times as much as possible (three days into consistent early bedtimes and I woke up BEFORE my alarm clock this morning), and supplementing with naps where needed.  I'm also reading actual hardcopy books before bed and eliminating screen time (iPhone/TV/iPad).

 

Good luck!

 

Cheers,

 

-Lauren (GGG)