Chocolate - when to reintroduce?

[jwahl09]

On the whole 30 recommended reintroduction schedule it doesn't say anything about chocolate and sugar.  Any ideas on how to reintroduce those two?  Thank you! 

Jeannine 

[ShannonM816]

You could add a separate day for sugar if you wanted to. If you primarily think you'd be having sugar as part of your chocolate, you could find a clean chocolate bar (most have soy or dairy, so you'd need a really high quality dark chocolate probably to avoid those) and do that on a separate sugar day.

Or you could just allow some sugar in something else you're reintroducing. Sugar is less likely to cause digestive issues and more likely to cause cravings or possibly some anxiety in some people, so it should be a little easier to separate out what's causing which issues, especially if you limit the sugar to just one item at one meal, rather than all three in one day. So, say you were doing dairy and had milk or half & half in your coffee in the morning, cheese with your lunch, and then some ice cream at supper. If you had digestive issues at any point, that would probably be dairy, but if you were fine all day, but after supper, you wanted more ice cream even when you knew you weren't hungry, or found yourself craving sweets the next day, that would probably be the sugar more than the dairy itself. 

It really kind of depends on how detailed you want your reintroductions to be and what you want to figure out. I think a lot of people don't necessarily formally reintroduce sugar. They may relax the rules about sugar in savory items (so deli meat or bacon with a little sugar, maybe some ketchup if they've missed it), but don't really have a dessert type of thing until something comes along that they decide they really want, and then they just pay attention to how they feel after that and use that information to decide whether future items are worth it or not. 

[jwahl09]

Thank you, that is super helpful!  I think I'm still craving sugar and chocolate even though it's been 30 days, and that probably is a sign that reintroduction isn't a good idea.  I am going to likely start a new whole 30 soon after my last and try to stay away from both till the sugar dragon goes away!  

[MicMD2503]

On 3/30/2017 at 7:41 PM, ShannonM816 said:

You could add a separate day for sugar if you wanted to. If you primarily think you'd be having sugar as part of your chocolate, you could find a clean chocolate bar (most have soy or dairy, so you'd need a really high quality dark chocolate probably to avoid those) and do that on a separate sugar day.

Or you could just allow some sugar in something else you're reintroducing. Sugar is less likely to cause digestive issues and more likely to cause cravings or possibly some anxiety in some people, so it should be a little easier to separate out what's causing which issues, especially if you limit the sugar to just one item at one meal, rather than all three in one day. So, say you were doing dairy and had milk or half & half in your coffee in the morning, cheese with your lunch, and then some ice cream at supper. If you had digestive issues at any point, that would probably be dairy, but if you were fine all day, but after supper, you wanted more ice cream even when you knew you weren't hungry, or found yourself craving sweets the next day, that would probably be the sugar more than the dairy itself. 

It really kind of depends on how detailed you want your reintroductions to be and what you want to figure out. I think a lot of people don't necessarily formally reintroduce sugar. They may relax the rules about sugar in savory items (so deli meat or bacon with a little sugar, maybe some ketchup if they've missed it), but don't really have a dessert type of thing until something comes along that they decide they really want, and then they just pay attention to how they feel after that and use that information to decide whether future items are worth it or not. 

Hi @ShannonM816  I've been reading this post as I am also in the reintroduction phase.  So far I've reintroduced beans and soy, and plan to reintroduce non gluten grains tomorrow: I plan to have GF oats and quinoa for breakfast and maybe rice at another meal.  Prior to the W30 I would have typically put a drizzle of honey or 1 tbsp of maple syrup on my oatmeal.  If I read the Whole30 book correctly you need to reintroduce categories of foods one at a time, and mixing GF oats with a sugar source may not be a good idea...if I have a reaction, how will I know if it is from the sugar or from the oats? so my tendency is to have the oats plain  (with nuts and fruit probably).  I've seen Melissa's video where she advises we can relax a bit the no sugar rule for things that may have a bit of sugar in them, like salad dressings.  But I haven't seen much in terms of adding a sweetener to foods as you might have done prior to the W30.  I know I may be splitting hairs here...any way, any further guidance will be welcome !