90% Whole 30

[Gala]

I'm on day 28!  Yeah for me (and my husband)!!  We have been talking and trying to plan for reintroduction but have some questions.  We have really enjoyed it and want to stick with the Whole30 eating lifestyle about 90% of the time.  My question is, if we reintroduce dairy and gluten and decide to occasionally eat it 2-3 times a week lets say, how does that affect the way our bodies will be processing fat?  Adding fat to our meals has been a bit different than we are used to.  If we continue to eat Whole30 but then say we add dairy back for coffee daily and then the occasional gluten, legume or corn item once or twice a week, will our bodies process react the way the have been?  I'd hate to add some of these things and start GAINING weight, loosing energy, etc.  I know some of this is individual based on how our bodies respond but I'm curious if there are any insights people can share...THANKS!

[ShannonM816]

No one can say for sure, because everyone's body is different. Keep in mind that even if you don't have reaction to the amount of dairy or legumes or whatever you have in one day during reintroduction, that doesn't mean that it's not affecting your body, or that having it daily won't cause you to hit a limit of what your body tolerates well. For example, after my first Whole30, the only thing I really missed was half & half in my coffee, so I kept eating Whole30, except for that cup of coffee with half & half every morning, and in a week or two, aches and pains that had gone away on Whole30, came back -- so I have to assume that even though I didn't notice a reaction when I reintroduced dairy, there's a limit to how much I can have before I do notice a reaction.

As for weight, there would be two things at play -- inflammation, like the reaction I mentioned having to dairy above, which could affect weight or could just make you look and feel a little puffier/swollen in the face and around your joints, plus you will be adding in more carbs with the grains and legumes, and to some degree depending on what you have maybe with the dairy as well, and more carbs could affect weight. You may need to play with amounts and cut back on starchy vegetables when you have starch from grains or legumes. It's just something you'd have to figure out, though. You'll have to pay attention to how you feel to figure out what kind of amounts of things you can tolerate.

If you haven't already, I'd really recommend reading the information here online about Life After Your Whole30.  There's a lot of information about how to decide if certain foods are worth it to help you decide what your life after Whole30 might look like. 

[Gala]

Thanks so much! I hadn't thought about how the accumulation of the reintroduced foods can play a part in all of this as well. Such a little puzzle! And I've been reading all of your suggested links as well. I guess we'll just try a few things and see how they go.