Reintroduction - Starting August 14

[feminist_therapist]

My boyfriend and I just finished our second Whole30 yesterday and began the process of reintroduction. We both have experienced many of benefits of doing Whole30, including our scale victories (I lost 5 lbs. while my boyfriend lost 12 lbs.). Last time we completed Whole30, our reintroduction fell flat as we started eating many of the foods without actually giving time or attention to noticing how we were affected and I believe we gave up about halfway through the reintroduction. 

I want this year to be different. Today was our day to reintroduce legumes, which I anticipated something I would miss more.

The legumes I ate were: 

• Peanut butter (spoonful with lunch)
• Black beans (part of kale burger patty for dinner)
• Pinto beans (dinner)

 

I definitely noticed some side effects already, such as a sore throat (after eating peanut butter) and a headache (after dinner). Will continue to monitor for other side effects for the next two days! 

[feminist_therapist]

Alright! So updates on what was noticed from eating legumes:

• It did disrupt my bowel movements the following morning, but they became regular again after another day. 
• Again, noticed I had sore throat and headache (previously mentioned), which may have some significance (will explain later). 

 

Today was day 4 of reintroduction and it was time for non-gluten grains! Here's what was included:

• Oatmeal with blackberries, raspberries, and cinnamon (breakfast) 
• Gluten-free skinny pop popcorn mini-cakes (with lunch)
• Grilled corn on the cob (dinner) 

Again, I noticed my throat slightly sore and a headache while driving home from work, and I felt more irritable (e.g. road rage) which I felt abated significantly while following Whole30. As far as the headache/sore throat are concerned, I'm wondering if it's some kind of seasonal allergy that has been minor while eating healthy, and now that I'm reintroducing these foods to my body my symptoms are more prominent. (Will continue to monitor this as I continue with reintroduction.) I also noticed that when these grains were included in my meals, I tended to overeat and feel "too full" after my meals, rather than satiated. 

[feminist_therapist]

Yesterday was Day 7 of reintroduction and I tried grains with gluten. Here's what was included:

• Breakfast biscuit with egg and ham
• Fettuccini pasta with olive oil and oregano 

After breakfast, I definitely did not feel great, which I imagine was a combination of the grains but also because the biscuit was greasier than anything I've had in a while. I felt a little bit of nausea and discomfort from breakfast, but that did pass after a little bit of time. 

Having pasta for dinner also had a small effect, specifically some bloating that I noticed stuck around until I went to bed. 

[feminist_therapist]

Yesterday was Day 10 of reintroduction and it was time for dairy! Here's what was included:

• Small amount of shredded cheddar cheese on hashbrowns
• Two small scoops of ice cream

I would say I didn't notice any strong symptoms after eating dairy, but the major change I noticed was that I didn't miss these food items as much as I thought. I didn't have a bite of the ice cream and immediately want to go buy an entire gallon of ice cream, as I had feared. Instead I was able to savor what I got and be content with eating healthy the rest of the day - definitely a positive shift in my relationship to food as I used to feel this relationship was a bit out of control. 

 

Almost through the reintroduction, can't believe how quickly the time is flying! 

[feminist_therapist]

Alright, made it to Day 13 of reintroduction! Today was the day to evaluate non-gluten alcohol and I decided to incorporate some red wine back into my diet. 

I've had a couple of small glasses of wine and have noticed it makes a much stronger impact after Whole30 than it did before I went on Whole30. As of now, I'm not noticing any significant impacts, but I will definitely check in with myself tomorrow to see if there are stronger effects the day after.

I personally am not much of a drinker, so I don't personally feel much conflict on leaving alcohol mostly out of my diet in the future, which will probably be the case. It will be good to know what I might experience after the occasional glass of wine in the future though. 

Moving onward in the reintroduction! The last thing I'm going to reintroduce is a bit of sugar to my diet, because I know it's not something I will ever completely eliminate from my diet and I want to know how it affects me. My goal with sugar is to limit it only to special circumstances, but I will not be making a commitment to completely get rid of all sugar from my diet.