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Hi there, I am at the re-introduction phase and having issues with almost all of the food I didn't have during the whole 30! When I reintroduced wheat and soy (wheat, then soy), I had allergic reactions: hives, itchiness, and even throat-closing (I was almost getting Epipen!). Prior to the whole 30, I have no problem with wheat or soy, other than minor digestion issues. Sugar gave me a migraine (wasn't able to work for a half day). Rice, which was introduced the first even before wheat and soy, turned out to be OK, although I had a bit of bloating and tiredness. I feel like I am "oversensitive" to the food that I didn't have during the whole 30. At the post-whole 30, has anyone experienced allergic reactions (or allergy-like symptoms) to the food that you used to be OK with?

Hi, I've looked in this forum and the can I have forum, but I can't seem to find anything about it. I looked up the eggs I bought (Happy Egg Co), Vital Farms, and the Costco ones, and they all have a soy diet fed to the chickens. Soy isn't compliant, but I know a lot of Whole30 people I follow on IG use those ones. Is it okay if they are fed soy? Will that effect my hormones? I also have PCOS so I don't eat soy anyway, but before the Whole30 I never paid attention really to what chickens were fed or how meat was raised. Am I being to uptight? Thanks!

Hi everyone this is my first Whole30 and overall I think it's going really well. Today is the halfway mark and I just can't get this off my mind. I have been a vegetarian/vegan for the past 9 years and am now eating animal protein because I am a firm believer that the soy and grain replacement products for meat have been extremely detrimental to my health. I also can't see a way to get enough protein from just plants themselves. Many vegans out there may disagree with me, but after 9 years of trying to nourish myself I am only left with IBS and other inflammatory problems in my body. On the Whole30 my energy is still leveling out but overall I feel much better. HOWEVER, I can't help but feel like I am eating way too much animal meat! I have reinforced my belief system for so long that humans can live healthy, long, sustainable lives completely from plants and too much meat can ruin your health. The Whole30 is really shaking up this value. I have especially drank the cool-aid when it comes to the negative affects of the meat industry on climate change. On Whole30, the only way I can seem to make meals work is if there is an animal protein on the plate. I suppose it's a bit of an existential crisis for me. Does anyone have any research, reflections, or thoughts on this topic they would like to share with me? I know this is not the majority. Most people go through this epic lifestyle change to become vegetarians/vegans and here I am going in the opposite direction. Thank you in advance for all of your help.

I am on day 14. I’ve been sticking to the program 100% and enjoying the foods I’ve been eating. But today, I looked closer at the tuna label and I’m freaking out. The ingredients list “vegetable broth” and all compliant ingredients. But then under the allergen statement is lists soy. I’ve been eating these cans a couple times a week. Do I need to start over? If that’s the case, I am just going to stop this program. The fact that it has been so hard to find compliant foods to cook at home, eat out (I have to for my job), and find compliant foods for traveling (which I do often for my job too)... which I have been doing 100% despite the challenges. But now I accidentally ingested a food that didn’t have a non compliant ingredient...but isn’t allowed? Help! What should I do?

I get the idea behind eliminating soy in the Whole30. I am wondering, however, how much soy we are still ingesting from all the animal proteins. As I understand, soy products are a major component ofcommercial animal feeds — organic too. Does it really make any sense to eliminate tofu, soy milk, edamame, etc. but still consume commercially produced meats?

What is the stance on labels that warn the product is made in a facility that also processes soy/wheat/milk or "may" contain it? Some of my spices (and I'm sure other compliant products) have this warning label, but the only ingredient listed is the spice itself.

Has anyone else discovered a sensitivity to strictly soybeans (but not other beans)? I'm testing out a hypothesis here... I have had two instances where my digestive system has gotten really fired up over something I ate at a restuarant. The only possible ingredients in these food items that I hadn't already tested out could have been soy. I have noticed for a long time that my digestive system often gets upset after eating out, and I know soy is in TONS of stuff and that soybean oil is commonly used in restaurants. Today, the food that set me off were some basic tacos in corn tortillas with no cheese or dairy - just onions and fresh salsa and guacamole. I already know corn is OK, but I saw them dousing meat they were cooking in the kitchen with some sort of oil. I'm wondering if it might've been soybean oil. I am now dying of heartburn, which is the first time I've had heartburn since I started Whole30 (and I used to suffer from it frequently). The other day, I had a wrap sandwich at a restaurant and I had bad gas and digestive issues the following day. Gluten is not an issue for me, and there was no dairy on the sandwich, so I'm guessing it might've been some sort of soy-based sauce, mayo, or marinade on the sandwich. A soy sensitivity would also explain why sushi ALWAYS bothers me (hello soy sauce!) and any time I eat one of those fiber bars or "protein" bars with soy in them I get gassy. Anyone have any thoughts? Does anyone else have a soy issue?

Hi, I know we can't have any SOY, but what about Braggs Liquid Aminos? I miss that flavor in cooking.

Starting my first Whole30 Tomorrow very excited. While buying eggs I was thinking that most chickens are fed soy products. Should we avoid these eggs and seek out only soy free fed chicken eggs? Thanks for your feedback.

So, we just re-introduced non-gluten grains to our 3 kids (ages 8-13) on day 27 of the Whole 30 (I needed to start reintroduction a few days early due to a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house next week). My 2 girls both had negative affects - my son was fine. Here is what I gave them yesterday (the same for all 3): meal 1: non-gluten waffles (later discovered it had soy lecithin) meal 2: gluten-free pretzels (later discovered it had soy lecithin) meal 3: gluten-free pasta (brown rice-based) My oldest daughter felt nauseous after eating meal 2 yesterday. My youngest daughter said her stomach hurt this morning (before breakfast). I had planned to give them legumes tomorrow (because I really need to get further down the reintroduction path before the trip so I was going to do an every other day reintro schedule), but now I am stumped. Should I do gluten-free grains again but this time make sure there are no soy ingredients? Also, am I really tampering with our results if I don't wait the prescribed 2 clean days inbetween reintro days? I am very worried they won't be successful at trying to eat cleanly at Grandma and Grandpa's or else I wouldn't even be pushing the envelope by asking the question. Thank you for your help!

Hi all, Today is day 30! Looking at the suggested reintroduction days in my book... I really can't think of a legume I've craved or am excited to invite into my diet on legume day, so I'm thinking of skipping the reintroduction of legumes altogether. I'm interested in keeping up with the Whole30 lifestyle after reintroduction, just with a little less anxious interrogation before and during mealtime out at a restaurant. I know I have been surprised to find out that something has been cooked in soybean or peanut oil. If I'm only concerned about traces of legume/legume oil in my restaurant foods, should I: a) reintroduce legumes as suggested in the example plan; b)reintroduce only the oils...?; or c) skip legume day as initially planned, and be aware of the possible affects when eating out? Maybe there's a d) ??? Thanks in advance!

Day 9 and I just realized there's soy in my menopause supplement! I take it twice a day. Do I need to start over?

I am on Day 15 and have really been sailing along with the benefit of not being a sweets person anyway. A dinner out with family -- I researched and chose a restaurant where I could string something together. A weekend trip visiting breweries with friends -- I sipped my La Croix and ate a few almonds when I got really jealous of the food they were eating to remind myself I actually wasn't hungry, I just really like soft pretzels. But then today, I was eating my salad for lunch and put some Tessamae's Green Goddess on it (small splash) and then when I got back to my desk I saw it had soy in it. I don't think I can make this a Whole 44 (my birthday is in that span and we have some sought after reservations at a fun spot where I can still eat clean, but will have wine), and I'm feeling like this would qualify as the honest mistake category. I know now to be even more careful with labels and not assume all products from a Whole 30 partner are compliant, but I also am so disappointed. I have been so careful and this slip up is really tough to take mentally. Should I see if my system reacts badly and, if it does, suck it up and restart? Or, should I do what I was planning to do, which was do the phased reintroduction and then start again to make sure the results are consistent. I've already learned that I do not handle coconut milk or cream well, and could chalk this up to a soy learning experience, as I didn't really eat that much of it beforehand.

This is my first post - I have learned so much from reading all the other posts - I haven't needed to ask a question - they were all here in the forum and ANSWERED! Today I have had SERIOUS bloating, stomach pain and just feel BLECH. I have been feeling fantastic until now. I have TONS of energy, I'm sleeping better and my clothes are all fitting better. My husband decided to join me a couple of days ago and 2 days ago we had grass fed steaks marinated in TAMARI! We have used this in our house for years b/c our 11 yo has Celiac Disease. I felt fine Sunday after dinner, but then today I had the left over steak with eggs for bfast and no bueno. I was telling my husband how bloated and just YUCK I felt this afternoon/evening. A few hours later, he was reading up on whole 30 and declared he knew why I felt like this... TAMARI! So - here is my dilemma - do I start over with day 1.... yes, right? ALSO - how do i make myself feel better. This is an AWFUL feeling... Thanks for reading! Carrie

My organic coconut oil says "it may contain peanuts, soy..." but the list of ingredients is just coconut and water. Am I good to go?

Hi coming up on the end of my second whole30 and I really want to try reintroducting soy by itself but somewhat at a loss as to how. I have two different organic soy sauces in the fridge but they both have wheat in them. What can I try that just has soy? Thank you!

I am on Day 2 with my husband and have a great group of support that are all doing this together. I asked them and they steered me here. Yesterday, before thinking, I took my daily morning Omega fish oil. I never thought to check until later....and it does say at the bottom of the bottle it "may contain soy".... Does this mean yesterday didn't count as day 1? I took it in the am, after my first meal. Thank you in advance!

I thought I would have some tea and found some Bigelow green tea with pomegranate in my cupboard. I decided to check the ingredients first, not expecting to find anything bad and discovered soy lecithin is listed as a flavoring! Darn it. At least I checked before making a cup.

Hi there! I notice when I shop for tuna, the INGREDIENTS list: tuna, water, salt... and then the CONTAINS says, "tuna, soy." The only tuna I found that does not have soy on the "contains" is $3.50+ per can, which is too expensive for me to use tuna as a sustainable protein source. Do you have any insight to the ingredients vs. "contains" on cans? And, do you know of a secret soy-free tuna that I don't know about? Candace

My doctor prescribed Di-Indol Methane for me, which is an over the counter supplement. I have searched everywhere to find this supplement, including online, and I cannot find any without incompliant ingredients. Most have some form of soy as an active ingredient, so I am thinking that it will be impossible for me to take this supplement as it always includes soy. I do not want to wait until after my whole 30 as I have 15 days left. In one month I am getting my blood drawn, to see if I can stop taking my prescription medication, because of my new diet, and a few other supplements I am adding... all of which are compliant. I am worried that if I wait, my bloodwork might not show the effects of this supplement yet. Is it okay for me to take this as my doctor prescribed it? The soy listed in the ingredients is "phosphatidyl (soy}

I was eating some celery with sunflower seed butter the other evening. I'd had sunshine sauce on this W30, but not just straight sun butter. I remember not liking the taste from my previous w30 in 2013. But this was good. It tasted almost... sweet? So I go check the ingredients list. Not only do I see cane sugar listed, but also roasted soybeans! I look at the the actual front of the label and I had accidentally bought soy nut butter!!! I can only assume that, with a heavy basket of groceries weighing down one arm, I had to pick up and put down the sun butter jars as I compared them. And then, when I grabbed the one I wanted to check out, I just grabbed the wrong thing. It was not intentional and I've only eaten small amounts, so I'm not starting over for this. Also, I plan to do a very slow, methodical reintroduction and it'll be almost 45 days between that last slip-up and when I re-introduce soy. I think I'm just posting here because my inner Catholic feels the need to confess.

I know this is about transforming oneself into a person more desirable. And that desired person is not going to exist for merely one day, say day 31 then go back to day -1. This is about, in my mind, a long-term, action-principle-value based determination to be simply, “better” no matter how I define “better.” At the onset I sat down with myself and asked “what do I value in my life?” and “how can I use the Whole 30 to reinforce those values through my actions and therefore in the process strengthen my principles?” The expected outcome: “to be better.” I know that sounds rather pedestrian but it works for me. I had to determine which principles I was going to focus upon and strengthen so that my actions do nothing but create a stronger bond to my values. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. As I said, I think the Whole30 is transformational and along with any transformation there is pain. Not bad pain, just good old fashioned pain. I’m now in day 23 and am looking forward to the next 14,007. I love to drink alcohol (especially beer), well, I use to think that I loved to drink alcohol (I haven’t had any alcohol thus far BTW.) I thought this would be the most painful part of the project, and it has been. I’ve deliberately put myself in challenging predicaments over the last three weeks. I figured, what the hell, it's going to be there on day 31, might as well have it here throughout. So I’ve eaten out, gone to house parties, gone to the bar, been to sporting events, and I’ve kept alcohol readily at hand in my house. Hell, I was even a “waiter" at a hotel lobby bar for a few rounds! NOW THAT WAS TOUGH! My cues, at first, were wide and deep (but they’re getting narrower and shallower with each passing "pain" and day.) I soon realized that they are merely cues. And with each cue there is pain (again, not bad pain, just good old fashioned pain.) But afterwards when I got past that stimulation (read:pain) without succumbing to it, I became “better.” My principles became stronger, more reinforced. I didn’t realize that I truly value clear thought, abundant energy and focused action until about day 8. (Probably because it took that long for me to detox.) I can’t get any of those things if I’m either boozed up or hungover. The action step was easy to determine: “don’t drink alcohol.” The value was enormously, well, “valuable” but as I said I didn’t realize it’s value for over a week into the Whole 30. But it takes a lot of determination to make it so. My strength came from realizing what my principles are: I can be a better dad by doing this. I can be a better husband by doing this. I can be a better neighbor by doing this. I can be a better friend, brother, uncle, cousin by doing this. I can be a better businessman by doing this. And by doing this I can be all of those things for a lot longer! So, for me, it was alcohol. Whatever it is for you, sugar, bread, soy, carbohydrates... I hope this gives you a different perspective and helps you get past your pain points. The Whole 30 (like pimpin’) ain’t easy, but, I think, it’s principally valuable. What do you find valuable and what principles are you strengthening through your actions? Good luck.

I'm in the home stretch, on Day 26, and have been feeling kind of run down and have had this tightness, like a lump in my throat feeling for the past several days. It took me until today to realize this feeling coincided with my re-starting my vision supplement, so I looked at the bottle and oh noooooo.... SOY. I would have started taking it around Day 21 or 22 so near the end. I'm guessing it could be the soy causing this reaction. Soooo close to the end, do I need to start over, or just make note to avoid soy post-Whole30? Blerg.

Hello! I am looking for some help with something that I've been mulling over in my mind regarding reintro. There are a few meals that I've wanted to make, that involve coconut aminos. I'm on a rather strict budget and already own gluten free tamari sauce. I would prefer using that to provide a more accurate taste instead of some balsamic vinegar as has been suggested. I will be doing what comes out to a Whole 41, not because I cheated with non-compliant foods, but because I had trouble getting on board with the no snacking rule (almonds and cashews are just SO easy to munch!). Because of this I didn't believe that after 30 days I deserved a reward of any sort. I wanted to continue and learn more control (still a work in progress, though mentally I know when I am mindlessly binge snacking). Anywho, the two recipes I have been wanting to make involve a miniscule amount of tamari sauce (used in place of coconut aminos or soy sauce). By miniscule I mean, 1- 2 tablespoons per recipe which has at least 4-6 servings. If after my compliant 30 (err.. 41) days, I make these recipes do you think it will derail my progress and the reintro process to consume the tamari sauce? I do not plan to continue the strict whole 30 diet post reintroduction. I plan on simply using it as a guideline for how my meals should look, but remaining free and open to other foods as well. So long as they don't cause any negative reactions. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I'm done my whole30 and am tweaking to stay in the program while at home, etc. In my job I go for a lot of coffees and I'm tried of having tea, and don't love coffee sans milk! If I'm treating myself what are the thoughts on soy milk vs. cow's milk??? The internet is not helpful on this topic so thought I'd check with the crew here!