Help! Accidentally ate some pasta!

[Mindy5 9]

Please tell me that I didn't mess up my Whole 30! I am on day 20, feeling great, eating great. I was making some Mac and Cheese for my nephew. I ate four small pasta shells to test if they were done, totally absent-mindedly. I guess at least they were organic. Did I ruin the whole month!? Agghh!

[GFChris 5983]

Technically, eating gluten (accidental or not), calls for a restart, as gluten is one of the big gut disruptors. The idea with a Whole30 is to have 30 consecutive days of no gut disrupting ingredients.  To do a complete Whole30, today would be day 1 (or you could call what you're doing a Whole50).  If that feels too overwhelming, you could continue with your remaining 10 days and do reintroductions, and it's unclear the impact of the pasta would have on those results.

[Mindy5 9]

Thanks so much for the response Chris,I really appreciate it. The science behind it makes sense. I may have to continue on the 30 days and take my chances. I know in the long run eating like this is better for my health and long-term well-being, I unfortunately cannot always eat this well. It's just too expensive for my budget. I am so very disappointed that four, little pasta shells can have so much impact.

[GFChris 5983]

Regarding budget, have you read the Paleo Poor Guide to the Grocery Store? Lots of great tips in that article.

 

I'm currently on a device where I can't post links: if you Google Whole30 paleo poor, you'll get a link to the article.

[Mindy5 9]

I think I did read that one. Definitely some great tips in there. I live in the Los Angeles area where everything is so expensive (but I'm lucky to have such amazing, delicious produce). It is so difficult to afford meat. My food bill before the Whole 30 was already high. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try to figure out something. I love all the energy I've been having and my skin being less itchy.

[GlennR 876]

Here's the link.

 

Ugh, sorry for the stumble. I hope you keep going, especially since you yourself said you've gained a lot, even with just 20 days. Imagine if you do the whole 30 -- or longer! Might be worth the added expense (or the added effort to lower your expenses).

 

Good luck!

[MeadowLily 22642]

Here's the link.

 

Ugh, sorry for the stumble. I hope you keep going, especially since you yourself said you've gained a lot, even with just 20 days. Imagine if you do the whole 30 -- or longer! Might be worth the added expense (or the added effort to lower your expenses).

 

Good luck!

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[GFChris 5983]

Glenn, can I be square with you.

 

I've been compliant and reliant but if I had slipped on a noodle, and you told me I needed to start over again, I wouldn't.

 

I don't do well with negative reinforcement, not well at all.    In fact, I would throw my book in the garbage can if you said that to me.  I've had enough negative people to last me lifetimes and lifetimes and lifetimes...telling me what I need to do.

 

I come from generations of ancestors that have all been told what they need to do.  It doesn't sit well with me, Glenn.   I need your positive kicks in the hiney and structure..but you need to start all over for a noodle would make me run for the hills.   

 

If I fell off my horse, I want to get back on and ride.  There's no such thing as perfection.  I'm flawed and in need of structure.   If one noodle could ruin my Whole 30 and so many slip on Day 31 right back into a binge situation...what did they learn from being perfect.   I'm human and I'm going on Glenn.   I'm not looking backwards.

To clarify, Glenn wasn't the person who said eating gluten calls for a restart.  I did.  (And in another thread on this same issue, Robin Strathdee did too.)

 

It's not about negative reinforcement, it's about following the program 100%, and that means following all the rules for all 30 consecutive days.  It's ultimately about getting the best results possible.  

 

That being said, the Whole30 "police" aren't going to knock on your door if you ate gluten and decided not to restart. Part of our goal here is to explain what's required to do a complete, true Whole30.  See this article on doing the perfect* Whole30 for further details.

[MeadowLily 22642]

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[GlennR 876]

MeadowLily, listen to what you just said:

 

If I fell off my horse, I want to get back on and ride.  There's no such thing as perfection. 

 

That is all Chris -- or I, since I would have given the same advice in the same situation -- would have meant by saying a re-start is necessary. In these forums, this sort of advice is always given with the greatest of care and with the most helpful of intentions: to steer you to your best possible outcome, to help you achieve your best possible state of health.

 

It's natural to see the "tough" part in these sorts of tough-love advice; it's an awful thing to hear! But I hope you can also hear the love that underlies it. No one likes saying these things; that they do is a measure of how much they care.

[Mindy5 9]

Thanks so much for the feedback everyone! I am feeling discouraged, but I'm also trying to keep in things in perspective. (oh, and I wasn't sure if I posted in the right place the first time, that's why I posted twice. I'm new to the forum.)

I appreciate your thoughts MeadowLily. I think Chris and Glenn are trying to help even though it's a bit of tough love. I spoke with my sister-in-law this morning and she gave me some different perspective. She is a veterinarian. She did preface this with, "I don't know if it's the same for humans": she said for dogs and cats it takes 8 weeks!!!! to really get the allergens out of their system which is why compliance on figuring out food allergies is so difficult. Clients will say, "But it was only one little treat". She said this can in fact impede progress when trying to figure out food-related issues.

My main reason for doing the Whole30 was to figure out if my eczema is food-related. Before starting the program, I ate fairly well. I don't have an emotional attachment to food, I was great about moderation, maybe a few cookies here and there, alcohol maybe once/month. I love plain Greek yogurt, but that was maybe a few times a week...I could go on, but my point is that eating Whole30 is not difficult for me. I didn't have any food hangovers, I transitioned very easily.

Eating those four, little pieces of pasta really is more frustrating than anything. I wasn't craving them, I was truly checking to see if they're done. My nephew ate meat and veggies with me the night before. I think I'll feed him more of what I'm eating to avoid further stumbles.

Thanks again everyone! Just keep swimming! Just keep swimming!

[JWhole30 32]

i think meadowlily has a point but i think it's misplaced here - I'm very new here and have already seen mods suggest "penitence" days added for accidental slip ups.  I find that ridiculous, offensive, and unhelpful.  In this case, however, gluten is both a gut irritant and a neurotoxin, so in order to have your gut be free of the toxin for 30 days, it really does need to be FREE of it for 30 days.  

[missmary 5242]

I'm very new here and have already seen mods suggest "penitence" days added for accidental slip ups.  I find that ridiculous, offensive, and unhelpful. 

Jenn- are you sure this was a mod? We generally would never suggest penitence for anything. We do sometimes suggest adding days on to the time because that is easier for some people to deal with than a full "re-start" but our goal is for people to experience the benefits of the program fully (which you are aware requires full compliance), never to punish.

[MeadowLily 22642]

MeadowLily, listen to what you just said:

 

 

That is all Chris -- or I, since I would have given the same advice in the same situation -- would have meant by saying a re-start is necessary. In these forums, this sort of advice is always given with the greatest of care and with the most helpful of intentions: to steer you to your best possible outcome, to help you achieve your best possible state of health.

 

It's natural to see the "tough" part in these sorts of tough-love advice; it's an awful thing to hear! But I hope you can also hear the love that underlies it. No one likes saying these things; that they do is a measure of how much they care.

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[MeadowLily 22642]

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[JWhole30 32]

Jenn- are you sure this was a mod? We generally would never suggest penitence for anything. We do sometimes suggest adding days on to the time because that is easier for some people to deal with than a full "re-start" but our goal is for people to experience the benefits of the program fully (which you are aware requires full compliance), never to punish.

Yes, I'm sure. And very much phrased as a punishment with the word "penitence" used. I've seen it more than once.  

[JWhole30 32]

although now that i've put the word in the search bar to double check my facts, I can't find it.  

[MeadowLily 22642]

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[Robin Strathdee 2914]

The only references to penitence here are by forum members and in reference to Lent

[praxisproject 1930]

If anyone is really wondering whether restarts are worth it, for me it was essential!

 

I never knew I had a huge problem with gluten until I completed my first Whole30. Years of health issues, suddenly identified. I'd eaten wheat my whole life, no doctor ever related my health problems to gluten.

 

It's not a punishment, it's not about guilt, it's about learning whether things make you sick, but you can only do that from a clean baseline.

 

Four pasta shells would make me very sick now, but before Whole30, I was so sick all the time, I really couldn't tell.

Now I have a whole new kind of health

[MeadowLily 22642]

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[jenruns26.2 1]

I'm actually glad I read this because I had 1/4 bagel today - that said, I am not starting my W30 until July 15 officially, but my goal was to get gluten out for a week and see the impact when I added it back in.  I got really sick.  I think I would add an extra day to my W30 in your position - I know that it is a 100% all or nothing plan, but that mentality can also lead to going off the rails for some people if they do make a mistake, so maybe dust yourself off and keep going.  Nothing will stop you from starting a W30 again after this one is up.