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Starting Reintroduction this week? February 25th.


ThyPeace

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Good morning, everyone.  Started my second Whole30 on January 20, had to re-start, and finished this past Monday, February 23.  All in all it went well.  I lost 5 more pounds after having lost about 12 pounds in my first Whole30 in August/September.  My clothes are starting to be loose enough that I may need to buy some new things.

 

Last time around I didn't really do a reintroduction.  I shifted from the Whole30 to holiday survival mode, and was pleased to have come through it without a major gain and without a full return to eating sugar.  That didn't let me really think through some of my problem foods as thoroughly as I would have liked, though, so the reintroduction phase is important to me.

 

I've taken a couple of days to think about how I am going to approach reintroduction and to let some other major issues resolve before I needed to think too hard about food changes.  So I'm still working away at Whole30 levels.  It's been interesting to make that choice, though; suddenly my cabinets are full of "maybe I could have THAT one tonight!" foods.  So far I've thought it through and decided against, but it will be interesting to see what happens going forward.  Not with junk, but with kidney beans, for example, or a can of Progresso tomato soup.  

 

My first steps will be to relax a bit, as suggested in the slow roll reintroduction, on sugar that's been added to things that aren't sweet.  I like a bit of maple syrup in things like chili, for example.  I don't plan to allow processed sugary foods to return. I have been off of those for a year now, so am not too worried about reawakening the sugar dragon with that choice.  I learned over the holidays that most sweets are too sweet and too low in actual flavor, while artificially sweetened stuff just tastes awful.

 

After that, legumes.  Probably tomorrow.  Breakfast will be eggs over refried beans with salsa.  At lunch time, I'll substitute peanut butter for my usual almonds.  At supper, I'll have some kind of beans, not sure what.  Last time around, though I didn't do it quite this way, it seemed to me that I actually felt somewhat better once legumes returned to my diet, so I expect to experience something similar this time.  And DH will be happy that we can have chili that "tastes right" again.

 

I'll then go back to compliant for a few days after that.  I don't think I will do all the reintroductions over the course of ten days, and I know that I will not be reintroducing dairy as I am lactose intolerant and don't need a reminder of the pain that accompanies an inadvertent sip of milk.

 

So at some point over the weekend or early next week, I'll try the non-gluten grains.  I want to try making oatmeal with coconut milk.  I also want to try a separate reintroduction of soy, and will plan that for later on.  

 

ThyPeace, will also think through when the next Whole30 will be.  The nutritionist and I set a goal for me to lose 10 pounds this year, so I'm halfway there.  I could do one between Easter and Memorial Day.  Or in late summer again.  

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I would recommend separating peanuts from other legumes since they're so problematic for so many people. If you're going to reintroduce soy, I'd give it its own day as well--for the same reason. I don't have a problem with things like split mung beans, but soy and peanuts are a problem. I wouldn't know that if I'd treated them all the same. I know this is a bit more nitpicky than the reintroduction schedule as written, but it might be helpful for you.

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Hm.  Good idea on separating the peanuts as well as the soy.  Thanks, LadyM!  I really really want some peanut butter at the moment, so might do that first rather than the other legumes.  

 

ThyPeace, there's a jar of Trader Joe's peanut butter with flax seeds in the cupboard that I put away when I started the Whole30...

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I started my re intro today with non-gluten grains. I will be posting my insights here too!

Today I had oatmeal for breakfast, corn at lunch and some rice for dinner. I felt off all day. But I did not get much sleep last night so it may be a vicious combo. I'm interested to see how I feel tomorrow. I weighed myself this AM and lost 10lbs! Woo!

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Although separating peanuts from other legumes was a good idea, I haven't actually managed to implement it.  So if I have trouble from today, I'll do a re-do in a few days with just the beans and no peanuts.  

 

I am also suffering from lack of sleep today -- had to be up at 4:30am to check on weather conditions for my organization.  So that may affect how I experience things.  Sigh.  At least I got one uninterrupted night of sleep this week.

 

ThyPeace, had a sick kid, a very sick nephew, and other weather events to deal with earlier in the week.

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Had refried beans at breakfast and peanut butter at lunch.  No ill effects so far, though the beans made me very thirsty.  They were both salty and full of carbs, so I should have expected that.  The peanut butter didn't taste as good as I remembered, while the creaminess of the refried beans made me very happy indeed.

 

ThyPeace, still needs to figure out what legume to have for supper.  Either kidney beans or peas, probably.  Or both.

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Well, the evening was more refried beans and peanut butter, so I guess I've got a good dose of those two things in me.  I noticed no ill effects after eating either of the, though I didn't enjoy the peanut butter.  My husband says he doesn't like the kind I had either, so it may just be that kind.  In any case, I also noticed that the two foods did not fill my "protein" stomach at all, so I ended up eating more than than I usually do.  While I still need to lose weight, that will put both foods on a "limit quantity" list.

 

Today I feel fine, though sleepy.  That's more the result of the week than those foods, I think, though I did get a good night's sleep last night.  

 

ThyPeace, and now that DD is elsewhere, DH says he's getting sick.  Sigh.  Going to be another long weekend, but at least when he needs to blow his nose, I don't have to get up too.

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Good morning, everyone.  As you might have guessed, I am now the one who is sick.  Complete with fever and major unsteadiness.  Combine that with the ice outside and I am calling in sick -- for the first time in about five years.  So it's hard to tell what's causing what at the moment.  I tend to think that having sick family members, lack of sleep, and general stress are causing the illness, rather than any dietary changes.

 

Speaking of dietary changes, I had no particular ill effects from the peanuts and beans, but also no real benefit.  My next try, a few days later, was corn and rice.  I woke up the next morning with the most awful gnawing pain in my stomach.  I used to interpret that as hunger.  Now, well, I'm not sure what I think it is, but I hated it.  I also found that I got a terrible headache after the meal where I had rice.  I think I will avoid both rice and corn for now.  The only thing that I really enjoyed was the cornmeal mush (fancy folks would call it polenta) that I made with chicken broth.  Delicious, honestly.  So I will keep that in the back of my head as an item that has a cost, and for now won't go back to it.

 

I will say that I purposely did not include corn chips.  Those are a path-to-destruction food for me. 

 

My next item to reintroduce is gluten-containing grains.  I think I'll wait until I'm healthy, though. 

 

ThyPeace, notes that it took two hours and a couple of naps to write this post.

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I didn't have fever this morning, and therefore told myself that I was fine to go to work.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.  (And going to bed early tonight.)

 

I did have some stomach issues yesterday -- nausea, primarily, and some, err, other stuff.  At least I didn't throw up.  I couldn't manage to eat anything like a template meal, though.  I started the day with 16 ounces of orange juice.  I think it was a good choice since my hands stopped shaking after that, and I went back to sleep for another two hours.  Even after that, though, all I could manage was fruit --- strawberries, banana, and an apple.  I eventually had a slice of ham and some almonds, knowing that my body needed protein and fat even if I couldn't tell just then.  Supper was cauliflower soup made with ham broth and a big serving of honeydew melon.  Nowhere near the calories or nutrition I needed for the day, but I was going for things that would stay in my stomach rather than come back.  MyFitnessPal said I should have 800 more calories for the day, but I just couldn't do it.  Hunger did wake me up during the night, but even then all I really wanted (and got) was a lot of water.

 

I'm better today, somewhat.  I managed my eggs and potatoes this morning, and some of the milder vegetables, along with banana and applesauce.  Lunch of chicken, carrots, apple, celery, almonds, pecans, and unsweetened chocolate.  Took me a long time to eat it, but managed to have all of it.  (Yes, consciously picking banana and apple for their stomach-calming properties...) 

 

So I think I'm on the road to recovery.  Still not going to add the gluten-containing grains, though.  Maybe toward the end of the week or over the weekend.  I would like to make the 24-hour rise bread that my oldest stepson makes.  It only has a quarter-teaspoon of yeast, and it "rises" (maybe ferments is a better word) for at least 24 hours before it's baked.  Delicious stuff...

 

ThyPeace, if I'm going to have grains, I'm going to have the ones I really love!

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Feeling better, but now very congested and sneezing.  Sigh.  Ended up going out to eat last night because I didn't have the energy to cook.  That would've been fine, but chips and queso?  Sigh.  Among my favorite foods and (for whatever reason), the dairy in that form doesn't seem to bother me.  So I had some.

 

No dairy issues, but that same gnawing faux-hunger pain returned.  I guess I can clearly link it to corn.  Or at least, cornmeal.  I'm still willing to try fresh corn and popcorn, because, well, I'm a glutton for punishment.  Or something.

 

Back to normal foods today.  I've lost a pound and a half or more since last week.  Not sure what that's about, though I did get a haircut.  (My hair is about two feet shorter, so it may be some of that weight.)

 

ThyPeace, waiting for snow and hungry for curry.

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Lost a pound and a half.... then gain 6.5 pounds and then lost 3 again.  All in about 36 hours.  Why yes, I do feel a little weird.  I'm just focusing on drinking a lot of liquids.  It seems to help in situations like this.

 

ThyPeace, spending the rest of my time refereeing an issue that is both mundane and a wonderful spot for people to fight.  Sigh.

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So I finally am back to about where I started before the loss and then major gain.  I am also to the coughing part of the cold, which is always the last and longest stage.  DH finally grabbed a cough drop from the bedside table and handed it to me.  Even though I haven't had sugar in two months, I decided it was better to sleep than to skip the cough drop.  For him and for me, because I was keeping him awake too.  I'm glad this thing hit after I was done with the Whole30, though.

 

Today I am reintroducing wheat.  Since it's getting close to Passover, there are many different kinds of matzoh in the store.  The basic stuff is made with wheat and water only, so I got that to use as a basis.  I had two pieces with my supper last night.  Today I had a couple of breadsticks at breakfast and a couple of small flour tortillas at lunch.

 

Unlike with corn, I didn't wake up with any difficulties this morning.  And after the breadsticks at breakfast, I felt really calm and content.  My body seems to have enjoyed that quite as much as my taste buds did.  We'll see how I feel tomorrow, though, and I do notice how the bread takes space away from foods that are much more nutritionally dense.  If I hadn't had the bread at lunch, for example, I would have had a big salad with greens, kale, peppers, tomato, and various other things.  So I lost a lot of micronutrients.

 

I also tried a couple of compliant foods that I had decided not to risk during the Whole30 -- Lara Bars and dates.  I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed the cherry pie LaraBar that I had, and have enjoyed a few dates as well.  If I ever really feel as though I need a desert, I think the Lara Bar would be an excellent choice.  And dates are definitely very much like candy.  It appears that neither of them is a food-without-brakes for me, but I think they both could become so if I were particularly stressed.  I think I'll stick to other dried fruits instead.  I've been particularly enjoying figs lately.

 

And thinking more about the veggie chips and ginger kombucha, I realized what the problem was for me.  I'm not in the middle of a Whole30, so it doesn't really apply, but they're basically SWYPO.  They were standing in for regular chips and soda.  They were both yummy, but I think my weight gain and loss and the interesting digestion that has gone with it are probably related to eating those things.  Definitely something to limit.

 

And the more I think about it, the more I think that I should probably start my third Whole30 fairly soon.  Maybe not immediately; it would be pretty difficult to do over Easter.  But perhaps from right after Easter until Memorial Day Weekend.  That would be more than 30 days, but somewhere in there.  It's actually somewhat difficult not to go back to it right away, but I think this proves to me that I need to keep investigating and really learning what's safe for me and what's not.  There is a lot to learn -- and this better way of eating is something I'm going to need to keep up for the rest of my life.  Best to do the testing now and not spend all my time worrying that I'll backslide.  My sense of "must get things done" is pushing at me, but this isn't really a "get done" thing.  It's a do for a long time thing.

 

ThyPeace, time for my late afternoon/early evening nap.  DH says he's grilling chicken thighs for supper.  Bless him.

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To continue the thoughts on reintroduction, today is the "day after" reintroducing wheat.  Now, two things happened.  The first is that I feel fine.  No stomach disturbances, no aches or other weird stuff.  The second is that I slept for 13 hours last night.  I'm pretty sure that's related to exhaustion, lack of sleep during the week, and the remnants of being sick.  But I'll have to remember it for the next time I have wheat and see if it repeats itself.

 

Other than that, my body is continuing its return to normal.  I had a bit of wheat tonight as a snack -- matzoh with butter -- after I realized that I had only had two relatively "normal" sized meals today and was pretty hungry.  Sleeping through breakfast and almost through lunch will do that to you.  I'm satisfied with using it that way, though I know today was supposed to have been a compliant day. 

 

Then again, I think I'm done reintroducing major food categories.  I've done legumes except soy, I've done some non-gluten grains (corn and rice), and I've done wheat.  I am not going to even think about dairy, since I already know I'm lactose intolerant.  So, hmmm.  I guess I need to think about next steps.

 

Oatmeal. Haven't tried that yet.  Nor rye, quinoa, or various other grains.  Guess I could try some of those.  And I should try some soy.  Guess I need to put tofu on the grocery list.  That would be good to have again -- with a little soy sauce over the top, it's a very easy protein at times when I need to make a meal quickly.  Or when I need to supplement something that doesn't have a whole lot of protein.

 

And then, well, then I may be done.  Am I missing anything major?  I really can't think of anything at the moment.  Well.  Okay.  I can think of many things I'm not eating and not reintroducing.  But you know, I know what brownies do to me.  Don't think I need to test that.

 

ThyPeace, not until Easter, anyway.  Then I'll have some sugar.  And then back to none until maybe July 4 (our anniversary).

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Down with broccoli in my frozen veggies!  Sigh.  DH does say he won't buy any more, which I appreciate.

 

Today I am testing oatmeal.  I'll post on how it goes.

 

ThyPeace, knows she's talking to herself, but that's okay.

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Still talking to myself, but worth noting that the oatmeal seems to have made me very thirsty (thank you, carbs), but otherwise was fine.  No noticeable changes in digestion, energy levels, etc.  I have also had some sugar in the last few days.  I let DD feed me some fruit snacks and had a slice or two of crystallized ginger.  They don't taste bad to me, but also don't taste great.  Oh and I tried Coke Zero last weekend.  Good grief, I can't believe I once liked that stuff.  It's terrible!  Definitely a place where my tastes have changed.

 

I am finding that my overall willingness to snack and munch has gone up lately.  I can't tell if that's from the increased carbs or from stress.   (DD having trouble with school work, colleagues crying in my office, various chaos meaning the threat of missed deadlines, DH missed a major meeting about DD's bat mitzvah, etc. etc.  So nothing unusual in terms of level of stress, but more than usual in terms of sheer quantity.)

 

Sigh.  Just not sure.  Could use ... something.  Exercise maybe, as I have not gotten any to speak of since before I got sick.  Or I could just curl up in a corner and ignore the world for a few days.  I'd like that too.

 

ThyPeace, will instead go to bed and get up in something less than 7 hours and work another 11 hour day tomorrow because that's what I do when DD is at my ex's house.  At least I got to eat supper and watch Agents of Shield with DH tonight -- our one hour of TV every week.  And I'm getting a massage tomorrow night.

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Fiery intros?  Okay, I admit, I haven't reintroduced fiery stuff, but that's because I never gave it up.  :lol: :lol: :lol:   Seriously, though, I'm glad you guys are reading!  It's much easier for me to write when I think someone's listening.

 

The oatmeal went find.  And I had fish with coating on it on Friday.  No great reaction there -- it was all things I'd reintroduced previously with no problems.  Saturday, we went to Cinderella (didn't everyone?) and I had some movie popcorn.  That didn't bother me nearly as much as the cornmeal I'd had the last time I tried a corn product.  I also had some whole-kernel corn somewhere along the way, again with much less bother.  So I am going to assume that the less refined the better when it comes to corn, and limit the total amount.

 

After all that, though, I was pretty glad to get to today and not having anything non-compliant.  I am absolutely stuffed at the moment -- I had some veggie chips, and they really fill me up.  And some kombucha, which I still think is basically SWYPO.  Tasted good though.

 

Here's an interesting thing.  I have a family with a host of food allergies and sensitivities.  They are all coming to my house for Easter.  Roughly 20 people with allergies and sensitivities to lactose, gluten, sulfites, berries, citrus and tropical fruit, seafood, corn, legumes, and a few others.  So I sent around the Whole30 shopping list and asked them to tell me what items to cross off.  I got a few I didn't know about (peas), but for the most part, everyone said, "Hey!  I can eat that stuff!"  Which means for me, "Yay!  I can cook for these folks!"  It is funny that one of the other kids is allergic to garbanzos and peas -- two of the only protein-containing foods that DD will eat at the moment.  Ah well.  Those are easy to separate and serve. 

 

Unfortunately, the oldest two members of the family think that they should never touch animal fat again so as to avoid heart trouble.  (They are both 77 years old.  One had a mild heart attack last fall, but otherwise they are both quite healthy other than failing joints and eyesight.)  Ah, well.  They'll probably survive a weekend of really healthy food.

 

ThyPeace, thinks they don't eat enough protein, but that's just me.

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And I bet those oldest two are also taking statins and thinking their cholesterol count really matters....

 

It's great that your diet dovetails so nicely with what the crowd can eat. My visiting friend has her grains and I'm not even tempted. She made pasta aglio et olio (sp?) and I sliced up and sautéed a zucchini and had the aglio et olio on that, along with a couple of hard-boiled eggs.

 

You've got me thinking about popcorn. I really want to go to a movie.... Maybe next week. My reintroduction starts on Friday.

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One of them takes statins and blood pressure medicine.  He's the one who had a heart attack.  But -- the nutritionist who met with them after his heart attack said they had one of the best diets she had seen in a long time.  His problem was that a series of hip surgeries and the associated major complications (including a knee surgery from a related injury) left him much more sedentary than he had ever been in his life.  So his weight crept up some and his overall body composition worsened.  The best part of the whole thing, other than being close to a really good cardiac center when it happened, was the rehab afterward that built his cardiovascular stamina back up to something like it had been before all the surgeries.

 

It really made clear to me how important it is for older people to continue to be active and to fight as hard as they can to keep moving even in the very difficult circumstances they sometimes have.  And -- if you're just starting to deal with heart trouble at 77, when your ancestors had major heart attacks in their 50s and 60s, you're probably doing something right.  The fact that they are continuing to work to stay active and healthy is great, even if I don't always agree with every choice they make.

 

ThyPeace, notes that they also made good choices in other parts of their lives.

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I need to do my own update, too.  Let's see.  I had the popcorn, have had a few flour tortillas here and there, and have been having a bit more in the way of dried fruit and other things that are sugar-intense, even if it's not processed sugar.  And I missed lunch twice this week, leaving me hungry and searching for Anything To Eat At All No Matter What Its Benefit.

 

Not really all that beneficial to me, though I don't think it's a terrible harm either.  It is a little easier to eat when I allow myself some grain.  And at the same time, I can see there are some swings in hunger and temptation that I don't have when I'm eating more compliantly.

 

For now, to be realistic, I'm not going to go back to a completely Whole30 compliant way of eating.  I have debated on when I'll do it again, and may make that choice based on how much I weigh the next time I weigh in. 

 

My exercise routine is completely gone.  I mean, completely.  I am noticing that just getting out and walking around the mall or to stores is feeling like more activity than I usually get.  Instead of exercising in the evenings, I've just been going to bed early.  Which is helping a lot with the continuing sleep interruptions (DD is sick again), but not with my overall sense of wellbeing.

 

Sigh.  This is why I try to meet with the nutritionist at least once a month.  I had to cancel last month because we were out of town, and clearly that was not a great choice.

 

ThyPeace, needs constant reinforcement.  The nutritionist is really good for that.

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I have a whole rant about statins -- I'll spare you most of it and say only that my opinion is that statins are the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on the American public by Big Pharma. They even want to give them to two-year-olds. Meanwhile, statin usage has statistically shown maybe 1% lower rate of heart attacks in men, and no difference in women. Partial rant over...

 

Tomorrow is Day 60, and I think I've decided on my first non-compliant thing. Friday I'm going to buy a bottle of my favorite old vine zinfandel and have a glass or two with a couple of friends. 4:45 pm Friday (MDT) is the vernal equinox, which seems the perfect time to break open a bottle of wine with friends and try to stand an egg on its end.

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I probably have heard that rant -- my brother's been told he needs to be on them, but resists because of the side effects, which he thinks are worse than the drugs themselves.  I honestly don't know -- I haven't looked at the research data. 

 

I do think a bottle of old-vine Zin is a nice treat.  That said, make sure you drink lots of water.  The tannins could really knock you over if you're going from alcohol free to a deep dark luscious red.

 

ThyPeace, notes that the days are already longer than the nights where I am, and boy I'm glad of it.

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As for food today, hm.  I have discovered a kind of unsweetened chocolate that tastes slightly sweet.  I don't think I'll buy it again.  It's way too easy to eat extra.  I'm debating about the bar I have in my office.  I'd kept nuts there before, and although there are fewer calories in the chocolate, the nuts may be a better (less easily abused) choice.

 

All the rest of my food was compliant today, but oh my gosh, I ate too much.  Got supper very late and surely should have just skipped it and gone to bed.

 

Oh.  And we got a watermelon.  Not quite as juicy as it might be, but bursting with the sweet wonderful flavor of summer.  What a nice treat, and excellent for DH, who chases sweet pretty hard.  It will shift him away from the ice cream and other less-healthy choices.  Good thing, that.

 

ThyPeace, was reading about dynamic incompleteness today.  Interesting concept.  Here's a summary:  http://theprimes.com/dynamic-incompleteness

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