Dinner Invitations Right After Whole30....

[lynaeglass]

Hello All,

 I'm sure there has been a post about this in the past, but I've had trouble finding one. My husband and I are on day 22 of the Whole30 so I am beginning to read up on reintroduction. To be honest, I don't really want to go through reintroduction. I've begun to find comfort in the structure of the Whole30 and the pattern of checking labels and eating only compliant foods. That said, people at our church keep inviting us to their houses for dinner....for after we're done with Whole30. I was just wondering - how do we handle a dinner invitation that is for Day 31?  We can't foresee what they will be serving us and I'm sure there will be some confusion as to why we would still be restricting ourselves from certain food groups after the thirty days are up. Is it okay to eat a meal at someone's house that may contain several food groups at one time so soon after the Whole30 is done? I feel rude declining so many dinner invitations...but we live in the south where everything is covered in cheese or deep fried. Just wondering how to handle dinner invitations (and also a wedding!) during the reintroduction period. It's making me anxious to think of undoing all the progress we've made in thirty days. 

 

 

 

[GFChris]

Regarding reintroductions after your Whole30, you have a few options:
- Structured
- Slow roll

-Throw caution to the wind

Dinner out at a friend's house on day 31 would be an example of the last option.  It would be equivalent to going away on vacation on day 31.  

My advice to you is to minimize undoing your Whole30 progress, by limiting the amount of off-roading you do at other's people's homes and the wedding to avoid making yourself ill. You may find the nutritional guide to off roading helpful, along with Melissa's recent "one bite rule" article.

 

If you can resume 100% Whole30 eating in between dinners out, weddings, etc. to return to how you felt the morning of day 31, and get enough of a stretch in there where you can systematically reintroduce whatever you want to eat going forward one at a time, that will best serve you in the long run.

[lauren_thomas]

I'm going to have a very similar experience as well - our one year anniversary is right after we finish. We are taking a short trip, so we won't be able to cook at all (no frig or microwave where we are staying) and we will be having cake and wine (at a minimum). My plan is to stick to whole30 foods as much as I can (except for our one celebratory meal), and afterwards get back to strict whole30 for a few days and then do the reintro. I know it's not ideal, but it should still help me figure out which foods don't agree with me (if any).