Final Days observations and Reintro Planning

[DivaCarla]

I am on Day 27 of my first Whole 30. It has not been easy. Choosing foods and eating has been easy, but my body took almost three weeks to detox, and I still constipated, and taking steps to sort that out. 

 

I feel much better now, over all, and have glimpses of what may be fat adaptation. Switching this carb burning body to a fat burning furnace is a major goal of doing Whole 30, along with eliminating inflammation and as phase 1 of exploring food sensitivities. 

 

QUESTION: I am also getting hungrier these last few days. I am eating plenty based on what is on my plate. I cut way back on fruits a few days ago, eliminated them altogether for 48 hours. I am changing my relationship to hunger, meaning I get hungry every 4 to 5 hours, and I can function through it without snacking as I make food. But this morning, hunger got me out of bed an hour earlier than I wanted to wake up, and yesterday I was not functioning well by dinner time at all. Any veterans have an idea about what it going on? 

 

I have had hardly any sense of craving. My partner and I are doing Whole 30 together. We are both cooks and we have eaten a large variety of high quality food prepared very well. That helps. 

 

Now in the last days, I am getting visions of a dark dense flourless chocolate torte with ganache. It is the slenderest of wedges. I take one bite from the point of the triangle and bring it too my lips. Do I even eat it? I am not sure, because part of me is terrified of the cascade of desires it might unleash! But the image is multisensory enough to be hallucinatory, and it is persistent! I am not even a chocoholic.

 

I take daily walks and dance and Foundations for my back. I need to add more exercise. We are 6 weeks away from swimming. I am a nature person not a gym person when it comes to exercise. 

 

One idea is that I am chafing at the edges of Whole 30, ready to relax the restrictions. Maybe I just need an elegant dinner out without reading a label. Maybe a craving monster is waiting to burst out me as soon as I am not reeled in by the plan and my commitment!  I am a hedonist after all, and food is a great pleasure for me. 

 

I am doing a slow specific intro, to test my sensitivity. 

 

Day 31 Locally made plain whole milk yogurt (water buffalo, not cow), and maybe regular butter, not ghee. QUESTION: wise to intro cheese the same day or go slower?

 

Day 34 Wine

 

Day 37 Slow introduce rice

 

Day 40 Cheese in my eggs

 

Day 43 Ham and bacon (sugar cured) Even local bacon is sugar cured.

 

Day 45 I'll have that chocolate Torte

 

Before I head to Arizona, I need to test out beans and corn, so I will know whether or not to eat or avoid southwestern cuisine

 

Day 48 May check out a legume. Pinto? Split pea?

 

Day 51 Tortilla chips 

Wow, that takes me right up to my flight out West. I wonder if I will be this disciplined. 

 

Rice and maybe limited corn are the only grains I want to test. I know grain is a problem: gluten, oats, even buckwheat, and alternative flours. Soy is OUT. 

 

 

[praxisproject]

If you've cut back on fruit but not replaced it with anything, you may actually be hungry.

Generally if you're hungrier than you expect, your previous meal wasn't enough to see you through the gap.

This can be because the gap was really big, or the previous meal was too small.

 

Food dreams are normal, but cake is not great for reintroduction as it's rarely a single reintroduction on it's own (gluten + sugar + dairy + lots of other things). Save cake for after you've finished your reintroductions. If the food dreams have only started since you cut out the fruit, you may need to eat more 

 

If you're exercising, make sure you're eating your Pre & Post meals, or you're not eating enough and you'll be hungry and tired.

 

For your yoghurt reintro, you may not be able to tell the difference if you're doing a special non-cow yoghurt as well as butter and cheese. It's up to you how you want to reintro, but be aware of you have a reaction and you've had multiple things, there's no way to identify the cause.

 

Also if you're doing a slow roll remember you're reintroducing one thing at a time, so Day 51 is Whole30 + Tortilla Chips, not all other Reintros + Tortilla Chips.

[DivaCarla]

Thanks for the feedback, and advice on saving cake post intros. I'll see how it goes. I know I can make a cake that is grain free, and if need be, dairy free, low sugar.  Whether I do it as part of my re-eintro or wait till later, it will not be a new food I am introducing but a concept. Food as treat. Food as celebration. This has always been important for me, and I realized I eliminated the thought of treat, snack, and party out of my food for 30 days. That has been a gift in itself, though I am now feeling that as a subtle form of deprivation. It is food for thought as I process what this first Whole 30 is teaching me. 

[Muez]

Hi DivaCarla,

 

It sounds like you have similar concerns with re-introduction that I do, from this and another post I saw - a commitment to local eating, and whether Weston A Price type food processing might help with digestion of certain things. I am interested in this too and so plan to re-introduce things in a way to evaluate this. I don't really feel like I NEED grains, but I am curious especially in terms of resilience and talking with others about this diet what effect this has. Also, I usually grow a lot of my own food, so want to focus on things I can do on the homestead.

 

My re-introduction schedule is: (I already know non-cultured dairy and gluten are not ok)

 

Day 1 - yogurt and hard cheese, Day 4: Lentils and Miso, (I have heard that lentils are an easier legume to digest) Day 6: other legumes, Day 9: soaked white rice,  Day 10: non-soaked white rice Day 12: my three day fermented sourdough whole kernel rye bread (I know this is gluten) Day 15: other soaked grains incl. corn. Day 18: non-soaked non-gluten grains.

 

Is there a "traditional food processing" type thread in re-introduction? I am wondering if I should start one....

[SugarcubeOD]

Hi Muez;

You may want to reconsider your re-intro schedule. You have zero days between some items and two or three between others. You want to have at least 2 days of Whole30 eating between items and more if you find an item has affected you... if you're affected, you continue Whole30 eating until you feel like you did on Day 30 again.

Also of note, soy (miso) can be incredibly disruptive to some, so much so that if you have the time, we recommend introducing soy products on their own outside of their 'heading' of legumes.

[Muez]

Ok thanks, I will space it out and make soy and legumes separate categories. I was going on what I have noticed is a problem in the past, and spacing these less, but I realize it is a new thing now after a whole 30. I can start a new thread on this DivaCarla - did not mean to take over yours!

[DivaCarla]

Muez, your comments and discussion are welcome here. I like it, I need it! We are looking at some similar goals going forward. Re your comments, funny how every idea about food has its contradictory position. I have heard that lentils are very HARD to digest! I love them, but last time I ate them a few months ago, they did not feel good inside at all. I will probably re intro the legumes one at a time in small amounts last. 

 

A traditional food processing thread about soaking and home fermenting of vegetables, etc would be great. I have some "nourishing traditions" carrot ginger ferment going on now. I used the  No Whey method. I have a question about that, so it can wait till you start your thread in cooking section!

 

Today is day 30. I told my sweetie at breakfast that if it weren't for my abnormal bowels requiring lots of effort and attention, I am ready to feel Whole 30 is a new normal. When it becomes New Normal, it stops being obsession and take up so much mental and emotional space. Now with re-intro coming up, back to thinking about food non stop! This too shall pass. A new normal is in my sights!

[Mrs.Mathias]

Hi Carla,

 

I'm piggybacking because we're on the same schedule. Day 30! Yay! It was easier than I thought it would be, and I enjoyed all the food. Thankfully, my BMs have improved tremendously. I hope yours even out as well! My sugar cravings feel non-existent, which is REALLY new for me. That said, I would still like to try some paleo cookies, since the only "new" ingredient will be honey or maple syrup. I also look forward to occasionally enjoying my Mexican Hot cocoas (without the sugar).

 

I'm going to do the Slow Roll Reintroduction. I'll relax the restriction on added sugars, and try red wine for a few days (less than a glass), and I'll see how that goes. I really love our local farm's triple chocolate chip cookies, but I won't try them until I've reintroduced flour, dairy, chocolate and sugar. I also really love peanut butter, but I'm not supposed to eat it, so I'll probably just skip it. I would like to try quinoa and black beans at some point, separately, of course, and give each a few days to see how they affect me. I would also like to try goat cheese, but continue avoiding most dairy. 

 

I haven't weighed myself, but I don't think I've lost too much. Maybe a pound or so. However, I look and feel better. I feel like this approach to eating is much better for me. And after logging my food on to MFP for 1766 days straight, no longer logging has been very liberating. The only thing is I need to not snack on toasted cashews. Because they are so delicious! This way of eating has become my new normal, and it's very similar to how my husband eats (and now our son). I am really glad I gave this a shot and stuck with it!

[Muez]

DivaCarla I too feel like it is the new normal for me right now, although I am aware that if I start to slip too much, this may slip also! I agree about the conflicting views thing, with lentils as an example.  I guess my introduction needs to be months! This way I can test out these things for myself. I agree about emotional and mental space - it started out so much so, and now just feels like my new way of doing things, kind of like the same way I felt years ago when I was a vegetarian - a way of being and a habit rolled into one. 

Alright, heading over to the cooking section- see you there!

[DivaCarla]

"Congratulations Ladies! We are on Day 31! Mrs. Mathias, thanks for your input. Please let me know how your reintro goes. 

 

I weighed this morning, just for kicks (we have a before and after record). I am not a scale-oholic. I dropped 5 lbs. I am pleased given that I dropped weight while eating a lot of food, and doing little exercise. I dropped an inch on my waist and 2 inches on my chest. Hips the same. In 30 days, I will weigh again, if I remember. 

 

I added a cup of locally made water buffalo yogurt. Not sure how it differs from cows milk. I got it because it was there, at farmer's market, and it is so delicious. I could not finish my half cup dish, I filled up fast. I'll finish it with lunch. This never happens to me. Satiety is a new experience. I am going to post a new thread for my reintro log. I feel like I need that kind of accountability for myself, and if a question comes up, I'll all caps a post and scream help! Come meet me at the new thread if you like!

[Mrs.Mathias]

I lost 1.5 pounds. I was surprised it wasn't more, since I cut out all the sugar, grains and everything. But, I was eating plenty of food! And I feel better. So there is that. Now that I'm (hopefully) burning more fat, I want to go back to my boot camp class, at least a couple of days a week. Running tomorrow morning...

 

Way to go on your 5 pounds! That's excellent!