Troubleshooting-Day 22

[rhb8]

Hello,

 

I'm on day 22 and have been doing well to stay compliant. I had the typical symptoms as addressed in the timeline but ultimately, have been coming out of the phases ok. My bowel movements have gone from irritation to regular/normal and sleeping is a good, solid 8 hrs. I feel my cortisol levels are much better than they were and for that, I'm very excited. Here's my problem/situation: last night, I went out to dinner and thought I was choosing something pretty complaint: baked salmon with no sauce, green beans and boiled potatoes. To drink, I had water. When I got home however, my bowel movements showed signs of irritability and so far this morning it's the same. I'm wondering if there was something non-compliant in the cooking of my dinner (though nothing obviously visible like corn or rice or bread). Does this count as "falling off the Whole30 wagon," even though I made choices that were in alignment with the program? When I eat at home, I'm not feeling any of this irritation (though I was the first couple of weeks) so that's why I'm thinking that maybe they used a vegetable oil or something to cook - I don't know and I didn't ask the chef. I was planning on doing 60 days anyway so I'm just continuing as normal but am still curious to know if that "mild irritation" could be my body reacting to something that I've taken out completely for the last 22 days. Thanks!

[jmcbn]

Hey there - it could be coincidence, the fish might have been close to it's 'use by' date, or they could have used a non compliant oil for cooking - I'd phone the restaurant & ask the question first & make a decision based on the outcome of that conversation...

Let us know what they say so we can better advise you.

[tmhampton1]

I agree that it's probably the cooking oil. A lot of restaurants will actually cook their meats in butter. I've gotten to where I tell them I have a milk allergy so they will use a separate pan and no butter at all. It's a crap shoot if you don't actually ask how they cook their foods. 

 

One of my favorite restaurants cooks these amazing new potatoes. They told me that they roast them and then deep fry them...you read that right...they roast them to get them to look roasted and then deep fry them to finish cooking them. 

[rhb8]

Thanks for the replies. I think it was the oil though, I'm not sure I'll be able to contact the restaurant soon to confirm. I'm in Germany and it's the time of year for religious holidays so I'll be lucky if I find their number and manage to call them during open hours. I'm going to write this off as a fluke and keep an extra vigilant eye out from here on out to the end of my 60 days to avoid these types of incidents again. These potatoes were clearly boiled so I don't have to worry about the possibility of a deep fry in there but wow - that could explain why my potatoes never quite get that "restaurant crisp" in the oven.

 

Strangely enough, this experience has somehow strengthened my resolve. It's like having this happen and being aware of the changes in my body showed me that this is all real and even trace amounts of something can make a difference and makes me more committed to paying attention to what foods go into my body.