Day 15: Did I slip up?

[Viv Savage]

Hi! I'm doing my second Whole 30, and I had a couple of moments where I was sure I had to start over. I'm not sure if these slip-ups are too insignificant to count as actually falling off the wagon, but I figured I could find an answer here.

I live in New York City and have a very busy schedule that hardly allows for grocery shopping or exercise, but I've managed to follow the rules in the book when it comes to eating out, which I need to do a lot, so I rely on plain salads, steamed veggies, and rotisserie chicken. There was a moment at the beginning where I accidentally bought non-clarified butter. It was hormone-free and completely clean. Since this only counted for about 10% of my eating in the first week, I didn't know whether to consider the next day "starting over."

Regardless, I trouped on...and then, today, went out for Japanese late in the day with some friends. I probably should have listened to my low blood sugar during the heatwave and bolted earlier to grab something compliant, but I assumed that the rules in the book applied to this restaurant - i.e. maybe I could order some plain steamed veggies and grilled chicken with lemon on the side. No grilled meat. No steamed veggies. No way to order the ramen toppings (like baby bok choy and poached egg) on top of another entree. They all came with "sauce." I ordered steamed broccoli with garlic and a plain salad. The salad was just mesclun greens, no biggie, but I was ravenous. After a few bites of the broccoli, I asked if it was steamed with garlic like it said on the menu - nope, it was drenched in oyster sauce! I paid the bill, ran down the block to the Little Beet (the third time this weekend I had kale and fennel and chicken at the Little Beet, grrrr), and still wasn't full. An hour later, I had black coffee, a sweet potato, and kale chips. At that point, I knew I was hungry, not craving.

So...were these two bites of non-clarified butter and msg-loaded sauce real slips, or should I count tomorrow as Day 16 regardless? Asking for...me!

[SugarcubeOD]

Your gut doesn't know the difference between 'real' and 'not real' slips (no such thing as a not real slip).

Dairy and soy are huge gut disruptors and will have reset your reset so to speak regardless.

There's an article below that you can read and decide for yourself what you want to do but if it was me?  I'd restart because I made a deal with myself to give 30 full days with no slips... I would use the lesson I learned about planning better to make sure the 'ravenous' doesnt happen.  Take another good look at the template (also linked below) and use it as a guide to make the next 30 days better (should you choose to start again).

[Viv Savage]

Thing is...I followed the meal template to a T. I tried to bend and accommodate when plans I made shifted. I prepared as much as I could. And, after reading the article, I wouldn't quantify these as slip-ups on the level of the ones listed. Both instances were a few bites, tops, before realizing that I was eating non-compliant ingredients both times.

This Whole30 is particularly stressful for me because I had gained 23 lbs. between the first and second ones. After taking the quiz on the site, I started the second one immediately, with plans to extend it as long as I can until my body feels healthy. So, this was going to be at least a Whole45 from the outset. Unfortunately, I'm doing it at a really stressful time.