Birthday...Feb. 4th

[DakJ]

First let me say that initially the only reason I was doing Whole30 was because a really unhealthy friend needed a support system in order to do Whole30 so I committed to doing the program to help her accomplish this goal. After reading the book and falling in love with it all I was hooked for my own personal reasons. So January Whole30 began....

BUT now I have to deal with my birthday being 4 days into reintroduction. My roommates birthday is also 3 days into reintroduction.

I have loved Whole30 and I feel so much better but honestly I'm on day 23 and I just miss peanut butter toast! I feel like I didn't really have any craving issues until the second half of the month (Is that normal)...but I am worried with the all birthday celebrations I am going to wreck everything. 

So I want to try and switch up reintroduction to work a little better with my schedule. How much freedom do I have to switch around these things without screwing something up? Also if I reintroduce wine on the 1st and it doesn't give me any issues does that mean I can have wine on my birthday? (the 4th)

This is the schedule I was thinking

Feb 1st-WINE

Feb. 4th-Non-gluten grains

Feb. 7th- gluten 

Feb. 10th-legumes 

Feb. 13th-Dairy (doing it last because I don't have a super strong desire to add dairy back in my diet anyways..)

This is frustrating and hard and I really just want to have certain foods on my birthday from multiple categories. Help me. Please.

[ShannonM816]

You can do the reintroductions in any order you want to, the important part is that you have the one type of food one day, then go back to Whole30 eating for at least two days (longer if you aren't feeling back to normal by then). Then you're not supposed to have the reintroduced food again until you're completely done with reintroductions, so no wine with the non-gluten grains. 

You've probably already seen all reintroduction stuff, but just in case, here's the explanation.

[CaTo]

Hi Shannon, 

Is there any harm (or benefit) to eating reintroduction foods for two days, just to be sure?  If I were to do that, would I then go back to Whole 30 for longer, like 3-4 days?

If your answer is "don't do it", would it be any different for alcohol? I have two back-to-back drinking occasions on my first 2 days of re-entry.  Is there any reason not to take those two days, then go back to Whole30 for 2-3 days and proceed with the rest of reintroduction?

Thanks

[ShannonM816]

Sometimes, a little bit of a food doesn't cause much reaction, but more of it (either more all at once, or more over a period of time) does, so it's possible you might end up noticing a reaction or a stronger reaction if you have something for two days instead of just one. There's no particular guideline set for how long to allow between two-day reintroductions, so you'd need to use your best judgment. Two days would still be the minimum, but adding an extra day or two wouldn't hurt. Definitely pay attention to how you feel, and let yourself get back to feeling good again before you reintroduce something else.

The reintroduction guidelines as they're laid out are good for most people, but there are people who personalize them to suit their needs. So if you want to change them up from what's listed, remember not to mix the categories you reintroduce and to go back to Whole30 for at least two days between different reintroductions.

[CaTo]

Will do - thanks!