Emma's Reintroduction

[EmmaSthlm]

... continued with dinner: a soup of lentils, tomatoes, cilantro, chili & lime.

It was wonderful and I continued to feel great afterwards. I do not seem to have a problem with legumes, although I should of course try them at least one more day to be sure.

After this reintroduction, I only have one left: white rice. As a preparation for my month in India. But that will have to wait until next week, since I am first off to France for a couple of days. Hopefully it will be better than my recent visit to Switzerland.

[EmmaSthlm]

Breakfast @ Post-Whole30:

Back to normal breakfast, with no more buckwheat! I feel just fine after yesterday's legumes, and I will try some later today, but I skipped trying to reintroduce legumes at breakfast.

Instead, I have now decided what my normal breakfasts will look like.

Ordinary breakfast:

• my beloved green smoothie (rocket salad, celery, 1/2 avocado, 1/2 banana, fresh ginger, fresh lemon, unsweetened coconut water & plain water)
  
• two boiled eggs
  
• an espresso
  

Pre-workout breakfast:

• my beloved green smoothie (rocket salad, celery, 1/2 avocado, 1/2 banana, fresh ginger, fresh lemon, unsweetened coconut water & plain water)
  
• one piece of whole grain bread
  
• one boiled egg
  
• an espresso
  

I really feel the whole grain bread makes a huge difference, especially for high intensity cardio, such as intervals. If I have a piece before working out, I get a lot more energy. And I make my American trainer happy, since he is so against going low on carbs...;-)

[EmmaSthlm]

Second day of reintroduction of legumes also went well. I am just feeling fine after another lentil soup tonight.

So I will continue to eat legumes. Perhaps not at home; perhaps not all the time. But it is definitely not something I will avoid in the future.

Now, I am off to France. Hopefully it will be easier than Switzerland was last week. I plan to eat Whole30 in order to do my last reintroduction when I get back home. It will be plain white rice as a preparation for my upcoming trip to India. See you then!

[kb0426]

Safe travels!

and not one croissant???

[Derval]

Bon Vacance!

[EmmaSthlm]

Back from France. It was much easier than Switzerland and much more fun! I had a glass of red wine and a piece of dark chocolate every night. The first night I also tried a small piece of goat cheese, but that did not go well. I got congested again, so even goatmilk seems to be out. It is unbelievable what a strong reaction I get from dairy!

And no, no croissants. I was not even tempted. I also skipped the chocolate mousse, the cakes, all the bread, and everything else that was not compliant.

I practiced yoga every morning and went for walks every day, so it was a perfect trip!

Next trip: Russia. It will be more difficult. But before I will do another reintroduction: plain, white rice - in order to prepare for India.

[kb0426]

Wine and dark chocolate in France sounds just about perfect!

[Alana in Canada]

Sounds like it was a wonderful trip.

[EmmaSthlm]

I changed my plans. Instead of trying plain white rice, I am trying wheat. Not that it is something I will eat every day, but I wanted to try. I had a wrap from the health store for lunch, a lovely one with salmon and veggies. It felt just fine.

It seems like dairy is my main problem, but that everything else works well. But that does not mean I will eat everything every day. I will still stay away from wheat, sugar, and alcohol, except for special occasions. And I will always stay away from dairy and processed food.

And I will reintroduce plain, white rice before I leave.

[EmmaSthlm]

Reintroduction has become a little bit less structured. This week I have tried some wheat, which went fine, although I will still try to avoid it. I just do not think it is beneficial in any way.

Last night I also had some dairy again at a dinner party. Not a lot, but some butter and even a little bit of cream in a soup.This morning I woke up stuffed and bloated. But alive, so I guess I will not have to freak out if someone serves dairy. Perhaps I might not even tell in advance when I go to private parties. I will just try to avoid it myself.

The plain white rice is still to be tried. It is not something I miss, though, so I imagine I will not eat a lot of it in the future. Perhaps only in India.

[EmmaSthlm]

Finally I made it to the plain white rice. The very last day of November, my reintroduction month. No reaction at all.

I will not eat rice in general. I never make it at home, and I can easily skip it when I go out. However, it is a good thing to be able to eat in India. Both since it can be considered snobbish and rude to not eat rice, and since it is considered good when you - for sure - get sick at some point. So I will eat rice in India, but not in Sweden.

This week I am off to Russia. I am not sure how Whole30-compliant it will be and sometimes it is a bit difficult to communicate. When I travelled through Russia many years ago, a friend of mine, who was a vegan, had a lot of problems, to say the least. She had a note written in Russian that she handled over to all waiters, but in Novosibirsk or Irkutsk or wherever we were, they once did the absolute opposite and brought in ONLY milk and eggs. Ha, ha... we laughed like crazy.

I will learn how to say no milk in Russian: нет молоко.

We will see how it goes. I am not travelling to main tourist areas like St Petersbourg or Moscow, which are easier, so it might go really bad.

[Ea_]

Good luck in Russia! :-)

[melbournegirl]

Thanks for posting your experience Emma, it is really helpful to see how you did it and how you went. Also I have been gluten free for years but no matter how many times I try just can't stomach buckwheat oatmeal, it just tastes awful no matter how you do it! I'm fine with all the other whole grains though and even buckwheat flakes.

[EmmaSthlm]

Russia was easy. A little bit of Smetana in a fish soup one day, but otherwise so Whole30 that it was incredible! I love that country!

Best thing? The hotel had complimentary access to a cross-fit box! A real cross-fit box, with hundreds of kettlebells (kettlebells are Russian, after all) and the fittest guys I have ever seen. Kaliningrad is base for the Russian navy and they all seemed to be doing cross-fit. Working out with the Russian navy was an interesting experience... and let me tell you, they were strong!!!!

Since then I have also been off to Denmark, twice. It was easy as well, although I could not stop myself from having some of their whole grain bread from "Lagkakehuset". It is the best! And in Copenhagen you can buy it both at the airport and the train station.

Great thing about Copenhagen: I stayed at two different Radisson Blu-hotels, and they both had complimentary access to a fitness chain, fitness.dk. I love when hotels work with real gyms, instead of having their own little room! I had some great workouts in Copenhagen as well.

And the food has been going so well. I am sticking to my plan. I do not eat dairy any more, I avoid sugar and white flour, but I eat a piece of whole grain bread in the morning. And I have legumes, red wine and dark chocolate every now and then. I try to eat as unprocessed as possible. It is my own version of Paleo, and I think I can follow it for the rest of my life.

[Natalie.s.a]

You found it! your own way.

Well done.

[EmmaSthlm]

It has been almost four months since I finished my first W30, and I am amazed how easy it is to keep the good habits. I still:

- avoid all dairy - and almost all my anxiety, which I have struggled with all my life, is gone!

- avoid wheat, but I eat a piece of unsweetened, organic, whole grain bread every morning (I am still Scandinavian...;-)

- avoid sugar

- limit legumes to perhaps three times a week; mainly lentils and beans in vegetarian dishes;

- limit alcohol to vacations, when I will have a glass of red wine with dinner;

- never eat processed food

It is of course not perfect, but it is good enough, and it feels like it is a way I can eat for the rest of my life. I am no longer worried about travelling; I know I can handle it. I sleep a lot better than before, 8-9 hours per night, and I am a lot happier. I have lost another two pounds since I finished W30 and my BMI is now a healthy 24.5.

Still, I am in for another W30 in March. I am curious to see if I will feel as good this time. And I feel like "decluttering" my body after this long winter.

I might not do another reintroduction, though, since I feel like I have already found such a good way to eat for the rest of my life. Or should I? Could there be different results after another W30? Anyone who has tried?