Here goes!

[berry straw]

Hi, regarding the alkaline/acidic question, I can share my experience.  I went for a physical last year after doing a Whole30 and continuing to eat that way for 2 months.  My urine test result was flagged, as my urine was above normal alkalinity (I think around 8.0 ph?).  I asked my integrative doctor if I should be concerned and she said no, of course it was more alkaline - I had cleaned my diet up!  So, I think you are on to something!  

[chichi]

I think there's a lot of risk in looking at your weight every day. It's not measuring fat vs sugar adaptation. How could it? I think your hunger between meals is your best tracker. If you feel like snacking two hours after eating a breakfast high in starch or with added sugar, that tells you your body just burned through your sugar and it wants more.

If you're looking at the scale every day, it's probably just measuring water. I ate my first plate that included beans for breakfast, and I just feel a little fuller so far, not quite bloated but just like, more volume. It's probably the difference in the way different starches require water for digestion? I don't know that much about it, but I really believe that checking your weight every day, and using that number as a basis for analysis of the previous day's eating/activity level is neither accurate nor helpful. Especially when you think of your eating as good and your goal as vigilant. That sounds like a diet that you will crash out of at some point.

I'm not trying to sound harsh or something, I just hope you can gradually (or maybe abruptly, if that's what it takes) divorce the scale as a value system for your life. I think it's the healthy and comfortable place you want to be psychologically, right?

[TJHigh]

Just finished dinner- Sunday sauce with polenta again, and I have the slight acidic feeling to my stomach again. Very strange- it’s slight, not even really painful, but I’ll see if it turns into full blown heartburn. Right now it’s just a rumbly tummy.  But even that I’d say is not “worth it” for polenta- at least this polenta.  Turns out I don’t super love it unless it’s cooked in milk with cream and lots of cheese- go figure!  Honestly, it’s just pretty bland and I probably would’ve preferred sweet potato or zucchini zoodles had I not been doing this reintro.  Tomorrow will be a better test as far as what I miss/crave- whole kernel corn.  Especially in the summer- it’s prob my go-to ingredient.  I’d originally only planned on it for lunch- a semi puréed corn dish with coconut milk, shrimp, and roasted peppers, but I think I’ll add some of the frozen corn kernels to my scrambled eggs in the morning.  what the heck- make it a bigger test.

Other than that, energy/cravings/mood were all good today. Got pretty hungry for dinner, but not abnormally so (and was pretty light on protein for lunch- I had puréed cauliflower soup and I dumped two sausage balls in to get some protein- but prob should’ve had three, had they fit!)

[TJHigh]

@berry straw that is so interesting, thank you! I think there’s something to it, maybe.  Again yesterday I def had an acidic tummy. I hope it’s less so today with the corn, but we’ll see. I did a little research on alkaline vs acidic and what food can cause what- it does seem like corn is on the list for acidic (but so is a lot of other stuff I eat regularly, like meat and eggs).  Like I said, it’s been fairly mild, so while not worth it for gross polenta, it would be for creamed corn.

After the corn-heavy lunch, I’m back to W30 through Friday and then off to Vegas for the weekend!  That’s when I switch from my “fast track” reintro to my slow-roll/is it worth it phase?  Should be interesting, and Vegas seems like a good place to practice since there are just so. many. options.  I’ve got reservations at a few places that I know have W30 options, and the rest I’ll wing it!  Then a week of back to Whole 30- and I’m actually really excited since I’m going to invest in a W30-approved meal delivery service.  A whole work week of not cooking- what a dream!  On one hand, I hope I like it;  on the other, I hope I don’t like it too much - I could prob get really used to it.

Weight is still slightly up again, so while one or two days could be a fluctuation, eventually it seems like a trend.  Oh well, just one more day to go, which should help reveal the trend (or non-trend), then back at W30. And even if I go off the rails in Vegas (although I have a pretty good feeling I won’t- I’m starting to feel really confident, which is soooo nice), I’ll have the following week of Whole7 to fix me right back up.  It’s been two weeks from the end of my Jan W30, and I’ve remained committed to the reintro process, and it’s def starting to feel easy and habit-like.  I’m very excited, I do think I’m nearing the point where this starts to feel second nature, so once I finish the reintro (and having to be soooooooo observant about everything), I think I’ll have a good, sustainable way of eating established for myself.

[TJHigh]

Non-gluten reintro complete!  Good news, bad news- the whole corn reintro did not give me heartburn/“acid tummy” but it did trigger my Sugar Dragon and cause my energy levels to crash.  Bummer. I had corn with my scrambled eggs and immediately thought, wow, this is sweet- yum! And it got worse from there.  

I sautéed some frozen kernel corns in ghee and coconut milk, then roughly puréed, and had that as a base for a shrimp gumbi-ish dish for lunch.  Really good, but again, tasted so sweet to me, and immediately after eating I craved something sweet. I skipped it and went to the gym instead, but my energy levels crashed after that- I had to eat dinner at 5:00.  I had two big slices of roast pork and a ton of broccoli, which seems to have set me right, but I’ll be glad to be back on W30 tomorrow to truly even out energy levels.

lesson learned- corn is okay-ish,but prob best with a really well-balanced meal with extra vigilance for the sugar dragon!

[TJHigh]

Finishing up Day 2 of my W30 between non-gluten reintro and my slowroll plan for my weekend in Vegas, and I have to say, I feel great!  Like, definitely back to Tigers Blood with energy and mood, which made me realize that I felt pretty not-great on some of those reintro days.  Especially yesterday morning, I had a pretty low mood.  Not sure how that factors into my ultimate FFF eating plan, but it is very nice to know that just one full day of eating W30 can get me back on track.

So now today I’m packing for Vegas and getting very excited. I’ve planned out where we’re eating and have even selected a few dishes I know I want to try- all W30! (This is not new behavior for me though, I routinely stalk the menus of places I plan to eat and pick out my order in advance.).  Our big meals will be lunch and dinner, and our breakfasts will likely just be at the coffee shop in the hotel- I think that’ll actually be the most challenging- likely there won’t be many W30 options and no “worth it” splurge foods (I’m not a fan of breakfast pastries), so I think the challenge will be for me to eat enough for breakfast.  I’m hoping there will be hard boiled eggs available, and I guess fruit.  I’m packing jerky and a few Rx bars, but wonder if that’s better than just under-eating? Happy to hear thoughts.  If breakfast the first day goes off the rails, I’m fully prepared to splurge on a picky room service order the next day!

After Vegas I have a full 7 days of W30 eating planned to recalibrate before I start reintro again.  It’ll be interesting to see how many days of W30 eating I need to feel back on track, although I suppose that’ll depend a lot of how off track I get.  

[TJHigh]

I did it!  I survived Vegas! Even more than survived, I thrived! It was awesome. I really stuck to my plan, and it was perfect. We flew out late Friday and so I had a big Chopt salad for dinner (for real- it was prob $20 with all the extras, chicken, egg whites, avocado, tons of compliant veggies- give it all to me!)  So that keep me fueled through most of the morning too- was able to have a good, slow run at the gym and took advantage of their free apples and oranges, plus my stash of pistachios along with an almond milk latte kept me fueled til lunch.  For lunch had a Cobb salad minus the cheese and just a squeeze of lemon for dressing. So far, so good, nothing off track.  Breakfast never really fit the template, but I decided I preferred that to trying to wrangle something not so satisfying but expensive at a restaurant.

Dinner likely had some off plan ingredients at an Asian-fusion place (I’m sure there was soy sauce and likely some butter for finishing).  Had short ribs and roasted balsamic sprouts, plus a octopus salad with peppers. In spite of the likely presence of some slight off-plan ingredients, I felt no Ill effects at all.  Dessert didn’t even tempt my husband, which is a rarity- he just got an ice cream at one of the cafes, which wasn’t a temptation for me.

I was worried about the next morning because I wanted to be sure I had enough fuel for my long run. Contemplated a complicated room service meal, contemplated my rx bar and more nuts- but ultimately, I just went for it without breakfast. Turns out I had my best run ever (well, in quite some time) - five miles straight, never hit the wall.   Worked out perfect.

After that we took a long walk up the strip, stopping at various places for me to lose $20 at each- but I don’t consider it losing because I get a free drink! And I adore the people watching in casinos.  So def my biggest off-plan/non compliant item all weekend was the various glasses of champagne. Loved.  Then on to Jaleo for lunch, which may seem odd bc we have one in DC, but it’s my favorite restaurant, I know what items I can have, and Jose andres is a person hero of mine, so it made sense. I had the jamon, patatas bravos and the gambas al ajillo shared with hubby. He had gazpacho, which was amazing, and if it followed the tradional recipe (and it tasted like it), there was definitely gluten in.  Even with a few bites, I had no Ill effects.

For dinner we had our best, and probably most W30 meal (and prob not coincidentally, most expensive).  It was late, so we jumped into the mains with no apps- I had a bone-in tenderloin (which I’ve never seen bf at a butcher’s counter, am now going to make it my life’s work to find an consume again), green beans with preserved lemon and a tomato compote.  Side of truffle fries and these amazing cippoline onions with balsamic, peppers and jalapeño. I def want to recreate something similar for breakfasts to have with poached eggs.  Attempting that this weekend.  John had dessert, but again, not tempted.

On to the final meal, (other than about four gallons cucumber water and an apple while waiting for my facial), fancy burger at the same restaurant we ate at after we got married! So fun- we had to walk the entire strip, but it was nice to get out in the fresh air.  I had a Kobe burger with caramelized onions and truffle mayo, no bun! It was perfect! Def did not miss the bun, and the wine paired with it was amazing.  After the long walk there and no breakfast, I was starving, and that just made it sooooo much better.  I did my “is it worth it,” and “is one bite enough” tests, and it was worth it- the whole thing! It got me all the way home through this morning without needing more food (I get scared to fly so can’t eat, so that was a perfect end to the trip.)

honsetly, the trip could not have gone better. It was such a good feeling to know with a little planning I could have everything I wanted and not feel bad about any of it.  I didn’t gain an ounce, and my energy level and mood is perfect (albeit still recovering a bit from my pill from the plane.)

 

[TJHigh]

Officially half way through Reintros!  Pretty cool.  Finished steps 1-4 and I'm on Day 53 (total W30 + reintro days), so I'm fast approaching my Day 66 (which seems like an arbitrary number, but they say that's how long a habit takes, so what the heck).  I think my reintro schedule is something like 77 days total though.

I thought it'd be a good time to write down some observations about what I've learned so far - that way I can have some reminders/notes about what my food freedom will look like.

1.  Wine (the drinking kind, not the cooking kind):  My reaction around wine is definitely a flare up of my rosacea (or as my husband calls it, "wine-face.")  Here I seem to have found a pretty good balance and I know my limits.  No more than two glasses a night, and never two days in a row.  I can get away with drinking 3x a week, if properly spaced, but ideally, only 2x is best.

In addition to rosacea, the other potential effect of drinking is to weaken my willpower and/or crave certain foods- particularly salty olives or jamon.  Jamon is particularly a problem because it just pairs so darn well with wine!  Again, limiting to two glasses seems to keep a lid on the cravings associated with wine.

2.  Cooking wine:  No ill effects whatsoever, even when eating meal after meal (4 days in a row) with added wine.  Whatever it is about wine that affects me likely burns off in the cooking process.

3.  Added sugar:   The reaction here was fairly slight, but I believe it made my joints stiff, slightly swollen, and slightly painful (probably a sign that too much, even if it's not "straight sugar" in the form of candy or whatever, does cause inflammation.)  It did not, however, awaken my sugar dragon.  For my reintro, I really ate A LOT of added sugar for quite a few days in a row, and some of the food just tasted too sweet and heavy.  Added sugar can be back in, but best to have it judiciously.

4.  Non-gluten grains:  I tested rice and corn with no immediately noticeable effects.  However, upon reflection, I think that my days of eating non-gluten grains effected my energy slightly, and cumulatively made my mood worse.   It also caused a slight blip in weight.  I likely won't add these back in as a staple, and will only save them for a truly "worth it" dish like a special paella or risotto.  For corn, I'd like to try whole kernel corn again as part of a larger/mostly W30 dish.  

5.  Slow-roll/FFF:  As mentioned, in Vegas I had a few things that likely contained off-plan ingredients like dairy and soy, but I had NO ill effects.  My energy levels were great and I actually had some of my best runs.  I wasn't hungry between meals and easily stayed satisfied without cravings.  Once returning now to a Whole7, I feel better than ever.  My energy is still up and I'm still having great runs (I woke up naturally at 4:30 am today and asked my husband if he wanted to go to the gym.  That has never happened, ever.)  I'm looking forward to the remainder of the Whole7 (partly because I've splurged for meal delivery which lightens the cooking load), and then I'm ready, hopefully back to a clean slate, to finish reintros!

One thing I'm a little nervous about- I've obviously had a plan through my W30 and even now through my Reintro.  I have to start thinking about what eating will look like as I become more intuitive and less, well, crazy.  For now this works, and is kinda fun (mainly because I'm so proud that this time after Whole 30 I didn't just immediately revert back), but I have to get a sustainable FFF that does not involve the food for every week of my life laid out lol.  I guess that's next!

[chichi]

@TJHigh congrats! Trip sounds awesome. It's cool to see how specifically you've been able to lay out the results of this experiment. I'm also glad to be seeing it in real time since we finished the W30 about the same time--it helps me remember how actually close I still am to the heels of the W30. Like the other day I was like, well, pretty much got legumes, added sugar, and alcohol figured out, that only took forEVER, and then it was like, well, actually, it didn't, it was pretty quick. Only been three weeks. Keeping it all in long-term context is hard!

[TJHigh]

@chichi I know what you mean! Doing this mini Whole 7 in the middle of reintroducing was probably a good idea, but now it’s definitely feeling like it’s going to take a looooooong time.  I’m ready to get to soy already!  But it’s definitely necessary- I still have wine-face from Vegas!  So I definitely want that to die down before I start up again.

One thing I did this week that totally helped me stay on track (I’ve found it’s a bit hard to rededicate to a Whole 7 when maybe I don’t technically need to), is that I invested in a meal delivery service for 4 days.  Initially I only did it because I wouldn’t have the weekend to prep as I normally do, and I thought it’d be a good reward and encouragement for this mini reset. But it’s really been helpful to keep on track when my motivation was low. I had severe pms last night and really wanted something off plan, but knowing that I’d invested $100 for at least four days of meals I was like, “nope, not wasting that!”  So yeah, this W7 has been tough, but ultimately I’m glad I’m doing it so I can keep my reintros going strong!

[TJHigh]

Ok, finished my week of back to W30 compliance (with the exception of wine- I definitely added in wine), so I’m ready to see how I respond to soy.  In the past I’ve had a fairly bad every-morning soy latte habit, which I know is not a great breakfast, but i find them to be warm and comforting (and the soy milk at Starbucks is just sweet enough to make it feel like a treat.)  

I want to see what, if any, effect soy has on my mood.  So even though it’s not a balanced breakfast, I’m just having a veinte soy latte for breakfast, to really test how it effected me the way I’d drink it in the past. Going forward, I’ll have a small soy latte with aW30 breakfast, but today, I’m really going for broke!  I think if I find I can have them on a limited basis, I’ll just keep them as an occasional treat (perhaps limited to just when I get a “reward” on the app). 

So here goes, three days of soy lattes, then a W30 break, then other legumes over the weekend in the form of a big cassoulet!

[TJHigh]

Well, this won't come as a great shock - but having just a latte for breakfast (even a big one), is a TERRIBLE idea.  Wow.  I have no idea how I ever survived on just that.  It's good to know that my body has now adapted to regular meals, including (and maybe especially), breakfast.  So no surprise here - I was starving all morning and had to eat my lunch at 11 to survive.  And the soy latte definitely made me feel nauseous.  Definitely not great, and definitely did not feel like a "treat." 

I'll try again tomorrow with a small soy latte to go with a real W30 breakfast, but this may be a reintro that I cut short, given that I don't seem to really miss these anymore.  Or maybe I'll switch to reintroducing soy sauce or edamame instead.  I'll keep thinking - but for now, straight soy lattes with nothing else are o.u.t. 

[TJHigh]

Overall feeling a little better today since I had a legitimate breakfast, but I did have slight nausea again, and my mood is just awful.  This am I had simple scrambled eggs with soy sauce, and it caused just a general feeling of sick to my stomach.  Last night wasn’t much better, but I don’t know if the issue was soy, although I suppose may have been. I made cauliflower fried “rice” with soy sauce and edamame- no nausea, but I did snack on dried cherries and macadamias after dinner. Like so, so, so many.  Approx my body weight in macadamias, ugh.  Caused severe bloating and jus a real feeling of discomfort all night (not a shock.) I’m definitely in a poor mood today and yesterday, and it feels different than just life-stress.  It’s like someone sucked away my motivation. Ugh, it’s awful.  I don’t fully trust that the soy’s to blame though, it feels like that could just be psychosomatic. It seems incredible soy could effect my brain, but I guess it’s possible.

We’ll see how today goes though. After my breakfast, I’m having a Whole30 lunch- bbq chicken wings, sauerkraut, and carrots with Tessa Mae Cesar. Dinner will be leftovers from last night and I’ll try to be conscientious about the snacking/how I feel, to see what that reveals.  Last night got away from me a bit, so I’m overall just trying to be mindful today and get back to some healthy habits and see if I can’t shake this mood. It’d be nice to feel back on track so I can continue the test tomorrow to see if the small amount of soy in dinner really is causing a low mood.  But to do that, I have to shake my current mood!  

[TJHigh]

Ok- finished with soy.  Did not like.  That was bad.  I'm not sure how it's possible, but I really think soy might trigger depression for me.  So strange to think that a food-thing could cause a brain-thing.  But that was my experience- and it definitely was more acute when I had that big hit of soy on the first day.  After that, I was able to manage and keep some of the low mood at bay, but it was a struggle and I really had to put in an effort to stay positive and maintain my good habits.  I still feel a little precarious (today is first day back W30).  In addition, I slept very poorly the last two or three nights - I just never fell into a deep sleep.  Today that has finally caught up to me, and I'm just exhausted.  In order to continue to fend off the low mood, I really need a run, but not sure if my body can handle it - if I manage it, it'll likely be with my husband's encouragement at the very end of the day.

Now back to 3 days of W30 before I continue with the rest of legumes on Sunday.  I really really hope I don't have a similar reaction to just straight white beans, because I'm making a huge cassoulet and I'd really like it not to go to waste.  I've decided if I have similar symptoms with legumes, I'm going to cut off the experiment earlier this time, it's just not worth it.  One thing I need to focus on and make sure I don't let it creep back in excess - wine.  Last week I veered towards the upper end of my self-imposed guidelines (no more than 2 drinks per night, 2x per week), and some of that did contribute to the snacking/poor food choices on Monday (which likely also contributed to me feeling poorly overall).  We're going out to dinner on Saturday, and I would like to have wine with the cassoulet- but I'm going to be more careful with my amounts than I was last weekend. 

So, soy verdict - in large doses- absolutely not.  May be ok in limited quantities like soy sauce when going out, but at home I will continue to use the very acceptable coconut aminos as a substitute.  And if/when I go out and have an opportunity to encounter a small amount of soy, I'll pay particular attention to how it effects my mood.  There!  It does feel good to add another observation/guidepost to my FFF.  Makes me feel like the process is worth it in spite of going through some bad days along the way.  

[TJHigh]

Finished my return back to W30 eating in between soy and legumes.  Back to feeling great (for the most part), with the exception of Friday night/Saturday. Went out to dinner with friends, and there wasn’t a ton of compliant food options, so the wine I did have hit me VERY hard. Yikes, another good lesson- don’t have two glasses of wine on essentially an empty stomach. That obviously also led to a tough Saturday as I recovered.  Back to feeling great on Sunday though, full Tiger’s Blood!  Got lots of chores done, lots of energy/motivation, and had a great long run. Perfect canvas to start my legume reintroduction! And I made the most amazing cassoulet from this month’s Bon Appétit, sooooo good (I just omitted the breadcrumb topping.) really a good food to test to see exactly how “lowly” white beans can be worth it when they’re part of a special meal. 

So far, I’ve only had the one meal (dinner last night), but I’m still feeling very good. Great mood, woke early and am having a nice, relaxing morning.  We’ll see how the day progresses- I’m having more cassoulet for lunch and dinner both today and tomorrow. That should be enough to tell me what I need to know.  One thing I’m being more careful of this time is how I add back in the wine.  I didn’t have any last night and won’t again tonight, to make sure those symptoms don’t combine with the beans, but ultimately, for my last night, I’m going to have some with a glass of wine- it just pairs so well. And after all, that’s part of what makes it a “worth it,” meal for me, in some cases.

After I finish up legumes mid-week, I have just two days of W30 (I’ve been trying to do about three in between, where possible), and then dairy over the weekend. If I recall correctly from past reintroductions, this had no effect on me, but I’ll be curious if that’s still the case. After that, just a week left!

[TJHigh]

So far, so good with the legume reintro.  I feel great!  Tigers Blood most of the day, great energy/mood, no afternoon slump, and no cravings. I hope this continues and I can add legumes back in to my Food Freedom. I don’t eat them that often, but I do occasionally crave a ham and white bean soup, or a lentil salad with vinaigrette.  And I do think in and of themselves, they’re fairly healthful foods, so I def hope they’re healthful for me.  Again, no wine today so I’ll have a good test/baseline to see how I feel tomorrow morning.  I have a run scheduled for tomorrow morning, so we’ll see how this fuels me.

I’m also interested to check my weight tomorrow. I’d been steadily heading back down after last week’s unfortunate battle with the macadamia nuts, so we’ll see if that continues or at least maintains.  I hope so. In two weeks, I’ll have completed reintros and honestly, I’d really like to be at my goal weight so I can really work on maintaining. I only have about 1.5 lbs to go, so it seems like an achievable goal.  I know it’s an arbitrary number, and it doesn’t really matter to me what the actual end number is (okaaaaaaay, it does a little), what matters is that at the end I can maintain within a reasonable range (I’m thinking +/- 2 lbs either way before I consider being in a danger zone.)  Part of my FFF will be to maintain my weight level for a consistent amount of time (or well, forever, I suppose!) I cant think of a time in my adult life I’ve maintained for longer than two months, so it’s very important to me, just to finally know I can.

[TJHigh]

Alright! All done with legume reintro and I’m very excited to say it went great! I’ve felt exceptionally well these last two plus days. I’ve had several white-bean heavy meals and for the last few days I’ve been in a great mood and had plenty of energy. Weight loss has continued, so that with the continued high energy throughout the day (minus any cravings) tells me legumes don’t take me out of fat adaption, so that’s great.  I’ll add them back in unless or until I come across additional evidence that they cause a problem.

Next up, a few days of W30 eating, then dairy. It didn’t seem to cause me a problem last time, so it’ll be interesting to see if that remains to be true.  I’ll be trying out a homemade cream of mushroom soup and a zucchini lasagna with ricotta and parm.  Looking to only do two days of testing this weekend, so I can get to gluten next week and finish up!

[TJHigh]

Finishing up my back-to-W30 eating before I move on to dairy tomorrow.  This week has been really great- a nice glimpse of what FFF can/will look like. Legumes went great, so I’ve pretty much had Tigers Blood all week. It’s funny, after reading It Starts with Food over again before started this W30, I’ve been able to focus much more on the idea of being “fat adapted,” and how important it is. I do think it’s the key to the hormone balance that really drives a lot of the “Tigers Blood” feeling, so I really try to think about whether or not I’m still in that zone. For me, the markers are high energy and mood (especially in the morning- if I’m in a good mood in the morning, it’s generally going to be a good day), and the ability to go 4-5 hours between meals without snacking.  Another important symptom (for me), is weight loss or maintenance. The days I feel I’ve shifted away from fat adaption, I’ve generally seen a corresponding blip in the scale.

So, I’ve got a little more than a week to go, with two big items to reintroduce- gluten and dairy. But as has been typical for me, I’m starting to plan what happens next a liiiiiitle early (I love a good plan).  I’m going to focus on Maintenance/FFF.  For the most part, I hope this will just be an overall consciousness of a feeling of well-being (again, checking in on that fat adaption,) but I do have a few small “reintroductionish” tests I want to revisit.  Here they are:

1. I’ve gone over a month and I haven’t had any true, straight sugar.  I’ve had added sugar via cooking, and I have fruit with meals, but I haven’t had a true dessert like chocolate since I started my Jan Whole 30 (which is pretty cool, now that I think of it.) I’d like to add in an occasional good chocolate and see how that goes. Very small, and very good chocolate. I plan to have it like I do with fruit- very occasionally, usually only at lunch. I’m going to make an effort to NOT have it if I feel myself craving it.  Generally, I’d like to check what that does to the checklist most important to me- energy/mood/cravings.  

2.  I’d like to redo my non-gluten grain reintro, specifically rice, to double check what I suspected about it giving me heartburn/acidic stomach.  For reintro, I only had rice for one meal, so I’d like to do a longer test.  Honestly, this is probably also about my desire to cook up some paella, but that’s ok with me!  For this test, I’ll be careful to eat strictly W30 for several days leading up to the test (so, no legumes for example, even though these will be part of my FFF overall).

3.  Soy was awful, and I’ll continue to be careful about ever having a large hit of it. But I would like to see if a small amount has the same reaction, that way if I ever accidentally have some (say if a restaurant uses soybean oil), I’ll be equipped to recognize a more subtle reaction.  This will also tell me how careful I have to be about quizzing places about their cooking methods with respect to soy.  At this point, I’m not sure if I’ll do that at home with a non gluten soy sauce, or try to actively seek out a restaurant that cooks with soybean oil.

4.  During reintros, I weighed in every day, and it told me some interesting information, and I felt like it was a useful way (for me) to track trends that related to fat adaption.  But I do NOT want to continue to weigh every day (but I DO want to maintain my weight).  I’m going to start with a smaller shift and move to just weighing on Monday and Friday mornings.  That’ll tell me how weekend eating went and work week.  And it seems like a nice, gradual phase out of the everyday habit.  Eventually, I’d like to go to once a week, and maybe someday, not at all.  But to be honest, I don’t trust myself enough to give it up entirely. So for now, the phase out is a start.

[TJHigh]

Done with my first day of dairy, and so far, so good. Like, really, really good. I eased into it with butter-sautéed carrot zoodles, a fried egg and bacon, but then had a big hit with my cream of mushroom soup for lunch.  About an hour after lunch I did my long run for the week- 5.5 miles! Felt great, good mood, energy, etc. And no digestive twinges at all.  I then had a few bites of cheese at a wine/cheese/painting party and actually had very little desire to have more than a taste (it wasn’t great cheese, but to be fair, in the past I probably would’ve happily eaten a lot of not-great cheese.  Also, I was operating on an empty stomach after the run, plus wine. Still, no cravings.)

Dinner was equally successful- I had clams casino cooked with butter, a bite of burrata, and a filet with creamed kale.  The creamed kale was the best thing to every happen to kale, so I def could’ve had a lot of that, but just had a moderately generous portion. In other words, definitely enough dairy today for a good test. So far I feel great, with the exception of an expected hangover. Today I plan to continue the reintro with an equally dairy-heavy day (all the same foods until dinner, then it’s gooey/cheesy zucchini lasagna.). I’m going to pay close attention today to the possibly more subtle signs, like any headaches or possible congestion. So far I’m cautiously optimistic that dairy may be able to come back.  I’ll have to do a little thinking about what that looks like, because my overall way of eating post W30/FFF frankly doesn’t lend itself to a lot of dairy, and I don’t really miss it. Maybe just as an occasional cheese plate treat or not worrying about if a restaurant finishes a steak with butter, etc. But I’m getting a little ahead of myself, got another day to go before I can say for sure.

[TJHigh]

Alright, all done with dairy- and it was a success!  I don't think I had any negative reactions.  Good mood/energy/no cravings for both days, and now this morning (back to W30), I continue to feel great.  The one little thing is that I didn't sleep great last night - it almost felt like one of the first few nights of sleep when I start a Whole 30 (in the past I've felt restless with aches and general twitchiness in my limbs).  But I was able to fall back asleep after waking once, and then generally had a good night's sleep.  I woke without my alarm in spite of the time change (as a matter of fact, I haven't noticed the time change at. all. this year.  I wonder if that counts as a NSV?)

So I'll definitely count dairy as back in, which is very nice, especially for dining out.  Other than that, I'd have to think pretty hard about how else dairy fits into my cooking.  For me, ghee is a fine sub for butter, so for everyday cooking, I don't have it very regularly, other than maybe soft cheeses as a garnish to salads?  One area where I know it comes back is paired with gluten - most typically butter on bread or parmesan on pasta.  So I really need to complete the gluten reintro to know if that's even a possibility.  After that, I'll likely do a test of gluten + dairy (assuming no probs with gluten, of course.)

Now it's back to W30 for a few days, then my last big test!  I have less than a week to go and then I'll have fully completed a W30 and a very extensive reintroduction process!  I'm cautiously optimistic that this is going to be the start of long lasting FFF for me!

[TJHigh]

Today is gluten, my final reintro food!  I'm very excited to be so close to finally finishing!  I've had two days of W30 eating between dairy and gluten, with the exception of last night- when I had wine.  Regretting that decision now, for a few reasons- chief among them is the hangover I have today.  Which is bad enough, but it's also making it hard to judge the reintro process.  Ugh, lesson learned (not sure what good it'll do me since this is the end, oh well).

So, while trying to control for the pre-existing symptoms (mostly headache/body aches and crappy mood), I didn't notice any immediate effects from my lunch -which was a big farro-based salad with roast chicken, sauteed onions, cherry tomatoes and arugula.  No bloating or anything.  But now, maybe 3+ hours after lunch, I'm feeling a bit nauseous.  And my mood has definitely NOT improved - I basically have the opposite of Tiger's Blood - I'm grumpy and unmotivated.  Unfortunately, I have no idea if it's the hangover or gluten.

Oh well, the best thing I can do, I think, is to power on, have the same thing for dinner and just put myself to bed!  Things are always better in the morning, and I have two more days of reintro to see how things truly go (minus the hangover), so there's no real loss here, I suppose.

But this is just a good lesson - there's no way to know if a reintro'd food affects you if you combine it with another off-plan food!

[TJHigh]

Starting Day 2 of gluten reintro, and even though I’m barely awake, I’m noticing a significant symptom, I think. I’m all stuffed up this morning and puffy! It’s like night and day from last night when I went to bed. I suppose I may be getting sick from a bug, but in addition to the stuffy/puffiness, my joints (esp fingers) are stiff and painful.  I guess I’ll have to wait and see- the symptoms aren’t so bad that it would make me discontinue the experiment, so I’ll see how the day progresses.  I don’t have a hangover this morning, so I’m optimistic that today will be easier to judge overall reactions. No headache, but not quite sure about my mood yet (mostly I just don’t really want to go into work, but that could be attributable to, you know, work.) I’m going to be conscientious to keep everything else about my routine consistent- meaning I def have to go to the gym today and continue no snacking, to see how/if it effects my mood/energy. I certainly hope today is better in that respect!

[TJHigh]

All done! I finished gluten yesterday!  But I definitely have a cold/sore throat! I am at a loss to figure out if it’s an actual bug or a gluten reaction!  I can’t believe the timing, ugh.  For now, I’m going to assume it was gluten, since I have read it can cause the symptoms I have- namely, scratchy throat and stuffy sinuses. I don’t have a fever, which would’ve indicated bug. 

At any rate, I’m done!  I made it through the full 30 days and then an additional 45 days of testing. So I’ve been at this about 75 days, and I really think that’s what I needed for this to all start feeling normal, and habit-like (I’m now a believer in the thought that it takes 66 days to establish a habit). I also lost an additional 5 lbs for a total of 14. I’m actually below my goal weight. 

I think I have the key to my FFF! With some ideas for what additional, smaller tests I think I may need to refine things.  Here are my dos and donts for myself that I’ve figured out:

Do:

1. Do eat breakfast everyday. For me, it starts my metabolism and keeps me fat adapted. It’s ok to have some coffee first (maybe a half cup), if I still eat within an hour of waking.  For me, this can be a slightly smaller meal than they recommend when talking “template.”

2. Do a lot of meal prep on weekends, or on telework days. Having a complete meal, frozen for later, is a great safety net. And when batch cooking lunches for the week, freeze a serving our two so you can eventually mix and match.

3. Do plan ahead. I have lists about generally what I plan to eat weeks in advance! It gets more refined as reality approaches, but it’s a good way to start thinking of new recipes and identify any challenges coming up.

4. Do eat seasonal fruit, but only about a serving a day, and only with a meal.

5. Do add legumes back in! They seem to fuel me very well and are good for my mood/energy. (NOT SOY)

6. Do maybe add back in dairy. Still ask the question, “is it worth it,” even though the answer can be a pretty low bar.

7. Do generally follow the template and pay attention to if you still feel fat adapted vs sugar adapted. For that, check: mood/energy/cravings.

Don’t:

1. Don’t snack, especially after dinner.  Not great for my metabolism/staying fat adapted.

2. Don’t skip a planned run day. I read a great article this week about running being about as effective as medication in fighting depression, and for me, I believe it. I’ve come to view my runs as a prescription, not an optional, “should I today?” activity.

3. Don’t drink more that 3x a week, or more than 2-3 glasses a night. Never drink the day before a tough run. I now get monster hangovers, so that’s a terrible added benefit of this detox.

4. Don’t eat soy in large quantities. My reintro test indicated it probably triggers some depression in me. Unclear in what quantity, but early reports aren’t good (I had some flavored nuts this week that ended up having soy that corresponded to a low mood, even though it was a very small amount.)

5. Don’t have non-gluten grains- corn and rice, had a subtler effect but still weren’t great.  Probably just not the best fuel for me, generally. Avoid if possible unless a special dish comes up.

6. Don’t have gluten grain for now either. I’ll shake this cold and maybe try again in a few weeks.

7. Don’t weigh every day! It was good info during this reintro test, but I don’t want to be a slave to the scale. Slowly phase out and replace with better evidence (clothes fit, energy, etc.)

8. (This is non-W30), Don’t read the news obsessively when bored at work. It’s just a bummer.

So that’s it! I think this is a good template for me going forward.