Is some reaction to be expected after doing without for 30 days?

[socaldebbie]

I remember seeing something about this back in early days, and now that it's relevant I can't find it. The question has come up whether it's normal for the body to have to readjust to something it hasn't dealt with for 30 days. We walk from a dark room into the light, and our eyes hurt. That doesn't mean the light is bad, just that our eyes need to re-adjust. If I feel a little funny after having dairy, maybe it's normal readjustment and not a truly adverse reaction.

Thanks!

[ladyshanny]

Yes, there could be some amount of "adjustment" but here's how we relate it. If someone poked you in the arm non-stop for 6-8 years - it hurts at first but eventually you get used to it, maybe the arm goes numb, a callous forms. You don't notice it so much but you don't feel quite as great as you could because of the guy poking you. Now, imagine the person stops poking you for 30 days. The arm regains feeling, the inflammation goes away, the callous sloughs off. After the 30 days the arm-poker returns and now it hurts again and feels crappy and the callous starts to rebuild.

The same goes for foods which irritate our digestive and immune system. When we continually eat these foods (before Whole30), the gut forms a protective mucosal lining designed to try and ease the irritation. During your Whole30, the irritating food stops, the gut sloughs off that lining and inflammation is reduced. Once you reintroduce it, it can be, for some people that are sensitive, like the arm-poker returning. Sure, you could keep eating the food and build up a "tolerance" but all you're really doing is requiring your gut to form that protective coating which shouldn't necessarily be there to begin with.

Does that make sense?

[socaldebbie]

Thanks, @ladyshanny, that absolutely makes sense.

Then what I need to think about is whether anyone was ever poking me in the first place. I didn't have any relief from the physical symptoms I was hoping to address, such as joint pain. Quite the opposite - the only change was a return of hot flashes, which leads me to believe that a food I eliminated was actually protecting me.

So as I reintroduce, I'll consider the severity of any reaction. An hour of queasiness might be a natural adjustment; a few days, not so much. Dairy gave me about 24 hours of moderate tummy trouble, and so far, so good with legumes today.