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Starting August 20!


AdelaideNess

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Hi there! I'm still here with you! Monday is my day 30.  Interesting to hear your struggles with rice. I haven't even thought about what to introduce first (other than a glass of red!) I'm anxious about reintroductions. It's so easy to just say no.  I'm terrified of my sugar dragon!

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In anticipation of my birthday, I jumped right into reintro with wheat on Day 31. I didn’t have a lot - just super thin pizza crust at dinner. The pizza had uncured meat and veggies, plus a nut-based vegan cheese. I was bloated and gassy the next day. Through all of the eggs and cruciferous veggies I have been eating, gas has not been an issue for me. One meal of pizza and it hit. I have been tired the last couple of days. Today I am trying dairy, but I still feel like my body is dealing with the wheat from Wednesday.

I was thrilled to get on the scale and measure myself Wednesday morning. I lost 12 pounds, 2% body fat, 2” each off my waist and hips, 1” off my thighs, and 1/2” off my upper arm. With my Whole 30 starting right as we went back to school, I didn’t spend any time at the gym. There were a couple of beach and hiking days in there, and hurricane prep boosted my step count too, but no actual workouts. As a musician, I have decided my next Whole 30 (starting 9/26) will also include at least 30 minutes of music practice every day. Then on my next W30, I will add regular exercise. You might think that’s backwards, but playing flute uses the same core muscles as Pilates and Yoga and elevates respiration and heart rate, and it is like meditation for me.

I watched The Magic Pill last night, a documentary about how our diet and the way we raise our food is to blame for most non-infectious disease. I highly recommend the movie. I don’t want to give up grains forever, but I am certainly convinced that grains and sugar need to be an occasional indulgence. I am planning to make a gluten free birthday cake. If I can make one that is sweetened with fruit, I will do that. Maybe it’s time to revise my already pretty healthy carrot cake recipe.

I hope you all are doing well and accomplishing what you set out to accomplish!

Andrea

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@Efeiner  the sugar dragon is a mighty beast for sure.  We had a birthday celebration, so I worked my reintros around it.  I had a brownie.  Let me tell you, the taste of a brownie after 35 or so days of no sugar was quite spectacular.  I felt a little sick the next morning and had to get back on track pronto.  Which was tough because that pan of brownies (homemade, by me) was still sitting there.  So the dragon was awake. I got it back under control.  It's good to see some progress with that so that I know that I can participate in special events with my family and get back on track.  But it still concerns me.  I think that it will just take time and proving to myself that I can do it.

@AndreaF  I've had a similar experience with being surprised that cruciferous veggies haven't bothered me like I thought they would.  I had blamed my issues on them rather than the pizza ;)  Your discovery with that is so useful.  Nice going!  Also, the weight loss is a big bonus isn't it?  Congrats :)

Your plan with music and exercise sounds great.  Clearly you love music and doing something that brings you joy is so important!  It's great that you have things to bring you joy other than food, too.  That's pretty key. Also, I'm with you on keeping grains and sugar a small part of my diet.  Even as I'm reintroducing and not having issues with some foods, I just don't want them as much now and feel better without them.  So they will have a diminished role in my diet. I still have a long way to go with reintros, too.  I don't know yet which foods are the biggest triggers.  I'm doing a very slow reintro, and keeping the foods very specific (example: not all non-gluten grains at once - one at a time).

So glad you two are still here!  Congratulations on all your progress.  I can't believe how much has changed for me in just a little over a month. It's a tough thing to commit to do, but it sure can bring about many, many positive changes.  

Have a great day!

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@Michele B. - and others,

My day 30 was on 9/16 and also fell on a out of town weekend with friends. I tried very hard to stay on plan but had a couple glasses of wine and probably some sugar in restaurant prepared foods that you wouldn't think would have sugar in them.  I had one bite of my husband's frozen custard from one of our favorite places to go and a) it made me a little sick and b) it didn't even taste good!  Other than that, I felt pretty okay. When I got back home I went back to strictly being on plan for about 5 days, but have been trying to introduce a few things here and there the last week or so.  I've had some rice and steel cut oatmeal. Those both seemed to set fine with me. I had a bad experience a few days ago with a restaurant meal. I had some cabbage soup that looked pretty on plan but I could taste tons of sugar in it. I also had some moussaka which seem to be mostly on plan ingredients, but had a sauce on top that I know has flour and cream in it. I tried to avoid it, but may have eaten a little bit of it. I ended up in the bathroom most of the rest of the day. I'm really thinking it was the sugar, but has anyone else had a drastic reaction to sugar? Maybe that little tiny bit of dairy? Other than digestive problems, what other kind of signals are people getting when something should be avoided?  I know it's not a weight loss program, but I did manage to lose 13 lbs the first 30 days and have lost another 7 since then, so I am pretty happy about that and don't want to lose my momentum by re-introducing too much.

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@prairiefox53  Your experiences sound similar to mine.  Restaurant food is like walking through a field of land mines. And it doesn't taste as good to me now, either. I have not had issues with sugar, so far.  I did have a reaction to five tortillas chips.  My stomach hurt about an hour later and hurt for about 3 hours. I knew that processed corn was problematic but it was interesting and validating to have it confirmed individually like that. I've seen some bloating with grains, including rice. My current observation is that the bloating comes from eating too much of it.  I feel better with smaller amounts, if at all.  My biggest issues with reintroductions has been that even though I have eliminated other potential problematic foods, there are other lifestyle factors that are complicating things.  For instance, when I introduced rice, I got a terrible stomachache that afternoon, but its the kind I get when I'm stressed.  So I had to test rice again. Earlier this weekend, I was visiting family out of town and I had dairy in the form of ice cream for the first time. I ended up on the bathroom floor/toilet for most of the night in a lot of pain. However, my symptoms (including time of onset and duration) were congruent with food poisoning ( and I had eaten at a restaurant).  So, I learned nothing from that and will have to try that form of dairy again later on. I really don't mind going super slow with reintros.  I like my new diet and how I feel.  So I'm ok with that.  I do find that I tend to think in terms of wanting a final, definitive answer about what I can and can't eat, and that is not realistic.  It's a constantly moving target and will need some level of attention always.  I'm working on accepting that. Five tortilla chips a couple of weeks ago was not easy for me to manage.  I may find the next time we are eating out at a favorite, special restaurant that 10 chips on that day works fine, for whatever reason - reduced stress, hormones...who knows.  But then I can't assume that 10 chips the next time will be ok.  

I find it really interesting, and encouraging, that you are picking up so quickly on the flavor boosters in your restaurant meals.  Isn't it a little crazy how much flavor enhancement they do?  I feel that I've learned a LOT the past five or so weeks, and it sounds like you have learned a lot as well.  I had thought that the information from reintros would be fast and definitive, and for me, I've learned that it will be slower and I will need to look for trends.  And when my system gets triggered, it always works to just stop eating for a little while and give it a break.  I'm not a huge fan of fasting, as I'm already struggling with some unusual life stress and the hormonal fluctuations of perimenopause.  But I have found that an occasional mini-fast, such as delaying breakfast, combined with not eating after dinner, can be helpful to calm things down. 

I have also found it helpful to go through some of the other forum threads here to see what veteran Whole30 folks are doing.  I really like this group because you guys are right there with me in terms of figuring this stuff out.  It's been hugely helpful.  But I have also gotten some great ideas from people who have done this for longer.  Their knowledge and self awareness can be pretty impressive. 

Congrats on your weight loss!  I lost a little over 10 pounds. Didn't do any measuring beyond that but I'm happy with how my clothes are fitting :)  

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Thanks, @Michele B. My experiences do seem similar to yours. I was hoping for that quick confirmation of one or two things to stay away from, but I think it will be a slower process. I introduced legumes yesterday. No big stomach issues, feeling a little bloated today.  I gotta say that peanut butter, pea soup and refried beans with my tortilla-less fajitas tasted great yesterday! But I notice my joints hurt more than they have been. Not sure if it's the legumes or the weather. Good idea to check some veteran's posts, but I do think it's going to take some trial and error to really figure things out.

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I reintroduced wheat and dairy then had Mexican food for my birthday. My team at work brought gluten free muffins and soy ice cream for my birthday and I didn’t have the heart to tell them that the stuff was still off my plan, so I had some of those. Friends wanted to take me out this weekend. All week I was in plan at home but not so much when I was away from home. Last night we ate the last slice of (gluten free low sugar) cake and today I started over. One morning I had a protein and greens shake with chocolate protein powder. It was disgustingly sweet. It was my only protein, so I stopped to get a coffee and mixed it. Today has been difficult, but I’ve done it before so I know I can do it again. I can tell you that in a week off plan, I definitely don’t feel as good as I did after 30 days on plan. Candy doesn’t tempt me, nor do cookies, which were my weakness before. I feel like I could use keto dessert recipes to need my special occasion needs after I do a slow reintro in January or February. But today I do want some simple carbs. Going to make a taco salad and try to forget that my son gets tortilla chips in his!

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@AndreaF I found a company called Siete that makes corn free chips and wraps. Chips are made from cassava and wraps are either almond flour or coconut flour.  I haven't tried the wraps yet but the chips are great.  I love tortilla chips and I don't feel like I'm missing anything.  Of course, this is still processed food and a treat, but a treat that won't have me doubled over in pain. I also find that I'm not as wild about sweet treats now and if I feel like I might have something, Keto or Paleo type items, which just sound better to me now.  I haven't made anything yet though :)

Good to hear from you, @prairiefox53 and @AndreaF!  This has been a super crazy week.  Hopefully I'll be around a little more next week.  

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