holidays Thanksgiving during reintro!

[Kate Sherwood]

Hello whole30 family! Really at a struggle right now and need some advice! I started my second ever whole30 last week. I had a week moment last night at a work function and am now restarting my 30 days. 

I had my reintro originally lined up perfectly to finish the day before my family thanksgiving. And now with the restart thanksgiving will be right in the middle of my reintroduction!! 

With that being said I’m looking for a strategy to approach dinner. I find my mothers thanksgiving foods very much worth it! We literally only make these certain foods for this holiday and I really don’t want to miss it, but I also don’t want to mess up a proper reintroduction! I was thinking of introducing dairy first, with three days of whole30 eating and the maybe reintroducing gluten on the day of our dinner. So that way I can have at least most of the foods that are being served (or at least the ones that I find worth it) and then have a solid 4-5 days whole30 after that and then continue my reintroduction. Good idea or bad? Any other ideas on how to approach?

My other idea is to just enjoy the day, go back to whole30 for a week, and then properly start my reintroduction? 

HELP PLEASE! 

[ladyshanny]

If you know what is in the foods you really want to consume, then you could use those for reintro, providing that they are not combined (eg, dairy + gluten). 

I totally understand the "worth it" of traditional foods, we all do. You just need weigh whether those foods this year are more or less important than your Whole30 commitment to yourself including a proper and complete reintroduction. I'm not saying do or don't eat them because only you can decide that - but really consider whether your true enjoyment of the day will be impacted by your decision to pass on the stuffing/pie/apple cider/sausage roll/whatever.

I'm just sitting here trying to remember the last 5 Christmases and whether I did or did not have tortiere (traditional french meat pie) with my dinner. It only gets made at Christmas and It's always there but I can't specifically remember if I ate it each year. I love it tremendously, but the memories that surface are our grandson's first Christmas, the first Christmas in our new house, our second grandson's first Christmas etc. Not the pie. Some years it's been worth it and some it hasn't and the enjoyment of the holidays aren't impacted by whether it crossed my lips or not.