Better Reintroduction Method?

[SMB2003]

I did an extended January Whole30 and my first true full reintroduction.  I have to say I'm a little disappointed with the reintroduction.  Over the course of my Whole30 I noticed that my joints were less achey which I was very happy about.  With reintroduction I was hoping to find the culprit.  I've tried really loading up on food groups for 2 days.  So for non-gluten grains I had servings of corn, gluten free oats and rice over 2 days, then back to Whole 30 for 3 days.  No negative effect.......from any food groups.  I got to thinking about starting Whole30 and realized I didn't feel better with a day or 2 of eating whole 30, it happened over several days.  I'm not sure that the reintroduction as outlined is enough to invoke a negative response (unless you are lactose intolerant maybe).  

Has anyone found a better reintroduction method to test for issues?  I had heard gluten can cause joint pain.  Do I need to eat Whole 30 + Gluten for the next 10 days to see an effect?  I feel like I haven't learned anything much from my reintroduction.

[ladyshanny]

You are correct, sometimes the reaction is cumulative so if you are willing to really do some experimentation, you'll have amazing data to make decisions with. Maybe you can eat gluten grains a couple times a week with no trouble but daily is a problem. Or maybe a couple times a week and then not for a month or so.

Trying to sort out inflammation triggers is time consuming, for sure. The reactions that most people are looking to determine tend to happen a bit quicker but if you are a "load" based person you need to figure out what that load is. Sometimes it could also be a combo (ie, gluten and dairy is a dumpster fire but ice cream in the summer is fine).

I would recommend if possible that you treat the next few months as the experiment - doing more of a slow-roll reintro. Continue on as Whole30 as possible and start taking note of what you're reintroducing, in what quantities and frequency and in what combinations. It's not the best that your reactions are delayed but this is more of a process and the info you gain will help tremendously! Good luck!