Finger licking?

[Victoriabiscuit]

Ok...so this is kind of an odd question and I had trouble figuring out which category to put it under..  this is my first whole 30, yesterday was day 22.  I’m feeling great, I’ve been very rigorous about the rules and in general, very careful.  I work in a restaurant, our chef has been nominated for a James Beard award twice for our region, but I’ve still behaved, haven’t touched the food at work, I’ve prepped and made all of my own meals these last 23 days.  So you may be wondering why I mentioned yesterday was day 22 instead of just saying today I’m on day 23?  Last night at work, the guys in the kitchen made something, it had dairy in it, I didn’t partake BUT... I was cleaning some of it up and instinctually licked my finger (don’t worry people, I wash my hands like I’m getting paid to at work and at home).  I’ve been so conscientious about it all month, like when I’m making meals and snacks for my kids, and it was a pretty thin film of the dairy containing stuff on my finger, BUT...do I need to start over?  Be honest (but please say no haha)...  for real though, should I count that as a slip and start over?

[Jihanna]

In all honesty, dairy screws with my system so heavily that I'd have to start over if it was me in your shoes... BUT, I'm full-on allergic to dairy, and even small amounts tend to be extremely noticeable for me. That doesn't mean you'll have the same experience.

When it's something that small, my general advice is to take notes of how you're feeling, any symptoms that pop up over the next day or 3, and continue with your Whole30 as planned. If you feel like it DID cause enough reaction, add extra time on the end of your Whole30 until you get to a good baseline point from which to do your reintroduction testing. Remember that reintroduction is basically an experiment -- which means it's important to create a "control" (fully compliant) environment first, then you introduce a "new" thing into that environment to test for reactions. So if you notice that your experience is deviating from what the "Whole30 you" felt like before licking your fingers, give yourself a little extra time to get back to that, just to make sure you're going to have trustworthy results from the reintro testing.

[ashleyparik]

19 hours ago, Victoriabiscuit said:

Ok...so this is kind of an odd question and I had trouble figuring out which category to put it under..  this is my first whole 30, yesterday was day 22.  I’m feeling great, I’ve been very rigorous about the rules and in general, very careful.  I work in a restaurant, our chef has been nominated for a James Beard award twice for our region, but I’ve still behaved, haven’t touched the food at work, I’ve prepped and made all of my own meals these last 23 days.  So you may be wondering why I mentioned yesterday was day 22 instead of just saying today I’m on day 23?  Last night at work, the guys in the kitchen made something, it had dairy in it, I didn’t partake BUT... I was cleaning some of it up and instinctually licked my finger (don’t worry people, I wash my hands like I’m getting paid to at work and at home).  I’ve been so conscientious about it all month, like when I’m making meals and snacks for my kids, and it was a pretty thin film of the dairy containing stuff on my finger, BUT...do I need to start over?  Be honest (but please say no haha)...  for real though, should I count that as a slip and start over?

Hi there!

Keep going! I would make a note on how you're feeling today, any differences in mood, joint pain, etc, and just make note of it. Don't let this discourage you from moving forward.

As Jihanna mentioned, if you're feeling like this did cause enough of a reaction, then I would look to extend your Whole30 out by a few days. Make sure to do a complete reintroduction as well. Hang in there!