Reintroduction fail... should I do the Whole30 over?

[AnnieBey]

Hi folks! i am super pleased to say that I completed the Whole30 on August 30. There were definitely moments of struggle, but overall I saw great results and began to feel really positively about my body.

Then I went to Acapulco with friends, and totally failed to reintroduce foods correctly (one at a time, following the Whole30 for the rest of my meals, etc.). I made it through August 31 with just one off-program food item (empenadas), but September 1 and  2 have included beer, fast food, chips, and chocolate cake. It was really fun to celebrate a friend's birthday this way, and I didn't experience much in the way of physical reactions to the foods I ate (momentary discomfort after one or two indulgences but nothing major). However, I really was hoping to change some long-term habits with the Whole30 and fear I may have lost the chance to do so with this very non-compliant reintroduction.

So, I need advice: do I do another Whole30 during September and plan really carefully for the reintroduction this time? Do I just start the reintroduction itself over again? Something else? Any and all suggestions are appreciated!

[Jihanna]

Reintroduction, in and of itself, is a testing phase. The point is to test a food (or group), then have several days back on total compliance to let your body recover, and then test another... wash, rinse, repeat. You skipped the individual testing, but that's no reason to think it's failed; you just need to return to compliance until you've recovered and feel ready to take on your first individual test. My guess is that it'll take a week or two, not another whole 30 days.

That said, once you know where your food issues lie, if you feel like you need to take some extra time with compliance to address long-term changes to your habits (i.e., "do the deep work" by addressing the psychological relationships you have with food and drinking), then I'd say that's definitely a worthwhile thing to do as well.

[CPHTexas]

I messed up reintroduction too.  I've had cheese, alcohol, sugar, gluten, beans, etc.  My gut was feeling better than ever and I'm right back to feeling bloated and yuk.  I think dairy is a big culprit but who knows.