Reintroduction Day 3 observations...

[TrustyMutsi]

My first day I reintroduced sugar. I had about 3 tablespoons of sugar with coffee, honey roasted turkey lunch meat with no nitrates, and some compliant snack sausages with cane sugar added.

 

Here's my first mistake. I've only had decaf coffee since starting Whole30, so the caffeine buzz I get wouldn't be mistaken for dragon blood. But on day one of reintro, two out of the three cups of coffee I had, although small, were caffeinated. Now it's two days after the sugar, and this morning I have a slight headache. Headaches/migraines are one of the main things I'm trying to stop with W30, and understand where they come from. But it's hard for me to know if this headache is from the sugar, or the coffee. I also didn't drink much water yesterday, but I've had other days I didn't hydrate and felt fine. I'm frustrated with myself for drinking the caffeinated coffee.

 

The headache could also come from pistachios. I had more than a handful last night, and I remember that I had a similar mild headache the last time I had a lot fo pistachios plus almond milk.

 

So I have it narrowed down to 4 things: Sugar, caffeine, dehydration, or pistachios.

 

In the past, when I've had headaches after a day of no coffee (and this is after MANY days of coffee), I'd have some and the headache would go away. Well, this morning I had a cup (one table spoon of coffee grounds) and I still have the mild headache. So maybe I can cross caffeine off the list? Besides, I only had two cups two days ago. But I also had trouble sleeping that night, so maybe I had too much after all, or it's just that I drank it too late in the day.

 

I'm drinking a bunch of water now to see if that helps. If it does, dehydration might be the culprit after all.

 

Something interesting I've noticed is that I seem to have issues 2 days after eating problematic foods, not the next day. My first day of Whole30 I felt fine, even though I was eating like total garbage for a LONG time before I started. But the SECOND day of W30 was one of my worst headaches ever. Same in this case. Monday I had lots of sugar and the caffeine. And again 2 days later I have a mild headache.

 

I might try to do one more round with JUST sugar and make sure I don't have anything else that could cause headaches, and hydrate, and see what I learn. So far though, I think it might be sugar or pistachios.

[SheaRostan]

@TrustyMutsi It sounds like you're doing a great job being your own food detective! I love it!  I definitely agree drinking caffeine later in the day can cause sleep disturbances, and further more, if you're not really missing caffeine, maybe there's no need to add it back at all.  As far as food sensitivity reactions, you're definitely within that window to notice changes.  Most people think if they don't feel any different within 15-20 minutes, then that food must not be a problem.  I've found that a lot of people first develop symptoms 2-3 days after consuming a problematic food.  Keep up the great investigative work!

[TrustyMutsi]

17 minutes ago, SheaRostan said:

@TrustyMutsi It sounds like you're doing a great job being your own food detective! I love it!  I definitely agree drinking caffeine later in the day can cause sleep disturbances, and further more, if you're not really missing caffeine, maybe there's no need to add it back at all.  As far as food sensitivity reactions, you're definitely within that window to notice changes.  Most people think if they don't feel any different within 15-20 minutes, then that food must not be a problem.  I've found that a lot of people first develop symptoms 2-3 days after consuming a problematic food.  Keep up the great investigative work!

I didn't add caffeine intentionally. I wanted something to add sugar to and it was the only thing available at the time

[Jihanna]

A whole tablespoon of sugar per cup of coffee seems a bit high, when just coming out of having no added sweeteners for the past 30 days... I read in your other thread that the sugary coffee made you sick, and now seeing how much you added that makes total sense to me. (As a reference, my first added sugar was a little less than a tsp of honey added to 2 cups of hot tea; and when I did finally try adding sugar to my coffee, I started at 1/2 tsp per cup and learned I can handle up to 1 tsp per large mug but more than that one mug of coffee will make me sick to my stomach; since then, I stopped drinking coffee about 3 months ago, except when I grab an occasional cup where I work.)

Think of Whole30 like rehab. When an addict gets clean, their resistance to the drug of choice is lowered, and they're much more likely to overdose at that point because of that lowered resistance (e.g., they want a hit and grab the dose they used to take, then that overloads their system and problems ensue). Our bodies have the same thing happen during Whole30 -- our resistances are lowered, so if we test the same level of sugar or dairy or whatever that we previously used (especially if we were heavy-handed), we're likely to experience problems. Give your body a little grace by taking it slow on things like this, especially since you noticed that reaction with the coffee on your first try

I'd definitely suggest total W30 compliance until you feel back to your W30 normal, and then try a day of only added sugar without the caffeine as well (and in smaller amounts than you would've been prone to use prior to your W30 round). Give it a few/handful of days for you to normalize, and then keep moving forward with other stuff.

Some other ideas on added sugar:
-- honey in hot tea
-- a little brown sugar mixed into sweet potato mash
-- molasses as sweetener for homemade bbq
-- honey as sweetener for a homemade vinaigrette

[TrustyMutsi]

On 10/26/2019 at 12:24 PM, Jihanna said:

A whole tablespoon of sugar per cup of coffee seems a bit high, when just coming out of having no added sweeteners for the past 30 days... I read in your other thread that the sugary coffee made you sick, and now seeing how much you added that makes total sense to me. (As a reference, my first added sugar was a little less than a tsp of honey added to 2 cups of hot tea; and when I did finally try adding sugar to my coffee, I started at 1/2 tsp per cup and learned I can handle up to 1 tsp per large mug but more than that one mug of coffee will make me sick to my stomach; since then, I stopped drinking coffee about 3 months ago, except when I grab an occasional cup where I work.)

Think of Whole30 like rehab. When an addict gets clean, their resistance to the drug of choice is lowered, and they're much more likely to overdose at that point because of that lowered resistance (e.g., they want a hit and grab the dose they used to take, then that overloads their system and problems ensue). Our bodies have the same thing happen during Whole30 -- our resistances are lowered, so if we test the same level of sugar or dairy or whatever that we previously used (especially if we were heavy-handed), we're likely to experience problems. Give your body a little grace by taking it slow on things like this, especially since you noticed that reaction with the coffee on your first try

I'd definitely suggest total W30 compliance until you feel back to your W30 normal, and then try a day of only added sugar without the caffeine as well (and in smaller amounts than you would've been prone to use prior to your W30 round). Give it a few/handful of days for you to normalize, and then keep moving forward with other stuff.

Some other ideas on added sugar:
-- honey in hot tea
-- a little brown sugar mixed into sweet potato mash
-- molasses as sweetener for homemade bbq
-- honey as sweetener for a homemade vinaigrette

I've been reading Food Freedom Forever, and it's suggested to not skimp on reintroduced foods (except alcohol) to you can really tell if it affects you. That's why I had that much sugar.

Thanks for the advice on trying the sugar again. In all honesty, I need to just finish the reintroduction and start food freedom, or I'm going to start losing it. It's not that I'm still addicted to the food, I'm just tired of the limitations of what I can eat. It's gotten very inconvenient (at home and going out), and I'm becoming grumpy.

I've tried everything except for gluten grains, and so far the worst that's happened is on slight headache, and a few bouts with sluggishness. Going into food freedom, I think I know not to overdo sugar and pistachios, and make non-whole 30 food a side item, not the meal.