Detailed Reintroduction Schedule Questions

[Zozo2019]

Hi All, 

I just completed the whole30, woo hoo! I did the Whole30 because I am Celiac and even with eliminating gluten, I have been having a lot of digestive issues and bloating. I now feel amazing and am ready to start the reintroduction period. I was looking at the fast-track reintroduction period, and it shows that I am supposed to reintroduce each category back one at a time (legumes, diary, gf grains, etc.). Since I am doing this to find out what specifically bothers me, do I need to break out the foods within those categories as well? If I just do legumes all in one day, how will I know if soy or beans are the culprit?  Do I  need separate days for wine and beer? I just want to make sure I use this to really figure out what bothers me. Suggestions?

I was looking at something like this for the reintro schedule: 

1. Day 1: Added sugar (cane sugar in coffee, honey with sweet tea or drizzled on a sweet potato, salmon glazed with maple syrup, maple chicken sausage, honey ham)
2. Day 3: Soy 
3. Day 6: Legumes (beans, chickpeas, lentils, peas, peanuts)
4. Day 9: Corn 
5. Day 12: Non-gluten Grains (rice, gf bread, oats, quinoa) 
6. Day 15: Dairy (butter, yogurt, cheese, kefir, milk)
7. Day 18: Gluten-free Alcohol (red/white wine, gf beer, 100% agave tequila, potato vodka)
8. Day 21: Eggs
9. Day 24: Nightshades (peppers, tomatoes, white potatoes

Some other questions I have are: 

• If I find out that a category does not bother me, can I continue eating it during reintroduction? 
• Do I have to worry about added sugar during the Whole30 compliant days? 

Thanks,

 

Jessica 

 

[Jihanna]

Throughout the reintroduction, the only non-compliant foods you should be eating are the ones that you're testing that day. You may not experience any immediate reactions that you can see during your "recovery" period before starting a new test, but that doesn't mean that continued exposure won't cause an issue... and if you experience any issues, you need to be able to point out exactly what's likely causing it, not be left wondering if it was the newly reintroduced food or one you continued eating.

The only exception to that is generally the added sugar. I personally wouldn't go overboard adding sugar to everything myself, but when it comes to sugars in things I'm reintroducing (or a small amount in a recipe I'm using for reintroduction), that's completely fine. Once we begin to reintroduce foods, it can be difficult to stick to the no added sugars rule anyway, by virtue of added sugar being in so much of what we want to test.

I would separate the wine and beer since you're dealing with two different types of alcohol there. I separated just about all of my own foods for reintroduction, though, because I wanted to know (for instance) if certain beans affect me more heavily than some or if quinoa would be better/worse compared to rice. I feel like detailed knowledge is a good thing when it comes to determining what should and shouldn't be part of my everyday diet.  

[Zozo2019]

Should I just do the broad categories for reintroduction and then if I have a reaction, test each food in the category? 

[Jihanna]

How you set it up is entirely up to you. There honestly is no real better or worse way to do it, because each of our bodies and situations (available time, scheduling, etc.) are different. Going into my reintroductions, I had some known allergies and some suspected problem foods, so I chose to split things up and give myself the full break-down from the very start. If you feel you aren't likely to have quite so many reactions OR you think it'll work better for you in general (i.e., you're more likely to get through it all and/or stick to the process) if you do a broad reintro followed by more specific trials within categories where you've seen reactions, then I'd say to go with your gut... no pun intended  

[Zozo2019]

Jihanna, 

Thank you for the advice, would you mind sharing how you split things up for you reintroduction? I am hoping to get as specific as possible. For instance, I am not sure how to break up the dairy category. I wish there was a resource that provided a more detailed reintro broken down into sub-categories. 

[Jihanna]

Sure, I'm happy to share what I tested.

Dairy - I grew up knowing I had a dairy allergy, but decided to test some stuff anyway because I didn't see myself managing to live a dairy-free lifestyle. I didn't actually do all of these in my technical "reintroduction" phase, but have since tested this list.
-- milk in cooked food (whole milk in mashed potatoes); I didn't try it "fresh" because I never drink it or use it in cereal
-- hard cheeses (colby and Monterrey jack, both done the same day)
-- Feta cheese (in a Greek salad with otherwise compliant ingredients and homemade dressing)
-- butter (melted and used in place of oil in a couple of dishes)
-- ghee

Legumes
-- peanuts as peanut butter (and as boiled peanuts in the time since then)
-- soy as soy sauce, since I never eat the actual beans or tofu, etc.
-- black beans
-- garbanzo beans
-- sweet peas
-- I still haven't tested lentils, but may eventually get around to it

Non-Gluten Grains and Pseudo-Cereals
-- oats (oatmeal and also ground up to use as breading on chicken tenders)
-- rice
-- quinoa
-- corn

Wheat - I tried some homemade bread that used unbleached wheat flour, and later tested some pasta

There might've been more, too. I honestly can't remember all of it by this point, but can generally look at a food that I tested and have it snap into my head whether it's fine, needs caution, or should be avoided altogether unless I deem the occasion worth it. If I missed a category above, please forgive me; it's nearly 11pm and I've just finished a long day of work   I don't drink at all, so there was no alcohol reintroduction, but if I'd been bringing that back in then I would've been separating it based on the base (i.e., barley, potato, honey, grapes, etc.).

It took time to get through it. I didn't do it all in one fell swoop... I went back to "normal" eating for a while and later did another round, after which I did more testing that I hadn't gotten to the previous time through. Every once in a while, I go fully compliant for a week or so just to clear things out and giving my body a break, even when I haven't strayed far from the "path" I've set out as my general ongoing plan based on what I learned.

Anyway, I hope that helps more than it confuses or overwhelms  

[Kay47]

Hi Jessica,

Just a heads up that some white and red wines are finished with eggs. Basically the wine has come in contact with eggs, but shouldn't contain eggs. (I don't fully understand the process, but a dietitian warned me of this). It may be a very small amount that won't affect you, but since you are reintroducing gluten-free alcohol before eggs, I would pay attention to the specific type of wine. The website barnivore.com will tell you which alcohol is vegan (and therefore egg free). 

Good luck with reintroduction!