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Do I restart and if so, why not "cheat big" before?


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So, today is Day 14 for me. 2 days ago I ate a bowl of cereal with milk and the day before that I ate some hash browns with ketchup.

From what I've seen in other posts, this means I need to restart. If that's the case, then I feel like I might as well eat whatever I want for the rest of the day (Mexican food and cheese cake). If I have to restart anyway, what difference does it make? I'd much rather restart for something that's worth it than Waffle House hash browns and store-brand honey almond cereal.

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I would think of a Whole30 experience as being in some way separate from the larger experience of eating Paleo. The Whole30 is designed to be a 30-day clean eating program. Paleo can be part of your life in various ways of your own choosing after the Whole30 is over.

Since you have had cereal (grains), milk (dairy), hashbrowns (white potatoes) and ketchup (sugar), then you are not in fact doing a Whole30 at the moment.

You could restart tomorrow having gone all out with Waffle House, sure! I've done that sort of thing. I'll tell you, from my experience, that I probably won't do that again (though I make no guarantees) because I discovered that the first few days back on Whole30 were kind of unpleasant. Tummy upset, mood swings, etc. - all resulting from eating so much junk that one day before.

If I were in your situation, I would look at the last few days as a time away from Whole30 and simply restart tomorrow. And I might suggest that if you want to eat something that feels really good but is not Whole30-approved before tomorrow, sure! You might discover, though, that if you eat a whole LOT of junky food you'll have a rougher go getting back on the Whole30.

You can do it! Have a great day today and enjoy whatever you do choose to eat, and enjoy tomorrow back on Whole30 too!

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I love Amy's reply.

Sure, you can eat whatever you want for the rest of the day...but it just makes hitting the restart button harder and way more miserable. My personal experiences with falling face first into french bread and a cheesecake have yielded me with WAY larger sugar hangovers and GI distress than I would have had otherwise.

And in regards to 50% paleo vs. 0% paleo...I'd say that everybody is technically some percentage paleo, unless they exclusively live on dairy, sugar, grains and legumes. Everybody eats some veggies, everybody eats some meat (excluding veg*ns). The closer you get to 100%, the healthier we feel you're making yourself...but that's your call and depends on what your goals are. Cutting out 50% of junk is obviously better than keeping it all in.

As an aside, we aren't talking about paleo vs. not paleo on these boards. It's Whole30 or not-Whole30...which is an important distinction.

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I'd agree with Amy. You're not doing a Whole 30 at this point.

There are threads on this topic you could check out here on the forum. For instance, the perspective seems to be that if you found out after the fact there was sugar in something and you found out after eating it (and reasonably could expect there wouldn't be sugar, like you didn't eat jam or something), that you could either restart or just keep going. But if you purposefully choose to eat something outside the guidelines, then you restart, if your goal is to do a Whole30.

It wouldn't be against the "rules" per say to go on a bender, because at this point you're not doing a Whole30. There are a few things to think about before you do though.

What are your goals in the first place, the why for doing the Whole30?

If you have physical conditions you're trying to address, then going on a bender really would not be good for the inflammatory state of your body at all.

And really, if you're doing the program more from a mental "break the cycle" with the standard American diet, then maybe again, a bender wouldn't really be furthering your goals.

But as the Whole9 team points out, we're all adults here and what you choose to do is what you choose to do. Good luck with everything.

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I just started eating Paleo right after Thanksgiving... probably right around 75%, my husband closer to 40%... So the lifestyle switch generally won't happen overnight; it takes months. Deciding to do the whole30, kind of has to start overnight. The biggest thing for me to stay on track has been having something to shove in my face RIGHT NOW. Especially for breakfast. I usually make an 8x11 egg bake with salty delicious meat and veggies, so I can cram it in my face first thing. In short, the whole30 has made it painfully clear that I am in charge of what goes into my hole, and I need to hold myself accountable if I want to reach my own goals. Period. Afterwards I will probably eat cheesecake and feel like I'm going to hurl for 2 days. Good Luck! Have you checked out the recipes forum?

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Thanks for the replies. Personally, I don't feel like feeling crappy after eating the bad stuff is necessarily a bad thing. It would just underscore how bad those things are for me regardless of how good they taste. It's like catching a kid smoking and making them chain-smoke until they've "had enough."

So you're goin' for the tall stack at Waffle House, with extra whipped cream, eh? Heehee - Daniel, you have overcome so much. I hope that every step of the way from here on out you find enjoyment and peace. And may your eating form a huge part of your happiness. Major props to you, brother, and major aloha (that's the Hawaii word for the kind of all-encompassing love you can feel just by breathing in and out in the morning).

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Nearly the first thing written in ISWF is that every food choice boils down to either a) eat something that makes you healthier or B) something that makes you sicker.

If you think of it that way, it's a pretty simple choice.

Yeh. I don't know why that little face popped into my post. Hmmm.

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Good luck Daniel. For some of us, eating unhealthy foods for a few days not only makes us feel miserable for a few days, it makes it nearly impossible to get back to clean eating due to the hangover withdrawal symptoms... I can also be miserable on a whole30 if I eat too much, or too many nuts and fruits or coffee, but I don't get sleeping problems or low blood sugar or withdrawal or detox symptoms so it's easy to rebalance

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Daniel. I hope you are doing well a few days past your Taste Explosion. I am no stranger to The Last Supper (e.g., The-day-before-Monday-start-date Diet. )

What I find liberating about the choices I make when I eat is that no matter how badly I head off track, I am but one meal away from putting things right.

While some of us may need many months eating strict paleo/primal/Whole30 to regulate whacked hormones, it takes just one healthy/compliant meal to start the ball rolling in the opposite direction. If I am not causing a spike in blood sugar or cortisol, everything else seems to calm down internally, even though I might not feel the benefits for a day or two.

Food is fascinating stuff.

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