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I'm afraid to go out there!


kaybee

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That is, into the big bad world, without the rules of whole30. Those of you that have already finished one Whole30, how did you fare?

My hope is to continue as closely as I can, but I know realistically I will want to reintroduce some things. I guess I'm afraid that although my food tastes have changed, and I feel fabulous now (day 23) and want to continue feeling that way, that I'll go off the rails once I start eating other things. For instance, I know that if I woke up on day 31 and there was a box of donuts from our independent donut shop I would eat one. Maybe even 2 (no Dunkin' would NOT be tempting). Or that if we went to our favorite Italian restaurant I'd go right back to ordering pasta. If I did that, would I potentially feel so gross afterwards that I would be deterred from doing it again? Did you go and do another30 at a later time to continue banishment of cravings for bad food? I don't want to go back to where I was before, most definitely, but I'm also not ready to say goodbye permanently to some of my faves. If I eat close to Whole30 say, 80% of the time, is that enough to continue feeling good?

I appreciate you sharing your experience in this regard!

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Ah, how I recall the feelings you are going through now quite well! I wrote about reintroduction here:

http://forum.whole9life.com/topic/4354-reintroduction-starting-1030/

I have to say that had I been handed a box of donuts on day 31 I would not have eaten one. However, I did not eat donuts pre-whole30 either ;). I had my own forms of kryptonite.

I can tell you I had vague feelings of "geez, I don't feel as great as I was when I was strict whole30"; there was never a "I am never going to eat THAT food again" feeling.

I had my reintroduction days, and maintain a "eat whole30 at home and not concerned when I am out" strategy. I still attempt to make the best choice possible, of a food that I know I will truly enjoy. That is the situation with me and donuts; I just don't enjoy them. A good glass of red wine, however? Bring it on!

I think for everyone you have to test the waters and determine your strategy. I try not to focus on percentages, just really focusing on one choice at a time. I can tell you that I don't bring non-compliant foods into the house as part of my strategy, and try to keep in mind always that even if I am not feeling the effects of a less healthy food, the effects ARE happening at a cellular level.

I did do a whole14 between Thanksgiving and Christmas as a reset. Knowing I can do this at anytime has been comforting!

Good luck on the next 7 days and the weeks beyond!

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I'm having the same anxiety, and I'm at about the same point in my W30 as you are. I'm torn between reintroducing certain foods just so I understand how they affect me, and skipping the whole thing altogether because I'm terrified it will snowball. But I know I can't eat perfectly paleo forever. I definitely want to stay wheat-free, and at least that's fairly easy to do at restaurants these days.

Good luck to both of us. ;)

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Looking up the menu before going to the restaurant, I think, will be super helpful. I didn't think I was going to eat out for the whole30 but was going a little crazy this week and wound up not having any meat thawed one night. I looked up the menu for our favorite local restaurant and made my game plan before I even left the house. I saw they had a steak salad. Once there I asked if they cooked the steak with any oil or butter and the server said no, they just put it on the grill. So, I ordered that without the cheese or dressing (they put the dressing on the side anyway and it spilled onto 2 pieces of my steak, grrrr) but it was totally doable. Now, do I know 100% they they didn't put any crap on the steak? No, but it didn't seem like they did so I'm confident the server was truthful. I also took a little container of my own olive oil and balsamic. You can often get these at the restaurant but I know from working at a restaurant and from reading some things on here that often the olive oil is not pure olive oil and the balsamic most likely has sulphites so, I just thought it was safer to bring my own. So, from here on out I'm just going to thoroughly look over menus before going somewhere and I'm going to avoid places where I know there's not going to be anything truly safe. Red Lobster, for instance, has soy in almost EVERY item. Literally, everything. I think it was like, the pico de gallo didn't have soy. Every fish, every meat on the menu has soy listed as an ingredient. What's up with that?!

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Yeah, I'd like to stay wheat free as well, but I know I probably won't. Part of itis that I really love whole wheat toast for breakfast, especially with peanut butter. And I know I can't eat eggs every day indefinitely, I'm already getting sick of them (although I've mastered many ways of cooking them!). Never could get into the idea of non-breakfast food for breakfast, not sure why. I guess I'm just going to have to go with the flow.

Kb, you're right, knowing I can always go back for any amount of time is comforting. So obvious, yet I hadn't quite registered it!

Oh, and red wine? Of course I'm going back there! I love wine, it's a huge part of my professional life as well as personal. I'll be sure to raise a glass to our continued success! (Or is that contradictory?) 😉

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Hi Kaybee,

Usually I stay pretty quiet on these forums but your post hit home, because I could have written it myself a few months ago! I had an amazing Whole30 experience back in July. I was compliant, motivated, and felt fantastic. Lost weight, slept well, just generally felt happy. It was fairly easy, too. I was still new to my city so my social life was nonexistent, my husband was on sea duty for that month, and there were so few temptations standing in my way. I was convinced I'd eat like that forever. And I had a little momentum for the first week. But then my husband came back, and while he's supportive, I found myself wanting to share beers and desserts. I started making more friends, which meant social events and happy hours. When a brand new friend invites you over to watch a movie and the only food is pizza- and you aren't explicitly on Whole30- it's just tough to turn it down and eat beef jerky from your purse, you know? Then slowly the little tastes here and there turned into "Well, I know I can do Whole30 if I ever start to feel crummy again, so why NOT have this panini?" I suddenly found myself craving, almost NEEDING things I once couldn't have cared less about (Tootsie Rolls, candy canes, Oreos, ick!). Snacks that used to make me feel virtuous, like soy crisps or PopChips or hummus, started to make me feel like a Whole30 failure, so I'd say "what the heck, why not buy a cookie at the bakery, I've already blown it."

It's been hard for me to just do a "Whole7" or even a "Whole2" here and there to get back on track. I think it's my fault that I'm just a very black or white, all or nothing person. Either I do a Whole30 that I prep for and psych myself up for, or I can't do anything at all. So I guess my point is, don't reintroduce just for the sake of reintroducing. If you don't want something, keep it out of your diet!

My reaction is pretty extreme, and I don't mean to scare you. I will say that I'm so glad I did the Whole30 and I'm thankful I have it "in my back pocket" whenever I need it. I think what I'm trying to say is keep it up if you feel good, but understand that you may eat non compliant stuff and love it and want more. Without the comforting confines of being "on" Whole30, it can be so hard to stay on track. It's really challenging to maintain perfect paleo and have an active life- but I wouldn't trade finally having friends and doing interesting things for those lonely nights with giant paleo salads any day. It's all about balance, clearly I'm struggling with it, but I've seen that is is absolutely attainable and I strive for that! I wish you the best of luck!

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