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Are you Ready to Reintroduce?
Why Reintroduce?
What are we Reintroducing?
- Gluten-free alcohol – beer, wine, or 100% agave tequila
- Legumes – peanuts, soy, beans, tofu
- Non-gluten grains – oatmeal, rice, corn
- Dairy – yogurt, milk, cream, hard cheese, soft cheese, butter
-
Gluten-containing grains – whole wheat cereal, bread, wheat crackers, beer
- (I think the gluten-containing grains can be tricky because it can be difficult to find items that fall into this category that do not contain a lot of other things (like sugar) that we were not eating the 30 days prior.)
Two Ways to Reintroduce
First Option – Fast Track
- Day One of reintro – pick a group and eat something from that group at each meal. Or if you choose alcohol, have a drink or two (don’t go crazy). Then you go back to being 100% Whole30 compliant for 2 days. During this time, you look for changes in how you have been feeling, your appearance, and if any of your NSV’s (like less bloating or sleeping better) go away.
- Day 4 – If you feel back to your normal Whole30 self by Day 4, you try another group of food. Eat it for each meal. For example, if you choose legumes eat peanut butter on an apple, soy sauce on some sashimi, or have some black beans. Make sure after every reintroduction, you note how you feel. Wait two days again, really paying attention to how you feel.
- Day 7 – do the same thing with another group. Wait two days and then go again on Day 10. Wait two days and go again on Day 13.
Second Option – Slow Roll
Tips for Your Reintro
Tip One
Try and keep your ingredients as Whole30 as possible. For example, if you are going to reintro peanut butter make sure it only has peanuts and salt in it. If you choose one with an oil you have not been eating for 30 days or has added sugar, you will not know what caused you an issue, if you experience one. Another example is hummus. Hummus is traditionally made with chick peas and a lot of store brands have soy in them. It would be best to try and find one with as few of ingredients as possible and not any soy so you can try and determine how chickpeas do for you.
Tip Two
You may find that the day after adding a group in, you do not feel well. It may be difficult to know which of the foods you added that caused an issue. What I would suggest is to go back to eating Whole30 compliant until you feel back to your new, awesome Whole30 normal and then try just one of the things you ate on that day and wait two days. If that was fine, try another item and wait two days. You may be able to pinpoint exactly which one it was or you may find that all of them separate are fine. Maybe then this group becomes a sometimes food for you. You have learned that you can eat it, but only in moderation and not every day.
Tip Three
Some people find that they do okay with hard cheese and not soft cheese or vice versa. For this reason, you may want to try them on different days. This will make your reintro much longer, but I promise you the data you receive will be worth it!
Last Tip
The last tip I have for reintro is if you ever feel like you are getting out of control again or your sugar dragon is back, go 100% back to eating Whole30 until you feel back in control. That is the great thing about Whole30, it is always there for you to use as a mini or full reset. You can do a Whole7, Whole30, or Whole Whatever whenever you feel you need to. Or perhaps you didn’t reintro quite the way you wanted to and know something is bothering you (cough, cough, ahem, hubby, cough), try another Whole30 round.
Other Resources
Here is another great resource with more information about the reintroduction phase: Preparing for Whole30 Reintroduction. If you want to learn more about reintroduction and what comes after that, be sure to read this book: Food Freedom. If you still have questions or challenges, feel free to reach out to me or another Whole30 Coach!
