For my clients who experience systemic inflammation and food addiction/cravings, I can’t recommend the Whole30 enough for changing body composition and metabolism, improving your relationship with food, and eliminating other pesky, chronic diet and health issues. Please see my June 2015 blog entry for a description of the Whole30. This entry is about the reintroduction phase of the plan.
I ended up doing a Whole43, and then starting the reintroduction with a “slow-roll”. This is where you basically continue doing the Whole30 plan, and only reintroduce non-plan foods once and awhile. There is also a “fast-track” option that can be completed in 10 days. I chose the slow-roll because my system is finally doing well on the diet and I hesitate to switch things up. Melissa and Dallas Hartwig, the creators of the Whole30, were right. At the end of my 43 days, I didn’t want to go out and eat everything in sight (or in their words “Eat All the Things”). On the contrary, my new relationship with food feels so precious that I don’t want to jeopardize my progress. In June’s blog, I list all of the positive results from my Whole30 experience. My reduced food cravings, eliminated body and joint pain, and improved sleep are still at the top. I’ve lost another 2 pounds since beginning the reintroduction phase, too, which means a total weight loss of 8 pounds. The best part is that I never have to count calories or restrict my portions; I lose weight and get healthy while feeling full.
The Hartwigs recommend starting the reintroduction with alcohol if you drink it normally. I’m not a big drinker, but it sounded fun, so I had a gin & tonic with tons of lime and watched Whiplash! Besides feeling tipsy quickly because of my clean system and tripping out on the movie, my body responded well to the alcohol. Next re-intro was grains. So far, I have tried rice, quinoa and corn. If I don’t have too much, my system is okay – but if I eat grains with every meal, my digestion suffers. The reintroduction of sugar does not have its own category – instead, you start eating things that have tiny amounts of added sweetener throughout the entire reintroduction phase, like ketchup, sausage, and bacon. The idea is to be less restrictive about added sweeteners without waking the “Sugar Dragon” dormant in everyone’s system. I have felt my dragon opening an eye, so I will watch myself here. After reintroducing a food, or if your system gets out of whack, the authors suggest going back on the Whole30 plan for a couple of days to recalibrate. I am still in the middle of this Whole process.
Below, I’ve included links to recent online articles related to the Whole30. I advise buying the book, and then when you know your start date, sign up for the Whole30 Daily for extra support during your elimination phase. The tag line for the daily email service reads, “Support, Advice, and Tough Love in your email. Every day for 30 days.” Click here for information and to sign up: Daily Email Support
Please call me if you want cheerleading during your Whole30! Wishing you the best as you take this life-changing step! Or not, but I hope you do 🙂
Two more July 2015 articles (other good ones are found at the end of June’s blog):