I realized this past weekend that it’s been one month since our Whole30 ended. Right from the beginning, Dallas and Melissa have said that this isn’t a Whole365. At some point reintroducing foods can help you understand how those foods effect you, and if you feel they are worth eating even with those consequences.
Overall I’ve not reintroduced a lot of things, and mainly that’s because I was feeling pretty good. I didn’t want to disturb the perfect balance of good tasty food and massive amounts of energy by having dairy, or grains. But then there was my birthday and family events and it’s not always possible to eat 100% clean.
Reintroduction
I’ll be honest. I was scared at first. I spent the week after Whole30 eating Whole30. I didn’t want to give in on Day 31. It was my own challenge to see how far I could go.
A week and a half after Whole30 ended, we had family over for my birthday and there was cake. Glorious chocolate cake, with rich chocolate icing – it’s considered paleo, but has butter and sugar. Luxurious ingredients that I hadn’t consumed in 40+ days. And the next morning I woke up with a hangover that would have rivaled any hangover in my 20’s.
Was it worth it?
It was, with this exception.
Only rarely.
Special occasions, yes…but they’d have to be pretty special, like Christmas or a wedding, or my birthday next year. Not at every birthday party we go to, because we go to a lot of them.
I also noticed that this food…sweet cakey substances with some sort of frosting, give me an emotional high. It’s not good.
Over the following few weeks, I’ve reintroduced, in small quantities the following:
- Butter – a little on my sweet potato here or there. It has the unfortunate side effect of making my psoriasis itch like crazy. So is it worth it? No. I’ll stick with Ghee.
- Cheese – indulged in a Philly Cheesesteak out at a restaurant and it was quite tasty. But also, see psoriasis and itching above. Not worth it.
- Grains- once when consuming the above Philly Cheesesteak and I found I could only eat half the bread on the plate because it made me feel over-stuffed. And once with fajitas. Worth it? Still undecided.
- Mayonnaise – Real Hellman’s Mayo. Worth it…in small quantities and really only on a burger.
- Sour Cream – only once with above mentioned fajitas. Noted that I totally go overboard on it and will not keep any in the house. It’s just too good (it might also make my psoriasis act up but not 100% sure).
- White Potato – french fries with the philly, some potato chips at a BBQ, and then a regular white potato at my inlaws house one night. Without butter or sour cream, what the hell is the point? I like sweet potatoes so much better. The french fries were, okay. The potato chips? I wasn’t missing anything.
- Refried Beans – I’ve had them a few times (fajita night mentioned above, and also our regular Tuesday taco night) with no ill side effects. Worth it? Occasionally, but it’s certainly not “Paleo”.
- Dunkin’ Donuts Pumpkin Pie Donut – I’m listing this separate because it was just so spectacularly delicious and worth every bit of sluggishness…once. I’m good now. Thankfully they are only here for a short time 😉
I’m pretty happy with that list. It’s not over the top, and it wasn’t at all regular. It was about living, and there are some scenarios, where eating Whole30, or clean or Paleo, or whatever you call it, isn’t possible…or you want that damn pumpkin pie donut. In the past I would have beat myself up over it and then I would have eaten more because fuck, I already cheated, so why not go all out?
Thankfully that mindset is subsiding and I can get right back on track because my body craves the good food. I feel so much more satisfied with meat and eggs and avocados and sweet potatoes and I’m pretty damn happy about that.