Today marks the last day of Whole30 Reintroductions! It has been an interesting – and enlightening – last 10 days.
Before I began this, I was sure that legumes would be the no-problem intro, dairy would be the worst, gluten might be problematic, and non-gluten would probably be okay.
Now that I have worked my way through all four, I can report that the worst reintroduction was…. LEGUMES!! I am still shocked! I was so thrilled to finally have peanut butter, but after a month without it, I was sad to discover I no longer like the flavor. Even the no sugar variety was entirely too sweet. Worse, after I had peanut butter for breakfast, I developed a horrible headache and dragging fatigue.
Convinced the headache was due more to the sugar than the legumes, I shook it off and went through with my plan to have hummus with lunch. I hit a severe 3pm slump that I haven’t felt in the better part of the last month. Awful feeling. Determined to follow through, I had small side of beans with dinner and ended the day with another headache and bout of dragging fatigue.
After such a rough first reintroduction, I completely embraced the next two days of going back to the strict, whole 30 diet I have grown accustomed to.
The next reintroduction up was Gluten-Free Grains. I was unsure what to expect after being so wrong about Legumes. I cautiously had a breakfast taco in a corn tortilla for breakfast and, though I didn’t care for the taste of the corn tortilla, I didn’t feel any different. No fatigue, no headache, no bloating… absolutely zero reaction!
Super thrilled, but still a bit nervous, I created a quinoa bowl with corn and chicken for dinner – and I felt great! YES!!
Coasting on a 50/50 result rate, I approached the third reintroduction day with equal parts excitement and caution. Dairy was the reintroduction I was the most worried about, but yogurt, cheese, and ice cream were also some of the things I missed the most.
I began the day with a delicious yogurt. Damn it was delicious! I really missed yogurt. And… a few minutes after finishing my yogurt, my stomach knotted up in the worst cramping stomach ache that lasted a full hour. I had a few cubes of cheese for lunch and, while my stomach didn’t cramp as it had with the yogurt, my stomach still felt a little uneasy.
I went all in and had a small bowl of homemade ice cream after dinner – and had the same cramping sensation that, again, lasted for an hour. It’s enough to make me want to stay away from dairy for the most part, but not horrible enough to put me off dairy for all time. I’ll just move forward with the knowledge that, if I ever really feel the need for an ice cream or yogurt, I’ll just have to deal with some stomach cramps.
Today’s reintroduction – the final reintroduction – is Grains with Gluten. I was a little nervous about big bad Gluten, but, honestly, other than giving me a general heavy feeling after eating so light, I’ve had no reaction.
My guesses were so far off!
Another thing I learned after these last 10 days is that I love my diet and the way I feel on Whole30. Now that Whole30 and Reintroductions are complete, I plan to keep moving forward with eating clean and making better decisions about what I put into my body. I am super pumped that I can easily add quinoa back into my diet. After all, who doesn’t love a good quinoa bowl?
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