Honestly, I’ve gone back and forth on whether to write about my reintroduction of dairy. It happened to be a very stressful and emotional day, which makes it difficult for me to judge whether my reaction was to the dairy or to the situation. For me, my stomach and body in general, doesn’t react well to stress. My stomach typically does several large back flips and my joints often feel achy. However, I am going to attempt to explain what reactions I could isolate as dairy affects.

I modified my original plan for dairy by adding cheese to my lunch, since I was too emotional to eat breakfast. Then, I had some Greek yogurt mid-afternoon, since my meal times were off. I ended with some ice cream after dinner. For the most part the only thing I felt that day was some initial bloating and then some gas. The next day, my gas continued, but other than that nothing  else struck out to me as different. I have to admit, I didn’t really want cheese on my lunch and I am not a fan of Greek yogurt. So for me, I’ll probably do cheese if I am having a special treats or if I am going to enjoy some rare Italian food. It will not be a staple for me in my daily food freedom. I am going to test later, some lactose free dairy products to see if that helps with the gas, more for others than me.

Non-scale victories, or NSV’s, these are ways to evaluate your Whole30 or just to see benefits. If you have Whole30 Day by Day, there’s a list that goes from page 16-19; or you can find it online here. I’d recommend going through this list before starting a Whole30 just to assess where you think you are with some of these items and then coming back to it when you complete your 30 days.

When Garth and I did our first Whole30 in 2017, we weighed ourselves before starting. For our second Whole30, we did not. We both don’t get on the scale unless we go to the doctor and it’s not been a big influencer in our lives. This journey is not about losing weight, although, that can be a benefit as well. This journey is about creating a healthy relationship with food. It doesn’t happen overnight, and it probably won’t happen after your first Whole30.

I’ll be the first to admit, after doing our first Whole30, I felt amazing! I had so much energy and felt like I could take on the world. Then, life and stress took me back into eating junk and I fell off the bandwagon. I wanted to do another Whole30 sooner than we did, and we started but only made it about 4 or 5 days due to not having food prepped and the chaos of things going on at that time.

NSV’s I’ve found after this second round of Whole30:

• Ability to handle stress better
• My stomach feels flatter
• My nails feel so much stronger (thanks to Vital Proteins Collagen)
• I’ve gone down a hole on my belt
• My nose seems to run less
• I crave healthier foods
• I don’t eat out of boredom
• I am more motivated
• I wake up naturally (and earlier – for the most part)
• Coffee is now a much healthier version and I can enjoy the taste (thanks to Nutpods)
• Experienced many new recipes (and tried foods that I thought I used to not like)
• All the stomach problems I used to have are now minimal or gone

While Garth has already started reintroduction, I am still enjoying being completely Whole30 until something strikes my fancy to eat. I was still having cravings towards the end of our 30 days so I felt that it would be a safer option for me to stay Whole30 a little longer. We’ve started reading Food Freedom Forever and I can’t wait to see where this journey takes us!

Let us know what foods you struggle with most or what food you reintroduced first. We’d love to hear from you!

And I know some of you have missed our Thingamajig of the Day, so for today’s:

Thingamajig of the day:

I have been mulling it over for awhile, trying to decide on one thing that truly changed, or helped, my 30 days. I can’t come up with just one product. But one product that I’ve used daily, and began using before we started our Whole30 is Vital Proteins. I’ve used their collagen peptides daily and I truly believe that’s what has made my nails so strong. I’ve also used their beef gelatin, and most recently their collagen creamer. I have no way of knowing for sure since in conjunction I was doing Whole30, but I think these items have helped my gut health, my skin, and my nails. The versatility of these products is something that I really like, they can be used in cooking and in beverages. This company is in my life to stay!

Warning: During reintroduction you are supposed to be highly aware of your body. This can mean there are  some gross things I’m reflecting on, you have been warned 🙂 

I followed through with my introduction plan of grains on Thursday. I had a muffin with breakfast, toast with lunch, and rolls with dinner. The only true affect I could notice on Thursday was that I felt fuller than usual after eating. Which in my mind, makes sense, think of all the restaurant that supply bread before you eat. These places hope you will fill up on bread, thus feeling like your meal is larger than it really is, my two cents at least.

Friday felt like a normal day, no real side affects to speak of. I did experience some gas, but I’m not sure that was related to the grain or the veggies I ate for lunch.

Saturday was a full day of shopping and building for Goose Feathers. It’s 10pm as I am writing this and despite being on my feet and working most of the day I am full of energy and feel normal.

Conclusion: While I typically don’t eat grains on a daily occurrence on or off Whole30, if they are part of a special meal or company outing I will probably partake.