CHAPTER 19:
THE WHOLE30: REINTRODUCTION
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“This program has shown results that I didn’t think were possible. I recognized that I had severe difficulties dealing with food cravings and knowing when to stop eating. Daily I asked myself, ‘How can I get these urges under control? Why do I feel like I need these bad foods?’ The Whole30 is the answer. I haven’t felt the deep desire to binge since I’ve submerged myself into this program. I don’t feel like I have to struggle to make decisions when trying to decide what to eat. It’s as simple as knowing that what I have been eating is beneficial to me, and that is how I will continue to nourish myself.”
—Aubrey H., Manassas, Virginia
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THE WHOLE30? PROGRAM: REINTRODUCTION
Follow this sample reintroducion schedule when your program is over. keep the rest of your diet whole30-compliant during this period.
DAY 1: Reintroduce and evaluate dairy products
DAY 4: Reintroduce and evaluate gluten-containing grains.
DAY 7: Reintroduce and evaluate non-gluten grains.
DAY 10: Reintroduce and evaluate legumes
You’ve eliminated added sugars, alcohol, grains, legumes, and dairy from your diet for an entire month. But every once in a while, maybe you’d still like to drink a beer, have some ice cream, slather a piece of toast with peanut butter and jelly.
We are completely on board with that. (Does that surprise you? We’re healthy, not automatons.)
But let’s use the efforts you’ve made during your program as a springboard for approaching this intelligently. Yes, you’ll have to be patient here, too—don’t waste the last thirty (or more) days! You’ve spent valuable time cleaning out your system and allowing your body to heal. But if you run right out the day you’ve completed your program and binge on pancakes, pizza, ice cream, and beer, when you feel like junk that night (yes, you will feel like junk), how will you know what to blame for which symptoms? Was it the dairy that bloated your belly, or maybe the grains? Were you headachy because of the sugar, the booze, or both? And where did those pimples come from—the soy, the dairy, or the sugar? What a waste. You’ve spent so much time and effort … and missed a critical opportunity to learn from your experience.
Here’s what we’d like you to do instead: introduce “less healthy” foods back into your diet one group at a time, while keeping the rest of your diet as Whole30-clean as possible. Think about it like a scientific trial, in which your Whole30 is the “control” and the one food group you are trying to evaluate is the “experimental group.” Sure, you’ll get some added sugar in many of your “experimental” foods, but the key is not combining food groups in any one testing day.
DON’T MISS IT?
We shouldn’t have to say it, but if you don’t miss a particular food or drink that you know makes you less healthy, don’t bother reintroducing it. If you made it through the entire Whole30 without longing for cheddar cheese or martinis or black beans one tiny bit, then why bother “testing” it? Only reintroduce those foods that you suspect you’ll really want to include in your diet once in a while, and consider the rest history.
REINTRODUCTION, SCIENCE-Y STYLE
Here is a sample ten-day reintroduction schedule. Feel free to alter the food groups and particular food choices to suit your needs.
Day 1: Evaluate dairy, while keeping the rest of your diet Whole30-compliant. Have yogurt in the morning, some cheese in the afternoon, and ice cream after dinner. Evaluate how you feel that day, and the next day, and perhaps even the day after that. Stomach feel like you’re about to birth an alien? Suddenly feeling all congested and headachy? Skin break out in the next day or two? You may need to limit your dairy consumption to very small quantities or only certain items (yogurt, but not ice cream) during “off plan” meals, or you may decide that the aftereffects mean that all dairy is simply never worth it.
Day 4: Evaluate gluten-containing grains, while keeping the rest of your diet Whole30-compliant. Gluten is such nasty stuff that we want to break it out from the other grains, so you can evaluate it all by itself. Over the course of your day, eat a whole-wheat bagel, a side of pasta, and a dinner roll. See how you feel that day, and the next day, and so on. Evaluate your experience and decide how often and how much to incorporate gluten grains into your regular diet—if at all. (We recommend not at all.)
Day 7: Evaluate non-gluten grains, while keeping the rest of your diet Whole30-compliant. Eat a serving of white rice, some corn tortilla chips, and a slice of gluten-free bread. See how you feel that day, and the next day, and so on. Pay attention to your reactions and decide how, how often, and how much to incorporate grains into your regular diet—if at all.
Day 10: Evaluate legumes, while keeping the rest of your diet Whole30-compliant. Try some peanut butter, a bowl of lentil soup, some tofu, and a side of black beans. See how you feel that day, and the next day, and so on. Evaluate your experience and decide how, how often, and how much to incorporate legumes into your regular diet—if at all.
THAT COVERT YOGURT
One word of caution here. Just because that slice of toast or glass of milk didn’t leave you clutching your stomach doesn’t mean it isn’t causing physiological (and psychological) damage. Cravings, hormonal disruption, intestinal permeability, and inflammation are, as we said earlier, often silent, hiding behind the scenes. People who don’t notice any obvious effects from one or two exposures to a certain food may start to notice the results catching up with them after a few days or a week. In addition, you may be tempted to downplay the effects of a certain food, simply because you really like it. The point is, you need to evaluate your own experiences carefully and honestly when making decisions about which foods to reintroduce post-Whole30.
This invaluable information, and the self-awareness you gain as the result of your own hard work, is a big part of the Whole30 program, and a huge influence on how you eat going forward. In a very short period of time, you’ve learned how the foods that we’ve been saying make you less healthy actually affect you, personally. You’ve completed your scientific experiment, and now it’s time to take that knowledge with you, and create new, lifelong healthy eating habits.
We are not telling you where to draw your own individual “worth it” line. Maybe ice cream really makes your stomach hurt, but you really love ice cream, so you decide it’s worth it for you. That is entirely your call. But don’t you at least appreciate knowing what the repercussions of that ice cream will be, so you don’t indulge in a bowl before a tough workout or while out on a date? Draw your own line, and arrive at your own conclusions—and use your Whole30 experience to add some smart context to those decisions.
Easier said than done, you’re thinking?
That’s exactly why the next section is devoted to transitioning your Whole30 experience into sustainable, healthy habits. Because that’s what this is all about: it’s not about a short-term fix or a temporary solution, but about creating lifelong behaviors designed to always move you in the direction of “more healthy.”
Sounds too good to be true?
It’s not.
In fact, you’re already well on your way.