If you are planning on completing a Whole30, especially your first Whole30, it is important that you also read up on the reintroduction phase! Completing your Whole30 is not where it ends. After the 30 days are over, you enter a phase called the reintroduction phase. If you’d like to know more about the Whole30 and reintroduction, there are so many resources on the Whole30 website that you can look at! There are also plenty of books written by Melissa Urban that have so much information. I’ll be talking about what the Whole30 reintroduction is, who would benefit from it, and whether or not I will be completing one this year. Now, let’s get to it!
Let me start off by addressing what is done during a Whole30. For 30 days, we stay away from consuming foods that are commonly found to be inflammatory to our bodies. These foods include dairy, soy, sugar, alcohol, legumes, and grains and can have a negative effect on our overall health. The Whole30 reintroduction helps us to figure out what foods do and don’t work for our own body. Remember, every body is different! I want to mention that you don’t have to start the reintroduction phase right away! If you don’t feel the need to start it the day after you complete your Whole30, then wait until you feel you want to start. Another thing is that, if you feel that there are food groups you don’t feel the need to reintroduce back into your balanced lifestyle at all, then don’t! You get to choose what you do and don’t want reintroduce. It’s your own personal journey!
Once you get to the point where you want to reintroduce foods, first choose which off-plan food group you plan to incorporate into your healthy lifestyle. Introduce that on day 1 of your reintroduction while keeping the rest of your food Whole30 compliant, then jump back on the Whole30 for the next 2 days and evaluate how you’re feeling. Repeat the same process with another food group and continue to listen to your body and be aware of any changes that you notice. Do you feel any digestive distress? Are you experiencing mood swings? What about energy fluctuations? Are you having any restless sleep? Are you breaking out? It helps to write down everything in a notebook that way it’s easier to keep track of! It is important that you DO NOT go binging on all the things! If you decide to go eat lots of cheesecake after your Whole30 and you feel some changes going on, you’re not going to be able to pinpoint the cause! It can either be the dairy in it or the sugar, but you won’t know for sure since you did not introduce them one at a time. The website has a sample plan resource for the Whole30 reintroduction if you are still confused about it!
Those of you who will be completing your Whole30 for the first time should definitely go through the reintroduction phase. It is important because it’ll give you valuable information as to what foods your body thrives off of and what foods are negatively impacting your overall health. If after completing your first Whole30 and reintroduction you feel that there may be another food group that that may be negatively affecting your health that wasn’t reintroduced the first time around, definitely complete the reintroduction phase again the second time that you decide to complete a Whole30. If you have completed a Whole30 many times and really know what works for your body, but feel that something has been negatively affecting you recently and you don’t know what it is, then completing a Whole30 will really help you to pinpoint what food group is likely causing that negative change. Honestly, everyone can benefit from the reintroduction phase because our bodies are always changing! Foods that agree with your body now may not agree with your body in a couple of months or years. This is why it’s so important to be in tune with your body and understand when something just doesn’t feel right!
I’ll be finishing my 3rd round of Whole30 in the next few days and am excited go back to living my food freedom. Now, to answer the big question! I will NOT be doing a Whole30 reintroduction after my round of Whole30 this year. I am pretty in tune with my body and I really know what my body thrives off of and what makes me feel crappy. I also haven’t been experiencing any unknown negative changes with specific food groups throughout the past year. These are the reasons I feel that I don’t need to complete the reintroduction phase! I have not introduced all food groups that are eliminated on a Whole30 because I don’t consume them. These foods are soy, almost all legumes, and almost all grains. I’ve introduced dairy before and found that my body does not do well with large amounts because I end up breaking out. Same thing happens when I eat peanut butter, which is considered a legume! The only grain that I’ve reintroduced back before is white rice. I do really well with white rice, but choose not to have it very often. I basically only eat white rice when I eat sushi because I just love sushi so much! I do really well with natural sugars, like honey, maple syrup, maple sugar, coconut sugar, coconut nectar and date syrup. I honestly don’t think anyone needs to reintroduce cane sugar nor brown sugar back because it can be addicting. I’ve had desserts with cane sugar and notice major energy fluctuations and headaches! I seem to do well with alcohol and don’t consume it on a daily basis. I stick to dry red wine, brut champagne, unsweetened rose, and unsweetened apple cider. I do have limits though! I know exactly how much is enough to enjoy before I notice my anxiety kick in. This doesn’t mean I will never do a reintroduction again. I will definitely be doing a reintroduction when I notice that my body is reacting to something in a negative way!
I’ve provided you with just a tidbit of what I know about the reintroduction phase and hope it helps you in any way! Remember, the Whole30 website and Whole30 books are other major resources that will help you learn more about the reintroduction phase!
Beth's Wholesome Kitchen 