A Month Post-Whole30
I can't believe it has been a month since my boyfriend and I were on Whole30, but I can't say I miss it that much! In the words of the genius Taylor Swift via her song Wonderland, "Life was never worse but never better." Actually...I think life is indeed better, because now I don't feel guilty for eating bread, cheese, and sweet treats like those glorious cinnamon donuts above--my first post-Whole30 treat!
The first few days of being off Whole30 were a little bit tricky because we couldn't follow the recommended reintroduction plan due to holidays and other long-standing plans. In a nutshell, you start by eating one new food group on your first day (i.e. gluten), then for the following two days, you eat normal Whole30. On the fourth day, you introduce a different food group (i.e. dairy), then continue with two days of Whole30 and so on. It takes about a couple of weeks to finish the reintroductions properly, and we had them done in a few days. We followed a plan which included eating gluten on the first day, then eating Whole30 until dinner on the second day (gluten), followed by Whole30 on the third day until dinner that night (gluten and dairy). I'm not sure that it really affected us, though. Chris never experienced any terribly feelings (woo!), and my body was a bit out of whack, though it had been for the last few days of Whole30 so I don't think the new foods caused it. I think my body was just trying to be sick, but luckily it wasn't terrible.
Even though we are very much NOT eating Whole30 right now, there are aspects of it that we've kept. Sometimes we still have Whole30-approved breakfasts--eggs, avocado, and grapefruit. We like eating grapefruit with breakfast whenever possible, even if we have cereal instead of eggs. Chris has also been making some meals that are Whole30-approved if not for the grain addition. We don't pig out for every meal, and we've done a great job eating leftovers and such instead of always making new meals (partially thanks to Whole30). I definitely appreciate whole foods more and try not to snack as much (I haven't had chips and cream cheese since before Whole30; my new snack of choice is either cinnamon roasted almonds or kimchi chips). The good news is that after a month off of Whole30, neither of us feel terrible about eating the non-approved foods again. While Chris is keen on doing another Whole30, I probably won't partake because my experience wasn't as wonderful as I had expected. However, we often recommend the program to friends that are experiencing gastrointestinal discomfort since it helped Chris with his heartburn. I hope that sharing my experience here helps you guys in deciding whether or not to do it for yourselves. :)
Top photo: Cinnamon donuts
Top middle photo: Valentine's Day-themed "monster" cookies
Bottom middle photo: Fancy chocolate covered strawberry
Bottom photo: Cast iron margherita pizza
{All photos are via my Instagram!}