Cutting Down on Sugar {Whole 30 Reintroduction}

After our 30 days of eating very clean -following the Whole 30 guidelines {read about our 30 days here and here} we were able to give our systems a chance to see how some of our old favorite foods would make us feel. Basically during this time one type of food is reintroduced then you eat Whole 30 compliant for two days and monitor how you feel - both emotionally and physically.


How it went for us...


Non Gluten Grains: we ate gluten free bread, tortilla chips, and rice

The day of reintroduction: we both felt off pretty much all day - I was dizzy off and on all day and my husband had an upset stomach all day.

The next two days (of eating Whole 30 compliant): I had a hard time getting out of bed and was still a little foggy and my husband was on the mend.

We are going to try a few other gluten free grains - one at a time to see if there are any that we are able to eat without negative effects.


Legumes: we ate black beans, peanut butter, chick peas, and soy milk

The day of reintroduction: we felt great all day - no headaches or stomach discomfort

The next two days (of eating Whole 30 compliant): J felt fine, I noticed that my nose was stuffy and my ears had started popping (which happens to me often, but it went away during the second half of our Whole 30 days - which I didn't notice that specifically until it came back... I just kept noticing my head felt so clear); I also still wasn't back to just hopping out of bed in the morning like I did the final few days of the Whole 30.

Dairy: J already avoids dairy like the plague that it is, so he did not reintroduce... but I ate a bit of cheese on two salads

The day of reintroduction: I felt fine.

The next two days (of eating Whole 30 compliant): I was noticing some strong sugar cravings the next few days. I don't know if this was because of the dairy or just I was ready for something sweet.



Gluten: We both reintroduced gluten. However, most days (for about 18 months prior to Whole 30) I severely limit gluten as I believe that I have a slight sensitivity that manifests in bloat and tingling hands (when I wake in the morning specifically). Both of these sensitivities seemed to have disappeared over the Whole 30 month. For reintroduction - we ate half of a bun on a burger and I had croutons on a salad.

The day of reintroduction: We felt fine.

The next two days (of eating Whole 30 compliant): J was totally normal and pumped to consider eating some gluten again. I felt foggy and my hands were asleep in the mornings. I didn't get the bloat I was expecting though.


*Alcohol: this isn't on the Whole 30 reintroduction schedule but we love to go to the brewery so it was on ours... we drank less than a beer {shared a flight of seven samples between 4 adults}

The day of reintroduction: We were extremely caught off guard by the negative feelings we had that night. Within a few hours of our tasting we were bloated, uncomfortable and in bed about two hours early. The next morning I felt very stiff and tired. Even the following morning I woke up super stiff. We actually did an extra day of Whole 30 prior to evaluating a different food.

Other things I noticed during reintroduction:

*I was either really thirsty for water or very tired of having water during our reintroduction phase. I made lots of iced tea those few days just to have something different that didn't have added sugar or anything else I was currently not reintroducing.

* About a week after the reintroduction schedule I noticed that I was having strong sugar cravings and some mood swings. I am considering trying a Whole15 or a second Whole30 to see if I can shake it.

Our Humble Homestead

Some days I just love our little home. Other days it is little, but overwhelming. One thing is for sure - our home can be described easily as "in progress"...

I've written before about how we are big dreamers around this place. We often have a difficult time settling down on what is the best project to tackle next. But lucky for us, all parts of our home are slowly becoming more manageable and more the way we want it - all the time.

Everyday a little bit more like us... in progress but well, happy, and loved. I like that about our home. Whenever we have families visit or friends see our house for the first time they say how they see both of our personalities in our home; how they aren't surprised that this is what our home looks like. I guess it just has character.

I've decided to give myself the opportunity to share some of my favorite spaces of our home on the blog {slowly}. This is something I wouldn't usually share, but I think over time I'd love to see the phases of projects and notice the work we've accomplished {and maybe it would be inspiring to someone else too}. I claim to have very little fashion sense or interior design credentials - but I do find our home to be usable, loved, and cozy.

We've been doing a lot of work around our house the past three years. But recently some bigger projects have taken place. So I'm excited to see some of our visions coming together. We are far from finished, but things are perfectly homey just the same. 

Cutting Down on Sugar {Whole30 - 30 days complete!}

We've completed 30 days of Whole 30! And wow - we've been feeling pretty great!

After our first half we were really hoping things would start to even out for us. And it did. We continued to eat meals in a timely manner and feel better and better each day.

During days sixteen through twenty-one I was out of town for a conference and I really got bored with my food options. It wasn't too difficult to find things to eat - but sometimes it was just a lot of one type of vegetable and multiple salads per day. My husband was able to cook at home and found several easy recipes that he continued to make for us during the rest of the Whole 30.

Around day twenty-two to day twenty-four we really started noticing consistent energy levels pretty much all day. And at this point I realized I wasn't missing cream nearly as much in my coffee anymore!

On day twenty-five we went to bed late and work up early on day twenty-six; all day we had a terrible time keeping up with activities at hand. Anytime I sat down I was half asleep and I took more than one nap to make it through the day.

My husband and I were a little negative/bored again with our food choices for a couple of days {days twenty-six to twenty-eight}. We felt like we should just move on to the reintroduction program (and start reintroducing gluten, dairy, legumes and non-gluten grains) but we didn't. We decided to stick it out.

But we really felt fantastic on day twenty nine and day thirty! At that point we really noticed how all of our efforts from the last thirty days were working together. We felt well rested (it was even easy to get up in the morning), great energy levels, no major mood swings, no headaches, and we were only hungry when it was actually time to eat.

Our take away from the Whole 30 - if we eat well, and sleep an appropriate amount of time each night we find that we really do feel much better than our daily feelings that were our normal in the past. We are really looking forward to our reintroduction days and see what is the best balance for us.