Time to Transition From the Whole30

You know you’ve said it…”when I get off of this Whole30 challenge I am going to eat __________ (fill in the blank with your favorite bad food or restaurant menu item).”  For me, it’s been the German chocolate brownie that my mother-in-law made before the challenge that’s stashed away in my freezer.  And it’s been the pizza from the local chain that I’ve mentally pre-ordered from the menu that we received in the mail a couple of weeks ago.  And the Lara bars with chocolate and/or peanuts in them that I’ve been looking forward to trying since I fell in love with Lara Bars when this challenge began.  The list is almost endless.  It’s pathetic, I know.  But I bet you’ve done it as well.  On the other hand, there’s another part of me that is so proud of the progress I’ve made that I really don’t want to go back to how I used to eat.  I’m noticeably slimmer to the extent that all of my pants are now slightly baggy.  I’ve also discovered that I do just fine without eating sugar and grains.  While on the Whole30, I was able to sit at a table full of people enjoying wedding cake without drooling – not even a little bit.  EVEN THOUGH there were TWO flavors and everybody at the table had a slice of each on their plates.  If I’m honest, I know that the only reason that I’d be eating sweets after the challenge is finished is because I can.  Not because I really want it.  Certainly not because I need it, but only because I can.  And I’ve wondered what I should do about that.  That’s why I need a plan for how to transition from the Whole30 program.  My concern is that once I take a bite of sweets or bread, I will be on a bullet train right back to Egypt land – shoveling fistfuls of fluffy cake and brownies into my mouth at record speed.  As William McDowell sings “I won’t go back, I can’t go back to the way I used to be!”

So Shawn and I have determined that we’d be strategic about our transition from the Whole 30 program, and you should too.  You’ve worked hard to follow the Whole30 Program as best as you can, and you don’t want to throw it all away!  The Whole30 Program creators provide some great recommendations for ending your Whole30 program.  Instead of me rehashing their recommendations in this post, I encourage you to visit the Whole30 website and review their reintroduction protocol. [no seriously, visit. the page. now.] Simply bear in mind that the basic premise behind their reintroduction protocol is that you want to reintroduce one of the excluded foods at a time so that you can see if your body reacts negatively to any particular food.  If you reward yourself for ending the Whole30 Program by going to an all you can eat buffet and eating whatever suits your fancy, you will likely end up feeling poorly without even knowing what did it.  And then you’ll be right back where you started (what a waste of 30 days!).

In addition, to reintroducing one food at a time from the Whole30 Program “do not eat” list, Shawn and I have determined that our primary way of eating will be in the Whole30 way.  We  actually enjoy eating this way and don’t see any reason to stop.  We will likely reincorporate some of the better quality dairy such as organic, pastured, full fat and fermented dairy like yogurt and kefir and eat beans from time to time; however, we don’t plan on grains, especially grains with gluten, being a major part of our diets.  We will allow ourselves a truly occasional treat every now and then, but we will do so in true moderation.  We’re saving our treats for special occasions or when someone has us over for dinner (one of the primary concerns that I have with eating a more restrictive diet is appearing ungrateful when I am a guest in someone’s home and decline to eat the food that they have so graciously prepared).

Along those lines, we will be eating out a LOT less.  We realized that it was nearly impossible to be completely faithful to the Whole30 Program and eat out.  While doing the challenge we’ve found that if we were able to order something that was Whole30 complaint, we still run the problem of not getting enough food.  Asking your server to “hold the rice and bread” often means having a relatively empty belly by the end of the meal.  When we cook at home, we know how to cook enough to ensure that we are satiated when we’re done.  And obviously, we know exactly what’s in the food that we cook at home.

We’d like to know what’s on your mind as you prepare to transition from the Whole30 Program.  We plan to do a final post to sum up what we’ve learned and how we feel after the challenge, so we look forward to hearing your thoughts on that as well.  However, in the meantime, please share in the comments below how you plan to operate once the Whole30 challenge is over.