Weekly Food Menu - 3.4.19 to 3.10.19

Monday

Meal 1: Spicy Rosemary Sausage and Potato Breakfast Hash 

Meal 2: Guacamole Chicken Salad 

Meal 3: Almond Butter Chicken and Zucchini Noodles 

Snacks: Berry Crumble Breakfast Bake (Snack/Dessert)

Tuesday

Meal 1: Spicy Rosemary Sausage and Potato Breakfast Hash 

Meal 2: Guacamole Chicken Salad

Meal 3: Instant-Pot Whole Herb Chicken with Paleo Mashed Potatoes and Side Salad 

Snacks: Berry Crumble Breakfast Bake (Snack/Dessert)

Wednesday 

Meal 1: Spicy Rosemary Sausage and Potato Breakfast Hash 

Meal 2: Guacamole Chicken Salad 

Meal 3: Salmon Tartar Sauce Potatoes 

Snacks: Berry Crumble Breakfast Bake (Snack/Dessert)

Thursday

Meal 1: Spicy Rosemary Sausage and Potato Breakfast Hash 

Meal 2: Bacon Grape and Broccoli Salad 

Meal 3: Easy Paleo Tuna Casserole 

Snacks: Berry Crumble Breakfast Bake (Snack/Dessert)

Friday

Meal 1: Apple Cinnamon n’oatmeal 

Meal 2: Bacon Grape and Broccoli Salad 

Meal 3: Baked Chicken Nuggets and Loaded Cauliflower Bake 

Snacks: Brownie Batter Protein Shake 

Saturday 

Meal 1: Apple Cinnamon n’oatmeal 

Meal 2: Bacon Grape and Broccoli Salad 

Meal 3: Eggplant Beef (Turkey) Casserole 

Snacks: Mocha Protein Chia Pudding

Sunday

Meal 1: Bacon, Eggs and Potato Hash (Pork and Turkey Bacon)

Meal 2: Leftovers from the Week or go out for lunch 

Meal 3: BBQ Chicken with baked potatoes and Easy Baked Broccoli Casserole 

Snacks: Mocha Protein Chia Pudding 

Here are the list of websites for the recipes listed above:
https://myheartbeets.com/spicy-rosemary-sausage-and-potato-breakfast-hash/print/9132/
https://myheartbeets.com/apple-cinnamon-noatmeal-no-oats/

https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/guacamole-chicken-salad-paleo-keto/
https://paleoleap.com/bacon-grape-broccoli-salad/
https://paleoleap.com/almond-butter-chicken-zucchini-noodles/

https://tasty.co/recipe/instant-pot-whole-herb-chicken
https://paleoleap.com/salmon-tartar-sauce-potatoes/
https://paleogrubs.com/tuna-casserole-recipe
https://paleoleap.com/baked-chicken-nuggets/
https://paleogrubs.com/loaded-caulliflower-bake
https://paleogrubs.com/eggplant-beef-casserole-recipe
https://paleogrubs.com/broccoli-casserole

https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/berry-crumble-breakfast-bake-paleo-vegan/
https://www.wickedspatula.com/brownie-batter-protein-shake/
https://livinglovingpaleo.com/2016/06/23/mocha-protein-chia-pudding/

Weekly Food Menu - 2.25.29 to 3.3.19

Monday
Meal 1: Breakfast Casserole
Meal 2: Instant Pot Chicken Soup with “Rice”
Meal 3: General Tso’s Chicken Instant Pot with Cauliflower Rice
Snacks: Apples with Almond Butter

Tuesday
Meal 1: Leftover Breakfast Casserole
Meal 2: Leftover Instant Pot Chicken Soup with “Rice”
Meal 3: Slow Cooker Paleo Hawaiian BBQ Chicken (Freeze Ahead Meal) with Cauliflower Rice
Snack: Grapes with raw almonds

Wednesday
Meal 1: Leftover Breakfast Casserole
Meal 2: Leftover Dinner from last night or Leftover Instant Pot Chicken Soup with “Rice”
Meal 3: Dairy-Free Spaghetti Squash Chicken Alfredo
Snacks: Blueberries with raw walnuts

Thursday
Meal 1: Leftover Breakfast Casserole
Meal 2: Leftover Dinner from last night or Leftover Instant Pot Chicken Soup with “Rice”
Meal 3: Slow Cooker Honey Lime Chicken and Butternut Squash (Freeze Ahead Meal)
Snacks: Apple with Almond Butter, Coconut and Vegan Chocolate Chips

Friday
Meal 1: Loaded Paleo Breakfast Hash
Meal 2: Leftover Dinner from last night or Leftover Instant Pot Chicken Soup with “Rice”
Meal 3: Chicken + Rice Casserole - Against all Grains Cookbook pg 140
Snacks: Blueberries with raw almonds

Saturday
Meal 1: Leftover Loaded Paleo Breakfast Hash
Meal 2: Leftover Dinner from last night or Leftover Instant Pot Chicken Soup with “Rice”
Meal 3: Instant Pot Turkey Breast and Easy Gravy with Roasted Rooted Veggies
Snacks: Grapes with raw walnuts

Sunday
Meal 1: Perfect Pumpkin Spice Pancakes
Meal 2: Leftover Dinner from last night or Leftover Instant Pot Chicken Soup with “Rice”
Meal 3: Slow Cooker Buffalo and Chicken Chili
Snacks: Apples with Almond Butter, Coconut and Vegan Chocolate Chips

We have another crazy long week so I’m trying to make things easier on myself by cooking with my Instant Pot and Slow Cooker this week.  Some of these recipes I have made before and some are new ones.  I found a few freeze ahead recipes that I’m very excited about as you prepare them ahead of time put them in a ziplock bag or freezer container and put them in the freeze, then the night before take it out put it in the fridge to defrost overnight and then throw it in the crockpot with your liquid for a nice easy and quick dinner.  If anyone decides to try any of these, please leave a comment below on my blog and let me know how yours turned out.  Have a Happy and Healthy Week!!!

Here are all the website links to the following recipes listed above:
https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/paleo-breakfast-hash-whole30-egg-free/
https://cleanfoodcrush.com/perfect-pumpkin-spice-pancakes-clean-eating/
https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/instant-pot-chicken-rice-soup-paleo-whole30/
https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/general-tsos-chicken-in-the-instant-pot-paleo/
https://www.stockpilingmoms.com/slow-cooker-paleo-hawaiian-bbq-chicken/
https://therealfoodrds.com/dairy-free-spaghetti-squash-chicken-alfredo/
https://www.stockpilingmoms.com/slow-cooker-honey-lime-chicken-and-butternut-squash/
https://www.cleaneatingkitchen.com/instant-pot-turkey-breast/print/25956/
https://paleomg.com/slow-cooker-buffalo-chicken-chili/

DIY Easy Farmhouse Table Center Piece

It’s been a while since I have done my own center piece project, so I was very excited to put a new one together for our new front living room.  The theme for our room is a Farmhouse style and since our coffee table finally arrived for the middle of the room I could now look at the whole room and see what I wanted to do to decorate and add some color.  So off to Hobby Lobby I went to go and look around at a few floral colors and then some stainless steel pieces like trays, cans and buckets.  I started picking out a few things and piecing them together in the middle of the store to see how everything would come together, that is when I found certain pieces I loved and knew what I was going to do.  I picked up three candle holders, one big one that had a glass container and stainless steel on the outside with beautiful rope, then next to that were two smaller candle holders that were teal and had a different design but I loved the color.  Then I found the small stainless steel tray that was the perfect size and color of what I was looking for so I picked that up too.  Next was trying to decide on the colors of the flowers as it was between Teal or Yellow and White after trying both of them I absolutely fell in love with the yellow and white as that reminded me of being in the country.  I also ended up picking up a bag of grayish larger stones to fill in the center piece to add a little different color.  Now it was time to head home and put it all together and try it out on the new table.

Once I got home I laid everything out and then decided where I wanted each piece to go, I decided to put the two tear green candle holders closer to the handles of the stainless steel tray I got and then I put the bigger stainless steel round candle in the middle.  I filled that up with some of the grayish large rocks, placed the three bouquets of the yellow and white flowers inside and then finished filling it with the rest of the grayish stones.  I found two old white candles that I put inside of the teal candle holders for now to fill them up.   I will be looking for sales for the LED flame less candles when they go on sale to replace the real ones as they are much pretty and I can actually use those vs the real candles.

This whole project took me less than 5 minutes to put together but if you include the set up, pulling off the tags and putting felt on the bottom of the tray the whole thing took me 10 minutes tops.  Everything in this picture (besides the candles) was 50% off at Hobby Lobby so after figuring out each piece this whole thing cost me under $55.00.  I had been looking at center pieces that were in the range of $150.00 to $300.00 so to have this cost me 1/3 of the price was worth it.  I’m very happy with how it turned out and absolutely loved how it added color to our room but didn’t take away from the beautiful color of the table.

Weekly Food Menu - 2/11/19 to 2/17/19 Paleo and Whole30

Monday

Meal 1: Smoky Sausage + Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Meal 2: Clean Food Crush Creamy Zucchini Potato Soup - adding cooked chicken 

Meal 3: Chili Lime Shrimp Wraps with mixed green salad 

Snacks: Apples with cinnamon and Almond Butter or Protein Smoothie (post workout) 

Tuesday 

Meal 1: Smoky Sausage + Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Meal 2: Clean Food Crush Creamy Zucchini Potato Soup - adding cooked chicken 

Meal 3: Hearty Stuffed Bell Pepper Soup - Swapping Rice with Cauliflower Rice

Snacks: Banana with Almond Butter or Protein Shake (post workout)

Wednesday

Meal 1: Breakfast Scramble Meal Prep Bowls - no beans or cheese 

Meal 2: Clean Food Crush Creamy Zucchini Potato Soup - adding cooked chicken 

Meal 3: Stove-Top "Cheesy" Paleo Chicken Casserole

Snacks: Ants on a Log - Celery, almond butter and raisins

Thursday 

Meal 1: Breakfast Scramble Meal Prep Bowls - no beans or cheese 

Meal 2: Clean Food Crush Creamy Zucchini Potato Soup - adding cooked chicken 

Meal 3: Crock-pot Chicken Fajitas with cauliflower rice 

Snacks: Apples with cinnamon and almond butter or Protein Shake (Post workout)

Friday

Meal 1: Breakfast Scramble Meal Prep Bowls - no beans or cheese 

Meal 2: Leftover dinner

Meal 3: Crock-pot Maple+Mustard Chicken Drumsticks with Sauteed Broccoli 

Snacks: Ants on a log - Celery, almond butter and raisins

Saturday

Meal 1: Breakfast Scramble Meal Prep Bowls - no beans or cheese 

Meal 2: Leftover dinner

Meal 3: Mexican Cauliflower Fried Rice

Snacks: Banana with Almond Butter or Protein Shake (post workout)

Sunday

Meal 1: Paleo Pancakes with maple syrup 

Meal 2: Leftovers from the week 

Meal 3: Easy Lemon Garlic Chicken Thighs with Sauteed Veggies 

Snacks: Apples with Cinnamon and almond butter or Protein Shake (Post Workout)

Whole30 is done and I’m excited to move forward and get back to Paleo as I love transitioning from Whole30 to Paleo but this week I’m going to bring back in Maple Syrup, Honey and Coconut Palm Sugar, along with vanilla extract and my Paleo Protein Powder for after my workouts.  Some recipes are new this week and some I tried and love.  I love having the mixture of Paleo and Whole30 recipes to keep me in check while still enjoying all the healthy benefits of transitioning to Paleo. Hope everyone has a happy and healthy week!

Here are links to the websites for the following recipes listed above:

https://cleanfoodcrush.com/clean-eating-sausage-roasted-sweet-potatoes/

https://cleanfoodcrush.com/breakfast-scramble-clean-eating-meal-prep-bowls/

https://cleanfoodcrush.com/clean-eating-creamy-zucchini-potato-soup/

https://cleanfoodcrush.com/eating-clean-chili-lime-shrimp-wraps/

https://cleanfoodcrush.com/clean-eating-stuffed-bell-pepper-soup/

https://paleogrubs.com/chicken-casserole-recipe

https://cleanfoodcrush.com/these-crockpot-maple-mustard-chicken-drumsticks-are-insanely-good/

https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/mexican-cauliflower-fried-rice-paleo-whole30/

https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/lemon-garlic-chicken-paleo-whole30/

New Recipe - Easy Teriyaki Sauce (Whole30, Paleo and Vegan)

Easy Teriyaki Sauce

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Coconut Aminos 
1/4 cup Fresh Orange Juice or water (I use Florida’s Natural)
3 tbsp Date Syrup*** (Whole30) or Honey (Paleo)
2 tsp fresh grated Ginger
3 Garlic Cloves, pressed and minced 
1/8 tsp Crushed Red Pepper
2 tsp Tapioca Flour 

Directions:

1. Mix the coconut aminos, orange juice, date syrup, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes in a small saucepan and heat it over medium heat. 
2. If you are using tapioca flour, mix it with 2 tablespoon of cold water and add the mixture into the sauce and cook until thicken. If not using the tapioca flour, just simmer the sauce until thickened.
3. This makes 4 servings so you can add as much or as little to your dish.  This is perfect for stir-fry’s or as a nice glaze for meat.

  ***Date syrup can be found online at Thrive Market, it may also be found at Whole Foods or Sprouts and it’s 100% Dates and Whole30 approved.

Whole30 Round 3 Week 5 - Meal Plan and Reintroduction

Round 3 Week 5: 2/4/19 to 2/10/19

Monday

Meal 1: Leftover Buffalo Chicken Dip with guacamole and a banana

Meal 2: Leftover Buffalo Chicken Dip with grilled chicken wings and an apple

Meal 3: Baked Sweet and Savory Chicken Thighs with Baked Sweet Potatoes and green beans

Snacks: Apple with Nut Butter

Tuesday 

Meal 1: Leftover Buffalo Chicken Dip with a banana

Meal 2: Leftover Baked Sweet and Savory Chicken Thigh with mashed sweet potato and green beans

Meal 3: Leftover Grilled Chicken Wings with mashed Sweet Potatoes and Green Beans

Snacks: Trader Joe’s Fruit Bar - Apple and Mango 

Wednesday - Day 1 Reintroduction - Legumes 

Meal 1: Easy Apple Cinnamon Paleo Hot Cereal Breakfast topped with Peanut Butter 

Meal 2: Asparagus Sauté pack from Trader Joe’s with Turkey Burger and Black Beans  

Meal 3: Mixed Kale Salad with Chicken and veggies and chickpeas 

Snacks: Banana with Peanut Butter 

Thursday 

Meal 1: Easy Apply Cinnamon Paleo Hot Cereal Breakfast topped Almond Butter 

Meal 2: Leftover Asparagus Sauté pack from TJ’s with Chicken Burger and 1/2 avocado 

Meal 3: Garlic turkey Asian and vegetable stir-fry with cauliflower rice 

Snacks: Apple and Cinnamon with Nut Butter 

Friday

Meal 1: Easy Apple Cinnamon Paleo Hot Cereal Breakfast topped with Almond Butter 

Meal 2: Leftover Garlic Turkey Asian and Vegetable Stir-Fry with Cauliflower rice  

Meal 3: Italian Sausage Turkey Skillet with veggies and cauliflower rice 

Snacks: Apple and Cinnamon with Nut Butter 

Saturday - Day 4 Reintrodcution - Non-Gluten Grains 

Meal 1: Gluten-Free Toast with Avocado Spread and 2 fried eggs 

Meal 2: Leftover Italian Sausage Turkey Skillet with veggies and cooked Quinoa 

Meal 3: Baked Chicken with baked asapargus and white rice 

Snacks: Fresh Fruit with raw nuts 

Sunday

Meal 1: Sweet potato and kale hash with eggs and turkey bacon 

Meal 2: Leftovers from the week 

Meal 3: Leftovers or Sauted Veggies with chicken burgers and baked potatoes 

Snacks: Fresh Fruit with raw nuts 

Well today is the final day of our Whole30 journey and next phase is the reintrodcution process, this will be my first time actually doing this as after my last two rounds I just switched over to Paleo and ran with that.  Since I’m coaching and mentoring a group of people this round I wanted to go through the process with them by reintroducing foods back into my diet as an alternative in the event I’m out for dinner.  I want to know what food groups bother me and which are okay so I have more flexability when going out with friends or when family comes into town.  Once I have identified those I will keep a note of that but plan to go back to Paleo for the remainder of my training.  This week we are introducing Legumes and Non-Gluten Grains which is exciting as I love these two food groups.  We will see how they go and I will blog my experience with each of them after I try them out.  Hope everyone has a great week!

January Whole30 - Step 3 and Step 4

After completing Whole30 and the Reintroduction process, here is Step 3 which is Sharing Your Story and Step 4 Your Life After Strategy.  I found all this information on the Whole30 website and just complied it into one document.  Congratulations for making it through your first round of Whole30! 

STEP THREE: SHARE YOUR STORY
You’ve finished your Whole30, and are tallying all of the amazing, life-changing results you’ve experienced. Your story (and results) may be different than anyone else’s, but you’d be surprised how many people are in a situation similar to yours. They come to our community looking for a kindred spirit–someone just like them, who experienced the results on the Whole30 that they, too, are hoping to experience.

Big or small, dramatic or simple, you need to share your story. Your starting point, your path, your struggles, your triumphs are relevant to someone. Maybe more than a few people. And if just one person reads your story and says, “He’s just like me. If he can do it, I can do it,” then you have, in that moment, changed someone’s life.

Before and After
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and your Whole30 experience may prove that to be true. But your Whole30 before and after photos doesn’t tell the full story (neither does that number on the scale). While 95% of people who take on the Whole30 lose weight or improve their body composition*, there are so many amazing experiences that can’t be seen in a photo.

Being in control of your food for the first time in your life
Eliminating the symptoms of your disease or condition
Improving biomarkers like triglycerides, blood sugar, or blood pressure
Gaining self-confidence
Improving your relationship with your spouse and children
Finally getting pregnant (it happens more often than you’d think)
Being “strangely happy” (as reported by many Whole30’ers)
Having these new healthy dietary habits carry over into other areas of your life
*According to a 2012 survey of more than 2,000 Whole30 participants

Write It Up
For these reasons, we encourage you to share your Whole30 experience with us, and with our community. There are a number of ways you can do this:

Send us your story and some chosen photos to be featured on our our website, and the chance to be heard by nearly 1 million people that month.
Submit a paragraph about how the Whole30 impacted your medical disease or lifestyle condition for our Whole30 A-Z page
Share your experience with others on our Whole30 Forum, in the Success Stories
Write a few sentences or upload your before-and-after photo to be featured on our Whole30 Facebook page
Tag your Whole30 transformation photo with #Whole30 and @Whole30 on Instagram

Take Action!
Take your “after” photos and measurements
Share your Whole30 success story with us, any way you like

STEP FOUR: LIFE AFTER YOUR WHOLE30
We could devote an entire website’s worth of content to maintaining your new, healthy habits after your Whole30 is over. In fact, we’ve devoted an entire chapter in It Starts With Food to just that–so if you’ve read Chapter 20 already, you’re in good shape. Well, at least you’ll know how we think you should approach life after your Whole30. Enacting that strategy may prove more difficult.

The truth is, it’s much harder to make good choices out there in the real world (we call this “riding your own bike”) than it is from within the confines of the Whole30. So we’re going to outline our basic strategy to keep you moving continually towards More Healthy while finding a balanced, sustainable diet that works for you.

Your Life After Strategy
All in all, we want you to understand three very important things about Life After. First, the Whole30 was just a starting point. You cannot erase decades of unhealthy food choices and damaging behaviors in just a month. Our program gives you an amazing jump-start, but you’re not “done” yet. Second, you will slip back into old habits. At some point, no matter how good you feel now, no matter how much you swear you’ve left those less bad foods behind… they’ll creep back in, maybe a little, maybe a lot. And finally, this is okay. Expected, even. (See point #1.) And it does not mean that you have failed. Hear us clearly on that one.

So how do you allow yourself to indulge in less healthy (but totally worth it) foods without turning back into a Cookie Monster? Here’s our basic strategy; but first, a word from our sponsor: Do not plan cheat days. That is just setting yourself up for failure. Do not decide ahead of time that on Saturday, you’re going to want pancakes, brownies, ice cream, and movie theater popcorn. Because when Saturday rolls around, even if you don’t want pancakes, brownies, ice cream, or popcorn… you will eat them anyway, because you told yourself you could. This is the opposite of the strategy we want you to follow.

So what should you do instead?

Continue eating Whole30-ish every meal, every day, as long as that feels good to you. (We say “Whole30-ish” because added sugar may creep back in, like ketchup with your burger. That seems reasonable to us. If ketchup is the worst thing in your diet, you’re doing okay.)

When something comes around that is too good to pass up—too special, too sentimental, to important culturally, or simply too darn delicious—make a conscious, deliberate choice as to whether or not you are going to indulge. (Use our Guide to Off-Roading if you need a little help developing your own “worth it” thought process.)
If you choose to indulge, take your time. Savor it. Eat consciously. And eat only as little as you need to satisfy the situation, your experience, or your taste buds. Maybe that’s a bite, maybe it’s the whole cookie, maybe it’s 6 cookies—just make sure you don’t fall into automatic consumption.

When you’re done, move the heck on. No guilt, no shame, no remorse. You made a conscious decision to eat something you deemed worth it. Good for you. Now let’s move on back to our normally scheduled healthy meals.
You may find that you indulge once every few weeks, because nothing really amazing comes up in between. Or you may find that you indulge every day for 12 days, like on a vacation in Europe. Both are okay, as long as you are following this protocol. Conscious, deliberate decisions. Honest evaluations of “worth it.” And then a return to your normal healthy habits, no beating yourself up.

Whole30 to the Rescue
This all sounds fine and good, but what if you find yourself sliding down that slippery slope of a vacation, holiday, or stressful time? Before you know it, you’re eating more “dirty” than “clean,” and you’re no longer in full control of your food choices. If this happens, you know exactly what to do: another Whole30. And it doesn’t even have to be a full Whole30—maybe you do a Whole14 or a Whole7, just long enough to get back to feeling awesome and reminding yourself why you usually pass on those less healthy foods-with-no-brakes.

Give yourself another reset, start over with your Life After strategy, and watch those periods of less healthy get shorter and shorter as the years go on. Congratulations! You are officially riding your own bike—and looking pretty darn good, we think.

Take Action!
Re-read Chapter 20 in It Starts With Food for our full “life after” strategy
Download our Guide to Nutritional Off-Roading for handy consultations
Read our articles about life after your Whole30, including strategies for holidays, weddings, and vacations.

January Whole30 Reintroduction Process

We are days away from finishing up Whole30 which means what's next?  Some may want to continue on with Whole30 for another round, while others may want to go back to a normal lifestyle whatever that choice is I would recommend you do what is called "Reintroduction" phase.  Remember Whole30 is designed as a 30 day reset not a long term diet so after completing the program it's important to continue with phase 2 of reintroducing foods back into your everyday life to see what you want to keep and what you don't. I took this information off of the Whole30 website and complied it into a document which I'm sharing below.  Here is the link https://whole30.com/2017/01/whole30-reintroduction-2017/

Please read over the following information carefully and if there are any questions please comment below to me or check out the Whole30 website under "Reintroduction" as there is a lot of helpful information.  I also wanted to share a Whole30 Reintroduction Planner that I found and will be using to help with the process. Here is the link for that website: https://www.oliveyouwhole.com/whole30/whole30-reintroduction-planner/

STEP TWO: REINTRODUCTION
The reintroduction portion of the Whole30 is critical to the learning experience. Over the next ten days, you’ll slowly, carefully, systematically reintroduce some of the off-plan foods you’ve been missing, and evaluate how they make you feel in the context of a healthier relationship with food, metabolism, digestive tract, and immune system.

The Reintroduction Plan
You’ll reintroduce “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, where your Whole30 is the control and the one food group you are trying to evaluate is the experimental group.

This means you’ll have to plan carefully, and not combine major food groups during your reintroduction period. For example, don’t eat a slice of toast with peanut butter, because how will you know whether it was the peanuts or the bread that made your joints ache? Do your best to reintroduce each designated food group (as outlined below) alone on your reintroduction day.

Yes, you’ll likely get some added sugar in many of your “experimental” foods—that’s really hard to avoid.If you do choose a reintroduction food with lots of sugar—say, a Starbucks grande Caramel Frappuccino (with a whopping 64 grams!) with whole milk—you’ll have to deal with the dairy  + sugar consequences all at once. Chances are, however, you’ll know intuitively what to attribute to which ingredient—digestive issues are generally dairy-driven, while energy fluctuations, cravings, and mood swings are probably sugar-related. However, some side effects, like skin breakouts, may be the result of the sugar, or the dairy, or the combination of both.

We encourage you to continue to increase your awareness of how the foods you eat are affecting you even after your Whole30 and reintroduction are over. By paying attention every time you eat a non-Whole30 food in the months to come, you can learn even more about how your body reacts to certain foods or ingredients—and continue to make more informed decisions about which foods you deem are truly “worth it.”

Reminder: If you don’t miss a particular food or drink that you know makes you less healthy, don’t bother to reintroduce it. Not missing tofu, black beans, cottage cheese, or brown rice? With evidence pointing towards these foods making you less healthy, there’s no reason whatsoever to add them back into your diet. Only reintroduce those foods that you suspect you’ll really want to include back into your diet once in a while, and leave the rest happily behind.

Sample Schedule
Here is a sample 10-day reintroduction schedule. Feel free to alter your particular food choices to suit your needs.

Day 1: Evaluate legumes, while keeping the rest of your diet Whole30 compliant. Try some peanut butter on your green apple with breakfast, a bowl of miso soup at lunch, and a side of black beans with dinner, while paying attention to how you feel. Then, go back to the Whole30 for the next two days, and see how things go. Pay attention, evaluate and decide how, how often and how much to incorporate legumes into your regular diet—if at all.

Day 4: 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, while paying attention to how you feel. Then, return to the Whole30 for the next two days, and see how things go. Pay attention, evaluate and decide how, how often and how much to incorporate non-gluten grains into your regular diet—if at all. *Corn, rice, certified gluten-free oats, quinoa, etc.

Day 7: 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, while paying attention to how you feel. Then, return to the Whole30 for the next two days, and see how things go. Pay attention, evaluate and decide how, how often and how much to incorporate dairy into your regular diet—if at all.

Day 10: 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 muffin, two slices of whole wheat bread, and a side of whole wheat pasta, while paying attention to how you feel. Then, return to the Whole30 for the next two days, and see how things go. Pay attention, evaluate and decide how, how often and how much to incorporate gluten grains into your regular diet—if at all. *Anything made from wheat, rye, or barley.

NOTE: If this 10-day approach seems too aggressive for you, or you simply feel too good to incorporate all of these foods back into your life right now, check out our Slow Roll option.