As part of my Whole30 experience, I’m documenting my meals and notes about how I feel along the journey. Below, you can view the list of the foods that I ate during my Whole30 reintroduction. You can also view recipes for everything in the meal plan below. The links for tasty recipes go to my personal recipe collection at stphne.com/recipes. For recipes I would not cook again, the links go to the original recipe.
I like to cook on the weekends and eat a lot of leftovers during the week. To really enjoy your leftovers, you can use a microwave and a toaster oven. Use the toaster oven for items that you want to be crispy. This can also dry out food, so add extra moisture or microwave things that don’t need crisping in the oven. You can also use your oven to reheat items, but it takes longer and makes your house hot in the summer.
FOOD
(To see recipes cooked in the previous week and listed as leftovers here, see Whole30: Week Five.)
| Day | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Snack |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 36.Sun RE: GF rice |
Breakfast fried rice, melon | Creamy chicken risotto – ND (non-dairy) | Leftover risotto, Simple Broiled Asparagus, melon | Cinnamon Raisin toast (from Whole Foods, made with rice flour, GF, ND, soy-free) with 2 eggs. |
| 37.Mon | Leftover bacon and spinach frittata, melon | (Restaurant) Chicken fried rice, 1/2 apple | Leftover pork BBQ, leftover slaw, melon | Leftover pork BBQ, plantain chips, pineapple salsa |
| 38.Tue | Leftover bacon and spinach frittata, melon | Leftover pork BBQ, leftover slaw, melon | Skillet Burgers, Bacon and onion jam, burger sauce, melon | Plantain chips and salsa |
| 39.Wed | Leftover bacon and spinach frittata, melon | Leftover pork BBQ, slaw, melon | (Restaurant) Grilled chicken with marinara, steamed broccoli, 1/2 glass of wine | Epic beef bar, cherries 1/2 Epic beef bar, 1/2 Cliff fruit twist, plantain chips and salsa |
| 40.Thu RE: Dairy |
Leftover bacon and spinach frittata, bacon, cherries | Leftover Burger + Monterey Jack cheese, leftover bacon jam, leftover asparagus | Crockpot Pulled Chicken Taco Filling, plantain chips, salsa, and sour cream, green beans, melon | Morning – Haagen Dazs Strawberry ice cream Afternoon – 2 Tillamoo cheddar blocks, cherries |
| 41.Fri RE: Dairy |
2 Eggs cooked in butter, 1 1/2 bacon, banana | Leftover tacos with parmesan, Garlic zucchini with parmesan | Skillet chicken with marinara and mozzerella, broccoli with melted mozzerella | Morning – Plain whole-milk yogurt with fresh strawberry sauce Afternoon – creme brulee with strawberries |
| 42.Sat | Epic beef bar, melon | Leftover Burger, leftover broccoli | Leftover Burger, Spinach Salad with Bacon Dressing, Roasted sweet potatoes | Leftover chicken taco meat, plantain chips, strawberries |
NOTES
Below are my notes about how I felt or any symptoms that I saw because of the diet change.
- Day 36 – Woke at 5:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep. Slept better, though and got 7.5h sleep. I felt a little carb-loaded after having rice for breakfast – sluggish and tired and like there was a lump in my throat. Fine after dinner and snack. Still having 3 BMs per day, neck spasms/pain, and congestion issues.
- Day 37 – Because I don’t want to do dairy while in the office, I’m putting dairy off until Thurs. So I decided to have some fried rice for lunch to further evaluate. It’s the same restaurant where I had been getting the chicken and veggies. After lunch, I realized that I didn’t check whether they use soy in the fried rice. I had a bad reaction about 30 minutes after lunch – My heart began racing and I had mild asphixia. That is, trouble breathing and pain in my nose. I went to the pharmacy and got some Benadryl immediately and felt some relief after 30 minutes.
- Day 38 – I woke with a puffy face and swollen eyes. Joints hurting all over, especially back, neck, and shoulders, but also hands, wrists, knees, and ankles. Still trouble breathing and it kept waking me through the night. Went to the doctor. The doc agreed that the problem appeared to be severe allergies. I doubled my allergy meds, taking Benadryl at night, using Flonase in the morning, and got an inhaler for possible shortness of breath.
- Day 39 – Allergies a little better. Joint and muscle pain a little better. No trouble with the wine.
- Day 40 – I planned for two days of dairy because I wanted to see how the different types of dairy (all cow’s) made me feel. I had the ice cream around 10:30am. I ate it alone because I love ice cream and really wanted to know what it does to me. After about 30 min, I started getting a headache and neck pain from the sugar. I worried that would happen. No issues with lunch, afternoon cheese, or dinner.
- Day 41 – No issues after butter at breakfast, yogurt for morning snack, or cheeses at lunch and dinner. The creme brulee had a lot of sugar. (I didn’t add extra sugar on top.) I had trouble with the sugar. And finally, right before bedtime after 2 days of heavy dairy, I had one soft BM.
- Day 42 – No noticeable change
RESULTS
Read the following notes about how each introduction during the week affected me.
RICE
I had only a very small reaction to rice. I felt sluggish and tired, and like I had a lump in my throat. So in the future, I can eat rice as a small side with a meal, but not as the main ingredient of the meal.
SOY
I accidentally ate more soy and had a BAD allergic reaction. I had wheezing, a runny nose, breathing difficulty, rapid pulse, and inflammation that lasted for days. I also had hard, painful lumps in my lymph nodes. I’m DONE with soy.
DAIRY
- Butter – Ate with food. No issues.
- Whole milk (cream) – Ate without food. Trouble with sugar and large quantities of dairy increased mucus in my throat but not my nose. Soft stool at the end of the 2nd day of dairy.
- Ice cream – Ate without food. Only trouble with the sugar.
- Yogurt (Whole milk) – Ate without food. Only trouble with sugar
- Sour cream – Ate with food. No issues.
- Aged cheeses (cheddar, parmesan)
- Cheddar – Ate with fruit. No issues.
- Parmesan – Ate with food. No issues.
- Soft, fresh cheeses (Monterey Jack, mozzarella, feta)
- Monterey Jack – Ate with food. No issues.
- Mozzarella – Ate with foood. Increase in mucus, but near the end of the second day.
So thankfully, I can have dairy pretty regularly. I can’t load up on it, but I can have it as an ingredient with no concerns. As long as I do it in moderation, it shouldn’t affect my GI.
