Whole30 Meal Plan – Week 5 & Reintroduction
Does anyone else sing “Reintroduction” to the tune of the reproduction song from Grease? Just me? Oh well. Reintroduction is probably THE most IMPORTANT part of the Whole30. You have been through 30 days of eliminating many inflammatory foods, letting your digestive system heal, and learning to burn fat instead of sugar for energy. Now, you have a clean slate to truly test foods and see how they affect you! Don’t ruin it with a binge meal containing all the things you missed on Day 31. Stick with it for just a little longer to get the full benefit of this program! You won’t regret it, I promise.
The Whole30 book recommends reintroducing foods in this order:
- Day 1 (actually 31) – Gluten-free alcohol. Just a drink (or two). Then you go back to Whole30 for the next two days, and see how you feel.
- Day 4 – Legumes. Try peanut butter, beans and soy sauce; something with every meal. Then back to Whole30 for two days. See a pattern here?
- Day 7 – Non-gluten grains like rice, oats, cornmeal (tortilla chips!).
- Day 10 – Dairy. CHEESE! Milk with your coffee. Real butter.
- Day 13 – Gluten-containing grains. Whole wheat bread, a muffin, a beer.
So you introduce something every third day. (You can actually skip the first one if you aren’t a big wine or spirits fan.) You only introduce that one new type of food; everything else is Whole30 compliant, as are the days in between (days 2, 3, 5, 6, 8,9, 11, 12, 14 & 15). And you pay very close attention to how you feel. Alternatively, you can also do a “slow roll” reintroduction, where you stay pretty close to Whole30 and then when something comes up you want to indulge on, you try it and see what happens. I am way too Type A for that. I had to do the more methodical one.
As for sugar, it is going to already be in many of the foods you add back. But if you want to evaluate how it affects you in a pure form, do it first – before alcohol. Evaluate your energy, cravings and your mood.
Then what? Well, you use this newly gained information to make decisions on what you want to add back into your normal diet. Is having a particular food – say blue cheese – worth the physiological repercussions? That is for you to decide. You are learning how food makes you feel.
What did I learn, you ask? Occasionally, I eat the blue cheese. Cheese makes me congested. (Not surprising… did your mom ever tell you to avoid milk when you have a cold? It makes a lot of people more mucous-y.) That’s not something I need everyday, but it is totally worth it on a black and blue burger with bacon. Grains – specifically gluten, but most all grains for me – make me SO TIRED. I might as well eat them with a pillow in my hand. Not worth it unless I know I can go to bed immediately afterwards and I want the bonus of being bloated the next day. Which pretty much never happens. So I largely avoid them. And you know what? I really don’t miss them. Feeling good is worth it!
So to round out this Whole30 and start the reintro period, here is our meal plan for Days 29 & 30 and Reintroduction Days 1 – 5. (We are skipping introducing non-gluten alcohol and going straight for food. Because mom says she doesn’t really miss wine and it’s her party!)
| Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | |
| Sunday, 5/29 | Bacon and eggs with fruit & avocado | Tuna or egg salad with a side salad | Shepherd’s Pie (add carrots) with steamed green beans |
| Monday, 5/30 | Grain-free oatmeal with almond milk | Leftover shepherd’s pie; side salad | Steaks with Roasted Potatoes and Veggies |
| Tuesday, 5/31
(Reintroduce Legumes) |
Hard boiled eggs, banana & peanut butter | Hummus and cut veggies with Applegate Farms roast beef rolls | Cauliflower Fried Rice with real soy sauce |
| Wednesday, 6/1 | Grain-free oatmeal with almond milk | Tuna salad with sliced tomatoes | Garlic Herb Chicken Sausages (and compliant mustard!) with side salad |
| Thursday, 6/2 | Hard boiled eggs, fruit and avocado | Leftover sausages or roast beef rolls with cut veggies | Paleo Taco Salad |
| Friday, 6/3
(Reintroduce Non-Gluten Grains) |
Real oatmeal with fruit of choice | Taco Salad leftovers with guacamole & tortilla chips | Sushi (with rice) take-out (with coconut aminos for dipping) |
| Saturday, 6/4 | Bacon and eggs with fruit, avocado | Tuna with mayo; side salad | Chili-Lime Chicken Burgers with guacamole |
We will be investigating Trader Joe’s this weekend, to see what they have to offer in compliant foods – like the Chili-Lime Chicken Burgers and the Garlic Herb Chicken Sausage. I’ve also heard their roasted plantain chips are yummy.
Shopping List & Preparation Guide – Here are the Shopping List & the Preparation Guide for the Week 5/Reintroduction Meal Plan.
Snacks – Since we are hitting up TJ’s – Roasted Plantain Chips, New Zealand Sweet Apple Rings (Yay kiwis! Not the fruit… the country), Just Mango Slices. Also Wholly Guacamole (from Costco or Publix)!
Recipes
Steak – We don’t skimp on our steaks. We like a good grass-fed ribeye, if we can find them. Otherwise, we tend to go to Fresh Market and get what looks good! Cook it as you like it. We cook ours in a pan on the stovetop in clarified butter. Fry it or grill it, but enjoy a steak dinner!
Roasted Veggies – All I do is cut up veggies, toss them in olive oil and salt, and roast at 425F until tender, stirring a couple of times while cooking. Same with potatoes, but I might add some garlic powder, onion powder, paprika and herbs too.
Guacamole – I totally stole this recipe from my husband’s family. (Thanks, guys!) Mash up 2 avocados, add 1/4 tsp. garlic powder, 1 tbsp onion powder, 1 chopped tomato, 1 tsp salt, 1 tbsp fresh lime juice and 1 minced jalapeno (optional). Add lime juice last and stir. If you keep the pit in the guac, it won’t brown as fast. You are welcome.
All the rest are linked above or are cooked products heated up (sausages, burgers). Plus sushi take-out. Just no fried rolls, wasabi or ginger yet.
Happy Re-introducing!
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