Post-cleanse reintroduction phase.
To everyone who is about to ‘finish’ (or has finished) the Standard Process 21 Day Cleanse or the Whole 30 Program, I want to first and foremost congratulate you. Well done!
These congratulations are not, however, for merely doing the program. Instead, they are compliments for making a commitment to your health. Fortunately for all of us, the journey begins with the Standard Process Cleanse, or any other program you might have completed, but extends beyond these three weeks.
The next steps are important to continuing this commitment to your health. Many call this phase the ‘reintroduction phase’. During the next few weeks, you will begin to add back the foods that you eliminated during your cleanse. You might have even added a few back already! Maybe you celebrated this morning with a bacon and pancake brunch extravaganza! But a word of caution about this…
By doing the cleanse program, we tried to create a situation in which we can observe how the foods we eat might contribute to some of our symptoms. Some foods might simply be preventing us from feeling our best. Eliminating foods to ‘restart’ our system, gives us the perfect opportunity to make these observations.
When you’re reintroducing food groups back into your diet, it’s critical to add each food back, one at a time, in small amounts, so that you may observe how they make you feel. You may find that foods you have eaten for years cause bloating, pimples, or even headaches. You may also find that some food combinations are bothersome to your digestive system. By introducing each food or food group one by one, you can easily identify which foods are causing duress. If you introduce too many at once, you may find yourself feeling unwell – and you will be unable to pinpoint which food caused the issue.
I would love my clients to share with me how their experience has been thus far, via email. With these insights, I can make a recommendation for a more personalized program for the next step in their wellness journey. First and foremost, it’s most important to make note of what has improved, or not. Maintaining a food journal during the reintroduction phase will be helpful in keeping track of what foods cause symptoms, and which do not. It’s best to make note of differences in digestion (subtle or dramatic), sleep, mood, skin, joint pain, etc.
In the link below Melissa Hartwig from the Whole30 Program, writes a detailed description of what she coins “Reintro 101”. There is a fast-track plan and a Slow-Roll plan, each outlined with Pros and Cons. I encourage you all to take a look so that you can feel empowered to reintroduce foods back into your diet, while still maintaining optimal health – for your physical and mental well-being.