This turned into a long post, so get comfy...
I broke my Whole30 yesterday. Not an off-the-rails, facedown-in-a-box-of-donuts break, but a willful, conscious choice not to stick to the plan, nonetheless.
I had a wedding shower “luncheon” for a cousin (actually my cousin is the groom) to attend. Sloppy joes, spinach salad with strawberry vinaigrette, Chinese chicken salad (the kind with crumbled up raw ramen in it - is this A Thing other places besides the Midwest?), cantaloupe (ick anyway) slices topped with maraschino cherries (which I have been known to eat straight out of the jar in a past life), lemonade punch, and a GIANT platter of dessert bars - brownies, rice crispy bars, gingerbread cake with cream cheese frosting, date bars, lemon bars. OMG. I texted my husband as soon as I go there: “there’s not one single thing on this table that I can (should) eat.”
a smallish scoop of sloppy joe (no bun - that much was easy at least)
a giant pile of spinach salad WITH dressing
The Whole30 gurus advise navigating social activities by eating before you go so that you can pass over anything that isn’t compliant, but how do you do that when it’s a luncheon and you “can’t” eat the main dish? Yeah, I admit I put my Minnesota Nice upbringing over my personal preferences this time. I still wish it had occurred to me to ask if they had any leftover salad that hadn’t been doused in dressing yet (I found out later that they totally did).
Still, I’m guilty as charged about that date bar.
And here’s the first interesting thing: If I had managed to keep the rest of my plate compliant, I probably would have passed right over that bar, too. Just like the apple crisp at Easter. But since the meal was already shot, I figured why not? And that slippery slope is a scary one.
Here’s the second interesting thing: both the sloppy joe and the salad tasted like someone had emptied a sugar bowl directly on top of my plate. I continue to be fascinated at how quickly our palates can adapt to new taste baselines.
So...technically, a lapse in plan means I should start my Whole30 back over at Day 1. I understand the WHYs of this. I even agree with them. But the only reason I can keep track of what “day” I’m on is because I started on the first and will finish on the 30th. I plan to stick pretty close to whole30 for the next couple months at least anyway (I have a bridesmaid dress to rock in July!), so for now, today is still Day 12. I may or may not reintro/celebrate at the end of the month- we’ll see how I feel in 2.5 weeks.
