Today's Lesson:
Bringing back foods you’ve missed!
This week is designed to help you transition back to your “normal life” while incorporating what you’ve learned over the last twenty-one days. The first thing you’ll probably want to do is bring back some foods you’ve been missing. To really get the benefits of the detox, reintroduce foods slowly, over the next seven days. (You are also welcome to continue the reintroduction process beyond this post-detox week, as you see fit.)
Below you’ll find a list of foods to bring back to your plate, listed in order of when I recommend you reintroduce them (try berries first, for instance). You’ll notice that I don’t list artificial sweeteners (e.g., aspartame, Splenda, Truvia) or vegetable oils (e.g., canola, soybean, sunflower)—because of their effects on health, I do not recommend consuming those regularly.
So, for example, today you may choose to bring back some berries or sweet fruits like mango or pineapple. Keep notes on how you feel as a result of eating these foods. You may not notice much, or you may notice a lot—it varies a ton from person to person.
Don’t reintroduce a new food tomorrow—stick with just what you added today. The reintroduction of a food should be a two-day process, to give yourself time to respond to each food before adding another. Then, on your “day 24” (three days after your detox), choose the next food you want to reintroduce, like dark chocolate, goat cheese, or white rice, for example. You’ll continue this process of adding back a food every other day to allow time for your body to process it and for you to feel the effects of that food.
Depending on the level at which you completed your 21DSD and how you’re feeling with the changes you’ve made, you may decide to slowly reintroduce a lot of different foods, or you may choose to keep most of them off of your plate going forward. Many people opt to follow a gluten free, grain-free, or more Paleo way of eating following the 21-Day Sugar Detox, though that certainly isn’t required. If you’d like some more detailed steps for following a Paleo diet, I highly recommend you grab a copy of my first book, Practical Paleo. It includes meal plans if you’d like that guidance.
The Dish from Diane:
I know how tempting it can be to look at today as a day to reward yourself for completing the 21DSD—likely with food! And, in some ways, that’s okay. If you take a moment to reward your hard work and efforts with healthy sweet foods, like berries and a bit of some dark chocolate, you’re going to feel amazing. Your sense of accomplishment for getting through three weeks will remain, and you’ll feel like those naturally sweet berries were special—and that dark chocolate will probably taste sweeter than you remembered! But while an all-out gluten and-booze bender may sound like fun, it isn’t the best plan of attack. For your physical and emotional health, it’s better to celebrate your 21DSD wrap-up with healthy sweet foods or a non-food reward—a nice manicure, a new kitchen gadget, or even a new healthy-eating cookbook!
Today's Checklist:
- Reward yourself! You made it through the 21DSD! Pat yourself on the back and treat yourself to some dark chocolate or a massage or that book you’ve been wanting to buy.
- Reintroduce a food and track how you respond.
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