The Real Reason I Felt Awful on Whole30

Remember when I posted “Why Whole30 Wasn’t For Me” back in March? I thought I nailed exactly why I didn’t like it. No really, I was so proud of myself. See, you have to eat a lot of meat on Whole30 and I normally like to be a little bit more plant based. That must be it! That must be why I got stomach aches while everyone else raved about how they felt super skinny and had tons of energy, right? Right?! WRONG.

I’ll admit, the idea of a food intolerance crossed my mind during this time. Maybe something that is Whole30 compliant doesn’t sit well with my stomach and that’s why I didn’t like it and other people do. At one point I was even blaming sweet potatoes! But, as I mentioned above and in this post, it was easiest to blame it on meat. I don’t usually eat sausage with breakfast, and that was in my egg muffins. How about my healthy quinoa veggie soup or tabouli that usually give me tons of energy? All of a sudden those kinds of dinners were off limits. This made a lot of sense to me.

But quite honestly, this was a convenient way of thinking. It allowed me to break the “diet” without guilt, or thinking twice. But as I tried to eat normally again while incorporating a few Whole30 principles I liked, I found myself still getting stomach aches. And then I found out about Pinnertest.

What is Pinnertest?

For those of you who haven’t heard of Pinnertest, it’s an at-home test that determines your food intolerances. They send you a kit, you prick your finger for a blood sample, send it back to them and await results! Super easy. Now, this is NOT for full blown food allergies, but rather intolerances and sensitivities. I’ll admit, I heard about it a while ago when Shut The Kale Up tried it out, but I never really thought it would apply to me until recently.

Hold up, what is a food intolerance if it’s not an allergy?

Good question! Food allergies are usually much more serious with obvious reactions. Instead, food intolerance happens when your body has trouble digesting what you eat. This means that it doesn’t properly break down the food into the necessary nutrients. Your immune system then gets confused and thinks it should attack this “bad” food. That causes inflammation in the gut, which is exactly why I got stomach aches and felt bloated a lot during that time.

Let’s just say I am SO glad I finally got a test and pricked my finger because the results totally blew my mind. When you get the email, there is a green column and a red column. Green = go/in the clear to eat! As for red, there is a scale to consider. If it’s in the red column with a +1, you have a low reaction (but still a reaction) to that food. If it’s in the red column with a +2, you have a moderate reaction. And if there’s a +3 in that red column, you’ve got a high reaction.

My Pinnertest Results

Peanuts = +3 Reaction
Egg Whites = +1 Reaction
Egg Yolks = +2 Reaction
Cashews = +2 Reaction
Sesame Seeds = +2 Reaction

WHAT?! All I could think was, I’ve been eating all of these things my entire life and never noticed this. How is this possible? But then I broke it down. This is an intolerance, so one egg on top of avocado toast wouldn’t be a big deal, especially when I usually opt for smoothies/oatmeal on weekday mornings. A bar with cashews one afternoon wouldn’t hurt either. But when I put it all together it made so much sense.

When I was doing Whole030, I was eating at least 2 eggs a DAY. I would eat a compliant trail mix with cashews in it EVERY day. I would eat an RX Bar or Lara Bar EVERY day. But the kicker was the day before I received these results. I put cashew milk in my coffee and had an apple with peanut butter – but otherwise I ate really clean, and I still had a horrible stomach ache that I couldn’t figure out. These results came in and… oh. Maybe I should pay attention to this.

But is this really accurate?

I really think it is! I know it sounds kind of crazy, but I’ve pretty much eliminated peanuts, cashews and sesame seeds from my diet, and I’ve tried to limit the amount of eggs I eat. While we were traveling, I tried to only eat one egg at a time, and definitely not two days in a row. Now that we’re back, I’m only eating them max. one day a week, usually Saturday or Sunday. I’m also avoiding huge restaurant omelets, instead opting for a smaller portion with other things on the plate to distract me ?

Since doing this, the last time I had a really bad stomach ache was a day that I accidentally ate some peanut butter that I thought was almond butter. Now that is quite convincing, huh?

Have you ever wondered if you have a food intolerance?

Have you felt awful when you’re following a “clean” diet? Or have you had a bunch of stomach aches but you can’t figure out what has caused them? It’s frustrating AF, isn’t it?

I totally understand that purchasing a Pinnertest isn’t cheap, but if you’re really fed up and confused, it might be worth it. Plus, if the alternative is tons of blood work with a doctor, the $490 price tag isn’t the worst thing. Plus, they’re having a Thanksgiving sale this week!

They’ve also been super generous and are offering my readers an exclusive $60 off with the code: LAKESHORELADY.

Let me know if you try it out!

*I received a free kit from Pinnertest, but they did not pay for this post. All opinions are my own!

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