Blogger and certified group fitness trainer Shannon C. was a Whole30 success story, sharing her non-scale victories and reset advice with her clients and audience. For six months, she rather effortlessly enjoyed her food freedom. But the latter part of 2014 brought a busload of stress: client demands, relationship issues, a hospitalized family member, and an automobile accident that left her with bruises, a swollen knee, and mounds of paperwork and insurance red tape. Shannon found herself veering off her food freedom path with sweets and dairy, letting comfort foods slip back into her diet on a regular basis. She tried to rein it in on her own, but her failure to successfully moderate only led to even more unhealthy choices. After a few months of stress-eating, she was struggling with energy, sleeping poorly, and feeling bloated and out of control.

While Shannon leaned heavily on her faith during these tough times, she knew another reset was the best way to put herself back in the driver’s seat. “With so much uncertainty and stress in my life, the Whole30 reset gave me something I could control and succeed with,” Shannon explains. Once she returned to her reset, she found a sense of comfort and order in the familiarity of the rules and structure, and other healthy habits fell back into place. As she puts it, “When so many other unfamiliar stresses were weighing on me, returning to my reset actually lifted the burden and put me back in control.”

While the techniques outlined in Chapter 9 are designed to help you spot your triggers and keep you from straying too far off the food freedom path, it’s good to have a backup strategy in case you find yourself lost in the forest with a fire-breathing Sugar Dragon on your tail. Even the best-laid plans can go awry, and any one of those last four triggers (especially when combined with a gradual slow slide back into old habits) may prove difficult to recover from gracefully. The good news is that you already have a proven plan to regain food freedom, no matter how out-of-control you may once again find yourself feeling. Just go back to your reset.

There. Don’t you feel better already?

The 80/20 Rule

Robert Sapolsky, professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, proposes that 80 percent of stress reduction can be attributed to the first 20 percent of effort. It’s why you feel so relieved just by making an appointment with a counselor, signing up to join a gym, or ordering that book on meditation. You haven’t actually done anything yet, but your brain likes that you’ve taken the first step and translates that into stress relief. Sometimes, this can backfire—you’ll feel so much better that you’ll want to check this task off your list altogether. To combat that, you’re going to commit to your reset—then follow it through using the techniques outlined in this chapter.

If you feel in need of an intervention at any point in your food freedom journey, simply return to your preferred reset. (Or, if part of the reason you’re here is because the design-your-own option didn’t work very well for you, commit to something a little more robust, like the Whole30.) Start the process all the way over from the beginning by committing to the reset; going public to gain accountability and support; getting prepared with a pantry clean-out, meal plan, and grocery shopping; preparing for potentially challenging situations; and . . . GO.

Returning to the Reset

  • Come back to the reset as often as necessary.
  • Do this for as long as necessary to feel 100% back in control.
  • Reintroduce.
  • Return to enjoying your food freedom.

It’s as simple as that.

You know it works. You know it will feel great. You know it will restore your self-confidence, self-control, and happiness. So do it, and get back to that place where your energy is rocking, skin is glowing, cravings are banished, and a healthy, sustainable balance is back within your grasp. Complete another reset, learn even more about how food affects you with another careful reintroduction, and take all that information with you to build an even more robust foundation for your ongoing food freedom. This reset will automatically delay the advent of another slow slide; give you clarity to make an even better holiday, vacation, or home-alone plan; and provide you with even more tools and practice to gracefully manage stress.

It’s so easy it almost feels like cheating.

When It’s Not Easy

Except sometimes, you feel stuck. Sometimes, you know you should do something, and you know you’d feel so much better if you just did it . . . and yet you can’t. Something keeps you from taking that first step, even though logically, you really want to and you know it will help. It’s like you’ve got a really big interview to get to, but your car is stuck in Park, and you can’t figure out how to get it into Drive, no matter how desperately you want to start moving.

Feeling stuck is the worst.

You know you need to get back to your reset. Every day you tell yourself, “Today is the day,” and every day you find a new excuse to put it off. You’re mad at yourself for not doing what you know you need to do. You’re mad at the people you see actually doing it while you aren’t. You’re mad at me for saying, “JUST DO THE THING ALREADY,” when you’ve TRIED and you CAN’T. You’re just mad, and that state of mind is only feeding your Sugar Dragon, who thrives on a diet of anger and frustration.

Something is preventing you from starting your reset engine.

I’m not a psychologist, so I won’t get into the idea that people do things for a reason, and if there wasn’t an emotional payoff, you wouldn’t keep doing it. (Although I think there’s something to be said for working through this stuff with a trained counselor, especially if getting “stuck” is a pattern that pops up frequently in your life.) I will, however, help you feel less crazy for not being able to just do the thing already.

You’re not actually crazy. It’s the food.

You’ve been inhaling calorically dense, nutritionally sparse, super-rewarding comfort foods like it’s your full-time job since that holiday/vacation/stressful event (or for no good reason—you just have been). Overconsuming these “foods with no brakes”—the stuff that once you start eating, you can’t stop eating—causes a cascade of physical and mental consequences, all of which make it really hard for you to break the cycle and get back to your reset.

  • These scientist-designed, carbohydrate-rich, calorie-dense foods combine sugar, salt, and fat in amounts not seen in nature, stimulating your brain with giant hits of pleasure and reward.
  • Your brain worships at the altar of pleasure and reward, so it reinforces habit loops designed to promote cravings for even more sugar, salt, and fat.
  • These cravings are really hard to ignore (thanks, dopamine), so you give in even when you’re not hungry, and especially when you’re anxious, lonely, bored, or tired.
  • Since most of the micronutrients, fiber, water, protein, and fat have been processed out of these foods, your body gets lots of calories but still doesn’t feel nourished—so you overconsume.
  • This puts you on a blood sugar roller coaster; the ensuing energy spikes and crashes driving more sugar cravings and moving you back toward a metabolic reliance on sugar instead of fat.
  • Emotionally, you’re back in the same craving ➞ overconsumption ➞ guilt ➞ shame ➞ remorse cycle that feels all too familiar, the stress of which (guess what?) promotes cravings.

And all the while, you’re sitting in your driveway with the keys in the engine, crying into a box of cinnamon buns and listening to “Everybody Hurts” on repeat.

I’m not saying you’re not responsible, because unless someone ties you up and force-feeds you Oreos, you’ve made the choices that led you to this place. But understand one thing: These foods are designed to make you crave them and built specifically for overconsumption. You’re not crazy—you’re just responding exactly the way food scientists knew you would.

Do you feel a little better now? Good.

Now take a deep breath and put on your big-girl (or -boy) pants, because you’re about to get to work. You’re not actually stuck; you’re just freaked out. The idea of going from where you are now to Day 31 of a successful reset is exhausting. Looking even farther down your food freedom road is even more overwhelming. You begin thinking about how well you were doing and how far you’ve slipped, imagining the long trek ahead of you. It’s like you’re staring up at the biggest hill you’ve ever seen, and you’re wearing roller skates. With wheels made of donuts. Tasty, tasty donuts.

Your inner monologue probably sounds like this: “I was doing so well, but now I’m back where I started. It’s going to be such hard work to feel awesome again. Can I even feel that awesome again? Will it always be this hard? Will I ever find my balance? I hate where I am, but I just can’t move forward.”*

* Sounds like your growth mind-set has also taken a backseat to old habits and negative self-talk. Don’t worry about this now—that will be easy to restore once you’ve recommitted to your reset.

Let’s move you forward.

You’re going to steal a mantra taken straight out of 12-step recovery programs. Groups like Alcoholics Anonymous or Overeaters Anonymous have plenty of proven success strategies under their belts, including the popular phrase “One day at a time.” And that’s how you’re going to get back to your reset, feeling awesome, and food freedom: one day, one meal, one bite at a time. So right now, ask yourself just one question:

“What’s the very next thing I have to do to get back to my reset?”

I’ll help you by breaking down the “one day at a time” motto even further. Shifting your food freedom car out of Park starts with just one meal, and using whatever tricks you can to stay present and not project too far ahead of yourself.

Today Is Your Day 1

Yes, now. Right now. With your next bite of food, you’re back on your reset. I know you have food in your house that is compliant. Start eating it. But here’s the psychological trick . . .

It’s just one meal. You only have to go back to your reset for ONE MEAL. You can wrap your head around that—one reset-worthy meal. The meal after that can be vodka and ice cream sandwiches if you want . . . but this meal is 100% compliant.

Proceed. Cook yourself some good food. Enjoy it. Allow yourself to feel the satisfaction that comes from doing something so incredibly healthy. High-five yourself for a job well done. Then repeat this same strategy for each and every meal. Tell yourself that just for this meal, you’re going to make it reset-friendly. The next meal doesn’t have to be, but this meal is a reset meal.

The logical side of you is saying, “But wait, what if for the next meal, I really DO want vodka and ice cream sandwiches?” That’s the trick. Because even if you do, you’re still going to tell yourself to get through one more meal before throwing in the towel. Again and again, it’s just one more meal . . . and even though you intuitively know you’re tricking yourself, it will work.

Because science.

The fact that you’re giving yourself permission to go off the plan with the next meal removes a huge amount of pressure. You won’t feel trapped in a 30-day reset, contemplating how you’ll get through 90 reset meals in a row; you’re just focusing on one. It takes advantage of the “status quo” bias: your emotional preference to keep doing what you’re already doing. It breaks your goal down into something manageable, but it also accomplishes a critical task: it gives you a huge sense of accomplishment. If 80 percent of your stress can be mitigated with the first 20 percent of effort, you’ve just taken a huge step toward breaking your return-to-reset paralysis. And that’s gonna feel so good, you’ll be able to continue in this fashion for the next meal. And the next. And the next.

Although at some point, you’re going to need to grocery shop.

Repeat this process one meal at a time, and you’ll quickly realize that you’re actually cruising up the reset freeway. By now, you’ve distanced yourself from the empty reward of fatty, sugary, salty comfort foods; begun to correct blood sugar regulation and restore hormonal balance; and given yourself a break from the emotional roller coaster you’ve been riding. Once you’ve sufficiently distanced yourself from the cravings, you can stop doing your little trick at every meal. (Or keep doing it for every meal, if it helps. Personally, this is one of my favorite motivational tools when I’m trying to change a habit.)

One Day, One Meal, One Bite at a Time

Whole30er Michelle K. of Katy, Texas, uses this tactic get through stress-related p.m. cravings. She says, “Night is the worst time for me, so I tell myself that if I can finish this day sticking to my healthy plan, then tomorrow I can do whatever I want. The next morning, I am so happy I am another day further into my food freedom journey that I find I just want to keep going. I realized if I can honor the commitment I made to myself and push through the day or moment, then I can come back at a better time and truly decide if this action is something I want to pursue.”

Most of you will need a full reset to get back on track, especially if you’re new to the Food Freedom plan, or if it’s been a very long time since your last reset (and you’ve been a very naughty monkey between now and then). That means a minimum of 30 days, plus the full reintroduction period. When you’re feeling seriously out of control, Sugar Dragon roaring, energy and blood sugar fluctuating like a roller coaster . . . now is not the time for shortcuts.

There still aren’t any quick fixes. It will be hard work (again). But the more you practice, the easier it gets; it’s totally worth it, as you’ll remember from your first reset; and getting back there is not as hard as you’ve made it out to be in your head. You know what works, and you know how to do it. So just do it—but don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed. Get back on the road one mile (wait, meal) at a time, until your cravings and negative self-talk are just a speck in your rearview mirror.

The Role of a Mini Reset

For some people and in the right circumstances, an abbreviated reset can be an appropriate tool to keep you on the food freedom path. If you’ve got lots of experience with your reset and stay pretty close to your ideal diet otherwise, it may only take you a week to jump straight to “tiger blood,” where you’re feeling energetic, confident, and back in control. In that case, there’s no need to always extend your reset to the full 30 days just to say you did. Food freedom demands that you live by your own rules as often as possible, so don’t follow a strict reset any longer than you really need to.

There are a number of circumstances in which a mini reset may be the right tool for the job. Maybe your Sugar Dragon has just barely started to awaken, and you feel like a quick Craving Reset will send it back to sleep. Or you have a big presentation or exam coming up, and you want to look and feel your best heading into it. Some people just throw in a mini reset regularly for good measure, 5 to 10 days at a time, as a preemptive way to keep their healthy food freedom habits solidly in place.

If you get to Day 7 or Day 10 and realize you’re not where you want to be, just keep going. Turning your mini reset into a full reset because you’re further away from food freedom than you thought isn’t a strategic failure—it’s just another learning experience. Figuring out how many days you need to be feeling amazing again is a good way to track progress; if you need 25 days this go-round, but the next mini reset has you growling like a tiger by Day 14, that’s great news.

All of the Bad, None of the Good

All you naughty monkeys from the last section are now thinking, “Wait, a mini reset? I’ll take that, please!” Hear me clearly: If you’ve gone pretty far off the rails since your last reset, are still new to food freedom, or your medical condition or symptoms are presenting again, an abbreviated reset will do you more harm than good. Think back to your first reset. How much fun were the first ten days? Yeah, not that fun. Resetting for 5, 7, or even 14 days is probably just long enough to remind you how hard the first half of a reset can be but not long enough to have you seeing the magic—a serious lose-lose situation. If this is your context, do yourself and your body a favor and reboot for the whole 30 days.

Still reintroduce. Always reintroduce. Remember, reintroduction is a lifelong experience, and even a mini reset is a great opportunity to see how things work in the context of your newly reestablished “clean slate.”

Finally, the guidelines for a mini reset are the exactly same as those of a full-length program. Resist temptation to relax on the rules, cut corners, or allow common triggers like sugar or alcohol into the reset because you “know” they work for you. Every reset is another opportunity to learn even more about how potentially problematic foods impact your body, habits, and emotional relationship with food. The only thing different here is the time frame.

Wash, Rinse, Repeat

Returning to your reset is an important part of your Food Freedom plan; a foolproof “get back in control” strategy meant to be employed as often as you feel is necessary. It will likely feel necessary more frequently in the beginning. This is okay. You’re working hard to reprogram habits, break unhealthy associations, and learn a whole new language around food. Much like anyone trying to quit smoking or improve their health, there is no shame in needing support and help along the way.

Part of my recovery included regular group counseling sessions and meetings. In the beginning, I attended several a week; I needed all the support I could get while trying to change my addictive behaviors. As I grew more comfortable in my new healthy habits, better able to manage cravings and stress using the tools I had learned, I relied less and less on meetings, and only attended when things were especially hard or I was struggling more than usual.

These meetings were my “reset,” a safe space where I could recommit, gain support, and leave feeling confident and back in control. I never felt bad about needing them. On the contrary, I was proud of myself for accepting the extra help, and comforted that I had something I knew I could return to whenever I needed it to keep me on track.

Returning to your reset is neither a failure nor a weakness.

Changing something as emotional as your relationship with food is hard. You’ve gathered many tools to help you stay committed, focused, and in control as you navigate this food freedom journey. Think of your reset as just another tool. If you need the extra support, it will always be there for you. Use it when you need it, gaining confidence from each and every revisit. And remember that admitting you need help during a difficult time is a sign of strength, and a huge indicator of the progress you’ve made.

After all, your cries for help used to look a lot like sticking your face into a pint of frozen yogurt.

Tough Love

It’s time for some more tough love. Think of your reset as a safety net, there for you as you venture out on your own food freedom balance beam. You’ll walk, balance, feel great . . . and slip. Which may shake you up a little, but does no real harm, because the safety net is there to catch you. However, a safety net does not equal permission to ride a unicycle while juggling flaming cupcakes on your balance beam. Translation: Just because you know the reset is there to help you get back on track does not excuse you from staying conscious and aware, and making deliberate decisions while you’re practicing food freedom. It’s a just-in-case safety net, not a trampoline. Besides, bouncing back to your reset too often isn’t fun, isn’t healthy, and isn’t actually freedom.

How often you should reset is highly variable, based on your needs, how far you are into the process, and how much you love the comfort and surety of following your reset rules. Some choose to reset themselves on a regular schedule, just as they check their carbon monoxide detectors or turn the clocks forward or back every spring and fall. Others will return to their reset simply to support their spouse or a co-worker taking it on for the first time. I prefer to schedule them only as needed. I’ve done a full Whole30 twice in one year, but for the last two years, I’ve been able to keep my food freedom on track with only the occasional Whole7 or Whole14.

There are pros and cons to all these approaches, so let’s walk through them to help you make a better decision about when, why, and how to incorporate various reset possibilities into your life. I’ll summarize my best recommendations for you to follow, until you’re comfortable enough to create your own reset timeline.

Regularly Scheduled Resets

Pros:
  • Keeps you on track, even if you’ve slipped and are hesitant to admit it.
  • Keeps you better connected with your healthy-eating community, which provides you with ongoing motivation and support.
  • Ensures you’ll regularly continue to increase awareness around how less-healthy foods impact you.
Cons:
  • May be hard to fully commit if you don’t feel like you need it.
  • May tempt you to go off the rails pre-reset, since you know a cleanup is coming.
  • Too frequent resets feel less like food freedom, because you’re not spending enough time finding your own balance

Resetting with Family or Friends

Pros:
  • Unexpected resets on someone else’s timeline really help keep you on track.
  • Brings you closer with family and friends; gives you more in-person support.
  • Sharing your healthy eating journey with others will deepen your commitment to your own.
Cons:
  • May be hard to fully commit if you don’t feel like you need it.
  • If your family/friend struggles, complains, or quits, it may weaken your own resolve in the moment.

Resetting When You Decide You Need It

Pros:
  • Ensures you are fully committed to each and every reset.
  • Forces you to stay present and aware with your habits and acknowledge when you’ve slipped; a good practice.
  • Allows you to enjoy your food freedom for as long as you can successfully manage it—which could be a long time.
Cons:
  • May find yourself off the rails for a longer period of time, reluctant to admit you’ve slipped.
  • Will be emotionally and physically harder to come back to if you wait too long.

My Reset Recommendations

To give you a little more guidance, here are my best big-picture recommendations based on the pros and cons of the approaches I outlined in chapter 4, and what I’ve observed within the Whole30 community. This is a great place to start if you’re new to the Food Freedom plan, but many Whole30ers have successfully followed this same strategy for years.

  • Schedule one annual reset each year; I highly recommend a start date of January 1. Nearly everyone needs a little help recovering from the holiday season, and because so many people will choose to reset at this time, support and resources will be widely available.
  • If a friend, family member, or co-worker wants to try a reset, consider whether you need to do it with them to be supportive. If you’re secure in and enjoying your food freedom, remember you can help them just as much by being their daily check-in or helping them plan their meals.
  • Practice your food freedom skills, and at the earliest sign of needing help (feeling out of control, and not being able to regain control using the other tools provided), recommit to a reset.

Now a word on yo-yo resets. If, before reading this book, you vacillated between strict dieting and falling off the wagon hard, I hope the advice you’ve picked up here has helped pull you out of that cycle. But if after a few food freedom cycles, you still find yourself ping-ponging between “I’m on a reset!” and “I’m knee-deep in a box of Cronuts,” there’s obviously something that needs addressing. Ask yourself a few questions:

  • Are you still thinking about this like a DIET, where you restrict, starve, and white-knuckle your way through until it “ends”? Solution: Reread page 60 and remind yourself this is not that.
  • Are you getting lazy in your worth-it evaluations or skipping over the short-term and long-term food freedom success strategies? Solution: Recommit to the material in chapters 7 and 8, because until you start practicing, these will never become a habit.
  • Are you thinking of your reset as penance for your less-healthy eating? Yes, it’s a safety net, but using it to “make up for” poor, impulsive, or lazy decisions around food is old dieting mentality. Solution: Reread the tough love on page 164, and remember you can’t “crash reset” like you used to “crash diet.”
  • Are you being too hard on yourself, or expecting too much too soon? Solution: Show yourself some grace. Know that over time and with dedication to the process, these habits will stick, and you’ll be on the Food Freedom path for longer and longer stretches of time—but it doesn’t happen overnight, and slips are expected.
  • Do you have deeper unresolved emotional issues around food? Solution: The Food Freedom plan alone can’t bring everyone to a healthy relationship with food. Recruit the help of a reputable counselor or psychologist to explore what is keeping you stuck in this cycle.

Second Time’s a Charm?

Now that you’re comfortable with the idea of returning to your reset whenever you need it, there’s something else I need to warn you about.

The second reset may be harder than the first.

In fact, for those who come back for a second round of the Whole30, more than 1 in 4 will find the second one even more challenging.*

* According to a 2015 survey of more than 1,900 Whole30ers

Not what you were expecting, I know.

You’re all, “How can this be? I’m a label-reading maniac, I know the rules of the reset inside and out, and I have a support network of Instagram friends and forum buddies to help keep me on track. I make my own mayo and don’t even own a scale anymore, for goodness’ sake. So why would the second round be harder?”

Because reasons, that’s why. A few of them. But the good news is that all of them are foreseeable, preventable, or at the very least manageable. Let’s dig in.

The Newness Is Gone. The first reason is simple: Your reset is no longer a bright, shiny toy. While you did gain valuable experience and knowledge from your initial run, the first time through something difficult or complicated can actually be easier, precisely because you don’t know what’s going to happen.

During your first program, everything was exciting—even the hard parts, like figuring out what to eat at a restaurant or dealing with a family dinner. (And when you did figure it out, wasn’t it exhilarating?) You had no idea what to expect from one day to the next, which meant each morning unfolded like an adventure. Yay, reset!

Okay, maybe not every day was magical, but there’s something to be said for going through an experience, looking back, and saying, “Whoa, that was really hard . . . but I did it!” Then, when the time comes for you to head into your second round, you already know the hard parts, the parts where you’ll struggle, the parts where you’ll be frustrated and cranky. (Plus, you know how much work it is, compared to grabbing something healthy but not quite reset-worthy at the deli for lunch.) All these things make the next reset far less appealing, which makes it harder to see the full program all the way through.

If this is your context, make a plan for the tough parts you know are coming. If late nights at the office, travel days, or family dinners were difficult in your first go-round, figure out how you’ll handle those your second time through, in order to reduce stress and give yourself a “cushion” for when you’re tempted to quit. Also, inject some fun or newness into your second program. Commit to trying two new dinner recipes a week; pair up with a reset “buddy” on social media or your healthy-living forum; or grab lunch at that new place you’ve been dying to try, and figure out how to stick to the reset on the fly.

Lack of Preparation. If you had a relatively easy time settling into the groove of your first reset, and if you’ve retained your meal prep skills and kitchen confidence, you may enter into this second reset with a pretty relaxed attitude. You may be thinking, “I’ve been living in the food freedom zip code for a while now—I’ve totally got this.” The risk is that you may be lulled into a false sense of security. As a result, you won’t clean out your pantry, reinstate a support system, plan any meals, or make “if/then” plans for potentially stressful situations.

Because, you know, you got this.

Until two days into your reset, at which point you become acutely aware that you don’t, in fact, got this. The food-freedom-appropriate-but-not-reset-worthy convenience foods you’ve been relying on? Out. That whey-based post-workout shake you’ve reincorporated? Out. Not sweating whether there’s added sugar in your salad dressing? Out. And all of a sudden, you’re panicking, because this is harder than you remember, you didn’t give it the attention it deserved, and now you’re scrambling.

This is easy to prevent. Just remember that every reset requires planning and preparation. Go back to page 55 and check off the to-do items.

Um, that’s it. Moving on.

Frustration with the Technicalities. During your first reset, you were probably very careful about making sure absolutely everything you ate was compliant, because you took the idea of “No cheats, no slips, no excuses” seriously. In addition, you really didn’t know what would happen if you got two weeks into the program and accidentally ate soy sauce or peanut butter, and you really didn’t want to take the chance of ruining your reset.

Now you’re a lot more aware. You think peanut butter isn’t a big deal, the cream in your coffee doesn’t impact you much (if at all), and a little soy snuck into your sushi is NBD for your body. This makes it much harder to stick to the reset rules, because at this point, you figure, “Meh, I know how XYZ food affects me anyway.”

This is dangerous.

This puts you in the mind-set of, “Do I really have to worry about all these other rules, too?” And failing to fully commit to every aspect of the reset makes it so much easier to abandon the program when it becomes inconvenient or unpleasant.

Please don’t do this.

Every reset is another opportunity to learn even more about how food affects you physically, psychologically, and emotionally. This is the very foundation of your food freedom; making conscious, deliberate decisions based on this information. What you think is just fine/worth it/no problem right now may, in fact, be not so fine/not worth it/actually kind of problematic from one reset to the next. Each reset builds on the last, and brings a greater range and depth of awareness when you reintroduce.

Commit to treating every program like it’s your first, from elimination all the way through reintroduction, because it kind of is like starting all over again.

A Rough Ride. If you had great success with your first reset but have gone pretty far off the rails (or waited a long time before admitting you needed help), you may think a return to your reset will be nothing but sunshine and rainbows, like a tearful reunion with a childhood friend. And you may be very unpleasantly surprised when the first ten days of your second program are more like a name-calling, hair-pulling, drink-throwing reunion episode of that reality TV show you won’t actually admit to watching but secretly love.

Think season 2 of Vanderpump Rules. Not that I’ve seen it.

What I’m trying to say is that your second reset could be just as rough as your first. Perhaps even worse, because you now know how good you can feel . . . and this ain’t it. Your Sugar Dragon might roar. Your headaches might return. You might find it hard to crawl out of bed on Day 3, and even harder to face your cheerful co-workers for the morning meeting on Day 6. If you’re not prepared for this, it might prove such a shock that you abandon your second attempt altogether.

If you know you’re coming back to your reset after a few weeks (or months) of less-than-stellar habits, brace yourself. Return to your reset journal (you kept one, right?), or simply remind yourself of some of the not-so-pleasant moments. Accept that the more immune triggers in your diet before you start your second round, the longer it will take to get you back to feeling awesome. Approach it one week, one day, one meal at a time if you have to. And create a good support network and “if/then” plans up front, so when the going gets tough, you have plenty of options besides bailing.

No More Low-Hanging Fruit. Because your first reset was an eye-opening experience and a departure from your past diet and lifestyle, you probably saw dramatic results really fast. But if you’ve retained most of your new, healthy habits for much of the time since then, your next reset isn’t actually the same radical departure. Which means you won’t get the same radical results, either.

If you get partway through your second reset and feel better-ish, look better-ish, but get discouraged because you’re not seeing the “miracles” or weight loss you saw during the first round, you may be tempted to quit . . . and that experience of starting and giving up makes it all the harder to start again.

So, before you reset again, it’s time to get real: You probably won’t get the same stunning results the second time through, because the reset isn’t as drastic of a change, and you’ve already made so much progress in how you look and feel. (This is especially true of weight loss, which almost always happens fastest in the first stages of a healthy eating effort.) Combat this sense of disappointment by focusing on something different for this reset. Create goals centered around non-scale victories—things that speak to your self-confidence, other health efforts, cooking competence, or socialization. And embrace that your second reset can be equally as rewarding as the first, even if you don’t lose as much weight or experience a huge burst of energy—if for no other reason than the self-confidence you’ve gained by seeing it through.

Every Reset Is Different

Whether your second (or third, or fifth) reset is easier or harder than the last, one thing is for certain: It will be different. With every experience, you’ll be drawn to other aspects, learn new things, and get more into the nuances of how the elimination and reintroduction of your reset foods impacts you physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Spare Some Change?

I liken this experience to learning how to drive a car with a dollar bill in your pocket. Say every time you get in a car, you’ve got $1.00 worth of attention to spend. When you first learn how to drive, you’re spending $0.90 on the very act of driving. Seat belt fastened, rearview mirror adjusted, foot on the brake, emergency brake off, check behind, check to the side, check behind again . . . You’re spending cents like crazy, and you haven’t even left the driveway. As you get more comfortable with driving, however, you’re spending less attention on the technical aspects of driving, which leaves you more attention for other things. You notice the beautiful mountains around you, find your favorite song on the radio, and hear that funny whining noise coming from the engine that no one else would notice, but you do, because it’s your car. That’s how it’s going to be with your reset.

In the beginning, you’re only going to notice the big things, in part because the changes will be big, and in part because your focus automatically goes to the practical. The first round generally brings huge awareness of the physical impact of your food choices, so you’ll feel almost hyperaware of what’s happening with your energy, sleep, digestion, skin, chronic pain, inflammation, and waistline. Through the process, you may also realize you’ve got emotional ties to and cravings around specific foods and/or circumstances. (Telling your temper-tantrum-throwing brain “no” for the first time in a long time is a pretty big eye-opener.)

Understandably, these may be the only things you notice during the first round of your reset. The changes are huge! You feel totally different! It’s like you’re driving effortlessly for the first time in your life—and boy, is that worth paying attention to.

After a period of time spent enjoying your food freedom and practicing your “worth it” skills, you’ll have even more awareness money to spend. The reset rules, handling food emergencies and social situations, and your general meal prep routine feel familiar, almost habitual. And because your bodily changes probably won’t be as dramatic, I’m advising you now to specifically look for other differences before and after your next reset.

You will find EVEN MORE MAGIC.

Every experience will bring even more awareness of how food affects you. You’ll dive deeper into the nuances of your emotional relationship with food, notice even more subtle effects of giving things up and reintroducing them, and fine-tune your definition of “worth it.” To go back to the car analogy, after a few resets, you’ll finally be able to hear that tiny little whine that could be the first sign of trouble on the horizon—something you couldn’t possibly do during your very first drive.

For me, this was recognizing the subtle effect eating gluten regularly was having on me, which only came to light after my fourth Whole30. I knew from my first (and second, and third) experience that gluten made me bloated, but I never realized what it was doing to my attitude . . . until my fourth reset. After reintroducing gluten a few times on the given day, I realized something: I was cranky. And kind of depressed. In fact, everything sucked, and what was the point, and I might as well just start eating bread again.

It was subtle, but it impacted my mood, my motivation, and my emotional energy. But I had never noticed it before because I was so focused on my belly looking puffy and patiently waiting for any ensuing digestive issues. They never came . . . but as I eventually discovered, that doesn’t mean I was totally in the clear when it comes to bread. Or waffles. Or my beloved cupcakes.

These discoveries may not be as fulfilling as the initial “Holy crap, that’s what’s been making my skin break out!” revelations, but they’re seriously important. Every piece of information you gather about your relationship with food gets you closer and closer to food freedom. It’s how you make better “worth it” decisions. It’s how you plan for (or around) the inclusion of certain foods in your life. It means you won’t be caught off guard after a few days of croissants in Paris with virtually no physical effects, then coming home and wondering why you can’t find the motivation to get back to the gym. For me, it was understanding that I can eat one cupcake and be totally in the clear, but if I eat two, I’ll pay the psychological price for the next 36 hours.

Additional information about how many cupcakes I can get away with is critically important to my food freedom. Which brings me to my final point on why subsequent resets are so important to your Food Freedom plan:

Your definition of “worth it” is always changing.

Or at least, it should be. And without challenging your current beliefs, how will you know to adjust your plan to make it work even better for you?

As you continue down this food freedom path, you’ll feel like you’re effortlessly cycling through one big positive-feedback loop. You’ll feel better, so you’ll want to do more healthy stuff. Which makes you feel better, which means you’ll want to do even more healthy stuff. It’s the exact opposite of the cycle you used to be stuck in (where you felt like crap, so you ate more crap, which made you feel even more craptastic).

As you cycle happily through this positive loop, your context is shifting with every step. Your body is changing. Your self-confidence is better. Your energy is more stable. Your entire life is adjusting. That means your goals, health, and tolerance for dietary shenanigans are always changing, too. It’s not unusual for something to be deemed “totally worth it” after your first reset, but not actually worth it after your third. Conversely, something may be not worth it now because it physically messes you up, but after a year of gut healing and immunity boosting, you find you can enjoy it periodically without major consequences—it’s worth it again!

Each and every reset allows you to refine your definition of “worth it,” given how that food feels in that moment to your current body and brain. And even small adjustments to your regular daily diet based on what you’ve discovered during another reset can make a big difference in how good you look and feel, and how secure you are in your food freedom.

Food Freedom Awaits

And with that, I conclude your three-part Food Freedom plan.

Congratulations! Improved health, changed habits, and an improved relationship with food is just over the horizon. For the first time, you’ve got a dietary plan that’s specifically tailored for you; strategies for successfully managing cravings, stress, and all the curve balls life could throw at you; and a foolproof backup if you ever find yourself off course. You’ve got it all covered.

FREEDOM!

Until you go to brunch with your best friends. Or dinner at your mom’s. Or a business lunch with your closest colleagues.

And then all hell breaks loose.

This could happen. I want to prepare you. So let’s talk about how to talk to friends, family, and co-workers about your new healthy-eating plan in a way that won’t get you divorced, unfriended, or fired.