no cheese for me January 26, 2009
Yes, that’s right. Me, myself, and I, the biggest cheese lover I know, hasn’t tasted my favorite food product in seven days. Why would one go through such torture you ask? I’m active and don’t eat terribly, but I was sick twice in the last year and had to go on antibiotics 3 times. The last cold turned into a dreadful sinus infection that lasted 3 weeks. So, I figured now is a good time to refocus on my health and try to bring myself back into balance. I don’t want to be forever oscillating between such extreme health and unhealthy states. I made an appointment with a somewhat holistic nutritionist and for the last 7 days have been following her recommendations to stay away from wheat, dairy, & corn. I will stay away from those foods for 2 weeks total, 1 more week, and will do some food sensitivity testing after the two weeks are over. This is the longest I’ve lasted doing any sort of detoxing, usually I’m done in 3 days. This is not surprising as I usually do a juice fast and almost lose my mind after day 3. The fact that I can’t eat dairy is painful. I miss cheesy goodness. I love cheese. I do not discriminate, I love yellow or white, soft or hard, easy cheese and fancy cheeses too. Ok, enough dreaming of cheese, I should write about the good things that I’m experiencing.
I am surprised at how much better I feel just removing these foods, and alcohol too (well, a glass of white wine once or twice). I don’t know yet if I’m losing weight, but I feel a lot less bloated. If you had asked me before this if I felt bloated, I would say sure, maybe a little, but now I feel so much lighter that I feel like I must have been much more bloated than I noticed. It’s not as hard to eat this way as I thought it would be either. My nutritionist gave me all kinds of rice replacements for my staple foods, rice tortillas, pasta, cakes. I bought a great cookbook which has helped with giving me really tasty recipes that make me (hardly) miss my beloved cheese, veganomicon. It’s pretty much awesome and has all my comfort foods, vegan style. I also cannot overeat while eating this way. I just don’t desire to, and I feel full on less food.
It has been hard to eat out, many restaurants only have one or two choices for me, and they aren’t exactly fulfilling. It has also been challenging to keep up with eating 16 grams of protein per meal (another of her recommendations) without cheese or meat. Yet, even these challenges aren’t so terrible I can’t handle them. Being able to ask my nutritionist questions has made me feel very supported. My friends have been so supportive, cooking meals that I can eat.
It’s funny to me that wheat, corn, and dairy are such staples in american diets when they clearly aren’t good for many people. I realize these are foods that are easily produced en mass here in the US. I miss cheese, but I don’t really miss wheat, well flour tortillas maybe, but i think wheat has just always been there in my world of eating. Not necessary really.
My nutritionist has made many recommendations based on the book Eat Right for Your Type by Peter D’Adamo. I will continue to document my progress here too.
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