Thursday, October 23, 2008

A day in the life with no wheat, dairy, or sugar.

So somehow I find myself two weeks into a two month period with no wheat, no dairy and no sugar. I went to see a naturopathic doctor a few months ago to get rid of some stomach issues I have had forever. Tests to see if I was sensitive to wheat or dairy proved inconclusive, so now we're 'cleaning up my digestion'. That seems to involve giving up just about everything I used to eat.

And it's a little strange.

First we wanted to see if I was sensitive to wheat, so I didn't eat it for two weeks. That was pretty easy. I have given up wheat before. You can still eat all kinds of nice things like chocolate, palak paneer without the naan (I love palak paneer), roasted vegetable quesdillas without the quesdillas - okay that's just roasted veggies, but with cheese and sour cream who can complain. So really it wasn't bad. There are plenty of comfort food, bad for you items in a wheat free world. Plus, I could drink, well wine anyhow.

Next, I gave up dairy for two weeks. My doctor wanted it to be absolutely pure, so I couldn't even eat things that were produced in a factory with dairy (mind you, there are a lot of 'vegan' items produced in factories with dairy products or with 'trace' amounts of dairy - pretty much anything chocolate). Now in my old world, dairy was pretty much my number one protein source morning noon and night. To say I ate a lot of dairy was an understatement. That last time I went to a naturopath (mid 90s maybe) he suggested I use the 'blood type' diet. I am B+ and according to the blood type folks, B+ needs to eat dairy. So I always figured dairy was my food, I needed to eat it and a lot of it. So, giving up dairy was huge. I do realize there are lots of vegans in the world, but I had never even considered it. What was my new vice? Well, there were some rather tasty vegan cookies that they sold at work. I started eating a lot of potato chips. Really, the very saddest part was that I could find no chocolate to eat!

But that was the old world - just no wheat or just no dairy. I was living large. Now what is there? I'm pretty much left out of any comfort food, junk food game. Plus, it seems that alcohol is all sugar, so really I'm not supposed to drink much of it. (I think there are a lot of things that are 'all sugar' some of which I may be eating, but I have decided not to explore that too fully.)

So what do I eat? Today I had quinoa and eggs for breakfast. Rice cakes and PB for snack. A big salad with lots of veggies and some canned salmon plus some rice for lunch. A pear. A hemp protein shake, some gluten free crackers with PB, and some squash soup for dinner. Tasty huh?

So, crazy things about not eating wheat, dairy and sugar. Anything slightly 'sugary' is SO SWEET. I had a juice last night and it was like I was eating super sweet ice cream with chocolate sauce. Really, it was too sweet. I couldn't drink it. The only juice I really like now is grapefruit juice. What else? I'm skinny. I've lost about 5 pounds in two weeks and I eat ALL THE TIME. I eat lots of fat. It doesn't matter. At least for now, my digestion seems super sized. Maybe that will change, but at the moment I have pulled out all my super skinny clothes. And the final thing, is socializing. It's hard, you really have to think about and plan any outing involving food. I can't even imagine going to some one's house to eat, because I would be so annoying. At the moment, I pretty much just eat before I go out. Restaurants? Kind of scary because I'm never sure what is in what I am eating.

So six more weeks. We'll see how it goes. Will I waste away to nothing? Will chocolate chip cookies be too sweet and I'll never want to eat them again (chocolate chip cookies are my number one favorite food group). Will my stomach never hurt again? Will I ever be able to go on a date without my date thinking I'm a crazy person?

I'll keep you posted.

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