No grains! No gluten! No sugar! No artificial sweeteners! And now, no dairy?!?!? You have GOT to be kidding me! Having been someone who spent over 30 years of her life on a diet, I had come to a place where I could no longer even fathom another moment of deprivation. I was a staunch advocate of not trusting any “diet” that made you eliminate an entire food group, let alone two or more. And when it comes to weight loss and body image I still believe that. Honestly if I was told that I needed to do this to lose weight and that was the only reason, I don’t think I ever would or could do it. But in the beginning of this year I was desperate, desperate to do anything that might improve my health and afford me a better quality of life. I stopped eating grains, gluten, sugar, and artificial sweeteners about three months ago.
A few weeks ago I had a blood test that measured food intolerances. It was not a test of food allergies, but more along the lines of indicating what foods might be causing an inflammatory reaction in my body. Inflammation can cause all sorts of health problems, so I decided to look into this as another route to increasing my energy and stamina. The test looked at how my blood reacted to the proteins in 150 different foods and rated the reaction from none to severe. Among the many foods that showed up as items I have reactions to were cabbage, kale, walnuts, and limes. Wow, I eat these foods all the time! Cow’s milk, goat’s milk, and gluten were also on the list. I wasn’t surprised about the dairy, but I love dairy! Milk and cheese have been a big part of my life since I was a little girl. I remember my grandmother would always make sure there was a big glass of milk for me when we came to visit for dinner. She also had a big bowl of black olives for me. Thank goodness I can still eat those! So when I read the results and found that dairy was now off-limits for the time being my heart sank. But I had mentally prepared myself for it. The way I think about it is if you gave me a choice of a piece of cheese or my quality of life, there is no contest. So out went the dairy. I have now been off of dairy for 6 days.
I don’t tell myself that I can never have these foods again in my lifetime. I am saying that for now I am willing to take a leap of faith in order to see if these things help me improve. There are so few treatments out there that actually do anything to help. I had run out of options until I started seeing my Naturopath. Since I started seeing her I have definitely seen some improvement. It’s impossible to say what exactly is causing the improvement. The dietary changes? The supplements? The daily juicing? Other lifestyle changes? Or a synergistic effect of some or all of them? I still have a long way to go. Will letting go of dairy help me? Who knows. But I am willing to keep following this path to see where it leads. Time will tell.
Quote Of The Week – “People are fed by the food industry which pays no attention to health and are treated by the health industry which pays no attention to food.” ~Wendell Berry