As you may or may not know (if you don’t already you should obviously follow me on ) I have been on a restricted diet for 14 weeks or so. Not sure exactly, I’ve lost count.
It started with a visit to my chiropractor who told me off for “coming to me to get pregnant then not doing what I tell you to do”. But what would she know, right? I mean she’d only proven her effectiveness already by massively improving my immune system.
Then there was a doctor. Then an endocrinologist. And they all said the same thing. Have you tried fixing your stomach by restricting your diet?
Bugger.
Off chicken, gluten, dairy and egg I came. That’s in addition to my pre-existing allergy to raw carrot, intolerance to caramel, dislike of seafood and inability to deal with chilli.
What a fun dining mate I am!
The interesting thing about all this has been the things I have learnt.
1. Necessity is the mother of invention
When eating out is more effort than eating in, you realise that you do actually remember how to cook. And when you can’t trust takeaway to get it right even if they assure you they can, you will create meals from whatever the hell you have in the pantry and fridge.
I’ve made some pretty questionable meals over the last 14 weeks!
2. It’s really easy to cut things out of your diet when there are serious implications
If I eat something I shouldn’t, it means the amount of time I have to do thing gets extended. So the stricter I am with it, the sooner it will all be over.
Plus it means this happens:
I have had not a single bit of cheese, not a tiny bite of something, nothing I’m not supposed to have (except by accident) which has meant no chocolate, limited sugar, no chips, no ham & cheese toasties with chocolate milk (my comfort meal). Not even pasta!
I have never had this much self control in my life.
3. I love food
In retrospect I guess I already knew this but having so many of the foods I love taken away from me has only served to amplify it.
I love food!
I asked someone on the same diet as me how they were going and they said they had adjusted to it really easily and it just seemed like second nature now. They hadn’t even been doing it as long as me!
I spend my days feeling like someone spat in my gluten free, egg free, dairy free Cheerios.
4. Sometimes it’s easier to go without
Sometimes the thought of facing reading one more ingredients list or cooking one more meal from scratch is just too hard to take and I can’t be bothered facing it at all.
A few too many times I’ve ended up with cereal for dinner or scoffing a packet of corn chips.
5. Gratitude
By far the biggest thing I’ve learnt is gratitude.
Any time someone is willing to have me over for dinner, or choose a restaurant that can accommodate me, I am blown away all over again. I am so incredibly thankful to have friends who are understanding and supportive and are willing to rearrange themselves for me.
Sometimes I get so overcome with gratitude I almost cry and I wish there were some way of putting the enormity of my gratitude into words. But instead I’ll just say this:
Thank you!
Do you have food allergies or intolerances? Have you learnt anything from a restricted diet?
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