A much loved friend has been found to be betraying me and my system.
All along my best buddy was masquerading as a provider of comfort, calcium, and skeletal support but all was not as it seemed.
This situation is clear……………..
The cheese has to go!
From the days of my birth to the remission of my disease, Cheese has been one of my very best food buddies. Grated, melted, or straight off the block, me and my sweet tasting dairy friend have had some memorable times.
Little did I know the hidden costs of our relationship.
I have to admit to having had my suspicions about cheese, but like an adoring lover I kept on with the charade, hoping to avoid the inevitable pain of another food loss.
My food diary highlighted the cheesy deceit that was happening but I chose to ignore the cold hard data on the cold hard fridge dweller.
Plain ignorance isn’t how I usually roll. Over the last few years I’ve removed all other dairy products from my diet and felt pretty pleased with myself. So why didn’t I give cheese the boot?
Same old story. Foods are hard to give up, especially those that you love.
I hoped deep down my decision to keep cheese in my diet would eventually be vindicated.
It wasn’t.
What is my defence for this abuse of food diary rules?
Simple denial. The pleasure seemed to be worth the pain? And there is always the argument that I might be getting calcium, amino acids, and other nutrients from cheese.
All of those nutrients are known to improve bone health, so it’s not a great surprise that I wanted to keep cheese in my diet.
The cheese I was eating was plain old cheap yellow cheddar and I adored it. Truth is my body didn’t like cheese as much as I liked it.
Now I’ve found evidence that cheese may not to be the great source of calcium we once thought it was.
Does cheese trigger inflammation?
Cheese is one of those foods that I can tolerate easily once in a while, but if I lapse into longer term cheese habits I am soon reminded of my errors with a little tingle here and there.
Cheese lovers among you may be highly outraged at my blasphemous remarks, but lets not be hasty.
My blog is about me and whilst cheese doesn’t agree with me, it may be perfectly fine for you?
I would advise you to watch this food very carefully and be super honest about the way this food can build inflammation and skew food diary results.
Most dairy products seem to set me going in some small way and whilst it’s taken a long time to eradicate dairy I am now at the point where I can honestly say cheese is one of my trigger foods.
What does a cheeseless future hold
Recently I’ve been making efforts to get in super duper physical shape, as my ability to exercise increases I get that natural urge to do more and try to improve my appearance.
To that end I’ve been looking at other high fat foods in my diet and trying to see where I can cut back.
I don’t really bother with calorie counting, but I would like to see my abs and intend to remove the final extra pounds from my waist. The lighter load should help my movement and condition too.
This new desire for a leaner physique lead me to give up cheese for a time, and during that time I noticed a real improvement in my energy levels and symptoms of inflammation.
That was all I needed to know….I am now cheese free.
Unfortunately some of my meals have suffered in the taste department, but I’m now getting into creating tasty condiments and healthy inflammation cutting salad dressings to fill the taste gap.
Gross or what?
I read an article last week about the way cheese can leave you with inflammatory symptoms for two to three weeks after ingestion.
The piece went on to explain how bovine casein can be detected in the skin after you eat dairy. YUK!
That very statement lead to an inflammatory flare in my thinking and set off a reaction against cheese more powerful than cheese ever had.
Eeeeurrgh ! Was my first thought on reading this news. Cheese is now a distant memory, so much so that when I feel like passing back to the dark side I come and look at this post and smile.
Just another day in paradise, kicking inflammations ass and giving up foods.