{How This Blog Became Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free and Mostly Vegan} Week 5 or That Sinking Forever Feeling

 Update June 2010 on How This Blog Became Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free and Mostly Vegan – I had originally named this series the Detox Diet Diaries, but my experience with these changes in my diet, while incredibly positive, has made me decide I really do not like the concept of  a detox diet.   It is ironic in that the diet my naturopath put me on was incredibly helpful, and a year later, it has become clear I have non-Celiac gluten intolerance, as well as a strong dairy intolerance.  I continue to avoid all dairy and gluten, as well as other problematic foods such as corn, but have grown to really dislike the concept of “detox” – the term promotes the concept of a quick fix, which is just nonsensical.  I firmly believe that the vast improvements in my health are based on the long-term changes I made, and want my posts on the experience to convey this.    
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Background: The Detox Diet Diaries recounts my story of doing a detox diet for health reasons and to isolate food allergies which may have been a contributing factor to some of my health problems. This diet involves real food. I am not on the Master Cleanse, or Gwyneth Paltrow’s latest cleanse, or Oprah’s cleanse, nor are my posts on my diet a way to support their actions. As I explained in my background post, I am doing this under the care of a naturopathic doctor.

By the end of week 4, I was thrilled to be able to add back into my diet something new – honestly, by then, I did not particularly care what it was. I got to add back in lean organic grass-fed red meat {I can eat it once a week now}. I love fish and I love beans/legumes, but I was glad to get a new source of protein.

Week 5, though, was when it really hit me that this diet was kind of forever in some ways. Sure, eventually I will have a little more flexibility. Eventually I will get tested for food allergies {I chose to wait and focus on my other health issues first, rather than add back in some of the foods I am potentially allergic to, just to get tested}. But, the days of saying “I really want X, and who cares if if I don’t know what is in it” – well, those days are pretty much gone.

Despite what I will call the “sinking forever feeling” though, having energy continued to be this new thrilling feeling {trust me, that novelty eventually wore off, but that’s for Weeks 8-9-10}.

The other thing that really hit me during Week 5 was that when I did have food cravings, they were inherently emotional rather than physical. Like, I did not think at all about missing butter until coming across a risotto recipe I would have loved to make. Oddly, though, such cravings were not automatically triggered – I could read through an entire issue of Bon Appetit, with very well-styled food photography, and not trigger any, but then see a cupcake on a food blog and immediately get sad and wish I could have it. And sometimes, out of the blue, through no visible trigger, I would think of a food I loved that I couldn’t have because of the detox diet and immediately crave it, even though the craving didn’t feel physical as much as emotional. That was particularly fascinating, because I had always kind of assumed if you crave something, your body is trying to tell you something. And I still believe that – but those cravings didn’t feel physical. If anything, my body felt pretty unassociated with them.
Disclaimer: I am just a regular person posting about my experience doing a detox diet for health reasons and, ultimately, to isolate food allergies that may be the underlying cause of said health problems. I am not a medical professional or nutritionist. Please do not use information from these posts to do your own detox diet. Rather, seek advice from a doctor, naturopath or nutritionist to determine what the correct course of action for your health is.