A couple of nights after leaving the retreat center, I ordered the steak tacos I had been craving. They were delicious. They also kept me up all night as my body refused to digest them. I only got a few hours of sleep and spent most of the rest of day miserable. I have had steak a couple times since, including steak at a real nice restaurant where I knew the meat was good. None of the other times I had steak were as bad as those tacos, but the red meat still made me feel horrible afterward. So, I may very well be done with cow for good. This is funny as I’m the girl that use to have steak 2 or 3 times a week in my 20s and 30s.
I decided not to give up dairy, especially cheese, but to only have it once a week. I thought having cheese day once a week would work. There is a place near where I live that only has mac and cheese on the menu – 40 +/- different mac and cheese recipes. So, my first week back I decided to get some mac and cheese for lunch for cheese day. This was one of the most interesting food experiments I’ve had. I decided to eat half the mac and cheese and see how it went. I ate all of the mac and cheese – I couldn’t stop. Then an exhaustion hit me so hard I barely made it from my desk, through the living room to the bedroom before passing out. In the minute it took me to get to the bedroom, I went from feeling pretty good to being completely depressed. I slept for 4 hours and woke up feeling sad and groggy. I’ve heard of the grain brain concept, but never read the book. Now I don’t need to. This is what pasta does. I’ve had this happen another time with pizza and a milder version a few times with bread. I also ate a pancake that ruined a whole Sunday. I haven’t had an issue with just cheese. So, I’m done with pasta, scared of pizza, and if I want to have bread, it better be real good bread in small amounts.
My first attempt at coffee, it tasted horrible. Unfortunately, I gave it another try. I should have just left it alone. Now I’m addicted to it again, but I usually only have one a day.
Now I’m mostly vegetarian with meat only when it sounds good – once a week or so. The sugar cravings still come and go, but after the pancake, it’s been easy to walk away from any sugar that crosses my path. I still eat fruit so that’s some consolation. I feel pretty good.