A Change of Taste

A day or two later I had the aforementioned 3D moment of clarity. I started to feel like I was really on my game at work, and I was noticeably happier. Not only did things seem brighter, I felt like a weight had been lifted off my head and shoulders.

I continued on the diet and found that it was actually fairly easy to maintain. I steamed or roasted veggies whenever possible and ate a regular breakfast of quinoa, greens, broccoli and carrots. Almond butter became my new favorite treat, and a bite or two accompanied every meal. (Have you ever tried fresh ground almond butter? I highly recommend.)

During the second week, I ceased to have any more cravings. I no longer yearned for cheese, bread or a decaf latte. I just ate to eat, and while I wasn’t savoring food as I have in the past, I was surprisingly enjoying it. Raw vegetables actually started to taste quite good, even though I wasn’t putting any dressing on them. My taste buds were definitely changing.

When I decided to start this diet, I didn’t think about the fact that my birthday was coming up. I thought about skipping out on celebrating and just staying home, but since I was feeling so great I decided to go out to a whiskey bar with some friends. Unaffected, I watched them down tasty drinks while I drank sparkling water with lime all night. I had so much energy that I didn’t need the alcohol, and I ended up staying out until 2am.

That night I’d had a modified tofu dish from Osha Thai. I had them hold the sauce, so it was simply tofu, basil, red peppers, onions and spices. It was delicious, but I paid for it with itchy legs later that night. So the next day I decided to take things up one more notch. They say that when testing for allergies, one should remove all items consumed more than once a week. So I removed all other potential allergens (other than tree nuts) from my diet:

• Legumes (including peanuts)
• Soy products (which are also legumes)
• Eggs
• Spices
• Tomatoes
• Avocadoes
• Lemons and limes
• Peppers

Once again, I was surprised that I didn’t really miss these foods. Plus there was comfort in knowing that I’d meet up with each of them again in the coming weeks.