The Reality of Diet Perfection
The reality is, I’m human, and sometimes I enjoy things that aren’t the healthiest. Although I don’t drink alcohol often because I dislike the aftermath, I do like to indulge occasionally in cookies, pie or other desserts. Although I will admit that I make my kids crazy with healthier versions of pretty much everything I make. And since last Thanksgiving I’ve had a fewglasses of wine after finding one that does not make me feel terrible the next day.
My Journey with Dairy
I went through a process this past January that included completely cutting out dairy. Over the last 30 years, I’ve mostly eliminated it, but butter was the one thing I never gave up—until 6 months ago. After months without butter I decided to try bulletproof coffee (coffee blended with butter and MCT oil) again. And although I hadn’t had coffee or MCT oil in that time either – what happened I’m quite sure, was from the butter. About a day after having the butter, some whiteheads popped up around my mouth. These breakouts are telltale signs of a dairy sensitivity. And they continued to pop up for the next few days. And now I have a few scars from them which I am not happy about.
What I am going to do now
● The acne has pushed me to consider eliminating it again – even though I haven’t had new acne in 2 days, it’s clearly inflammatory
● Experimenting with ghee: I’m going to try switching out the butter for ghee, which is butter with the dairy solids removed to see if it makes a difference
Rituals
I started drinking coffee 7 years ago, and only because my sister made me a cup of bulletproof coffee that was delicious and didn’t make me feel jittery. I used to drink it partly for the caffeine, but energy is not an issue anymore. I love the taste and the warm, comforting ritual. And I love that it really helps to keep my blood sugar stable. I didn’t miss it when I gave it up, but after having it for five days in a row now I will admit I look forward to it. I’d like to find a version that does not create inflammation.
Understanding Your Body
It’s crucial to remember that the longer you indulge in foods that are inflammatory, the more your body pushes initially apparent issues underground. When you eliminate something for a long period, any reintroduction can make underlying problems more apparent again. The other thing to know is that when you only remove one potentially problematic food at a time, and then reintroduce it, you may not have lowered inflammation enough to see a difference. Something to think about when you consider changing your diet for health reasons. You want to reduce inflammation as much as possible when you’re trying to affect real change. Whatever you choose to do, remember we are all human – sometimes getting professional advice can be a godsend if what you’re doing is not working the way you want. We are all unique and sometimes it takes some fine tuning to figure out what will make you the
healthiest and keep you happy!
Here is the link to the last blog if you missed it.