In the last few weeks, I've been exploring being less strict with my eating choices--a little maple syrup here, a little salt there, low-fat graham crackers, ezekial cereals and breads and wraps, some decaff coffee and green tea once in a while. And I am surprised to report that I really do prefer not eating those things (except the decaff coffee and green tea). Now I wouldn't normally object to ezekial cereals and breads (these are sprouted whole wheat mostly), but I discovered that I'm allergic to wheat! One day I had all three of the wheat products: a bowl of cereal, a sprouted wheat tortilla and a piece of sprouted wheat bread and it was just like the old days when I had allergies--my nose got runny, I got congested, and I was nauseous--blech. I felt yucky the next day too--I didn't even go mountain biking on our designated Camrock Friday--that's a first for me. This makes me wonder if all those years when I had what I thought were seasonal allergies, maybe I just had a wheat allergy. They did get worse in the summer though.
So for me, wheat is out.
And the maple syrup tastes really good but, alas, it is too stimulating for me--it gives me a sugar high followed by an unpleasant low. I remember when I was a kid, and on the rare occasions we got panakes with syrup I always enjoyed eating it, but always felt sick afterwards. Dang, why does there have to be a consequence from something that tastes so good?
I'm very surprised to report that I don't like any added salt. I thought I'd enjoy just a bit--under 1500 mg per day total which is considered healthy. But I actually prefer the unsalted taste better.
I have enjoyed a cup of decaff coffee with a friend in a coffee shop a few times. I don't do that often enough for it to be a problem I think, less than once a week. and there is this decaff green tea that has 10 mg of caffeine per cup. I like that too. I don't think I need it every day but if I decide I do want it every day, I don't think that's a problem.
So thanks to my many years on the Fuhrman program, I really do prefer foods as unprocessed as possible: without added sweeteners and salt. And I will stick with gluten-free intact grains, such as rice, buckwheat, and quinoa. I'm still experimenting with the oats. I'm suspicious that I have a problem with them too, even the gluten-free ones. But I will enjoy some decaff coffee occasionally, maybe even with sweetened soy milk (my one sugar concession and it's not much).
Another random observations is that my favorite no-salt herb mixture is Penzey's mural of flavors. The lemon and orange peel in this actually resembles a salt bite. (it also has citric acid in it--I hope that's not bad).
The other thing I wanted to tell you is that a lot of people have been asking how different my diet is now, so now that I've settled on a pretty stable way of eating, I'll start posting my food logs again. I'll try to get started on that tomorrow. I may do an occasional calorie analysis since people have been asking about that too. Thanks for your comments and questions. I enjoy hearing from you.
