Dietary restrictions suck

[flexagon]

I dislike this no-dairy thing. I don't like the constant worry about slipping up: oh no, that cauliflower tastes awfully buttery, did I miss something? Oh crap, that bite of bread was dusted with parmesan, throw the rest away.

I don't know how much I have to eat before I'll see the difference in my skin. I know I tried to cheat a little (or a lot) over a week ago... peanut butter cookies on Saturday, some creamy pasta leftover from Alan's dinner on Sunday, then a chocolate thing with coraline on Tuesday whose dairy content I did not ask about. Sure enough, I broke out and have slowly been clearing up ever since. I don't think I can have always been so sensitive in this way -- the break from dairy may be allowing my skin to become MORE sensitive to it.

What I don't like is how food seems potentially harmful now, in a direct and short-term way. Scary, and a lot of the joy has gone out of eating. I've purposely added a few things back into my diet that I'd mostly removed a while ago, like weekly french fries, just to regain a little of that.

I've heard a lot of my friends struggle with food issues over the years, and I've really never understood them at all until lately.

Comments

[coraline]

and that's the number one reason i'm not willing to try any sort of elimination diet, even though it might improve my skin. i like the foods i like way too much. and if i got more sensitive, and started heading towards food neurosis, i would be low bloodsugar all the time and depressed and that's not a net win.

[flexagon]

Interesting.. and valid.

I do still consider all this (knowledge, and having a control knob) to be a net win. But then I'm not that much of a foodie. I'm whining, but mostly okay with a more "fueling the machine" outlook on food.

[coraline]

i would like the knowledge, but the idea that finding the knob affects the system (suddenly being MORE sensitive) scares me off of doing the experiment.
and yeah, fancy/interesting food is much more critical to my quality of life than some other peoples' :)

[khamsin.livejournal.com]

I've zeroed in on a new lactose intolerance as a (hopefully short term) side effect of my pregnancy. Fortunately (?) my symptoms seem to be primarily digestive, and relatively easy to control, but god, it sucks to have to think about it all the time! And I'm not nearly as sensitive as you are. I'm sorry you're experiencing this.

[(Anonymous)]

Well, we also have some choices in how we deal with things. There are more steps between knowing the knobs and "Now I'm neurotic about food all the time."

[flexagon]

Yep. It's just that this is the first time I've even seen how getting neurotic could happen, and that's... interesting.

[nevers.livejournal.com]

after seven years i still sometimes forget to ask if things on the menu have wheat/gluten, or forget that fried anything probably means breaded then fried (why does fried also mean breaded?!)
i can't remember, do you think it's casein or lactose or both? are there any enzymes you could take when you slip to minimize damage?