I Said “No” to Cheese!

I thought this day would never come. I have been so addicted to cheese my whole life! I grew up in a Quebecois family, so those lovely Quebec cheese curds that make a world of difference in a true Quebec poutine? Ate them out of the bag as a snack! In fact, my dad, once my parents divorced, would take out the block of cheese, break off a piece for each of us, and that’s what we would eat.

I was vegetarian for almost 10 years. I thought a few times about trying veganism. But I never could do it, simply because I was so addicted to cheese. I could give up yogurt, milk, even ice cream! But I could not give up cheese. I swear it was running through my veins. The only cheese I probably never was interested in was the varieties of blue cheeses. I can never seem to justify eating something that is mouldy. Yuck.

After doing some research this year, it all made sense! Cheese literally can be an addiction. Other dairy products fail in comparison to how densely packed cheese is with different parts of nutrition. I believe it was casein that was pointed out specifically. Because of the concentration, it literally leaves us wanting more. It’s not just the flavour, there is an actual addictive side to the chemical mix of our bodies and the ingredients of cheese. How interesting is that! I literally was addicted to cheese!

Even with my first few days of going vegan, I fell with cheese. Like I said, everything else is avoidable, but cheese. When I had my burrito for supper last night, it would have been so easy to just throw on the cheese. It was readily shredded and available. But I said NO! Wow… I can’t even tell you how empowering that felt. And then my husband and I went to the theatre for the first time in forever last night. I LOVE peanut butter Reese’s and even the new peanut butter M&Ms, but I said NO. I can’t believe it. Who am I? Who is this woman that could never give up this stuff before. I like her! She’s empowered!

I’m feeling awesome. And even this morning, when I just wanted to grab some salt and vinegar cracker chips because they were easy to grab, I said NO and went to work. I’m now drinking my orange juice (another 2.63L) and I know I’m feeling a ton better than I would have otherwise.

I love this lifestyle. I’ve finally got it! Not that I don’t think there won’t be struggles (I haven’t tried going to a function or travelling while being 100% yet), but I’m up and ready. My foot has been stomped. I’ve beat the greatest temptation of all! I’m so excited!

Day 7

I had the laziest morning ever. My husband’s new job is somewhat shift work, so he doesn’t work until 2:30 or 3:30 today. I set my alarm way too early (was thinking I’d be more ambitious this morning), and thus laid in bed for forever. Even so, I was still up, ready, and out the door 10-15 minutes earlier than the average day in the past two weeks. It was awesome!

For breakfast, I ate the last 4 pieces of my Korean potatoes. I totally broke the RawTill4 rule, but I was salivating just thinking of them. They are so good.

As an earlier morning snack (4 pieces of Korean potatoes was not a big meal), I had another ripe mini red banana, and about 6-7 medjool dates.

I did horribly at lunch. I just don’t, for some reason, want to eat the mangos I brought at all! I think I’ve been eating too many mangos and not enough other varieties lately. I gotta fix that. The weird thing is, I want to juice them. I could see myself drinking mango juice, but just can’t be bothered to eat them. So for an awful lunch, I had two snack-size bags of chips, and a can of orange juice. This is not good nutrition…

After school, I quickly went home to do a few things, then went to the more local mall to meet a woman. While I was there, I was so hungry and tempted to buy so much junk! I was even thinking of all the dairy items I could enjoy. My head was NOT in a good place. But I am proud to report, I got a veggie burrito with beans and rice, some tater tots, and an iced tea. I could have done without the tater tots and iced tea, but to be quite honest, by the time I was done eating these, I was satisfied. I didn’t go after any dairy treats that I was thinking of, I didn’t buy that creamy frappuccino with whipped cream that I was thinking of, I simply stuck with my meal. Now that says something!

I did a lot of grocery shopping for my students who were writing PATs the next day, and went to the gym, both without buying anything else to eat. I call this success!

Later at home, I had a lot to do, and a very little amount of time before my husband would be home. So I quickly ate some tortilla chips with salsa, and some popcorn. Total junk food, I know.

I did not eat anything else after this, but simply went to bed.