No Wheat, No Dairy, Yea Right

In our quest to try naturally for a while, I have decided to attempt to follow eastern medicine and the recommended dietary changes. The one resounding diet change I keep finding in regards to my endometriosis and eastern perspective is to eliminate wheat and dairy. Now let’s keep in mind I was raised in the upper Midwest with a father who grew up on a farm. Wheat, dairy, and red meat made up 99% of my diet. It’s what I know, it’s what I love. Really really love. Now I find myself picking up items at the grocery store I can’t even pronounce. Good luck finding items without refined sugar or wheat. I’m currently living in a smaller city and the grocery stores here are pretty pathetic. I perused the one shelf of gluten free items earlier tonight and the first three loaves of bread I picked up all had mold growing on them…ew. They do have a somewhat decent selection of organic bulk items of various rice, quinoa, and seeds. I picked up a few things and will try them over the next few weeks.

One change I’ve made is no longer drinking milk and attempting to make sure most of my beverages are room temperature or warm. Basically I drink a lot of water. I recently gave up OJ and lemonade… too much sugar. I even started drinking the recommended red raspberry leaf tea. Don’t make the same mistake I did…I fully anticipated a delightful fruity tea. It’s actually a pungent black tea and I wasn’t even able to finish the first cup I brewed. I make myself drink a cup each day and it’s getting a tiny bit better. I think tea is like beer, it’s an acquired taste, or at least that’s what I’m hoping.

These changes are going to be hard. I looked through a lot of my favorite recipes and so many of them I can’t eat anymore. It doesn’t help that my husband is extremely reluctant to get on board with the whole diet change. He was also raised in the upper Midwest. Casserole with noodles, ground beef, and cheese anyone? I decided tonight when I was at the store I am going to love all the crap I picked up. I may not like it the first or even by the eighth time, but I will learn to like it. At the very least, even if I don’t get pregnant, I will be eating a lot healthier. It’s actually disgusting just how much junk is in food these days. And don’t even get me started on all the chemicals.

Some of the other recommended dietary changes I made a long time ago. We no longer have chips or pretzels or any other overly processed junk foods in our home.  I gave up caffeine over three years ago and haven’t missed it (once the initial three months of withdrawals were over). (And yes, I was one of those, ‘I could never give up caffeine, I NEED it’. Trust me, you don’t) Over a year ago, I gave up soda entirely. Once in great while, about every 6 months, I will have a small soda and it always reminds me why I don’t drink it. The caffeine gives me a headache and the massive amount of sugar makes it so sweet it doesn’t even taste good to me anymore. And all this coming from a girl who once lived on 4-5 Dr. Peppers a day.

One thing that will be hard to give up is alcohol. Not that I’m a huge drinker, but we live in a community that is big on drinking. And I love a good glass of wine or a nice cold beer once or twice a week. And of course when you’re not drinking, people start talking. In the past during treatments when I was out and not drinking it was easy enough to use the excuse of not being able to drink alcohol because I was taking pain meds for my endometriosis. But still, I hate the funny looks and questions.

I know I want to make these changes, it just feels a bit overwhelming. And I don’t have any clue where to even start. I’m not a good cook by any means. My husband and I have been on opposite schedules for so long we only get around to cooking once or twice a week. But that is going to have to change. I’ve been trying to find recipes and will start experimenting. My goal is to find foods that are healthy for us, and still taste delicious. At the very least, this new adventure in food should be a good distraction for me.