I hope I learned my Lesson!

Things have been going fairly well on the allergy elimination diet. Surprisingly I've had very few moments of truly craving a food I shouldn't have. I've done a good job of keeping the pantry stocked with foods I can eat. I have felt quite satisfied with the food options I have. I have been eating more vegetables and fruit, cooking more and eating out less (or almost never...I've been to Burgerville twice and the only thing I could eat were french fries, not a good option.)

After one month of success, and two more weeks until I can begin introducing some foods back into my diet, I made a big mistake this last weekend. I was making cookies for a wedding reception (LOTS of cookies), and they looked so good, I decided to take a taste of the cookie dough.

Well do you think you could resist oatmeal cookies with golden raisins, coconut and nuts?

Then that bite turned into more bites. Then I ate a baked cookie (and they were quite large). Then grandma came over with a VERY LARGE cookie for the kids. You know the kind the size of a pizza. And since I'd already blown it that day, and even though I was in the middle of making a healthy bean soup for dinner I made the big mistake of taking a taste of that VERY LARGE, chocolate chunk cookie. Then one bite turned into more bites. Then it was time to go to the reception, where there were even more cookies than the ones I made. I didn't eat another cookie, but I did eat some bread and fondue.

What was I thinking?

I guess I just wanted to make sure to expose my body to all of the major food groups I was to avoid...wheat....sugar....dairy. I felt a little yucky that night. But the real suffering kicked in the next day. I guess after avoiding said foods my stomach had a little seizure or something. I was in so much pain. The surprising point? That pain lasted for 3 days!

Today I feel much better, but not completely back to where I was before the lapse in judgement. I think I needed to screw up to realized how great I was feeling before. And I did feel great! I know at times it will be difficult to avoid the foods that cause me pain, but I think after that experience I can remember that the suffering afterward is NOT worth it!

And really, if I can still eat food like this I will be ok. I have been experimenting with flours and sweeteners that I can eat and tonight we had blueberry waffles for dinner that were delicious! Especially because I can have real maple syrup with them. I also made a peach and blackberry crisp that brought on visions of summer with each bite, and I had lots of bites. YUM!