I have been a cheese lover all of my life. I always sort of considered it to be its own little food group, and not a day went by without me downing a hefty chunk of the wonderful stuff.
But lately - and I really can't believe I'm saying this - I'm just not that in to cheese.
It started a few months back when I decided for many reasons to start eating some meat again after 20 years of being a vegetarian.
The meat thing has had a few bumps here and there... I've sort of felt like I was learning to cook all over again. But it's also had a very unexpected side effect. I'm no longer craving cheese.
It used to be that I felt the need to smother just about everything I ate in a hefty layer of some variety of cheese. It was partially for the flavor, and partially because my body just seemed to crave it. But after I started eating a bit of meat again (and really, it's only been about 3 servings of chicken per week) I suddenly just don't have the desire for cheese.
I even let a big package of pepper jack go bad in the fridge because I simply forgot it was there!
Who is this?!? And what have you done with Cat?!?
Most recently I've been suffering from tummy problems. I've always had a bit of lactose intolerance, but that never stopped me from eating cheese before. But lately, I've been literally doubled over in pain on a regular basis, and after a night of cheesy lasagna followed by movies and buttered popcorn last week, I felt seriously ill.
So, I'm trying a little experiment... no more cheese!
OK... I haven't gone completely cold turkey... I did sprinkle a tiny bit of Parmesan on my soup the other day, but other than that it's been about 10 days without cheese, and to tell the truth I feel fabulous!
So I'm wondering... has anybody else out there ever experienced anything like this? I mean, I'm really eating very little meat, although I have been using the bones to make soup stock, which is just beyond wonderful.
I'm trying to figure out if this is a physical thing or if I'm just having some sort of psychosomatic reaction to eating meat again. And why I would suddenly become so much more sensitive to cheese is beyond me.
Anyhoo... tell me... do you eat cheese? How about meat? Have you ever noticed a connection between your consumption of one and cravings for the other? Just wondering...
I've been a veg. for 13 years. When I first became a veg, I ate SO much cheese! Just like you, I'd put it on every single thing. Then I started getting digestive issues and found dairy to be one of the culprits. I slowly cut it out. I then found that my throat got itchy and mucousy and tight when I had dairy, so I told my doctor(s) and was told that I most likely had a dairy allergy. I cut out ALL dairy, and I mean any trace amount for 6 years. I finally got an allergy test and found I was not allergic to dairy. I tried to gradually add it back in, but have found that I now generally dislike cheese. In fact, I can not stomach melted cheese to save my life. It's interesting how that changes over time! However, I do eat lactose-free cheese (called Yogurt Cheese at Trader Joe's) and lactose-free yogurt and sour cream, but am otherwise pretty dairy-free. It can definitely be a hard switch, but I actually find that I now prefer being dairy-limited despite how much I cried over my beloved cheese over the years lol!
ReplyDeleteI hope you figure out the cause! My best guess is that your body was craving protein, and now that you can a better, more easily digestible alternative, the cheese is no longer needed. Just my best guess!
Very interesting... itchy throat sure sounds like an allergic response to me, good thing you got it checked. I don't seem to be having a problem with yogurt at the moment... just cheese. Hmmmmm...
DeleteAnyhow, I think the protein craving is a good guess.
When my daughter was being tested for food allergies we were told not to cut back on suspect foods beforehand. The naturopath said this could affect the accuracy of the results. It's possible that your test came back showing no dairy allergy because you hadn't had any for so long.
DeleteAlso, we were told that most food intolerances develop as a result of eating too much of a given item. Maybe you'd just developed an intolerance from eating so much cheese and it went away after being removed from your diet for a bit.
We're limiting dairy right now too. I can completely relate to being less into it after going without for a time. I wasn't too thrilled with the initial cut back at first either.
Ah Ha! She de-lurks! :)
DeleteThose are very interesting insights re the food intolerances. My allergies are the classic variety, with hives, rashes, throat swelling... you know the EpiPen and emergency room variety. And most allergists regard these as the only "true" allergies.
But I totally believe that even if a food doesn't trigger an immune response, it can still provoke very unpleasant symptoms.
So maybe some day I'll feel like eating cheese again... IN MODERATION!
:)
DeleteAfter living with no grains, no sugar and no dairy for the past several months, the need for moderation is built in because overdoing it makes me feel ill. It also makes me very particular about what I'll eat as a cheat. It's gotta be really good to be worth the discomfort later. I'm sure you'll feel the same way.
Wow! Your dietary restrictions sound almost as crazy as mine! It's amazing how much easier it is to modify your behavior when the penalty for messing up is immediate, rather than something nebulous like the threat of maybe getting a degenerative disease some day! :)
DeleteThe more cheese I eat, the more I want. Cutting out cheese has cut out the craving...FOR NOW. I don't promise to never crave cheese again. But, it is physically (not just psychologically) addictive.
ReplyDeleteSo, eating cheese begets cheese cravings! Are you serious about it being physically addictive? If that's real, I wonder what the mechanism is...
DeleteOMG exactly the same thing has happened to me! After fifteen years of being a vegetarian I started eating meat again and the cheese craving just went. Also the desperate need for a midnight snack. I also believe it was the protein lack. I don't think I have a dairy allergy, but now I can take it or leave it.
ReplyDeleteWow! So I'm not the only one who has experienced this! I wonder if it's protein or some other nutrient, like maybe one of the B vitamins. Very interesting in any case!
DeleteHmm...I do eat more cheese than I did when I was an omnivore, but some of that has to do with the fact that I was growing up in an Asian family that hardly knew what to do with the pasty stuff. But it's still not a lot, maybe 4 oz a week, and much less on some weeks than others. I enjoy it (no doubt it says something that I have a cat named Brie!), but don't crave it. I do crave eggs if I go too long without them, and I think that's my body's way of telling me that I'm not getting enough of some nutrient. I probably could figure it out and find a plant based substitute...but I'm not too motivated, since my health is fine on my current diet.
ReplyDeleteI had a cat once who would just sit and gorge herself on food. I took her to the vet who did all sorts of thyroid tests and couldn't find anything wrong. Finally we put her on a vitamin supplement and the problem totally went away. We figured she was low on some nutrient and was just eating and eating to try to get it. It's fascinating the signals our bodies give us... I think the trick is just learning to listen to them!
DeleteWhen I went vegan about a year and half ago, I thought not eating cheese would be the thing that did me in. Pushed me over the edge. But after about 2 weeks I stopped craving it and I haven't looked back since. I still make meat for one of my sons and both my boys eat cheese and drink milk, but I have never partaken. And I will be the first to admit that I am completely shocked by this. Now, when we went on vacation in the fall, we went on a cruise and I went from vegan to vegetarian for the week and did consume some dairy and cheese. I definitely didn't feel as energetic as I did without those things (but WOW, was the food EVER good!) and it was absolutely no big deal to stop eating them once we got off the ship. There are many vegan "cheeses" out there, but I am not a fan of fake food. When I want something that fills that comfort I make something with a rich, creamy cashew based sauce and it does the trick.
ReplyDeleteCashew based sauce... that sound fascinating! Cashews are actually one of the few nuts that I'm not allergic to. I may have to check out some recipes. Thanks for the tip!
Deletehttp://vegnews.com/articles/page.do?pageId=40&catId=10
ReplyDeletehttp://blog.allisonsgourmet.com/2011/03/14/monday-yumday-alfredo-sauce/
those are links to two cashew based sauce dishes that I make ALL the time! enjoy :)
OMG - those look AMAZING! I'll have to give it a try! Thanks so much for the links!
DeleteNo worries - enjoy! the mac and cheese has become a weekly event over here :)
DeleteJust a thought - could you be short on Calcium or something like this, maybe protein. I know there's a theory with pregnant women craving things the baby needs. I could be that you're body's missing something when you don't eat meat that you pick up through cheese, but now you're eating a bit of meat again you body is saying it doesn't need so much cheese. Just a thought and not especially scientific :/ Also I know womens bodies need different things at different points in their cycles too and at different points in time, like menopause/pre menopause.
ReplyDeleteHi Kat, Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteI think you're probably right. It would be nice to figure out what that missing nutrient is though. I've read that some people have difficulty absorbing certain B vitamins through supplements, so that's certainly a possibility, protein is another. I hadn't thought of calcium... I wonder if there's much calcium in meat. Hmmm.... :)
Actually I have just recently gone through the exact same thing!! When I went on my health and fitness kick a few months back I started eating chicken again on a regular basis for the high protein to help me build muscle. I almost immediately lost my desire for cheese! In fact, a couple weeks ago I thought a nice plate of cheese, grapes, and crackers would be a nice treat after several months of not having cheese. I literally couldn't choke down even one slice! I seem to have completely lost my taste for it. Now I did have pizza last weekend and funny that you mentioned being doubled over in pain - I spent 2 days after having pizza doubled over in pain. I never thought it might be the cheese from the pizza that caused it but now you've really got me wondering about it.
ReplyDeleteWow! I'm starting to think we've unearthed a phenomenon here. I wonder if it's lactose or something else that causes the total yuck response. Hmmmmm....
DeleteIt's so weird that we lost the desire for the cheese after adding chicken to our diets too. Former cheese addicts unite? ;)
DeleteDyslexics Untie!!!!
DeleteI eat a shit ton of cheese and meat and I think this new development officially makes you a freak. :P
ReplyDeleteWell, at least THAT's settled! :)
Delete