Sugar Addict?

I've always considered myself a healthy eater (minus a brief cheating phase in college).  I grew up in a household where sugary cereals were unheard of, soda was only allowed on special holidays (Christmas only sometimes included) and dessert NEVER EVER happened.  Add to that dairy, corn and gluten allergies (before gluten allergies were in vogue mind you) and I was the little girl who showed up to the birthday party with her own dessert (gluten free/dairy free/all natural carob cookie anyone?).

In high school I was a diet guinea pig.  I went on everything from high protein/low carb diets (remember those?), to all liquid diets, to portion control diets.  I was perpetually driven by a need to be thinner.

Fast Forward to the College Years:
The Freshman 15 definitely happened.  For the first time in my life I had access to an endless supply of junk food.  A slice (or two) of pizza was typical lunch fodder, frozen yogurt topped with chocolate sauce, whipped cream and Lord knows what else was my afternoon snack, and lets not even talk about Belgian Waffle Saturdays and Brownie Wednesdays.

By my Junior year things had gone the opposite direction.  I had gone through the worst break up ever and decided that anything more than an apple and some cheese and crackers a day was too much.  I got down to the lowest weight I've ever been as an adult.  I swam in my clothes and my friends and family were concerned for my health.  As the depression slowly subsided I got back up to a healthy weight and maintained more positive eating habits.

Today I am probably the healthiest I've ever been.  I work out for an hour a day, 5-6 days a week.  I love to cook and make healthy fish and chicken dishes.  HOWEVER, I LOVE Wine.  I realized that I drank at least a glass of wine 5 days in a row last week.  Now this may not seem like a lot but when you consider that usually I'm drinking at least two glasses it seems like more.  Add to that a love for chocolate and all things ice cream or gelato-like and you've got yourself a sugar addict.

My nutritionist (aka my Mom) recommended that I go on an anti-yeast, anti-fungal diet to counter my sugar addiction.  What this should be called is an anti-fun diet.  Are you ready for this?

Not Allowable Foods:

The delicious foods I miss

• Glutinous Grains (Okay I did this as a kid and I love Ezekiel bread...this one I can deal with)
• Dairy (Three words: CHEESE is Trapped--All you Harto fans will know what I'm talking about)
• Sugar (Ouch)
• Honey (Seriously?)
• High Glycemic Fruit (namely things like Apples, Pears, Peaches, Melon, Bananas and Grapes)
• Alcohol (Shoot me now please)
• Pork (not a huge fan so I can deal)
• Corn (Is in everything...literally everything)
• Potatoes (Good bye French Fries, Veggie Chips and Baked Potatoes)
• Peanuts and Pistachios (Random)
• Mushrooms (Love these things)
• Vinegar (aka all condiments and salad dressings known to man)
• Tobacco (okay this one is fine since I don't smoke)

 Allowable Foods:

• Sprouted Bread (Ezekiel, French Millet, Brown Rice, etc.)
• Dairy substitutes (soymilk, soy cheese, rice milk, almond milk, etc)
• Lean Beef
• Poultry (chicken, turkey, duck...how often does one eat duck?)
• Fish (minus the bottom feeders like shrimp and lobster)
• Berries
• Pineapple/Papaya
• Citrus (oranges, grapefruit, lemons, limes)
• Fresh Juices (not from concentrate)
• Spices and herbs
• Coffee/unsweetened tea
• Green Vegetables
• Other Vegetables not mentioned above
• Shelled nuts

Today is day two of the diet.  Day 1 was rough and I felt like I was legitimately having sugar withdrawals (I saw a man eating an ice cream cone and drinking a beer at dinner and I wanted to strangle him).  Today was easier.  I had turkey bacon and orange juice for breakfast, a burger patty (sans bun obviously) with sweet potato fries for lunch (hey they're not on the non-allowable foods list which to me means they're fair game), and delicious ancho chile chicken with cilantro slaw and avocado lime crema for dinner (you caught me "crema" definitely implies milk...sour cream may have happened). Obviously, I'm not starving.

Supposedly I'm supposed to eat like this for 5 weeks.  That seems a bit ambitious to me so we're going to shoot for 1 and then see how I feel.  Thus far I just feel a bit bloated (apparently this is due to the fungus dying off...umm gross).