Elimination Diet: I'm a Quitter

In the spirit of full disclosure that I promised in starting this blog, I have something to confess.

I caved on the elimination diet. I made it to day 19 of 21, and I caved. This is very typical Kitt behavior.

It all started when T and I went to Greek4U, the tiny Greek place on the corner of Pump and Patterson in Richmond's West End. Despite the name, Greek4U has been getting rave reviews, particularly about its avgolemono soup. I'd been feeling cranky about not getting to eat all the "fun" stuff (the food I've eaten on the elimination diet has been pretty great, but there comes a time when one just wants a burrito or a piece of spanikopita), and I thought I'd take T to Greek4U in order to enjoy the food vicariously through him.

Then we asked about the dolmades (stuffed grape leaves) and the woman waiting on us brought us a fresh one to try. I made T take the first bite to see what was in it and if I could eat it, and then...and then I took the plunge. I ate the other half of the dolma, knowing that it contained white rice and some tomato sauce.

It was so good.

So, naturally, we ordered five more (in addition to a gyro and a piece of spanikopita for T) and I took them home and scarfed them, rationalizing all the way. I know for a fact that I'm not cutting out tomato permanently, I told myself, so this doesn't really matter.

Then I decided I'd throw away the next 24 hours on an eating binge, and then just not bother reintroducing the things I know I want to exclude indefinitely. I'm not sure why this seemed like a good idea, except for the fact that I had already messed up this whole reintroduction thing, and I was sick of not getting to eat what everyone around me was eating.

So I had some red wine (Tres Pinos, a California blend of merlot, cabernet, and syrah). And then I had a few chocolate raspberry macaroons from Greek4U (amazing). And then today I decided this would be my last hurrah and I attacked a plate of French Toast and a chocolate milkshake at the Silver Diner.

And now I feel like absolute death. My body does not enjoy dairy.

So I've decided to rationalize (which, by the way, I believe should be a national sport) this whole 24-hour hiccup this way: I know that I'd like to cut out dairy, gluten, sugar, and coffee indefinitely, so I might as well have one last dairy-gluten-sugar party in my stomach in order to say a proper goodbye, stomach ache be damned.

Tomorrow I'll begin my own version of a reintroduction period, slowly reincorporating the veggies, fruit, nuts, and soy I couldn't have during the elimination portion of the diet. And if anything makes me feel terrible, I'll avoid it from now on.

The moral of the story: you need to go try Greek4U, now. And I'm a quitter. But there's the "life is too short" side of me that doesn't feel all that bad for quitting, especially given that I've accomplished what I set out to do: figure out which foods my body doesn't handle well (D-A-I-R-Y), and cut them out.

See? I can rationalize anything.