For the last two weeks, I've been doing the "Great Food Reboot Experiment" to see how some of the foods I eat on a daily basis have an affect on some health issues I've been having like insomnia, feeling bloated all the time, and eating binges. Here's some of the conclusions from my experiment:
- To be honest, I could not last the full 7 days. I lasted 5-1/2 days which is still pretty darn good. Part of that was my own fault because I scheduled the last 2 days over the Mother's Day weekend. My mom runs a typical Filipino household where there is ALL kinds of food around, and it is nearly impossible to be vegetarian let alone vegan and gluten-free.
- The night before a bunch of my Aunties were at the folk's house and the fridge was loaded with Filipino dessert foods like 3 kinds of Babinka, Leche Flan, and various cakes and pies. Mom said, "We've got plenty for dessert tonight." When I saw all those goodies, I knew, "Game Over." If you're Filipino, or even Italian, Latino or Greek where food is central to a household, you will understand that the "Auntie-made" foods are like kryptonite.
So guess where my Mom wants to have dinner that makes it almost impossible to eat gluten-free vegan...
- We did Mother's Day dinner on Saturday because Mom likes to
avoid the crowds. So, where does she want to eat dinner, a steak house,
The Hungry
HefferHunter. Oh yeah! There was no way I could ask if we could eat somewhere else because this is the one day of the year all about what Mom wants. I figured, I could just make do when I got there. Alas, the menu was filled with nothing but meat, meat, and creamy filled or deep fried whatevers. To eat gluten free vegan at a steakhouse, you're pretty much limited to ice burg lettuce salad, a plain baked potato, and the over boiled "seasonal vegetables" which is pretty much cauliflower, carrots, and broccoli. I could not order a plate of this stuff without calling major attention to myself, and I did not want to "go there" especially on Mother's Day, so I got the broiled salmon with asparagus tips. The asparagus was a Special for the day.
- The experience at the Hunger Hunter made me realize how spoiled I have become eating at Whole Foods and at vegan and raw restaurants near my home. My dinner salad was basically ice burg lettuce with shredded carrots, two cucumber slices, a slice of tomato, and croutons with a honey mustard dressing. I couldn't stand the dressing because I could literally taste all the corn syrup and sugar in it, so I squeezed some lemon on top and added pepper and salt. Man, that was a painful experience. I realized how pointless and tasteless eating ice burg lettuce is and no wonder dieters get so tired of it. Now, I'm so used to eating mixed greens, spinach, and arugala which is packed with flavor, that I never want to eat ice burg again unless it's in a PF Changs lettuce cup appetizer.
- On Sunday, Dad and I went to Costco and there if you are gluten free vegan, the only thing you can pretty much eat is fruits and veggies, so I got some blueberries, and avocados. The biggest challenge though was that whenever Dad & I go to Costco part of our ritual is eating a slice of pizza. We ALWAYS do this when we go to Costco because my dad loves the pizza there, and I did too (before). My dad was so excited to get his pizza that again, I could not say, "No Dad I can't eat pizza with you because I'm gluten-free vegan." My dad won't eat if I don't eat, so if I did say that to him, he'd just say, "Oh ok, we'll just do it next time." But, I know deep down, he'd be bummed. At Costco, I was really starting to feel the social and emotional implications of such a restrictive way of eating. And to me, it is more important for me to have that Dad/Steph ritual time that we both love so much and get so few often. When Dad passes, the Costco time is one thing I'll remember most about our time, just me & him. So, I got my usual combo slice, ate 1/3 of it, and felt really ill-ish after, but the joy of being with my dad and watching him enjoy his slice was worth feeling uncomfortable for a few hours.
Tomorrow in Part II, I'll share some cultural things I noticed, along with the upsides of this experiment and what I plan on eating going forward.
