chEATing

On Monday we had pie in the office to celebrate someone’s birthday. Because I’m a considerate guy I didn’t want to overshadow the person’s birthday with my crazy diet. So I decided to suffer through a tiny wedge of apple pie. I’m such a nice guy. Feel free to send me money. I’ll be nice to it.

As some of my readers may already be aware I'm big on moderation so I do not view the extreme version of the Paleo-diet as a realistic life change. Especially considering that half of what I am eating on this diet travels thousands of kilometers to get to my table so the diet is not sustainable in it’s current format. To this end I've decided to see what foods cause me problems and test to see if the Neanderthin guy is telling the truth when he says I will lose my taste for these “modern" foods.

Surprisingly the apple pie was not tasty. Normally I like apple pie and pre Christmas I liked the apple pies we had in the office. Same for the apple pie at the Christmas pot luck. All provided by the same person presumably from the same place. At least I didn’t suffer any ill effects.

So this morning in the interest of science I bought a cinnamon roll from the cafeteria at work. Before starting the Paelo-diet I would occasionally buy one of these delicious monstrosities when I would step off the bus hungry. So from October to December I probably ate between one and two dozen of these cinnamon rolls. Every single one of them was delicious. Delicious. This one, not so much. It tasted off rather than delicious. Reminiscent of the pie. Then I got a bloated feeling. And then a headache.

I figure to make myself sick on junk on Superbowl Sunday. Then I'll cleanse with a strict week and in February I will begin experimenting with the bad for me foods like potato chips, corn chips, milk products, and bean products. Not necessarily in that order and not at the same time. I will also see if the negative effects of some more generally accepted mild poisons that we eat every day such as the myriad -oses and alcohol are more noticeable.

Unlike after the hypoallergenic diet rather than gradually reincorporating these foods back into my regular diet what I'm thinking of is establishing a list of paleo-diet forbidden food categories that will be OK for me as occasional treats. Based on the pie and the cinnamon roll, wheat doesn’t look like it’s going to make the cut. Mild discomfort plus a not so good anymore taste hardly makes for a treat. So the basic criteria will be does is still taste good? Good enough to put up with any discomfort that results?