So this week was kind of a bust! At some point early in the week (maybe Monday night?) I had my last “normal” meal digested, french toast with gluten-free bread and an egg and polenta, then my system went into utter revolt. Since then I’ve been eating sugar- and gluten- and dairy-free all week, but nothing is sticking. All coming right out the other end and feeling bloated and uncomfortable, for the past 5 days now. I usually calm down digestional upset with bananas and yogurt, but going dairy-free, I’ve resisted my usual “fix”.

I attempted a major flush out, assuming I had gotten some kind of virus, by consuming a quart of saltwater on Thursday night around 9:30pm. The flush was successful, and I felt “normal” if not empty. After my first breakfast of cheap “oatmeal” and fruit, I felt pretty good, and starving hungry 1.5 hours later. My second breakfast I had an omlette with veggies (fiber bad idea), which set me back to square one again, feeling bloated and not digesting anything. I spent most of the past 3 days either sleeping or in the restroom. I attempted resetting my system with probiotics, which kind of helped by how much I was burping as the bugs began to digest the peanuts I had overdosed on (peanuts, bananas seemed not to bother me). But it was all pretty miserable.

Meanwhile, my athlete was puking after eating anything with significant dairy in it after her 4 weeks on the dietary restrictions. Pasta with too much cheese, cheesecake, a giant cookie, all rejected by her system. Our head coach mentioned that Pacific Islanders are more prone to lactose intolerance (her father is diabetic and she doesn’t like milk but is addicted to cheese). So she is in “denial” that she is lactose intolerant and what that might mean if she has to severely limit cheese from her diet from now on.

I, on the other hand, seem to have the opposite problem! This morning, I started craving quesadillas really badly. In the airport, tired and weak from days without enough nutrition, I felt almost as if I was going to die/pass out on the moving walkway. I had no energy to look anyone in the eye, and I was not looking good. I resisted the temptation to buy a quesadilla right before getting on the plane, not knowing how my body would handle dairy after 5 weeks of not having any to speak of. I was quite nauseous on the plane, not my M.O. I resolved to get a quesadilla on a flour tortilla for lunch when we arrived back in the city.

Thus ended my “6-Week” experiment with no dairy, sugar, or wheat. I felt slightly better after eating my first quesadilla from the local burrito place. I was extremely tired so went home and slept for about 3 hours, got up, and went and got another quesadilla. I was burping a little but did not get bloated or have any obvious digestion issues. I noticed a flan/chocolate cake and bought one of those as well. I was feeling again slightly better after the second quesadilla. Later in the evening, I got a craving for chocolate milk so fixed myself a chocolate milk using pure raw cacao, honey, and whole milk. I had about 16 oz. (at least) and felt better than I have felt in the past 6 days. Healed! By Dairy! So, unlike Isa, my body seems to run pretty darned good on milk. I’m feeling nearly like myself again, which is good news considering I was ready to die about 12 hours ago.

So what did I get out of this experiment?

Possible that I was having an extreme purging reaction to not eating dairy or wheat, but I doubt it.

1. Don’t get lazy when you own a mini-fridge. If it starts frosting up too much the fridge won’t stay warm and you risk poisoning yourself.

2. Take it easy on wheat products. I did feel much less bloated after eliminating breads and eating more veggies.

3. My body processes dairy pretty darned well. I may want to try going into raw dairy products though to see if I can reap any additional health benefits. The Greek creation story has me interested to see if there is any truth there about lifespan and simple diet with milk and fruits (http://content.uusf.org/podcast/20120212SFComplete.mp3).

This lady in Florida seems to think a diet without meats is great: http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/ageless-woman

And the China study and Dr. Oz are intriguing as well: http://www.drozfans.com/dr-ozs-advice/dr-oz-plant-based-diet-the-china-study-forks-over-knives/

And, there will be no Week 6 of 6 update on this one. That’s a wrap!