“Could You Give Up Your Favourite Food for One Week? #2”
It’s been three weeks since my friend Chris and I completed our 1-week meat/cheese-free challenge, so I thought it an opportune moment to reflect on what can be gained by going without our favourite foods for a limited time.
I have summarised this in six points below, to answer a question that might be on your mind: not ‘could I?’ but ‘why would I?’
1. To boost your confidence and self-esteem:
If it is your favourite thing – that thing you can’t imagine not having – then you are very likely emotionally attached to it, if not also physically dependent. Challenging our attachments can be a great way of boosting our self-esteem. Regardless of whether the thing you are giving up is good or bad for you, letting go of a crutch – even for a short period of time – can feel like a real achievement. You are proving to yourself that you are OK as you are, that you don’t need that thing to get through your day or week. It may also help you feel more confident about tackling other bigger challenges in your life. Self-belief can be built up via small successes.
2. To help identify sensitivities and intolerances:
Many of us are going through life experiencing physical symptoms without having any idea what’s causing them.
Symptoms of food intolerance include:
- Headaches or brain fog
- Fatigue, sluggishness
- Nausea or vomiting
- Stomach pain or bloating
- Cramps or trapped gas
- Diarrhoea or constipation
- Irritability or nervousness
Is it an allergy or intolerance? – Cleveland Clinic
5 signs of food sensitivity – MindBodyGreen
Eliminating something from your diet completely, even for one week, can give you some indication of how your body copes with it. If you feel better without it, if a symptom subsides or if you suffer withdrawal – these may well be signs of an intolerance. Also, it can be easier to identify a problem food/drink by how your body responds when you reintroduce it. You are more likely to notice any adverse reactions after being off it for a while. Chris, for example, noticed a swift return to his usual tiredness once he went back to eating meat, so is now considering trying a month off!
Note: What I am discussing here would not be as comprehensive or effective as the elimination diet where you remove a whole range of foods at the same time, then slowly reintroduce them one by one. For more info: How and why to do an elimination diet – Precision Nutrition
3. To give your body a break:
Much has been written about the benefits of a balanced and varied diet, including a broad spectrum of different foods, food groups and nutrients. Yet, we are creatures of habit and it’s all too easy to get lazy with our dietary choices. The worst I’ve seen: an ex-housemate who would cook the exact same meal every single night of the week – supermarket spinach & ricotta tortelloni, with tomato sauce. Not necessarily a poor meal choice, but – day in, day out – the body might struggle. One frequently-cited cause of food intolerances is simply having too much of a thing. Often, sensitivities can be resolved by avoiding the problem food for a few weeks or months, to give the body a proper break from it.
4. To get more creative and adventurous:
Restriction can often give rise to greater creativity, because we cannot do what we would habitually do. With one avenue closed off, we are forced to explore new ones! This can lead us to make all sorts of discoveries, eg: new ingredients, new food combinations, new meal choices, even – new restaurants, as I did by trying Vietnamese for the first time while being off cheese.
5. To find more moderation and balance:
Being someone who is passionate about food and health, I have often experimented with eliminating different foods at different times in my life. I have frequently found that when I do reintroduce that thing, I don’t go back to having it as much as I did. The process of letting it go, for however short or long a time, seems to have a natural moderating effect. There’s also a chance you won’t want to go back to it at all. Chris, for example, didn’t go back to drinking tea after his 30-day ‘water challenge’. He tried to, but he no longer enjoyed the taste so it was easy for him to leave it. We are also both eating less meat/cheese now than we were before. If there is something you are truly addicted to, however, it usually works better to stay off it all together.
6. To gain insight and understanding of your own unique physicality and personality:
We often don’t know how dependent we are on something until we try going without it. Coming off addictive foods and drinks like refined sugar and caffeine can provoke quite strong, unpleasant withdrawal symptoms – at least for the first few days. The physical effects usually ease off once it’s left your system, though the ‘missing it’ can stick around for longer.
When I first eliminated tea, I had a hangover-style headache for nearly a week! Experiencing that kind of withdrawal from something as ‘harmless’ as a cup of tea was quite a wake-up call. When I first eliminated refined sugar, the irritability that I had long assumed was just a part of my personality – all but vanished! Both my energy and my mood stabilised, rather than fluctuating wildly over the course of the day. I only discovered these things by being willing to challenge my attachments.
A word of caution: If your relationship with food is already very disordered, with a tendency to swing between extremes, it may be better to focus on creating stability rather than playing around with your eating.
Be honest with yourself and tune in to your body, when deciding what’s right for you. We are, each of us, unique individuals with our very own physical, genetic make-up, strengths and sensitivities – so go well!
QUESTION: What discoveries have you made by eliminating certain foods or drinks from your diet?
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Read Part 1 of “Could You Give Up Your Favourite Food for One Week?”
