So I started a No Cheese Detox or
What?! No Cheese?! Is it even possible? I know I feel the same way.
I don’t drink milk; I’ve never been a fan or consume many dairy products except cheese. That also means I don’t eat ice cream, cake, and stuff like that, mainly because I’m not big on sweets anyway. Sure, I may have a little ice cream ever so often, but I don’t crave these things.
So for the sake of this journey and documentation, let’s be clear that I am not reading labels and avoiding all dairy for complete elimination. That is the next step. I need to break this down in stages so I can stick to it. So again, my main focus is no cheese, please.
Cheese has always been my downfall. It wasn’t until the last few weeks that my allergies flared up exponentially. You know when you get to the point of being so sick & tired of being sick & miserable that you are willing to do whatever it takes to get better? Well, I hit that point.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I had been allergy-free for 3 years after my whole body detox. Then my allergy symptoms crept back this season in full force.
I’m due for another detox, but for now, the timing is not right. My daughter is on Spring Break next week, and we have stuff planned that will make it harder than necessary. No need to set me up for failure right out the gate.
So, I decided to start by eliminating dairy; for me, that means cheese. I’ll admit I’m not checking food labels for dairy yet, so I can make this transition a little easier.
Going Cheese/Dairy Free
Years back, when I was a vegetarian, I also eliminated dairy for about a year. But then I eventually gave in to the cheese. At the time, I felt great. My sinuses were so open I could breathe clearly. It did make a noticeable difference. My allergies were minimal compared to what they used to be.
When I returned to cheese, my
I learned to stay indoors during spring & fall. While some love the smell of grass & flowers, I don’t. It is an awful smell for me & it triggers an allergy attack. I’m not talking about a few sneezes and then take some antihistamines and go on about my day.
My Allergy Symptoms
For me, it means sneezing non-stop all day & night—my eyes & face swell. Eyes water regularly & are red and itchy. Coughing off and on. There’s no sleeping as I can’t breathe, congested and still sneezing. This is all with allergy medicine.
For the most recent allergy attack, I tried 3 different antihistamines. None of them worked. I also use a Nettie pot, Essential Oils, humidifiers, vapor rub, and so on.
I’ve seen Allergists and even underwent allergy tests to tell me that I’m allergic to all outdoor allergens, more or less. Well, I already knew that through experience. Thanks for the expert analysis.
I was told I had mild asthma as well. So it was recommended that I try allergy shots, nasal sprays, Zyrtec, and keep an inhaler. Great, so now I’m Paul from the Wonder Years (this probably just showed my age. Oh well, I loved that show).
Treatment consists of having shots twice a week to begin. They inject you with very low doses of the allergens you are allergic to. And then increase the dosages throughout several months. It is with the hope that you will build your immunity to these particular allergens.
Yeah, well, that didn’t work either. After months & months of getting shots, I had 3 different instances where I went into anaphylaxis and had to Epi myself & go to the ER. 3 times!!
After the third time, I called it quits. Shots were not working for me, apparently. And I seemed destined to be this miserable every spring and fall seasons.
So I stopped treatment and went at it on my own without all the prescribed treatment. I’ve mentioned in other posts that I like to get to the root of the problems and not treat the symptoms. This isn’t any different. In the meantime, I’ve been using this natural therapy inhaler when I need help breathing.
All I was doing was trying to treat the symptoms. What’s the root cause of these crazy allergies of mine?
This Journey Is What Lead Me to the Whole Body Detox
After all, they did go away for 3 years following my whole body detox. So I know that there is a direct correlation between my diet & removing toxins in my body to adequately perform its duties. Dare I say a cure to allergies.
Our liver is responsible for detoxifying our bodies. However, if the liver is so overwhelmed with trying to detox normal toxins that have inundated our system, it cannot and will not perform to the best of its ability. Removing external toxins as well as internal toxins from poor eating habits.
Side effects from an overburdened liver are not managing allergens effectively because it works on removing all the other toxins from years and years ago. That’s right, years and years.
Check out the book Medical Medium – Liver Rescue Answers to Eczema, Psoriasis, Diabetes, Strep, Acne, Gout, Bloating, Gallstones, Adrenal Stress, Fatigue, Fatty Liver, Weight Issues, SIBO and
I will be doing the Liver Rescue 3.6.9. Detox. I am beginning by eliminating dairy (cheese) now to start prepping for it slowly. I feel this is what I need to do to improve my allergies. If I need to go further with the detox, then I will.
Also, ensuring gut health, it IS all it’s cracked up to be. We need to heal the immune system. Allergies, specifically seasonal allergies, are a side effect of weakened immune symptoms and gut health.
Day 3 Of No Cheese
Today is only day 3 of not eating cheese. I woke up with a lot of sinus drainage. I feel a little lighter & the inflammation in my fingers & abdomen has gone down. I’ll keep giving updates weekly to document the journey.
I really have high hopes that eliminating cheese from my diet once again will bring me some relief from my sinuses and allergies. As I said, I’ll do this in stages and include the Liver Rescue 3.6.9. Detox after spring break.
Try and set yourself up for success by finding the best time to begin these types of detox or dietary changes. I have discovered that slowly making changes little by little is more successful than doing everything at once.
Hence the reason for explicitly removing cheese from my current diet and not all dairy. Eliminating cheese is the hardest for me and focusing solely on this, for now, is about all I can do.
And I know that, trust your intuition; no one knows you better than you. Your health and journey are your own. Drown out all the nay-sayers and people telling you that you need to do it a certain way, i.e., their way to see results or get benefits. Start slow and build from there; the results are still the same in the end. It may just take you longer to get there, and that is ok.
I wish you peace and guidance on your journey. Take care and be well.
Update: 3/18/19
So last week was spring break for my daughter, and my husband took PTO as well. We had a whole week planned for fun activities to do with the kids. However, we got off course because my oldest became sick with congestion, cold, and cough. She had this most of the week, and we had to cancel a few days of activities due to this.
One thing we did do was the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. If you are not from Houston, you probably think we have this all the time, BUT we don’t. We are city folk, and this is an event for the whole city and surrounding areas. It’s a huge carnival and livestock show & rodeo with tons of vendors and concerts. It’s a lot of fun for everyone.
So on this particular day, I did eat some of my husbands’ fajita nachos but only about 2 or 3 chips. Because I knew that I had not eaten cheese for nine days at that point, it didn’t even taste that good to begin with, but cheese is a habit, and I couldn’t pass it up.
What a mistake that was! Within 20 minutes, I had an upset stomach. Seriously, not the place to have this happen. Anyway, let’s move on.
I was surprised that I had such a reaction after only nine days of not eating cheese. If I had tasted this any other time like usual, this wouldn’t have been a problem.
You may be thinking; perhaps it was the food. This particular restaurant we got it from is a well-known and popular establishment in Houston. And everyone else ate the same thing plus more than my 2-3 chips, and I’m the only one that had problems.
Since then, I have been cheese-free for an additional six days. My eyes are still slightly swollen when I wake up but not nearly as bad as before. And that cold I was talking about early. Well, everyone in the family got it. If you’re a parent, you know how that goes. One gets it. We all get it.
Except, I haven’t gotten it yet. Fingers crossed that I don’t either. I started with some of the symptoms late last week, but I did my Netti pot and took an Advil Cold & Flu, and it hasn’t done much else. Who knows, maybe this no cheese thing has helped with all the mucus buildup after all.
Update 5/1/2019
I’ve since kept with no cheese and also completed a Liver Cleanse. My husband even came along for the cleanse journey. You can read the details of that journey here. During my cleanse, I did have a lot of sinus drainage. I had not experienced that before during this cleanse, so I attribute it to removing the cheese from my diet. I’ve included a link to the cleanse here if you are interested in learning more about it.
As for my allergies, they’ve been minimal and have slowly lessened. I have still sneezed a few times here and there but not a full-on allergy attack. My eyes aren’t swollen in the morning anymore, which is awesome. I do my Netti pot when I start to feel like I’m going to start sneezing. That normally flushes out allergens that are in the sinus.
The key to this is to stay proactive in your health. We have to maintain daily with the right choices and educate ourselves on the root causes to heal truly.
I wish you peace and guidance on your journey. Take care and be well.
UPDATE 4/21/2021
I’ve since had a food sensitivity testing done; check it out here in What’s the Difference between Food Allergy, Food Intolerance, and Food Sensitivities. After realizing one of the main culprits of my allergies was something, I was eating every day for years. Well, it made all the difference.
In case you’re wondering what food I have a high sensitivity to, it’s eggs. I was eating eggs almost every day for breakfast and eating keto fat bombs with eggs too. I also had to cut out almonds which were also high sensitivity for me. It’s worth getting the test to find out what can be triggering your allergies.
