Cheese is totally that guy

This is a bad idea on many levels.

You know the guy, the one who you know is no good for you. The one you're so glad to be rid of until you have a few too many glasses of red wine. And then it's on. You're all, "Oh yeah, I've missed you, too. Everything about you that's wrong suddenly seems so right. You're dirty and I like it!"

For anyone who has given up dairy, cheese is totally that guy. It makes sense. Cheese has a high concentration of casomorphines, the opiates in milk that help mothers and babies bond. Combine that with all the fat in cheese, and the reward centers in our brains go crazy for the stuff. The beautiful thing I'm discovering about a plant-based diet, though, is that it's self-correcting. Cheese may win a battle every once in a while, but it won't win the war.

I was seduced by that bad boy last weekend. We ordered pizza, and through a series of justifications that seem like total nonsense to me in retrospect, I decided to order my veggie supreme with cheese on only one side and no cheese on the other.

Having gone without my old friend for four weeks, I expected an ecstatic reunion. Instead, I found that my tastes had changed. The cheese was much more buttery and greasy than I remember. It was good, but I missed the bright flavors of tomato and onion that I've gotten used to with no-cheese pizza. I can't believe I'm writing this, but it was really just OK.

Will I ever have a grilled cheese sandwich or margaritas and queso again? Can't say, but I'm into this limey guacamole now and have been making some righteous sandwiches thickly layered with hummus, sprouts, cucumber, lettuce, tomato and avocado. As a result, I'm not too worried about it. And this is the real difference between this time and every other time I've tried to lose weight.

Yours in good health,
Summer