What If I Cheat on My Diet While Treating Lyme Disease?

I have blogged about the Paleo diet before so you know how much I hated following a prescribed meal plan. I worried constantly about what might happen if I cheated on my diet while in treatment. Would it set me back if I ate some potato chips? Will I excite the little bugs burrowing into my body if I eat some bread? Being that I’m not a doctor I can’t advise you about cheating on the Paleo diet. I can tell you how I went about surmounting what was a huge challenge for me.

For the first few months I tried my damnedest to follow the Paleo diet rules. I deprived myself of pasta. I made bread with Paleo flour and tried to enjoy a sandwich with this substitute. I ate pumpkin seed flour pancakes and had taco salad without cheese or sour cream. And ultimately I lost twelve pounds in about six weeks. I only weighed 106 pounds to begin with so I looked like death warmed over. Mostly, I fretted about food until I was so stressed out I thought I would lose my mind.

Find a Balance You Can Live With

One day I bumped into a neighbor walking down the communal hallway of our condo. She knew from a previous conversation that I was battling Lyme disease and asked me how I was doing. I must have complained about how I was starving because of this damn diet. I remember her asking me if the diet was helping or if I could notice any difference in my suffering by following this diet. Her question sort of stumped me for a moment. I thought, I don’t really know if it’s helping or not. I feel like crap all the time, I literally never stop thinking about food and I’m always hungry.

At the time I was craving a potato. All I wanted was a baked potato with butter, sour cream and cheese. My taste buds were watering just thinking about biting into that scrumptiousness. I decided I couldn’t stand it anymore. I was going to the grocery to buy myself a potato. Surely to god, one little potato couldn’t kill me, or make me feel any worse than I already felt. I was wasting away, one missed potato meal at a time. My husband was at work and he would never have to know.

I was nervous as I took my first bite. Thoughts were swirling in my head. Will this potato make me sick? Will the bugs that have invaded my body start shouting or pounding away at my organs? Will I ruin any progress I’ve made by eating this delicious potato? The good patient in me was fighting the urge, telling me I shouldn’t do this. I silenced the fear mongers living in my brain and cautiously took a bite. Mmmmm, it’s so good. I ate slowly at first, as though waiting for an alarm bell to sound or the food police to show up at my door. What if my skin starts crawling and I can actually see the bacterial bugs living inside me rejoicing at my failure? “Yes, we’ve got her now! Her weak will just opened the door for us to proliferate and wreak more havoc.”

Before I knew it the potato was gone. I set my plate down and my phone rang. It was my husband. Were there security cameras in here? Why is he calling me right at this moment? Of course, he was just calling to check up on me and no, I didn’t lie to my husband about eating a potato. I admitted it, somewhat sheepishly, and he gently chided me. Telling me the science behind why I shouldn’t eat starches. But I didn’t care. It had tasted so good, I felt no remorse. I also have no memory of feeling worse after eating it. I do remember feeling full and satisfied.

So What If You Cheat On Your Diet?

I don’t know exactly and I can’t tell you with any certainty. I can tell you that I felt no difference. The only time I ever had a reaction to eating a food that wasn’t included in the Paleo diet was sugar. Luckily, I don’t have a sweet tooth so sugar was easy for me to avoid. But, on the rare occasion when I indulged for one reason or another, I could tell when I ate sugar. It made me feel jittery, it increased the tinnitus ringing in my ears and just generally made me feel yucky.

Did I do some unknown damage or prolong my battle by indulging every now and then on potatoes, pasta or bread? Maybe, but I’ll never truly know. I was living in a walking nightmare so it was a chance I was willing to take.

Mind you, I didn’t cheat all the time. My husband and I instituted a cheat day. Friday turned into our date night where we would indulge on non-Paleo foods and every Sunday we went out to breakfast. Every other day I adhered to said diet. For me, the cheat days were worth it. It became the one thing I looked forward to. I could choke down cauliflower rice and pumpkin seed pizza crust knowing that in a few more days I got to eat real food. I also gained the weight back, which was a good thing.