Beware the evil cheese
Anyone who knows me well knows about my ongoing struggle with nixing cheese from my diet. I’ve never craved any type of meat or poultry, or any other form of dairy since going vegan almost two years ago, but I still long for cheese almost daily. It was once my greatest love, and I kicked it to the curb like a bad boyfriend. Almost.
I have the occasional cheese relapse, usually in the form of greasy pizza when I’m hungover, but I’ve managed to avoid cheese about 97% of the time.
Truth be told, most vegan cheese is disgusting (usually slimy and rubbery), but I’ve discovered a new brand of vegan cheese that is absolutely delicious: the best thing since…well, cheese. It’s called Daiya, and you can get it at Karmavore in New West. (They only sell it in 5-lb, $40 bags so far, but once you try it, you’ll be glad you have so much on hand.) I’ve had it on pizza, veggie burgers, nachos, enchiladas and quesadillas, and it is incredible every time. It melts like cheese, tastes like cheese, and completely satisfies my need for cheese. Daiya is free of dairy, trans fats, gluten and even soy, as it’s made with healthy and non-GMO plant-based ingredients. My prayers to the vegan gods have finally been answered.
Delicious Daiya vegan cheese
Now, if you’re perfectly happy with your fatty, cholesterol-packed cow cheese, that’s all fine and dandy. But don’t say I didn’t warn you about the dangers of cheese when you’re sitting in the hospital with a gallstones attack, or worse, heart disease.
I found it extremely difficult to eat completely vegan while I was in Medicine Hat for two weeks last December (as one waitress put it, “This is a real meat city”), especially while staying in the hospital with my friend and her new baby, and I ended up eating more cheese than I had in my almost-two years since going vegan. I felt kind of icky, but it got worse: I actually ended up in the hospital myself.
The day I flew back to Vancouver I started to get an intense pain in my right ribs (or lung, I wasn’t quite sure which) with every inhale. It worsened throughout the day, and by evening I started to experience more prolonged attacks that left me doubled over, breathless and in tears. I was cursing the blasted hospital cot I was forced to sleep on for five nights while in The Hat, as it was the only thing I could imagine would be causing my pain. I could feel every spring in that tiny cot, and I thought one of them was likely poking into my ribs all night, causing some bruising. As usual, Dr. Blige was wrong.
The next day I struggled during my commute to work to not pass out or throw up due to the pain, but when I finally got there, my coworker could see that there was something terribly wrong with me. Once again, I was doubled over in pain and about to vomit. My two physio bosses spent the next hour-and-a-half trying to help me, but the pain was just getting worse and worse. One of my bosses thought I might be having a gallstones attack, which he said could be brought on by the unusual increase of cheese in my diet while I was out of town.
I went home and laid in bed for the next two days, trying to ignore the nagging pain in my chest. Eventually I went to a walk-in clinic and the doctor I saw sent me straight to emergency. I sat there for 5 or 6 hours and by the time someone finally saw me, the x-ray and ultrasound ward was closed, and I was told to come back the next day. (Thanks a lot, VGH.)
Cross-section of a gall bladder with gallstones - EEWWW!!
The pain started to subside over the next few days and the tests didn’t show any abnormalities. The doctors and I were somewhat confused, but one nice nurse told me I most likely had gallstones that had passed before the tests were performed, and were caused by a spike in cholesterol in my diet. Cheese disease.
My experience with gallstones is pretty solid proof that a diet high in fat and cholesterol is a recipe for disaster, which is why it’s important to include lots of fruits, vegetables and fibre in your diet and avoid animal-derived foods at all costs.
*IMPORTANT NOTE*
My dear auntie kindly informed me I had made an error and said the pain was in my left ribs, which would be rather silly since the gallbladder is situated on the right side of your body. The pain was, in fact, on my right side: just an oversight. Also, that nasty picture of a gallbladder bulging with stones is not real, just something to gross you out. However, the story is very real and so is the risk of developing gallstones and other icky diseases and illnesses if you consume to much meat and dairy.
