The hardest part is saying goodbye to cheese - help!

[Astar]

Hi All, 

having not started yet, I fear that I am going to miss cheese more than anything. I have it daily. Other dairy products don’t bother me too much (even though I have milk with my coffee everyday now). 

I guess I’m looking for advice on how to get over these cravings that I know I will have.  

 

[Fay1979]

Last year was our first Whole30, and giving up the cheese was the hardest part for me. I had to keep telling myself that it is only 30 days and just stay committed. The best way for me to get through was to plan meals that you wouldn’t normally have cheese on. If you do have something that you would normally put cheese on, make sure you have something flavorful to add to it. For example, I was eating an omelette with cheese almost every day before Whole30. Now, I love scrambled eggs with a good salsa mixed in. It will be worth it. We rarely eat cheese now, so this time during Whole30, I’m not missing it at all. 

For your coffee, Nutpods are a great substitute. 

[GraceMelodie]

I think salted cured black olives are a good substitute for cheese.

[Jihanna]

First and foremost, don't go into this thinking that you can find a good vegan "cheese" recipe and it'll be awesome. Because I've made and thoroughly enjoyed some amazing things from recipes called "vegan cheese", but if I'd approached it expecting to enjoy some cheese taste and mouth-feel, I'd have been disappointed every time. I love cheese, but I'm allergic to it... so part of what I'm getting out of Whole30 is an entire world of recipes that I'm falling in love with, without missing the cheese. I do agree that it's important to stay away from things you'd be likely to put cheese on, though, or change it up enough so that it's served in a way that you wouldn't expect cheese to be there.

My only other suggestion would be to take a little time before starting your Whole30 to go ahead and reduce your intake of things like dairy. For mine, I cooked compliant meals for a few days leading up to my start date, and also worked for weeks to reduce my sugar and cream for coffee until I was drinking it black the day before I started. I've found that the things I started cutting down on early are the ones that I've had an easier time letting go of so far this month... while I've had more difficulty with the stuff I kept taking in all the way up to the night before I started.

Good luck to you!

[SugarcubeOD]

On January 12, 2019 at 7:31 AM, Astar said:

Hi All, 

having not started yet, I fear that I am going to miss cheese more than anything. I have it daily. Other dairy products don’t bother me too much (even though I have milk with my coffee everyday now). 

I guess I’m looking for advice on how to get over these cravings that I know I will have.  

 

You might not crave it - don't go into it already telling yourself it's going to be a problem... I get that you love cheese and I used to also... I used to eat a toasted bagel with cheddar cheese almost every day and what I noticed most about missing that was the quickness of it... not that hard to toast a bagel and slice some cheese but when I had done proper meal planning and was eating three template meals a day, I didn't need 'quick' food and thus, didn't have too much trouble not having cheese.

Also, cheese will still be there in 30 days so it's not really like you're getting a divorce persay... more like a 30 day trial separation at the end of which you'll determine through reintroductions if your body is as fond of cheese as your heart may be.

Don't forget to salt your food to taste and add fat to every meal along with the other great advice given you here!

Good luck!  You're stronger than cheese!

[pags98]

This may sound odd, but try adding sun-dried tomatoes to recipes you might normally use cheese for.  I make a Kale Frittata and usually it would have cheese, but the sun-dried tomatoes give that bite to it.  Also, in the zucchini lasagna I make it uses egg on top to mimic the toasty looking cheese.  I love cheese, my blood type is cheese, but honestly in my now 3rd whole30 I haven't missed it that much and after my first one I mostly removed dairy from my diet due to the distress I found out it causes me. 

Another thing I've tried (but honestly not too much or too hard) is nutritional yeast.  

[megbeveridge]

I thought I would miss cheese the most too, but like others have said, you don't end up really missing it. The only times I miss cheese is when it's right in front of my face. Like today for example when my "Greek salad with no feta" came and, you guessed it, there was feta. It was so close. Right there! But I had to take it back. Eating the salad later without the feta I actually found I didn't miss it. It was only for those few minutes where I had cheese right in my hand (well, take-out box) that I actually wanted it. Long story short, you'll be surprised at how much flavor and complexity you can find in your food when there isn't a bunch of cheese covering it up!

[W30 ColoradoCorrie]

i LOVE cheese, but being on day 3 of my first W30, i haven't even thought about it...change your thinking of FEAR (false evidence appearing real) and put your mind over the matter and you'll be fine!

 

[Junebug2015]

On 1/12/2019 at 3:05 PM, GraceMelodie said:

I think salted cured black olives are a good substitute for cheese.

Seconding this - olives are great for the salty factor. I also really enjoyed making coconut milk soups and curries. I wouldn't say it's a replacement for cheese, but it does have that fatty creaminess that I often associate with cheese. Good luck! You can do it!