How I’m navigating a restrictive diet without it feeling like “a diet”

Listening to my body and eating intuitively has served me well - but what does that look like when there are things you can't eat? This often happens because of an allergy or intolerance. Suddenly everything I preach about unconditional permission to eat and avoiding restriction gets much more difficult. 

For me, I've been told I might have a condition called Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), and I'm now seeing a dietician, who has asked me to try a low histamine diet for 2 weeks.

So it's got me thinking: how do you approach medically necessary restriction, without falling back into diet mentality?

When healthcare professionals pleasantly surprise you 

When I was initially referred to a dietician (the brilliant Chloe Hall), I was very anxious and a bit upset. I've worked so hard on my relationship with food, and I was worried this would feel too “diety” and bring back old thought patterns and food noise I'd mostly let go of. 

Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised: Chloe listened to how I felt (and let me cry!), and reassured me that she also believes that restriction is unhelpful. We tried symptom and diet tracking as a first port of call - but when it was inconclusive, we agreed that elimination was worth trying. 

Restricting, non-restrictively

The main thing Chloe did was offer me flexibility and autonomy - two things that are hugely important for behaviour change 💜

She suggested that I try the diet for two weeks, but that aiming for at least every other day (rather than 100% compliance) would probably be enough. She gave me a list of the foods to avoid (including aged cheese, cured meats, oily fish, tomatoes, yoghurt, beer, and wine - it turns out lots of random foods have high histamine 😅), but also suggested that I could keep eating other “potentially high” foods (like spinach and avocado) if I wanted to. 

Chloe's approach made me feel much more confident about trying this diet. I felt empowered to make choices that felt right for me, and to not feel too guilty if I struggle to stick to it on certain days. 

What's helped me

I'm now just over a week in, and there's a few things I've been consciously doing to make this feel easier and less restrictive. 

Meal planning

If you've been following my blog for a while, you'll know I love a bit of meal planning, to help eating well feel easier. This has served me well with this diet - doing the planning and my online shop is definitely taking a bit longer, but it's taking the decision load out of mealtimes. I don't need to think about what's “safe”, because Sunday Rosie already thought about it for me (thanks, babes 😘)

Leaning into foods I love

Yes, there are lots of things I can't eat - but there are lots that I can. I've purposefully planned meals and bought ingredients that I wouldn't often buy, but I really love - those who follow me on Instagram will know that this has meant a LOT of mozzarella in my life, which I'm loving 😂. Having things to look forward to has helped me to feel less deprived. 

Framing it as a discovery opportunity 

I love food and enjoy cooking, but I often fall into the trap of always making the same dishes. This is nice and easy, but trying something new is really lovely - and often I don't make the time for this. So I've reframed this diet as an opportunity to try some new things, or to cook something a bit different. The simplest but most effective has probably been putting peppers and mozzarella in my omelette, instead of tomatoes and cheddar - it was SO much nicer (and gave me less heartburn 💪🏻)

It's not all been plain sailing

That said, it's not all been easy and delightful. 

There are definitely things I miss. The main one is beer - I like a G&T, but it just doesn't hit the same as a cold pint of craft pale ale. Also hard to replace have been the umami of soy sauce, or a delicious margarita pizza. I definitely have a priority list for what to reintroduce first! 

Eating out has also been a challenge. Working out what I can eat on a menu makes me feel conspicuous and “difficult”, and there are some restaurants that I've simply had to avoid. However, it's been a good lesson in advocating for my own needs (which I'm not always very good at!)

I also know that this is just two weeks, and for some people this is their whole life. It's definitely given me a lot more empathy for people living with allergies and intolerances long term - this stuff is hard 💜

Intuitive eating isn't just about pleasure

One thing I've tried to remember when going through this, is that intuitive eating isn't just about pleasure, or how much you enjoy the food. That's a big part of it - but the other big part is how something feels in your body. 

If a food makes you feel crappy, worsens your symptoms, or even gives you an allergic reaction - ignoring that and continuing to eat it isn't exactly “listening to your body”. 

Yes, sometimes we might decide that the negative symptoms are worth it for the pleasure a food brings - but that should be a conscious choice. So I'm learning to work with my body, and bringing in more of a sense of how a food makes me feel physically - rather than simply feeling frustrated about “not being able to eat that”. It's a work in progress! 

Have you ever had to avoid foods for medical reasons? How did you navigate it without falling into a restrictive mindset?