Getting Back to my Cheese Lovin' Roots!

One of the main reasons that I cannot make the switch from vegetarian to vegan is because I can't imagine a life without cheese. Unfortunately I am one of those people who has an obsession with cheese. I feel as though loving cheese is a curse and a blessing, because as I am indulging in a gourmet chunk of cheese, I am simultaneously feeling joy and guilt. I couldn't even tell you what my favorite kind of cheese is, because I love so many kinds of cheese. I could probably devour a whole block of cheese, if I allowed myself to do so. Oh, who am I kidding, I could probably polish off 3 blocks of cheese and still want more. Luckily the grocery stores in my neighborhood offer small sample sizes, so I only spend about $2.00 and am not tempted by a huge block of cheese sitting in my refrigerator.

The bad part is that I have recently been influenced by a fellow cheese lover to browse the expensive cheese section at Whole Foods. And now, I am even more obsessed with cheese than I was before. Let this serve as a warning to those of you who equally cannot say no to cheese; stay away from the gourmet cheese section. I mean it. Especially at Whole Foods, they provide you with samples just to lure you in, those sneaky bastards!

So now after I have gushed about my obsession with cheese, my next confession may come as a surprise. I don't usually put cheese in or on what I am eating. If I am making a salad, I don't add cheese. On my Chipotle burrito bowl, I don't add cheese. On most of my veggie burgers, I don't add cheese. I think you get the picture. Anyway, I rarely add cheese to things because I usually can't taste it or don't notice it. With a burrito bowl, there are so many other flavors that I don't even notice the cheese, so why bother adding the extra calories?

It's not that I don't put cheese on anything, but before adding cheese to something I make sure that the cheese will enhance the flavor of the dish. If I am making scrambled eggs, I will add cheese, but if I am putting salsa on top of my eggs, I will not add cheese, because the salsa is such a strong flavor. In most cases, I would rather just eat a slice of cheese plain and fully enjoy the flavor. Plus by enjoying a slice of cheese it serves as a snack, rather than extra points in a meal. So far, eating small slices of cheese satisfies my cravings, but also allows me to still lose weight.

When I was thinking about writing this post, I had an aha moment; I had this outlook even before I was conscience of dieting. When I was a kid, I used to order a cheese burger with the cheese on the side, because I just wanted to eat the cheese plain. So now, 18 years later, I still enjoy eating cheese all by itself. No crackers, no bread, no pastas. Just plain cheese. And now that I have gotten back to my cheese lovin' roots, I am going to continue to exclusively indulge in small servings of cheese, savoring every single slice!