Cocoa V

I'm going to get this out in the open right from the beginning: I ate wheat yesterday. Yep. I did it. But it had to be done. I was at Cocoa V in Manhattan with friends and I couldn't resist. I'm pretty sure I also ate some soy too, but these things happen.

Annemarie Colbin was one of my teachers at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and she says that you should never feel guilty for eating something that you don't think you should. You should look at it as an experiment. Take note of how you feel before and after - how did the food affect you? So I took her advice and considered the whole thing an experiment.

I've been on this elimination diet for three and a half months now, and I've been feeling good lately. In fact, in the past two weeks, three people have told me that I look great and asked what I've been doing differently! I've been thinking of adding some of the foods that I had minor reactions to back into my diet, such as garlic, asparagus and black tea. (I'm drinking a black iced tea as I type this.)

So, like I said, I was at Cocoa V with four of my wonderful friends yesterday and their menu wasn't very wheat-allergy friendly. I decided to eat what everyone else was eating and see how I felt later.


For starters, we all split a cheese plate. The cheese is Dr. Cow's raw cashew cheese, which is absolutely incredible. I've had it before and if it wasn't so expensive, I'd keep it in the fridge at all times. The cheese plate also came with wheat crackers, hummus and fruit. It didn't last too long with five hungry vegan women!



I ordered an iced chocolate to drink. I didn't even know there was such a thing as iced chocolate and I couldn't resist trying. It was amazing! My friend Janelle said it was the best thing she's ever tasted.


For lunch we all ordered quiche, which came with spiced sweet potato chips. The quiche was made with Daiya cheese, leeks and probably tofu. I'm sure the crust was made with wheat flour. It was extremely delicious!!!


Our dessert was chocolate fondue, which we all split. It came with fruit, biscottie and brownie bites and it was heavenly.



Cocoa V also has a little storefront where they sell all sorts of vegan chocolates, and I really wish I had bought some to bring home. The food was delicious, the restaurant is really cute, and our waiter was extremely friendly. I will most definitely eat there again soon. The Highline is just a block away, so we walked over after lunch and enjoyed a nice stroll above the streets of the city.

And the results of my experiment? I felt like I had "crashed" a few hours after I got home, but felt much better after I ate dinner. I was worried about how my digestion would be when I got up this morning. It was a little "off" but not as bad as I expected. I did have a little bit of a hangover feeling, but it wasn't terrible and it didn't last long.


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