— Sheila Turner

I'm gonna address this in a couple of different directions. And, you know, the first one is the mental aspect of life, and in this case, eating. And, uh, you know, my approach to, to life in general is that it's 90% mental, and the other 10% is just doing it. And, uh, we get hung up on things that ought to be, or things that we're missing, or things that are different. And this is one reason why change is so difficult to overcome for most of us a lot of the time. Okay? Um, and if we can start to shift our perspective and understand that it, it's a 90% mental game, uh, it makes things a little bit easier, that's certainly what I have experienced, and that's what I've heard from others that have given this a try. And when it comes to burritos and enchiladas, or more specifically, the absence of cheese, approach, this beautiful food with a focus on what you have in front of you rather than what you don't have in front of you, okay? Think about what flavors you're enjoying in the meal rather than what you're missing in the meal. That is, it's a hurdle. It takes practice. Um, there's also allowing your palate to adjust as your a mental, uh, approach adjusts as well. Okay? And, uh, you know, when I have a, a burrito, um, you know, and I, I don't have cheese on it, um, I'll try to enhance the flavor. So this is that, that other angle on your question here, try to enhance the flavor through herbs, spices, condiments, uh, and, and other aromatics to make that food item more interesting to your olfactory senses, as well as your palette on, on the taste level. And, uh, you know, one thing that works for me is to, to, to, uh, add additional salsas or to increase the quantity, uh, of the salsa that I'm using. And, uh, for me, that works, uh, that'll add flavor, it adds moisture, it can add textural, uh, interest. And, um, uh, you know, I don't think about cheese at all, uh, quite frankly, and I hope you'll give this a try. Uh, give yourself some time to adjust to this newness, uh, understanding that it will be different, right? Once we take away something, it's reasonable to expect this new state or condition to be different than the old. Um, and, uh, so we have to give ourselves, uh, uh, some opportunity to adjust to all that, but understanding that, um, our focus makes a big difference, as well as the condiments or spices and herbs that we might add.