Since stopping smoking my COPD has got worse and I've put weight on, which hasn't helped. Nearly 4 stone in four years in fact - ouch! I lost my job over a year ago and haven't been as active as I used to be, also not helping.
As part of my diagnosis and treatment it's been seen that I am vitamin D deficient and as such I take regular D3 capsules, for which I'm being monitored by the hospital. The consultant who saw me asked about my eating habits and noted that I don't eat cheese or yoghurt.
This goes back to my childhood. I was 'forced' to eat a cottage pie with cheese on top. I didn't like the taste or texture, I had been put off by recently learning that cheese was milk 'gone off' and it really traumatised me at the time. I've been averse to cheese and yoghurt (for the same reason) ever since.
When I first started work I was the warehouse lad at Woolworths, when they still sold food. They used to get massive blocks of cheese, sealed in polythene and in boxes, which were kept on a shelf in the warehouse. Because of the weight, the shop floor girls were not allowed to lift them down, so I had to.
One day there was one that had gone off and it burst all over me as I lifted it down from a pretty high shelf. I was covered in smelly watery stuff and was physically sick, the boss sent me home and I had to walk as I smelled so bad they wouldn't let me on the bus! Another negative encounter with the stuff.
What can I do to overcome this, bearing in mind this was decades ago and I've avoided these foods ever since. I do eat 'chedders' little snack biscuits and quite like those, for the savoury taste.
About 14 years ago I had Polyps removed from my nose, I couldn't taste or smell much before then and my senses have been diminished since. It's not really down to the taste and smell of cheese any more, but my internal fear of the stuff I think.
I know it's going to do me more good than harm, but can't bring myself to eat the stuff. Any suggestions ? I tried hypnotherapy to stop smoking, and that was a miserable failure so I've no faith in that now.
It's all in the mind - or is it ?
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Gordon57
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Gordon, flow with your taste in food. If you dont like cheese, dont eat it. Having said that, there are so many different varieties. I know there are some really smelly ones but -- some really good ones that dont smell. As a child, I hated (hate that word!) cheese and eggs ++ Yes, years ago I didn't like plain yoghurt - now I love it. Just enjoy the food you like.
You mentioned a sweet/baccy shop in Royston - still there called Ladds. I will have a tear if that shop joined the rest on the High Street and closed.
Man or mouse ? ........ squeak up lol
Cheeses are a good source of calcium, of that no doubt, calcium we all need to protect bone health and Vit D is tied in with that.
There are foods that provide good sources of calcium though.
If you think you are lacking in calcium in the diet, check with your doc Gordon about supplementing with Calcium, but really it is much better for you to try an get enough through the foods you eat.
I was taking a combined D3 and calcium tablet, but until they've finished checking for osteoporosis I'm on D3 capsules without. I had a bone scan a couple of weeks ago, awaiting results on that.
One of the main reasons I'm looking to overcome my phobia of cheese (turophobia if you wondered if there was a term for it) is that everyone else eats cheese in the house and we have to do something separate for me. It would make more sense if I ate the same foods.
It's not the smell, as I can't smell a lot of things, but just a long term avoidance of the stuff, which now seems a bit silly.
There are many varities of cheeses Gordon, loads to choose from in fact, and so many different textures and strengths, You need to determine if its the smell, taste or texture that is putting you off, then focus on the cheeses that are least likely to offend, Baby Bell or Edam cheese is mild, pale yellowish in colour, solid and rubbery where as cottage cheese is white, lumpy with a creamy unlike cheese flavour, goats cheese is white, creamy, strongish and spreadable for instance. There is a cheddar with chilli bits in it etc etc. Maybe just do some research on the cheeses to discover which revolts you the most and least. Cheese tasting events might help you. Or you may have a local farm producing their own cheeses in your area where you can go for advice.
Good luck and let us know if you ever find one your enjoy.
Hi Gordon the only way I like to eat cheese is melted with toast and then only the very mature kind,Noticed on one of the numerous cooking tv ads someone offering the usual big happy smiling family (where do they get them) large potato chips with melted cheese over them in a dish. If you really dont like the taste though I wouldnt bother. I am underweight but always have been and in order to put on some weight apart from stopping smoking I have started to eat rolls with square sausage fried tomatoes and great dollops of butter. Not healthy but easy and nowadays I;m all for the easy life.
I don't know if I like the taste or not, it's been so long since I tried. It was the thought of 'milk gone off' that did it for me in my childhood, and being forced to eat the stuff. I've just avoided cheese for so long that I started to wonder what my problem was with it.
I thought I didn't like Lorne sausage, the square stuff, until I had some in a B&B somewhere. I can get it at Iceland and usually have that in the freezer for an occasional snack type meal, usually with unbuttered bread and a bit of tomato and/or tomato relish. Everyone else in the house runs away from that, I've no idea why...
Cheese on a cracker with tomato relish is a good combination. Cheese and pickle, cheese and onion, cheese and tomato, some people just like eating cheese with grapes or an apple. You can even buy cheese with pineapple, apricot or cranberry hrough it. As I said before there are soooooooo many varieties and so many combinations and flavours to choose from. I think Gordon there are bound to be some flavours and treats you wish you had discovered before now. Never eaten a pizza? Nearly always they use cheese.
Pizza looks tempting, my phobia stands in the way...
I'm going to try contacting the British Cheese Board (yes, that really is the name) and see what they can suggest as well. I don't see this as any form of cure for my condition, but perhaps a way of improving my diet and making meals much easier.
I occasionally have a pasta dish with creme fraiche, which isn't too bad. I don't think I want to start out by hiding the cheese in a cooked dish, I'd rather face up to it on it's own and go from there. Who knows...
But are they really cheese ? I was given to understand they were a blend of cheese and other things like butter and milk. I am aiming to go more for the food my wife cooks with cheese so really want to kill my fears with the real stuff if I can.
Hi Gordon have you forgotten what cheese is made from? Cows Milk, sheeps milk, goats milk, as is butter, cottage cheese, creme frais, creme fraiche, yoghurt etc etc
Those poor innocent cows, they are providing us with some great food stuffs with a little help from the two leggeds fair hands.
There are some great videos on You tube on how to make cheese at home, also butter, fromage, creme fraiche.
Gordon I love cheese but wait for it - I HATE BACON! ever since I had a twisted gut the last thing I ate before it happened was a bacon roll and now if I even smell it my gut goes into spasm, so I do understand your aversion after you have had such dramatic episodes with cheese.
I'm looking more to introduce cheese into the occasional diet for myself, not to pig out on it (sorry !)
No problem with bacon here. I dislike the rind, if that's been left on, and try to remove as much fat as possible.
I also had a thing about not liking eggs for many years, I lived at a school that raised chickens from chicks, collecting eggs daily. I can eat boiled and in scotch eggs, but still dislike scrambled and fried ones.
Interesting - I've not had sticky mucus as you describe, and I do have milk in my tea, as well as cornflakes, porridge and other milky foods. I'll keep an eye on it though.
Hi Gordon. I do agree that calcium from natural sources is batter than supplements. There are alternatives to cheese and yoghurt though. Try semi-skimmed milk, green leafy vegetables, such as broccoli and cabbage (but not spinach), soya beans, tofu, and fish where you eat the bones (such as sardines or pilchards).
I'm already on semi-skimmed milk and green veg plus sardines are often on my toast., Mother-in-law is lactose intolerable so we have soya milk in custard and tea there, not keen myself, but she can have her good days too
Hi Gordon. Probably my fave food is cheese. I just love it and eat it every day. I do understand about phobias though. You can get calcium from lots of other things. Such as whole fat milk. Can you try and drink a glass of it a day. And I think trying kids cheeses is a great idea. You can always buy them in without having to have kids you know.
I know lots of adults who like it including my mother, sisters and me. Can you eat butter? I don't recommend margarine after my sister told me what is in it - yuck.
Bev x
PS if all else fails you can always get vitamin C from supplements. You could ask your doctor for the one they prescribe for osteoporosis which my mother had.
It's not really about the alternatives, but that we go through a lot of cheese in the house and I should be eating the same food, rather than cooking something just for me. Wife & Step-Daughter had pizza for tea, had to do a separate pasty for me, that sort of thing.
I can do butter, milk, cream and most dairy, no problem. It's just this thing with cheese, so illogical when I think about it really.
I shouldn't worry too much about it then Gordon. Just eat the dairy products you can. Don't force yourself to eat cheese if you don't want too. I am veggie but don't worry about others cooking different for me. I just have the same as they have but no meat. Its harder when cheese is in foods already like pizza but hey ho everyones different.
Well it looks as if I am the odd one out, I can't stand cheese or yoghurt, don't have a phobia, just don't like it, I don't mind it on pizza or in a cheese sauce and maybe the occasional leerdammer but the texture of cheddar etc. is horrible. Don't know what it is with yoghurt but I can't eat it, when I am on ab's I swallow down an Actimel as fast as I can! I like fromage frais and other dairy! Off for bone scan this afternoon so hope that hasn't affected the results.
I love cheese but can't eat yogurt. A good way of eating cheese without really knowing you are is a cheese omlette.
Lib x
Hi Gordon. You have my sympathy. Phobias are hard to crack but not impossible.
I would get a nice cracker, one of those tasty ones with seeds or whichever you like best, and put a very, very small dice or slice of cheese on it, and eat it without thinking about what you're doing, eg perhaps whilst watching tv. Even better, ask your wife to prepare it so you're not handling it.
Start with one of the lower fat ones like edam, or maybe a crumbly Cheshire would be a good one to start with. These don't have the sweatiness you can get with other cheese, which could set off your early bad memories. Make sure it's one that's come straight from the fridge.
Then build up your pyschological tolerance to those over a period of a couple of weeks. If you like Cheddars, the snack biscuits, this would be very similar in taste, but with real cheese. Then you can start trying other varieties like brie, and gradually build up to a small slice of cheddar or whatever your wife cooks with.
As I've mentioned, I'm looking at this more from a practical point of view, where we will all have the same meal instead of needing to do something else for me. There's been no logical reason for my not eating cheese, other than the childhood memories. I don't know if I like it or not until I try. If I don't then I will have at least tried.
The trauma of many years ago was the act of being forced to eat something I was not sure of. The rebel inside me rejected this and that's where it all seems to have come from.
I have sent email to the British Cheese Board, yes, really, that's their name, to explain and link them to this blog. I'll see what they come up with.
If all else fails I could always re-work the old Monty Python 'Spam' sketch, although I suspect there are more ways of serving Spam than cheese !
Why on earth would you want or need to eat cheese. You can get as much vitamins and minerals in green leafy vegetables and nuts and seeds. No other mammal on the planet eats or drinks the milk of another species except us. If you really feel you need to eat it, then try goat's cheese - it is better tolerated than cow's.
Respect your body's innate wisdom - if it is revolted by cheese - then it probably is not going to do you any good...
With kind regards
Swimmer
Well, the reason I eat it (in small quantities) is because it's delicious, comes in many different varieties, and is a convenient source of both protein and calcium. If you take oral steroids then dairy products are a very useful source of calcium to protect against bone loss.
ff x
Veggies eat cheese Stitch. Its vegans that don't.
Bev x
Have you looked at childrens ranges of cheese products..cheese strings,triangles etc.they dont really smell like cheese and still have the calcium and vit d in them
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So now I'm hobbling! 
help needed with a deep hacking phlegmy cough.
Follow up doctors & Respiratory physio 
Sounds like Rice Krispies upon waking
Phyllocontin my story 
