Turning Around

When I was a kid, my dad used to sing, "Give me 40 acres and I'll turn this rig around," by the Willis Brothers every time my brother or I would take on a task by going about it the long, drawn out, and (unnecessarily) complicated way. As I came to the decision that I would try on the gluten free idea, I imagined it as one of those complicated, awkward tasks that would take me a lot more effort than needed and that would not give me the satisfaction I desired. I was very, very wrong.

First, eliminating gluten has not been complicated at all. True, I am a bagel fanatic, so I have had to eliminate one of my favorite carbs from the safe list of foods. But there's more to life than bagels (or so I tell myself). And I had stopped eating most prepared foods because they made me ill (gee, I wonder why), so that side of the gluten purge was easy.

Second, the difference in how I feel pre- and post-gluten is dramatic. No. Dramatic is an understatement. I feel energized. I feel positive. I feel light. I feel hopeful. I do *not* feel sick. I do *not* feel depressed. I do *not* want to go back to eating gluten. If someone had told me that I would feel this much better, I would never have believed them because this type of reversal is a thing of fairy tales. Or so I thought. I mean, seriously, the amount of energy running through my body almost makes me feel as if I'm tingling...in a good way.

I'm still making minor tweaks in what I'm eating so I can have my (gluten-free) cake and eat it, too. For instance, I found some lovely GF crackers that taste just like the whole-grain ones I eat anyway. But, it appears that the chock-full-o-flax-seed contents are not agreeing with me after all. And I've always had a problem with flax seeds, so I need to stay aware since they tend to creep into GF foods. I'm actually testing my diet to be sure it's them, but I'm pretty sure. Today I was able to eliminate that the issues were not a result of the GF pizza crust I made the other day. Excellent news since that crust was pretty darn yummy. Tomorrow I test the fruit/yogurt smoothie, and then Sunday I test the crackers again. You know the old saying, you can take the scientist out of the lab...

At this point, my husband jokingly refers to my "miracle cure" because I talk about how good I feel. All. The. Time. But it's been such a contrast to how bad I felt earlier, that I walk around each day thinking, "Really? This is how people feel? Because this is AWESOME."

Here's to more awesome with a side of "Oh yeah."

Free as a Bird

I have decided after far too long that I am tired of feeling ill every time I eat. I have always been a fan of food, and the size of my rump will attest to that fact fervently. But, I have reached the point where food is simply an unfortunate necessity, not a pleasure. I try very hard to eat things that will not make me sick. And I fail most of the time. And so I have begun to dread feeling hungry.

At this point, most people would consult their family physician or a specialist. Someone who might, perhaps, alleviate the onset of the ill at every meal. But I walk to the beat of a different drummer. The drummer who is banging on my hard head trying to knock some sense into me. "I should be able to figure this out," I tell myself. "You're a doctor, make it better," I insist. Yeah, because a PhD in psychology is well-equipped to handle GI distress. I think I can, I think I can...

Enter some careful research combined with wanting to do something positive for my health in Lent, and here I stand on the first day of my gluten-free journey to Easter. When I decided the other day that what I would like to do for Lent is just give up food altogether, I realized that cutting out the gluten was a must-do activity. My symptoms primarily point to gluten sensitivity/intolerance (but not quite to celiac). And six weeks of dietary restriction certainly won't hurt. For lack of a better blogging motivation, I'm going to track myself here. I know what you're thinking. Wow--does it get any more exciting? No. No, it does not.

At the end of day 1, I actually feel pretty good. No meal-related illness, which is a huge plus. But one day does not mean it's fixed, so march on I will.

Stay tuned.