Ahhh Wheat, How I've Missed You!!!

Celebration! The six week trial diet is over; I have conquered my will and stomach's desires long enough: it's time to enter gluten back into the diet! The interesting thing to me over the last few weeks (when the GF & DF diet was to be really taking effect), my energy level has been low. Really low. Right when I was supposed to be feeling better than ever, I was constantly so tired and energy-deprived that it hurt. My synopsis: my body needs brain food (BREAD!!!)

We decided that dairy's a lot easier to avoid (or at least limit), so I had my first pizza pie in a little over a month last night! I really missed pizza, especially because my diet didn't keep Chris from partaking. The funny thing is, when eating it, finally, I couldn't help thinking, "What was the big fuss over? This isn't THAT great." I know those are pretty much blasphemous words to Chris, but the grease-bomb wasn't worth the stomach ache later that night through the next morning. I felt like Michael Scott when he downed the fettuchine and then ran the Rabies 5k.

So I might have to pass when he wants to order pizza again.

Today I didn't have any glutenish things, I guess feeling that I should ease it in, and I guess because I still have a bunch of rice cakes and other GF things lying around waiting to be scarfed. And boy, did I scarf them! I think doing all kinds of things and being at home, alone, around all kinds of foods beconing me is not a good combination with not ever eating a full, sit-down meal. Hmmm.

I did come up with a new (for me at least) creation, involving slicing up a potato (I did both regular and sweet), spraying a cookie sheet with Pam olive oil, sprinking the potato slices with salt and pepper, and baking for about 30 min. My version of sweet potato fries! Yum!!!

So apparently this is the end of my diet, and though it is disappointing in the fact that it did not help me, it crossed out gluten and/or dairy as the cause of my chronic muscle tightness (back to the drawing board there), and it benefitted me in other ways as well. An exercise in self-control is always a good thing, and this was as close to fasting that I've ever come. It helped me release food as my idol by first showing me that it has become one (at bare minimum because I think about food constantly), and I had to release my control from it in many situations (esp. with other people). Looking back at my hopeful outcomes, my complexion, sadly, only got worse, but I did lose a few pounds, that I will hopefully keep off by keeping the ice cream away! So this exercise wasn't a total disaster!

As for the near future, I'll continue with soy instead of dairy milk and other things, but I'm not going to pick cheese of things,pull chocolate chips out of cookies, or anything freakish like that. I'll minimize my dairy intake, not do away with it. And I'll try to limit my gluten, instead of basing every meal on my bready-carbs. I am going to have a big heaping bowl of cereal (the thought fills me with so much joy!) tomorrow, but I'll try to have more rice/potato options and less hamberger helper/pizza - I'll leave those to Chris!

So, farewell, my gluten-free blog, for apparently God made wheat for me to enjoy! :)

One week to go!!!

As of today, I've completed 5 weeks of the 6 week trial, and am feeling a mixture of encouragement and melancholy over this whole deal. Both ends of the emotional spectrum jointly because I feel absolutely no different now from one month ago. I'm bummed because for goodness-sake, I went through all this crap for nothing?!? Yet thankful because who would want to live her whole life without some of the best things this world has to offer? :)

Since I've already diagnosed myself as having no problems with either gluten or dairy, it's be extremely tempting to cheat these last few days, well maybe it was only last night. We were over at Chris's 2nd cousin's house, who happens to be a great chef/baker/epicurian/whatever, and calling my name was this pumkin pie with cake in it thing and cool whip on top. The thoughts, "This whole diet's not doing anything for you anyway... What would one little bite do?... You only have one more week left, anyway..." Crowded and controlled my thoughts all evening. It was terrible. And I almost caved. I even picked up a spoon...

But then my knight-in-shining-Northface-armor came to my rescue: "ALI! What the HECK are you thinking?!?! You've made it this far, and you're going to throw it all away NOW?!?"

My wonderful husband has a way of smacking sense into me, so I resisted. Whew... that was a close one.

Other than that, I'm just tired of thinking about food all the time: what am I making for Chris (that he'll eat & that he hasn't already eaten 3 times in the last 3 weeks), do I have enough rice and chicken/beef on hand for when I'm starving upon home-arrival? BLAHHHHHH. Not that I don't think about food all the time anyway, but this is like double the thoughts I'm used to.

Awesome randomness: In our school district, an employee may participate in a heath-screening in order to lower insurance costs. [Score!] Well the screeners aren't exactly RNs, and so a lot of funny things go on there.

1. My body fat was measured by a little handheld thing at 16%. That's lower than I was in college and like marathon runner level. I'll TAKE it!!!
2. The lady taking my blood pressure didn't want me to roll up the sleeves of my sweater. Then when the pump broke, she sighed, "Oh well," and wrote down some random numbers: 112/80. I'm thinking a little high for me, but who cares - I guess that evens out the body fat % in my favor.
3. They didn't tell me not to eat (and I always have a snack right after school - that day an apple with PB), but then they did a glucose count from my blood, which was 82. Apparently this is fairly low if you're fasting, let alone if you ate 45 minutes prior to the exam. I remember taking the blood exam after fasting, and it was like 62, almost hypoglycemic. No wonder when I need food, I need it NOW!!!

Week 4, VivaGirl

As it's already Tuesday on week 5 of the diet, I guess I must comment on week 4. As of right now, I have less than 2 weeks to go in this 6 weeks of seeming torture, but as I've noted, it hasn't been that bad at all! Soy milk for regular is a trade fine with me, and I am such a bland eater that plain rice and chicken doesn't bother me a bit. The only things I really miss are (of course) real ice cream and real cereal. This week I made the mistake of trying soy ice cream (because it was on sale). BIG mistake. HUGE. I mean, it's okay, but that Rice Dream stuff is worth every penny of its outrageous $4.99. As for the breakfast foods, oatmeal doesn't take too much longer to make (since I also always make eggs), but the extra effort at 5:20 is not a welcome experience most of the time. Organice rice millet cereal is fine, especially when covered in a fruit entourage of bananas, strawberries, and blueberries.

I don't know if I wrote on this last time, but a loaf of GF bread (mind, it is less than half the size of a normal loaf) costs a whopping $6! If I had to remain on the GF diet, I would most likely resort to baking my own bread, which demonstrates how desperate I'd be to save a few bucks per week.

Having family in town this past weekend frightened me a little, dietarily, anyway, but there were no glitches! Steak & potatoes, BBQ (which is kind of weird without the accustomed Texas toast), and lame-O salad at our favorite pizza place. Eh well, it's just weird having to be so conscious about where we're eating and what I'm allowed to eat there.

Observations: My muscles are feeling pretty good, though there are many veriables interupting the controlledness of this experience: I'm receiving chiropractic care (with pretty much physical therapy wrapped in, since I'm doing stretches/exercises each day), I've actually been able to exercise a bit (walking, jogging, stair-stepping), and I've received and am wearing orthodics (which are supposed to help everything). As far as my energy goes, I've been pretty tired, but I've been burning the candle at both ends too. I'm not complaining about being busy like every other human being, but my body requires a lot of sleep, and I have self-diagnosed a phobia of sleepiness. If I were allotted a superhero power (I've actually thought of this before), I would opt for sleepless energy. Seriously, imagine how much you'd be able to do if you had perfect energy, 24/7, and never needed sleep. I'll name my alter ego "VivaGirl" since viva means life or lively. I would have changed the world by now, as apparently it's only the necessary evil of slumber that's stalling my success. And with that, I think it's time for me to hit the sack.