A Good Thing

As I was reading the comments on my "G-Free" post yesterday it occurred to me that I may have come off as being a *little* whiny about the reality of having to give up gluten.  Okay, maybe a lot whiny.

The truth is, however, that I really am grateful to have finally found something that is making me feel better.   In addition to the shrinking finger and shoe size phenomenon, I've dropped 6 pounds in the less than three weeks since I gave up gluten; am getting considerably more work done in a day (as I'm not running to the bathroom every hour); am no longer wasting all those fancy greens I buy and - oh yeah - I feel so much freaking better!  This is a good thing. 

My friend Jen also pointed out that this is a good time to be gluten-free because it doesn't actually have to mean giving up things like bagels, bread, pizza and beer.  There are TONS of gluten-free products on the market now - and some of them are actually pretty good. I will say, however, that on my first g-free attempt I filled our cupboards with things like Glutino's Berry Sensible Beginnings Cereal, Udi's Soft & Chewy Snickerdoodles and Mary's Gone Crackers Pretzels only to find that what worked best for me (and what truly makes the most sense from a health standpoint) was filling myself up with whole, unprocessed foods.  Eggs, beans, fruits, vegetables and good 'ol H2O are my new best friends (which I realize they should have been all along or part of my inner circle at the very least).

Another bonus of being g-free now is that there's this gigantic support system out there that I never knew existed.  Within 24 hours of publishing my G-Free post I had messages of support from friends I hadn't heard from in years, recipes from people I hadn't seen in months and even several great blog and cookbook links from a high school best friend's mom (thanks, Nancy!).  Google "gluten-free blogs" and you're given 26,400,000 possible results in just .18 seconds.  Gleaning through just the first three pages worth gave me at least 2497 Pinterest-worthy recipes alone!

And then there's the fact that it's just a gluten intolerance. While it did make me feel crappy and occasionally mess up my life, there's actually something I can do about it that in reality isn't all that hard.  Sure, there will be times when I am really, really craving pizza (and, let's face it, there will probably be times when I give in to that craving and just deal with the consequences), but I have a choice in all of this.  It's now up to me. And that is a good thing.

G-Free

FYI - this post, though relevant to my journey, could be filed under "TMI" for some of you...

About 6 months before The Spicy Chicken and I got married I had a physical. When the doctor asked if I had any issues I wanted to talk about I reluctantly mentioned that I often suffered from a painful cycle of constipation and diarrhea.  She smiled politely and told me it was probably just the stress and nerves of planning for my upcoming nuptials.  When I mentioned that I'd been dealing with this since I was a teenager (long before I met The Spicy Chicken) her response was that I probably had something called Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), but about the only thing I could do about that was limit my stress and/or just accept it.  Unfortunately working two jobs, attending graduate school and planning a wedding didn't leave a lot of time for stress relief, so I went with Option #2 - just accept it. 

Though this was not a particularly comfortable option, by the time I was in my mid-twenties I had, sadly, gotten used to living this way.  It wasn't until college, when I was living in close proximity to and sharing bathrooms with lots of other women, that I even realized it wasn't normal.  (Yes, I actually thought it was normal to be painfully constipated one day and have explosive diarrhea the next. It was all I knew. Why would I think anything else?).

It wasn't, however, until recently that I finally decided to do something about it.  (This turning 40 thing has sure made me wise!).  I'd done enough research on IBS to know that certain foods tend to trigger reactions for some people (plus, let's face it, you don't have to be a doctor to recognize there's probably a link between food and digestion...). I first removed red meat from my diet for a month to see if it would help.  This, however, resulted in no significant change. So, I went to the next thing on my list - dairy.  Unfortunately, 4 weeks later the results were the same - nothing.  Last on my "List of Things I Should Try to Give Up For Better Digestive Health" (you have one of those lists, don't you?) was gluten. 

Gluten was last on my list for several reasons. One - I have very close friend who suffers from full-blown Celiac's Disease. While my digestive issues are no fun, I certainly don't suffer as badly as she does, so I kind of convinced myself that gluten couldn't be the problem. Secondly, "going gluten-free"  has become such a trendy thing to do lately that I didn't want to seem like I was just following the latest diet fad. And lastly - and let's face it - most importantly - I put off giving up gluten as long as possible because it freakin' sucks. I, like many other people, love all things gluten. Pizza - pasta - crusty Italian bread....don't even get me started...

But as I said earlier, with age seems to have come a little bit of wisdom and I knew that I had to at least try it.  And five months ago I did. Within days I felt changes happening in my body.  That achey, arthritic feeling I always have in my hands? Gone.  The unexplained mood swings? Minimal.  Middle of the afternoon naps? A thing of the past. My ring became too large for my previously fat little fingers.  My shoes required tightening. And m digestive system actually started to feel....normal.

Hooray, right?

Well, yes, but did you notice, by chance, the sentence where I said I did this five months ago? Yeah, it was hard, and I fell off the wagon hard after about 5 weeks.  You know that old Kate Moss quote "Nothing tastes as good as looking good feels"?  Apparently Kate had never tasted Dr. Ho's Bellisima pizza!

But here I am back on the "G-Free" wagon again.  It took me a long time to hop back on it and trust me, it was not done without a lot of research, consideration and several preemptive Bodo's bagels.  I knew, however, when I added gluten back in five months ago that it was eventually going to come back to this.  There was no doubt in my mind that I felt 100 times better when I was eating gluten-free, and that it was going to have to be way of life eventually.

I spend a lot of time and money doing things to make my body feel it's best: hours in the studio at Clay - miles walking and hiking with Scout - buying organic and hormone-free groceries - even learning to cook for myself....There's no reason for me to not be doing this one additional thing (that I know makes me feel better).  
So, this is it - Week Three G-Free - here I come!