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I’m going through a dietary transition. A permanent
transition, which makes it all the more harder.
After extensive research and an elimination diet, I’ve come
to the conclusion that I have a gluten sensitivity, and my doctor agrees that giving it up seems to be a good idea.
I don’t want to sound like I’m jumping on the fad wagon.
Going gluten free is all the rage right now, but I’d really rather have no part
of it. I like wheat bread, pasta, cookies, etc. Bye-bye deliciously glutenous
items of goodness.
Now, I eat rice bread, bean sprout noodle things, and cookies
by brands like Glutino. None of which are too horrible. The bread has been an
interesting change (gluten-free bread neither bends the same nor seems to have
a reasonable expiration date—the first kind I got was supposed to last 3 months
or something). The noodles aren’t bad; I used to eat Chinese takeout all the
time, so that wasn’t anything new, but I do miss the taste of regular angel
hair pasta. There’s no real complaint in the sweets aisle, except I’ll miss the
things that can’t be realistically replicated—I’m looking at you Oreos and
Pringles.
And I didn’t even make the transition right. I’d been
suspecting gluten was the cause for some of my aliments for months now, but I
never had the determination to actually commit to the change. It’s a lot to take
in. You have to learn your labels, learn what sauces and dressings are no
longer available to you, what seasoning packs aren’t available to you. But,
after a rather glutenous week followed by days of feeling like complete and
utter crap, I went cold turkey. Friday night was the last time gluten passed
these lips.
And it’s been kind of amazing. In the past week, I haven’t
been bloated, felt nauseous, needed to take any gas relief medication, and my
body hasn’t ached. It’s like the first day after a really bad cold when you can
finally breathe through your nose again.
I feel like I can exist in my body again.
Anxiety has all but disappeared. In the midst of feeling
like crap the week before last, I had to run out of a Barnes and Noble because
I thought I was going to pass out. This past weekend, after the change, the
hubs and I went to an artisan fair and numerous shops where I never felt the
need to bolt.
The change that just a week has brought on gives me so much
hope for the things that can’t immediately change. Like maybe one day, I’ll be
able to retire the hormones and live medicine free again. Maybe I can finally
start losing weight. Maybe I can stop worrying about being sick or feeling out
of it or spending whole days at my house in pajamas because my anxiety is on
red alert.
It seems like a big deal, all the things I can’t have, but
it’s really not. I’ll never have my family’s pie on holidays again, but I’ve
spent an entire week without nausea, and that isn’t something I’ve been able to
say for years.
I’ll just have to dust off my baking skills and try to
replicate all the stuff I think I’m missing.
Anyone else give up gluten? What have been your results? Any
tips for cheaper grocery bills?
