Still Going Gluten-Free

Yesterday, the second of May, marked my first dessert in 30 days. What did I have? A cupcake. Well, two MINI-cupcakes.

The gluten-free month has come to a close and I’ve not much to report save for the fact that mostly, I feel less puffy. 

I haven’t lost weight, but I feel thinner. My skin thing is still there which makes me think that there’s something else I’m allergic to. My migraines remained present near the end of the month; in fact, I had four in a row, or one mighty one that wouldn’t go away last week, and two this week.

What is note-worthy, however, is that I was far less tired, far less emotional, and far less hungry.

A bottomless pit for food ever since childhood, one of the most frequent things I have heard from my family at meal times is “Are you really going to finish that?” and “that’s an awful big helping”.

This whole month I’ve found myself mid-way through one of my usual large portions of food asking myself why I ordered or made so much food. I’ve been tossing half-portions of burrito bowls from Freebirds WorldBurrito in the trash; giving the remainder of my gluten-free personal pizzas from The Pizza Studio to local homeless; I’ve been bringing home left-overs!

Yet, when I re-introduce gluten during a meal, it’s as if I am never full. I could always have “just one more”.

I have noticed that I actually don’t really want bread.

I want the convenience of bread (save for when I’m walking past Subway where they pump the smell of their baking bread out the front of the store to lure you in; then I want bread).

But really when I want a burrito it isn’t for the flour tortilla. It’s for the perfectly packed-in, mixed bites of flavor on the go. When I want a sandwich it’s because it’s easier to carry a half-wrapped sub sandwich than to have slippery lunch meat tubed around veggies sliming all over my hands, and mustard dripping on my blouse. I don’t want fried chicken—not even my beloved Chick-Fil-A sounds appetizing. McDonalds? Sounds awful. Any of the usual bad-for-me eats are simply not on my radar.

So, while some of my symptoms are still present, there are some things that, when absent, make life so much more pleasurable. And therefore, I have decided to forgo the gluten a majority of the time for an undetermined period.

On to make-up-free May!