No-Mo Nonsense. Prioritizing my health and well-being.

Eliminating gluten from one's diet seems like an easy decision for a lot of people. Most of the time, the logic is, "I'm sick, and maybe not eating this food anymore will make me feel better. Seems like a good idea." While that seemed logical to me, I just couldn't make the leap to going gluten free for some reason. Maybe it's because I'm a little lazy, and I have always relied pretty heavily on convenience foods. Maybe it's because I'm a pretty busy PhD student, and I'm not home often to cook. Maybe it's because I've had a long and glorious history with bread. Who knows?

Like a lot of people who go gluten free, my main motivation for doing it is because I had been sick. I had been sick for about 3 years. I'm not going to elaborate too much on the reasons I looked at going gluten free, but they involved embarrassing bathroom visits, multiple times a day; a lot of pain, and added fatigue. My husband had suggested trying to cut out either dairy or gluten earlier in the year, and I just couldn't do it. Mostly, it was a lack of time that kept me from sticking with it, but I just hadn't hit the point yet where it seemed necessary. It's as if I convinced myself that I really wasn't that sick. I was fine. "I'm a successful student, I've lost over 70 pounds, I'm happy and I enjoy my job. I can't be THAT sick. It's nothing that I can't handle." These are the kinds of things I would tell myself.

Maybe I was discouraged because I didn't get a lot of help from some of the doctors I've seen. I felt like I HAD to just suck it up and deal with it, because an appointment with a digestive specialist ended with being told, "You're in grad school, you're probably just stressed out." Anyone that knows me well knows that I eat pretty well, exercise regularly, get enough sleep and despite a slightly feisty attitude and healthy smattering of sarcasm, am a generally happy person. So, I don't think the amount of stress in my life is such that it would have caused the issues I was having. But, there were no other answers or suggestions forthcoming, and I guess I just hadn't hit a point where DOING SOMETHING was necessary.

Well, I finally hit that point this year. I don't know what exactly did it, but on December 3, 2012, I decided to do it. I was going to cut gluten for a week. Maybe I would see some kind of positive change, maybe not. It might take longer. But, I was lucky. I saw an almost immediate decrease in my symptoms, and at the beginning of my third week of eating gluten free, I'm feeling a lot better than I have in a long time. What remains to be seen is how well I'll be able to maintain a gluten free lifestyle when school resumes in January. Hopefully, by focusing on good habits now, learning to be efficient in my food preparation, and learning from others who have done this before, I can continue to feel great!

Yes, there are foods I will miss. The holidays are coming up, and I will have to forgo a lot of delectable family delights that I wish I could eat. But, new traditions are born all the time. New favorite foods that everyone can eat and enjoy are out there. I have always had a passion for cooking, baking and eating, and I'm looking forward to sharing dishes that everyone can enjoy!