a new diet

Photo credits - Elana's Pantry

This is day 3 of my gluten-free diet. I've been exhibiting extreme tiredness, mood swings and loss of appetite for the past few weeks and after an uncontrolled attack of rage (spurred on by awful awful traffic), Brook strongly convinced me to go to the doctor and check it out. After taking a comprehensive blood test, the results came back just fine. Brook had recently talked to someone who had a gluten allergy (his masseur, actually) and realized that I was exhibiting very similar symptoms. So I'm giving this a go for a month and see if I feel discernibly better. I went to Sun Harvest a few days ago, since they have a much better selection of alternative-diet foods. They had a cheap apple sale, but I was disappointed at how much their gluten-free products cost. $6 for a loaf of bread? No thanks.

I've found a few blogs/photostream with tasty looking gluten-free recipes, but it looks like cutting out wheat is still going to be tough. Why? I love bread! And crackers! And noodles! Such staples in my old diet. Not to mention I can't have any regular baked goods, unless I use almond flour (Elena's rec) or something.

Right now I'm going to meet Brook for lunch at The Kitchen Door. I imagine that their chicken salad is only going to be half as enjoyable without their fresh baked bread (as a sandwich). But restriction is like a game- I haven't been too upset about not being able to eat certain foods yet. Hopefully that will last. It was only last week I was eating Jimmy John's italian sandwiches and baking cookies at home...

Update: Ugh! The chicken salad is rather tasteless and stringy by itself! Heavy disappointment. Probably doesn't help that my taste buds are shot from this dumb cold either. Gr. And Brook was let down by his $9 soggy roast beef sandwich too. And we went to Red Bud Isle nearby, which I didn't realize was a dog park, and got bothered by all these sniffy dogs. Not his favorite things. As this highly opinionated man complained so much, I know he was yearning instead for Foodheads and his cat Boyd. What could I do but let it roll off me like beads of water on a Gore-Tex jacket? I do that most of the time. Good idea, poor execution. Try again next time!

This homemade chicken salad looks much tastier. Love it when there are grapes.