Checking in on the food experiment

It has officially been a month with the gluten free diet. As a refresher, I began this experiment because my mood had been a little shaky, and apparently gluten intolerance runs in my family. So, I gave it a shot.

Everyone has been asking about it, and now I feel like I have a conclusion.

Mentally, I do feel pretty great. My mood is fairly stable. I find happiness and peace and fulfillment from most things. I have not been getting stressed very easily. I've been really good at leaving work at work (although this is difficult when you live with people from work). I've been going to a lot of yoga, and trying to be more mindful in life. Little confidence issues that I had been experiencing have not been rearing their heads as much.

Now, in terms of physical health. Can't exactly say I noticed a difference at the end of the day. To get really gritty: I was expecting different digestive and bowel patterns... but didn't notice anything there. I was thinking I'd have a lot more energy, which is kind of true. But no matter the day, I always crash at 2 pm in the office. I also thought I might lose some weight, because this happened for my dad (don't worry folks, this wasn't a goal, just though it would probably happen), but I don't think that really happened.

Here's what I did notice: I didn't really miss the wheat products. I was eating more vegetables, other grains, a lot of eggs, and I was getting more adventurous with cooking. I've made a lot of new dishes that I really enjoyed. I had to get more creative. Sure, I didn't eat sandwiches. That meant I cooked more dinners and had more leftovers. And, so I never went hungry, sometimes I ate frozen things from Amy's or Trader Joe's.

As any good experiment goes, now I will have a control: I am going back to a normal diet for at least a week. No restrictions, no limitations. I won't think, "oh, that has gluten, maybe I shouldn't." Nope. I am just going to eat as I normally would, this time last year, perhaps. This time I will be paying careful attention to my digestion, mood, and energy level. I would think that I would notice something this time, if in fact I should be living gluten free.

And the way I kicked it all off? Thanksgiving dinner at Ben's house. Stuffing, noodles, pie... the works! It was exactly one month on Sunday the 15th, and so I indulged, and felt terrible. But, honestly, I felt terrible because I ate 3 pounds of food and drank a lot of wine, not because of wheat.... or at least I assume.

Well, since I have so much catching up to do, I'll brainstorm my next few posts:

1) recipes I've tried recently

2) places I've eaten

3) This month's theme!!

4) Other social gatherings and food related items.

I can't wait for Thanksgiving. I'll give you all a hint about this coming month's theme:

Communal Eating!

More to come...

2 weeks?? Oops!

Wow, folks.

I start off with an apology: I am deeply sorry for how much my life has been consumed by work, because it means I've not been doing a lot of things I like to do. For one, I haven't written in this blog for almost 2 weeks. Also, I haven't knit anything since I finished my adored hat. I have not seen my college friends, even though they are amazing and everywhere. I haven't even seen that many work friends, although I have, because when I'm not working, I've been going to the bar with work friends.

So, some highlights since November the 4th (which was election day last year!!!)

My dear friend Ellie came to Minnesota from Barcelona, Spain, to attend a community arts conference. She was a lovely guest on our couch, and unfortunately was jetlagged and recovering from the Swine Flu, (and she is not a going-out-to-the-bar kind of lady), and so we had many nights in. I did finally watch Up! As it turns out, there were three people left in the state of Minnesota, aka my group of friends and family, who had not seen Up. These three people were me, Ellie, and my friend Anthony. We all happened to be in the same place, after going out for Vietnamese food (yum, as always). So, we rented Up. I cried a lot. Made some jokes about the cone of shame, and Doug the dog. And that crazy bird. And aging. And life long love. Awww shucks, what a movie.

Other movies of the weekend were Rachel Getting Married, (loved it, but what was with the Indian wedding? Just because they are a rich Connecticut family, and Tunde from TV on the Radio is in it, they get to appropriate Indian culture?! Bah!) Also, Babe! Sarah and Zach and I watched Babe, and we just had a hoot.

In other news, I have begun a Thursday is the New Friday tradition with work friends, since we don't go to school on Friday. What. A. Good. Idea. It makes Thursday feel so much more final, and very refreshing. A trip to the bar, some fried food, and board games? You can't really go wrong there.

Only one week until Thanksgiving! Fabulous!

This post has not been about food at all. Dammit.

November is Writing Month

At work, one of my friends just suggested the idea of forming a creative writing group. Poems, prose, fiction, non-fiction, prompted, un-prompted. Everything.

Included in this group is the idea that November is "write a novel" month.

Yeah. Right.

However! We've adapted this so that everyone is encouraged to write something, anything, every day in the month of November. We are a bit delayed, though, and I started today. I can't remember the last time I wrote a poem. Perhaps if any of them seem worthing of leaving my computer, I might post them.

I am very excited to be writing again. It feels like right now in life everything that I always tell myself I want to do, I am finally doing. Knitting like crazy, writing, cooking, going to yoga, seeing friends (well, I'm not doing enough of that). It is time to reclaim mySELF, and I am very excited about it. As Annie said, "this is your last year there. enjoy your friends, and avoid drama." And that, friends, is what I intend to do. I get a little emotional even thinking about it.

Enchiladas for lunch, dinner, lunch

November is officially here, and with November, it means that October is over. I used to love October, but with this job, October is killer. It is not fun. It is too many hours, too many days, too many RSVPs and deadlines.

But November! Hooray! My office mate told me that I was being very vocal yesterday, which I was, but it was mostly to counteract the incredibly dreary, downtrodden nature in the office. Part of my cheerful nature involved singing little tunes about November.

"Nooooovember! it's novemmmmber! It's not Octooooober!"

And many such things as that.

Yesterday evening I left work relatively early. I meant to go to yoga, but that morning I got my annual flu shot, so my arm was basically paralyzed all day. Unable to lift my arm above my shoulder, I concluded that yoga was not a good idea (downward dog with a dead arm? no thanks). Instead, I came home and made a whopping tray of enchiladas. I did them in a style I learned from a dear friend of mine, Liz, but with consultation from Asa (thanks, Asa!!).

The result was fabulous. bell peppers, zucchini, black beans, corn, carrots, diced tomatoes, and tons and tons of good spices. topped off with some delicious corn tortillas, enchilada sauce, and cheddar cheese. The smells were divine, and the colors were even better. I don't think I've ever had such success improvising the seasonings for a dish. A confidence booster for sure.

Oh! I just got a call from my Dad that the Yankees won the World Series! Goooo New York! Although, to be frank, I haven't been following baseball at all since the Yanks beat the Twins. I had some real Minnesota pride this year. Gooooo Twins!

Anyway, enchiladas. Delicious. I was very impressed with the chance of the whole matter. It was also nice to just have some therapeutic downtime. After a day of worrying about 33 other people (ah, lovely students), it is so nice to decompress at home with a glass of wine (wine is gf!!), and some tunes, and some snacks while you cook. ::sigh:: this is the good life. Can't wait until that is every single evening next year with AO.

The night concluded with a trip to the Tavern on France with Sarah and some of her friends from college. Not exactly my place, but they had a mean happy hour. I was bitter, because there was nothing on the menu for me to eat other than chips and french fries... boo. UNTIL. The waitress saw my frustration and asked, "are you gluten free?"

"Yes," I mumbled, pissed off and grumpy.

"Well, our bartender has Celiac's, so we started a gluten free pizza, and it's really good! You should try it!"

"No, thanks, I already ate dinner. I just want some damn chicken."

"Well, if you change your mind, just let me know!"

Her chipperness was getting to me. I was feeling grumpy, and who was she to try and make me spend more money?

::ten minutes later::

Sarah says, "Elyse, are you crazy? How often will you get pizza?! Even if you don't want it now, just order it, bring it home, and enjoy it later."

So that is what I did. And it was quite good!! Grilled mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, and a completely edible crust! How do they do it?! I'm glad I was won over by the peer pressure.

On a non-food note: there is a scholarship going out right now for our students that have overcome the BIGGEST obstacles, and DAMN, this is a tough one to work on. Tearjerker every 5 seconds if you really stop to think about it. So I'm torn: best to not think about it? Or think about it deeply, reflect, and then feel really terrible about how easy my life has been?!

But I'm telling you, some of these kids. Wow. They have been through 100x harder experiences than I'm sure I'll ever even see. Makes getting hit by a car seem like eating a delicious piece of cheesecake. Speaking of cheesecake, I discovered that there is a traditional dessert I can enjoy: homemade rice crispy bars! Hooray!

I say Hooray! a lot.

"Do you feel any difference?"

The answer is... not really. No. But I'm still planning on giving it a full month. So far it's been 2.5 weeks. We shall continue to see!

I realize it's been about a week since I posted. The reason being: work! We had a huge deadline last week, and I was working long days, and needed to unwind with Arrested Development, tea, and little else.

However, on Tuesday I did finally make the squash and corn pudding dish. YUM. It was a huge success. The corn pudding was very light, but very flavorful. The squash was cooked perfectly: not too soft, not too hard, but enough texture to make each bite really substantial. There was not a lot of room in each acorn squash half, though, so I did have a considerable amount of corn filling left over, which I baked in a muffin tray!

Wednesday dinner was... nothing, actually. I had some snacks, because I was at the office until 10. That was kind of a bummer.

Thursday! A salad with chicken and goat cheese. Nothing special.

Ah, but Friday. Friday was a big day at the office, and ordered some Pad Thai, and then came home and made a scrumptious little pasta sauce and gf pasta. So good. And thank goodness, because there were leftovers, which were my only sustenance on Saturday at work. AP bought everyone pizza, but alas, my request for a food substitute went unanswered, and so I was very glad I had the pizza leftovers.

Last evening, Halloween, me and the roommates were hankering for some pho. So, it was off to Quang for a delicious beef pho. There is so much in the bowl that I brought it home and ate it for lunch today (lunch was at 3 - it was a late start to the day).

And, for dinner, I experimented with a new recipe. Braised lentils, kale, and a fried egg! Hm!

Mmmmore kale! The dish was really yummy, although I didn't think the flavor of the lentils really mixed that well with the garlic in the kale. However, the kale was scrumptious, and the fried egg on top left it feeling really tasty and rich. Delicious, and super healthy!

Lastly, I realize I am starting to miss the baked goods, etc. Sarah made biscuits this morning, and I was so bummed I couldn't eat them. I am missing the idea of bread as a base to put other things on. So, I shall need to find a substitute. On a positive note, most Halloween candies are still fair game!!

And, approaching midnight, it is time for bed, and to begin another long week. At least we don't have any more Saturday obligations for a while... other than the campus visits I signed myself up for. Darn!