An update and an experiment

So, for about 4 weeks now, I've been largely without cigarettes. Over the span of those 4 weeks, I think I've had 3 cigarettes. The two packs I had left have been thrown away and even when I drove through the land of super cheap tobacco, I didn't buy any.

My eating habits are awful again because apparently, it's one or the other. The time in my day is being spent focusing on my school work, the increase in time I have with my son, keeping the house reasonably clean, and making sure my new partner doesn't feel ignored. This has destroyed the little bit of free time I may have had left for exercise if I want any relaxing down time during the day.

Still I am happy about the cigarettes and may have stumbled upon an interesting connection yesterday while writing a research paper. It is quite possible that I have a gluten sensitivity. I read an article on CNN.com about a young woman in her early 20s, new mom, working full time and able to run her life like a pro. One day, seemingly out of the blue, she started feeling sick. This is exactly what I went through - achy, joint pain, constantly fatigued, increasing headaches, increasing intestinal distress, moodiness. I, like this woman, saw different doctors numerous times only to be told there was nothing "wrong" with me and that perhaps I had mono.

More persistent than I, this young woman eventually found her way to someone who said she was likely gluten sensitive despite testing negative for Celiac disease and asked her to try eating a gluten free diet for a couple of weeks. Within one week, her symptoms had almost entirely faded and her energy levels had returned. My doctors still haven't given me an answer and I'm tired of constantly feeling drained of energy, cranky, and in some type of pain. Ignoring it and acting like everything's fine when I'm not even 30 and supposed to be much better off health wise is getting old fast.

And so, I think it may be time to run the most challenging side experiment ever. Much like Morgan Spurlock and his McDonald's experiment - only healthier - I'd like to see what gluten free eating for 30 days might do for me. Fortunately, my partner is extremely gluten intolerant and so eating this way at home will be easier. Unfortunately, all of my favorite foods (the ones that I constantly want to shove into my face) are all very high in wheat content.

I have noticed in the past that when I remove a lot of my current carbohydrate content from my diet that I feel a TON better. Most of my carb content is high wheat, high sugar foods. I notice also that potato and rice staying in my diet has not been an issue in the past, so logically, this even makes sense according to the way my body behaves, but it's time to really check it out. Let's see how this all goes!