The I.Q. of a Gnat

soft breadPhoto credit: Morguefile.com

Yeah. That was my I.Q. was a couple of weeks ago…

It all started when I took a couple of new digestive enzymes. I’d been taking a similar product from the same company because sometimes dairy doesn’t like me much. And since I wanted some ice cream (Dairy Queen is open, yay!!!), I thought I’d try the heavy duty one this time.

Not too long after taking them, I knew I’d been glutened and sure enough, that particular brand has wheat. The regular ones do not.

I don’t know why it hit so hard, but I got really mad (at myself for trusting that all the company’s products were gluten-free). Thanks to careless food service employees, and my own stupidity for not reading all labels, I knew I’d be suffering for a couple of weeks – again – because of a minute amount of gluten I didn’t even have the pleasure of enjoying.

And so I had a bit of a tantrum. A tantrum that wound up lasting for … five days.

I’d just read about something called GlutenEase the night before and, after confirming that the closest health food store had it in stock, I made the fifty mile round trip to pick some up. If I was going to suffer anyway, I was at least going to enjoy some of my favorite foods this time.

And I did…

On the way back, I called my long-time favorite pizza parlor and ordered a small pizza and breadsticks. After I stopped at the bakery for a tiny chocolate eclair and glazed donut.

Long story short, gluten is addictive for me – in part, I suspect because old favorites will always taste better to me than the GF alternatives. Yes, folks, I had something with gluten every day … for the entire five days. It’s a good thing there were only twenty tablets and I took two for each meal.

Did the GlutenEase help? It did, yes. Nowhere near 100%, but then I don’t think anything could have helped that much after five days of being so stupid. For the occasional cheat (think holiday dinners), and as a preventative for cross-contamination risks at potlucks and restaurants, it will be worth keeping on hand. But short of a miracle cure, I’ll never be able to eat gluten (on purpose) very often.

I still had trouble breathing, and I still had to put up with the gluten-related edema and stomach pain, just not quite as bad or for nearly as long as if I hadn’t taken the pills. I also was chowing on probiotics and acidophilus like candy too, so that probably helped.

Just not enough. Because I still reacted to it, gluten obviously continues to cause damage to my digestive tract. Hopefully one day in the not too distant future, I’ll stop missing favorite foods. In the meantime, I have to keep ignoring the fact that the health food store – and another bottle of GlutenEase – is only twenty-five miles away…

Is there something you know isn’t good for you that you have trouble staying away from? If so, what do you do when the temptation to give in is so strong. Feel free to share in the comments section below.

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3 Responses to The I.Q. of a Gnat

  1. Pingback: Sneak Peek - Weko1 - Wesley Cooper (and a confession) - Kristy K. James

  2. For me it’s junk food. Particularly sweets. No one type. I’m an equal opportunity sweet lover. 😉

    • Kristy K. James says:

      I’m kind of off and on with sweets. The week before my period, I definitely want some chocolate, but I’m such a carb-o-holic it’s ridiculous. And I mean non-sweet carbs. And it’s so stupid for me to give into it (regular OR gluten-free). I feel better with a higher protein diet, but my favorite parts of meals that don’t include chicken (my very favorite food) tend to be the bread and rolls, the crust … best part of a pie! … dumplings, biscuits, etc… Surprisingly enough, during my gluten binge, I think I only had the eclair, half of the glazed donut, and a slice of coconut pie for sweets. Everything else was real food. The Kit Kat candy bar and jelly donut I crave like mad the rest of the time – didn’t even sound good when I’d given myself permission.

      Oops. I’m wrong. I had way too much cake – thanks to the baby shower. 😀

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