Grain-free discoveries

I started the adventure of eating grain free back in January. Since then, I have had to bad relapses (I say bad, because they lasted far longer than one meal). Both times I have gotten sick within a week of said relapse. The first time I thought it was a coincidence. After all, I get sick all the time right? But this time it happened again, and it has been so much worse (I think because it was for a longer period of time, and I still haven't completely gotten myself back off of them yet).

One thing that is really interesting though, is that I noticed how much worse I felt almost immediately after eating that which i was not supposed to eat (in this case, a can of chicken noodle soup). Normally, the chicken noodle soup helps me to feel better. It's warm, and soothing, and (so I thought) easy on my stomach. Perfect sicky food right? Well, apparently, now it just adds to the general feeling of blah. My head started to hurt, my nose got more clogged, and my energy level went way down again. Surprise, surprise. So much for my "comfort food."

However, the more I play with this, the more I find out about myself. Recently, my energy levels were pretty much back to the way they were pre-elimination diet, so I thought maybe I was wrong. Maybe it wasn't grains after all, and if that's the case, then what's the point? Well, clearly catching a cold every time I eat them too frequently is another VERY good reason to stay away. It's hard, and frustrating, when the majority of easy food is stuff I can't have. When I work all week, then have to work all weekend cooking and cleaning so I can eat better. It's expensive, and sometimes (ok most of the time) I wonder if there's really much point. But then I think about the fact that I could be doing much worse. I could have continued to eat the way I was, and continued to get sick every three weeks like I was. But that is even worse, in my mind, than what I am doing now.

Instead of complaining that it is too much work, that it's too stressful, that I can't or don't want to, or whatever, I can look at the choices I've made, and remind myself that there was a reason that I made them. And that reason is becoming more clear every day. Because if I'm miserable, then eating the food I want to eat isn't worth it.