Gluten Free

Paleo, Gluten-free, Sugar-free, Vegan, SIBO, SCD, FodMaps . . . There are so many ways to manage your gut health through diet. After you taper off of any of these control zones, there is almost too much freedom. It’s easy to slip into old habits and find yourself relapsing into a slice of pizza with soda.

Rather than bouncing between free-for-all and extreme restrictions, I am now seeking out a more refined golden ticket, that of balance. Perhaps this will protect me from the prison of strict limitations in the future. In the meantime, I might even feel better everyday.

Crappy Feeling vs. Crap Food Cravings

Each of these diets has taught me lessons about what foods make me feel good, and which ones lead to belly aches or jittery highs. For each, I seek out a quantity of allowance that lets me relish a treat without much suffering.

Coffee is not actually required to be alert, and I do not enjoy the panics that come with it. Maybe a few times each year, though, I will let myself sip on a friends’ mocha, or I’ll order a decaf.

The rush and crash of sugar highs are exhausting, but I am not giving up on ice cream for life either. Nirvana it’s not, but I continue to practice more control than, say, a 12-year-old at a slumber party.

Shall I eat gluten again? Oh yes, I shall. I simply have decided to wait until they have better regulations on Round Up in wheat harvesting before I test out my physical response to eating it again. I just don’t want that crap in my system anymore.

Thai restaurant carb loads of rice noodles and sugary sauce are delicious. So is Thom Yum Soup though, and I can choose this option that will not leave me speeding home like a tuk tuk in Bangkok.

Self-Flagellation leads to more Flatulation

Every food choice is an opportunity to allow myself to feel better the day after, or to treat myself. If I need a moment of celebration or self-pity, maybe I will allow a whiskey with a decadent dessert. It’s essential to simply ensure that every week does not manifest a new reason to earn an aberration from a path of healthy eating habits.

The goal is to not beat yourself up for choosing unwisely here and there. It only creates more self-pity party possibilities. Studies have shown that feeling guilt while eating treats actually increases the ill effects on your system. So relish and enjoy when you make the choice to fulfill your inner snack fiend.

The Dance of the Cold Turkey

Some food choices become an easy habit of conscious choice; the benefit of how I feel afterward outweighs the itch for fake food. In my case, I have decided to remain totally gluten-free, mostly dairy-free, sporadically sugar-free, and avoid most processed foods.

Other restrictions, like sugar, give me insight into the daily challenges of heroin addicts. In these cases, I will do the dance of cold turkey until I find the sweet spot of appreciating sweets with an ease satisfaction.

The Gobblin’ Grooves

How to do the dance: Cut out an impulse food completely for a month or more. Then gradually allow it back in to gain control over the addiction.

If you find yourself killing that box of brownies in two days, you might want to take brownies off of your shopping list options. If one beer becomes five without much forethought, maybe move to kombucha for a month.

Keep a journal on how much you eat of it and how you feel. When you feel lousy, maybe taper off it if. Even if you have outside circumstance that may result in your feeling lousy, just make a new system that you are only allowed this treat when you are feeling good. This protects from emotional eating habits as well as your overall health.

Becoming your own Best Parent

It’s up to you to be your own best guardian when it comes to dietary choices. You can do it with positive affirmations and healthier replacements, rather than Catholic School rulers and repressing all snacks. Find the zone where you feel good and enjoy eating.

Finally, don’t go hating on people who dip Cheetoes in bacon mayonnaise and swish it back with diet soda. That’s their choice, so save the lectures. Be your own best self. Trust that you are on your path, and they are on theirs. Your path will most likely need a lot less toilet paper down the line.

You made your resolutions almost a month ago. Are you still sticking to them with that determined hope of a new way of being? Or, are you already flailing in your failings with hopeless distress or apathy? Let’s charge forth into this non-January with a new thought for our goals and dreams.

Here’s the cycle many of us know all too well:

– Make a Goal! I’m going gluten-free, baby!

– Begin. Feel hopeful and adamant. Hey now, this GF bread brand is alright.

– Rock it. Happy Dance! I said no to pizza and felt fine! Yes!

– Cheat on your plan, breaking the continuum. Damn you, chocolate chip cookie peddler.

– Beat yourself up. Why do I even bother? I’m going to fail anyhow.

– Half-assed attempt to restart, now in a state of mild fear of failure with depression. Sigh. No pizza for me.

– Repeat with less verve; spiral through each step until you give up and return to the old pattern. When I found out beer has gluten, I said to hell with it. The gas isn’t that bad, right? Right?

Simply doing this again is pointless. How do you break free and actually accomplish your goal? First, look at the list and ask, “Where did this path go astray?”

Consider that the first flop was not the cheat. The real loss was the self-abuse for not being perfect in your trajectory. It is beating yourself up that actually affects your capacity to continue.

Increase your Value — Be Kind to You to Increase your Success Value

Think of an incredibly valuable stock. It doesn’t make a strait line up and up, it wiggles up and down on a steady rise. We don’t pull out of our mutual fund because it drops a few points, so why do we ask ourselves to have zero moments of fallback.

You go from being a hot cheerleader for Team You, to being the school bully. Maybe it’s best to simply become the good teacher to yourself, and encourage diligence with acceptance.

Self-loathing is the beast that whispers songs of the hopeless. If you make a mistake, keep the muzzle on this bastard and release the virulent Care Bears of Forgiveness and Fortitude. Get back up and return to the new habit with dedication and patience.

The word Resolution is from Latin resolutionem meaning: a process of reducing things into simpler forms.

So let us resolve to simplify this process. If the goal you set is overwhelming you, break it down into a manageable practice. Then build on it over a longer span of time.

Give yourself one month to get the hang of being gluten-free or sugar-free or coffee-free rather than judging your ability early on, or taking on multiple at once. The first few weeks are when you are adjusting to your emotional, mental, and physical relationship to food. Ease up and know it gets easier after the hump.

Ben's Actual Dieting Chart — Ben’s Actual Diet Chart

Rather than hoping to completely transform yourself on every level, choose a focus. Benjamin Franklin kept a calendar and abstained from one vice at a time. This gave him the space to observe the practice and see the results more clearly. Witness yourself taking ownership over your will and stay inspired to keep going.

Dive into your month ahead with the same zest for possibility, but with a kinder voice in your head and a more gradual path to climb. Allow yourself to enjoy the journey, and you will likely get further than you have in the past with whips and floggers. Unless you’re into that kind of kink.

Belly Bubblings

Balance Act: Walking the Intestinal Tightrope

Viva la Resolution! Viva la Resistance!