Well, let me start off by saying I’ve made it through my six week initial period. How did I keep with my diet? Well, that has very much to do with my trip back east. The night before we left, we went out to dinner, and I had a dressing that had a bit of cheese in it. It was by mistake – I just poured the wrong one on my salad. So that was a minor slip-up, but so far I hadn’t really deviated from my diet in any substantial way. But then the trip came. Let’s break it down.

Gluten – I am pretty sure I kept gluten free the entire time. I have realized that I’m not so stringent on my eating foods that are processed in plants that processed gluten, or on that equipment. The fact of the matter is that my intolerance is not super severe and I don’t think that that’s the worst thing in the world. Even having said that, I only broke that convention only once or twice.

Caffeine – Haven’t touched the stuff since. I miss the taste of Mountain Dew, but I don’t think I’ve had any caffeine withdrawls. I really think monitored myself pretty closely BEFORE the diet (rarely having more than a single can a day), so that helped. I think in a few weeks I’m going to have a can of Amp before a round of doubles or a mini-tournament to see how it affect my play. Then, if it seems to go okay, I’ll add a can of Amp before tournaments. It always seemed to give me a boost. But yeah, this has been no problem.

Dairy – I’m trying to think, but aside from that small slip-up with the dressing, and eating the chicken at Qdoba (which is not dairy-free), I’ve kept pretty good here. At the 6 week mark, I’ve put diary back into my diet. I’ll talk about that briefly.

Alcohol – This is where I did not make it 6 weeks. To be fair to myself, I excluded alcohol NOT because I felt I had an allergy to it or because I felt I was drinking too much (I probably average a bottle of wine every two weeks). I excluded it just as a system cleanse kind of thing. When I heard the news of Gavin on Thursday morning, I didn’t drink on Thursday, or Friday, but Saturday night (the day before driving up to see him), my emotions started swirling. I had a single glass of wine that night at my sister’s house.

Then we drove up and went out for drinks with Jay and Jen that night. I had two drinks. At that point, I felt there was no point for the last few days going back on the wagon, and I had a drink or two over the next few days. Then, of course, I hung out with my two bosses, and they plied me with liquor, so I guess that fortunate that I had already stepped off the wagon. In fact, I might be drinking a glass of wine now. However, like gambling, I know I enjoy it, so I feel I monitor myself quite well. I’ve had no adverse effects from drinking, probably because I’m keeping it pretty moderate.

Anyway, the six weeks has come and gone. How do I feel? Well, Ash pointed out that I haven’t been complaining as much of Reynaud’s symptoms (cold hands and feet even if I’m sweating hot) – that’s true, but it also has been 100 the last week. So hard to really point to causation, but that’s at least a bit encouraging.

My skin has been back and forth – my rosacea has come back worse than ever, and I’m not really sure why. I DO know that I’ve been pretty lousy with my medications in general. I started supplements a while ago, and I end up taking them only 1x a day (instead of two) if at all. Not good. I have to get into a habit there.

My stomach has only had the one issue, although I still have frequent urgency with my digestive system. I was hoping some of that would go away.

I’m not so bloody tired, and I do think that’s the caffeine. But man, I miss Mountain Dew’s sweet savory taste.

So I’ve put dairy back into my diet. Originally, I was only supposed to incorporate one thing at a time (butter for a few days, cheese for a few days), but that kinda went out the window. I had potatoes with butter and milk in my first night, but then had MILK with my breakfast the next day (I grabbed the wrong carton and didn’t just want to throw out the bowl of cereal), and I’ve also had a little bit of cheese in one meal. None of that has seemed to have too much of an effect (save a bit of urgency), but I still think I’m going to try to be more methodical. If I eat cheese, I’m not going to have any dairy the next day to see what happens.

Anyway, I plan on staying with the GF. I have no reason not to, other than I really miss regular pasta. But life goes on. I’m learning how to cook other stuff, I’m perfecting the art of sweet potato fries, and I made it through.

I’ll still occasionally post about the diet. If I find any good recipes or if you have any, let’s post ‘em.

Oh, and by the way, these chips rule and are GF (and available at Costco) – they’re the new staple in our house.