The Liberated Me.

Liberating: Driving in my little Yaris (now deemed the Hot Temple Time Machine a.k.a. HTTM a.k.a. Carmine) with music blaring, singing at the top of my lungs. I. Am. Free.

Liberating: Signing up for a gym membership and actually going. Riding a bike and pumping my heart rate  while reading a new book. Sweating. Getting healthy.

Liberating: Choosing to go Gluten Free on my own accord, despite a failed blood test, because I have averse reactions to wheat/gluten. Feeling better, already. No stomach ache. Just me and natural goodies. Making good with my body.

Frustrating: Figuring out how to be kosher, vegetarian, and gluten free. Mad props to The Kosher Cupcake for recipes right up my alley. There's hope for me yet. I just need to figure out how to make some yummy kosher, gluten free challot (since they serve as mezonot and will allow me to make ha'motzi!), or maybe I'll just order some from Heaven Mills. YUMtimes. There's also some interesting stuff up on Gluten Free Mama, including a shopping guide. FTW!

Liberating: Emailing in my final paper for my M.A. in Judaic Studies at the University of Connecticut. Done and done.

Liberating: The consideration that I might post some of my poetry up here. Stay tuned.

Housekeeping

So I just realized that it was four years ago today (Gregorian calendar) that I converted to Judaism under Reform auspices. It's been just about four months since I converted under Orthodox auspices. Four seems to be the number of the day. To read about my experience four years ago, click here. To be honest, I have nothing to say at this point about the four-year anniversary of my Reform conversion, probably because my brain is fried!

I called the UConn Health Center today to schedule an appointment with a new doctor to get a Gluten Test for Celiacs or sensitivity. I realized that the nuts I've been eating all week have soy (read: wheat) in them, so that sucks. Comments on my last post lead me to believe that I should tough it out and get the test before going Gluten Free, and the depressing thing about this is that I have been feeling moderately better, but I've been feeling more exhausted than normal; it usually hits around 9 p.m. each night. It could be the last few weeks of school wearing me out, but who's to say. So I'm torn. I'm going to carry on with my meat-free efforts and eat as little gluten as possible (no bagels or bread for me), but I'm not going to get anal about it because I'm worried about never knowing whether it's the cause of my intestinal badness.

Sigh. I just want to feel better, get a little healthy in the process, and fit comfortably in my wedding dress in a month. I think I need a hug.

Food, the Source of All Evil

I try to stay on the derekh here with talking all things Judaism, but it's nice to diverge every now and again. So here goes!

I've been dealing over the past few years with stomach unsettledness. That's the best way to describe it. I'm perpetually exhausted, everything I eat upsets my stomach, and my doctor however many months ago suggested I hit up a therapist. Stress, she said, is the source of all my woes (weight, not sleeping, stomach issues). The thing is, I can usually tell when my stomach woes and sleeping woes are stress-related, and yes, that's probably about 40 percent of the time. But that other 60 percent, especially right now when I'm -- honestly -- not that stressed about anything, makes me wonder: What's my body telling me?

So I've decided to go gluten free. The National Institutes of Health (that's a .gov site) suggests continuing to eat gluten before and during your testing for gluten stupidness, but I just want to give it a go. We'll see how it works. I'm okay self-diagnosing on this one, because if I go back to my doctor she'll ask me if I saw a shrink yet, and I can't deal with that. Plus, more veggies = healthier Chavi. I'm also avoiding meat after watching Tuvia devour some chicken over Shabbat and after hanging out with some chickens and cows at Old Sturbridge Village on Sunday ...

So it's fruits, vegetables, nuts, and fish for me. And I couldn't be happier. The difficulty will come when I have to eat by other people, when it comes to challah, etc. Does anyone have any advice on being a kosher, gluten-free consumer? Anyone?

In the meantime, I'm going to figure out a way to make all of the cupcakes over on Ming Makes Cupcakes in a gluten-free and low-sugar fashion. Go health!

Hat tip to @HeySuburban for posting this website (the cupcake one, that is) up on Twitter :)