Life this month

Considering how little we've planned this month, it seems that not only has October flown by, but life has been fairly busy. With the last two weeks being a write off due to illness, I'm finally starting to feel a little normal. What was thought to be the office stomach bug, has since turned into a potential gluten intolerance, and in simple terms - I have become that girl who talks about food a lot. I always used to talk about food before, but this time, it's even more than you could ever think. The cupboards that were once full of bread, biscuits and crisps have been replaced with protein bars, nuts and dried fruit and the fridge that was always brimming with filled pasta, pizzas, sausages and breaded chicken is now a bright array of every vegetable that Asda quite literally stocks. To be fairly honest, it's actually OK so far. I'm not missing all my sweet treats (partly because the gluten free jaffa cakes are delicious!) and have found myself eating more than I used to before, just of the right kind. Little B and I make the conscious effort to cook everything from scratch now, together most nights and even branch out to foods that I wouldn't normally have eaten, which is making for absolutely delicious meals.Since trialing gluten free, I cannot begin to explain how much better I feel in not only my stomach and toilet habits (yes, I went there) but in myself too. I feel incredibly happier. The last four/five months ago, I wasn't feeling right, but I was in denial.I was constantly tired whether I had five hours sleep or ten hours sleep, I would spend my days at work counting down the hours till I could head home to use the toilet, I would feel dizzy staring at my computer screen all day, my stomach would bloat before I'd even eaten that morning and I'd take myself to bed with stomach cramps. And in reality, I felt down. I guess you could say that maybe the office bug was a blessing in disguise, or just my bodies way of crying for help. It's not a drastic change, not half compared to others. But for me, it feels like a fairly big deal.. I can now enjoy a meal and feel satisfied, not resembling an eight month pregnant stomach, I can go to bed without questioning if I'll be sick, I can make plans without having to plan for toilet breaks and I don't feel half as tired as I used to. But most importantly, I feel like things really don't matter. I don't feel so uptight like I did four months ago, I feel calmer and like my age again. I genuinely feel better.And so right now, I am embracing this change in my life, and with the help of Google (amen to you!), cook books and spending that little bit longer looking at ingredients in the supermarkets, I'm learning a lot of things I didn't know before about foods and our body. And yes, I did genuinely cry when I realised that my favourite Calzone pizza from Prezzo could be no more. Such is life.