Hungry

I'm hungry.

After being glutenized a month ago from oats used as a filler in a hamburger, I was sick for three days and lost about two pounds. And then I never bounced back with the weight or the appetite. I lost four pounds over probably a teaspoon worth of oats. Yesterday afternoon, it was like a light switch was flipped on and I was being blinded from the intensity. I was starving! My daily food intake over doubled and instead of eating two or three times a day, I began eating about 6 or 7 times. Today, I had Honey Nut Chex cereal, leftover frozen sweet potato shepherd's pie, an energy bar, a bowl of (corn) noodles, half a pint of sorbet, and am now snacking on a bowl of potato chips. Any other day? Choose two or three of those items and that's it. I had to remind myself to eat. Today, I had the food I brought for dinner at 3pm. Yesterday, by the time I got home I was starving again, so made myself corn pasta. The problem with gf noodles is they take FOREVER to cook. And then I started getting hungry. I chopped an onion at my fastest ever speed (the cut sizes probably left something to be desired) and threw them in a pan of oil and sauteed them. I diced a tomato and mixed that together with the noodles that just finished cooking. I only had one shot of taking a picture of this meal: my camera was in one hand and the fork in the other. I have never enjoyed a meal so much! My body found its voice again and was demanding to be fed!

Back in February, Eliot drew me this picture. It had a simple purpose: remind me to eat. When on gluten, I was never hungry. I literally had to remember to eat. (And he thought taping a picture of an orange creature would help me - it did - I remembered but didn't feel like going through the motions of eating.) There were days when I only had one meal because I completly forgot about eating. When I first went off gluten and my appetite came back, it was such a wonderful feeling! There's a saying to never trust a skinny cook. Well, I'm one skinny cook who can make some pretty awesome food. But without an appetite, I am not enjoying my food past the first two bites. Now every flavor and bite sings to me and my body feels more alive than ever.

Plus, it never hurts to regain those lost pounds! ;-)