Now that I’m a little over a month of eating gluten free I thought it would be a good time to provide another update. Since my last post on the topic I’ve had a few lapses. On the one hand, it’s a bummer. I’ve been avoiding gluten as much as possible, so any slip up is a blow to my confidence in sticking to my goal. However, I have a great excuse: social pressure. Let me explain.

A neighborhood happy hour was set up at the local pub biergarten bar known for its robust selection of beer on tap. Remember beer is not gluten free. Not to be cast as a pariah, I succumbed to the social pressure to have a beer from the four pitchers (for 5 people…) that were ordered. I sipped my one glass while the other guys decimated the four pitchers and all was well. It wasn’t a huge issue, though looking back I probably should have passed on the beer all together and just gone for the company.

The other snafu happened after the Texas Independence Relay.

After running 203 miles as a team, getting an hour of sleep, and generally being completely exhausted, the team needed to eat. The race provides free Papa Johns pizza to all finishers, but I held strong and didn’t have any. We loaded into our vans and drove to out to find an early dinner. The group settled on Which Wich (a sandwich shop like Potbelly and Quiznos). In this case, my options were a sandwich (on gluten-y bread), a salad (fairly devoid of calories), and/or a milk shake. Not wanting to collapse, I got a sandwich and a milk shake. In an earnest act of maintaining a gluten free meal, despite the sandwich, I got a chocolate shake instead of Oreo. Hey, it’s the little things that add up.

So in the last couple weeks I’ve had a few glitches in the plan, but nothing out of general weakness (for better or worse). The gluten free plan is to hold strong through April, and then slowly reintroduce normal (?) food back into the diet in more moderation. Like I said last time, it has been extremely educational, even if I haven’t noticed big changes in my general well-being.