Quitting grain wasn’t as hard as quitting smoking, but a lot of the same feelings are involved.
After 2 months with only accidental fractional amounts of grain reaching my belly, walking into a mall last night through the food court — past the S’barro’s, the Cinnabon, the Panda Express and so on — brought up almost the same sort of sensations as walking into a smoky bar did in the first months after quitting cigarettes.
I smelled hot bread baking. I recognized the mixed aromas from various vendors and could split their profiles in my head and single each one out. I may have closed my eyes, stood still and taken a deep long hit of it. And then all the negative mental associations I’ve created with those aromas slowly started to seep back into the forefront of my mind.
Like with cigarettes, I had to remind myself why I quit, remind myself how much better I feel without it, and move forward. To the vitamin store for my whey protein and vitamins. In and out, I don’t need to bum a piece of bread from anyone.
And like with cigarettes, I know it will get easier each time. I won’t stand there and relish the thought of a barely manageable slice of doughy New York style pizza. I won’t need to close my eyes and run a mental montage of sexy bread memories. I will eventually go straight to the negative, as I now do with vile, wicked cigarettes.
And chalk up a win for the quitter.
TRAU
Posted by Jean on March 23, 2010 at 2:46 pm
I don’t think i could EVER give up breads … however, I commend you for sticking to your guns Tyler.
Posted by Trau on March 23, 2010 at 2:51 pm
It’s tough! And if it you don’t have the ugly symptoms I did, there’s a lot less incentive to do it, so that’s why I don’t try to push people to go this route. The hard thing I’m finding now is that it’s sort of similar to being a vegetarian, where you show up somewhere for an occasion involving food, and you have to beg out of eating certain things. Only people are sort of accustomed to veggies, but tell them you don’t eat grain, legumes or refined sugars and you could seriously wipe out somebody’s entire menu!
Posted by buddhaofdisco on March 23, 2010 at 8:19 pm
Ditto on the giving up breads. Couldn’t do it. But I was a lacto-ovo veg for about 8 years, and so I feel your wavelength. Seems to be workin’ for you, so who am I to argue? Funny, an pic of you came up in CJ’s going-away montage, and it didn’t even look close to what you look like now. Old Trau all the way. Long live the New Trau!
Posted by Ryan Mason on March 24, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Way to keep it going. I quit after my colitis started flaring up after a work-week straight of fresh veggies and fruits. One thing I did take from my stint as a cavemen was eliminating enriched flour products. Nothing good comes from that.
Posted by Simone on March 29, 2010 at 5:53 am
Way to stick to it! I’ve read actually that going “gluten free” is better for you beyond just “low carbs”.Are you feeling “cleaner”?. Vegetarianism was my new years resolution – and I’m never looking back. I feel you on the “what to eat at parties” thing, but in this day and age, everyone’s got some sort of “hang-up”, good or bad. Good on you (as they say here) Tyler! xx