Dreaming of Wheat

I apologize for writing so much about food and about not eating certain foods. This is not a food blog, but my psychological relationship with food is what I'm "dealing with" right now, and it's weighing on my mind... and stomach. Like a lot, a lot. Bear with me.

It's Sunday which means I've been one week "wheat free."
OH MY GAWD do I miss it. 

Side note: Sooooo, I've cheated a little bit? Because I've been eating some girl scout cookies. But, that's it. Now there will be no. more. girl scout. cookies. We have eaten all the Thin Mints, and they aren't selling them any more. Temptation gone. I will have to revert to high quality chocolate.

To take bread off my weekly grocery list was dramatic. Bread is my first love. If I could only choose one thing to ever eat again for the rest of my life it would be bread. Last meal? Fresh warm bread and salted butter. Yum.

Over the last month and a half I've stopped buying processed foods. That wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, actually, to cut out junk food. Although I enjoy it as I'm eating, it never makes me feel good. Initially, this transition was made easier for me by baking fresh bread in our bread-maker, and eating it when I would otherwise look to junk. In the long run, though, I can't survive on bread alone, as much as I dream about it.

How we've made the transition:

• I switched from shopping at HEB to only shopping at Central Market, which simply doesn't carry a lot of the processed foods that tempt me. 
• I've grown accustomed to only selecting whole foods. That doesn't mean we haven't slipped up and had one or two bags of potato chips since January 1st, but we don't keep that stuff in the house any more. 
• Now I think about meals in very simple terms, so I don't get overwhelmed or frustrated. For example, we're okay with eating the same things over and over again, and keeping it easy for each meal: greek yogurt and bacon, boiled egg and celery sticks, chicken breast and salad. Done. 
• I've also starting keeping more whole foods on hand in the house, so on a night when I don't have specific plans for dinner we fall back on defrosting chicken or grilling meat, rather than ordering out. 

It's starting to feel easy, although it wasn't at first. Unfortunately, it's also starting to feel expensive. I sure wish there were tax breaks for people trying to buy and eat all organic whole foods. What a reward and motivator that would be!

I always knew wheat was going to be a big hurdle. How do I have a sandwich with no bread? What about pancakes for bunch on weekends? I'm salivating just thinking about them. I don't think I'll give up wheat for good, but I'm going to make a pointed effort for at least a month to eradicate it from my diet. I want to know if it's the cause of my lethargy, my slow brain functioning, the haze that I seem to live in perpetually (or if I'm just growing stupider with age). I also want to see some weight come off. If I see that, it will be a huge encouragement to keep at it.

In the meantime, I'm torturing myself with this beautiful film from Kinfolk, makers of Food Porn. 
Join me?

Dutch Oven Bread from Kinfolk on Vimeo.