(The cupcake pictured above is loaded with freakin gluten. I just wanted to remember how attractive I look when I eat the stuff.)

First of all, before you say, “I am unliking this page. I do not need a daily ‘life without gluten’ update. If I want that, I’ll watch Elizabeth Hasselbeck on the view,” you should know, I have no intention of updating every day. Look at my history. I am flighty and procrastinate and will probably not update often enough.

Second, I never thought I would be life-without-gluten girl. I decided to give it a try after I exclaimed during an interview with a doctor, “holy s@#t!, I think I have that!” When said doctor was describing symptoms of gluten intolerance. Very professional. Just to be clear, I have not, during the course of my reporting career diagnosed myself with every disease and/or disorder I have covered. Okay, well, I still think I have narcissistic personality disorder. I also probably have lupus and a brain tumor, but otherwise, this practically never happens.

Anyway, yesterday, I went gluten-free. For Pete’s sake, I probably got gluten without even knowing it. Still, I woke up feeling less groggy this morning. I have better energy today. Shoot, I felt more energetic yesterday. The really big thing? I did not have my usual desire to binge eat in bed. It was nuts last night. I just did not have the usual insane appetite the entire day. It may just be a placebo effect. Could be a fluke. I will keep you posted (but not to an irritating extent, I hope).

Here is the deal, people with gluten intolerance can suffer fatigue, anxiety, depression, tummy bloat, joint pain. I experience all of the above. Could my diet have something to do with that? Possibly. A cool thing about not eating gluten: I was not craving sugar. Coincidence? I dunno. I will, again keep you posted. I will also, I hope, do a better job of sticking to this experiment than I have others in the recent past- or even the past-past, for that matter.

This is kind of funny. By “this”, I mean the fact that I am even trying life without gluten. I remember the first time I heard people talking about the evils of gluten. I had this wave of rage come over me, “another one of these trendy damn things!”

I buck trends. I was the girl in elementary school who insisted on not liking Shaun Cassidy because everyone else did. Instead, I selected the less popular Hardy Boy. Truth is, I thought I had a better chance with him, that Parker Stevenson, than Shaun. Yeah, I am comparing gluten to Shaun Cassidy. Maybe I was not fair to the guy. The upside is, I can not really hurt myself by not eating gluten anymore than it hurt me to choose the less popular Hardy Boy. At the end of the day, this is about eating more whole foods anyway. That is good for all of us.

(*editor’s note: I am really sorry, because now I have “That’s Rock n Roll” stuck in my head. If it is stuck in yours now, you can send me snacks with hidden gluten in them.)