beginning of the holiday season with a restricted diet

The majority of my Christmas celebrations are over and I finally have some 'me' time. It's 6pm and I'm in my pjs, hiding in my bedroom and can finally hear myself think.

I imagined Christmas would be difficult as I am still avoiding wheat/gluten/dairy/soy/nuts. I knew I would be 'that' annoying person who'd hold up takeaway lines and waitresses at restaurants with a list of questions. I'd be that really difficult guest at family/friends' houses. I anticipated that everyone would hate me by the end of the holiday season.

However, I've gotten this far in my diet - I feel like I've detoxed my body from all those stuff and my eczema is slowly clearing up so I don't have to wear band aids as much. Eating any of that stuff would undo the work that I've done... and that's how I motivated myself.

Zefferelli's had a whole gluten-free menu which was an absolute god-send. I got a Chicken Valentino which was chicken breast in a sauce made of sun dried tomatoes, olive oil and caramelised onion with veges. Normally there's cream in the sauce but I requested that this omitted. There were also pine nuts that I clumsily gave to Dan, who dined with me. I also had a bit of a gluten-free garlic pizza. I was soo happy with this meal because it was the tastiest thing I had in days.

I half-lived on these muesli bars over the past few days. They have no wheat/dairy/nuts/soy.... but as they probably had a bit of sugar so I'm hoping they haven't created more harm than good.

Dan and I also baked gluten-free banana bread/cake. We used a simple recipe from the internet, substituting sugar with honey. I can't locate the recipe, but I remember it was a simple method - mixing dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. We used Orgran's all purpose plain flour which turned out to be very similar to normal flour. The cake was delicious, fluffy and tasty. In Sydney, I used to bake banana bread all the time, so I randomly crave wholesome banana bread and this did the trick. However, it was definitely best eaten on the day (moreso than other cakes) as it became very very dry over time. 

And before I cut soy out of my diet, I made a 'vege fried rice', using tamari sauce, mirin, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic to season it.

Holidays aren't over yet, and I hope my friends and family will be forgiving. I need these holidays to destress and I don't need any extra social pressure to do something I don't want.