by Janelle Holden “Doug, can you give me some help over here?” I gave my husband the-look. You know, the look? The one that says, “You’re in trouble, and if you don’t help me immediately you will regret it.” “Huh?” he said. He was sitting at the kitchen counter, pleasantly chatting with his dad, oblivious [...]
Secrets of the naturally-thin
by Janelle Holden I remember the first time I saw someone eat half a cookie. The woman calmly broke the piece off, nibbled on it for a while, and left the other half in the common area of our staff kitchen for someone else to enjoy later. I had two reactions. First, I took it [...]
Five ways to relieve the winter blues
by Janelle Holden It was April 19th, 2009. My psychiatrist checked her chart. “Oh yes,” she said. “You were last here … let’s see on … April 19th, 2008.” She looked up and smiled. “Classic Seasonal Affective Disorder.” I wasn’t smiling. I was dreaming of Florida. Seasonal affective disorder, in non-clinical terms, is when you [...]
What monkeys have to do with your pie
In the past week I’ve moved, cooked Thanksgiving dinner for 12, and thought a lot about pie. Yes, pie. The kind that sticks together, melts in your mouth, and reminds you of all Thanksgivings past, present, and future. Not just because a friend sent me a sweet chocolate mousse pie recipe (grain free, and gluten-free), [...]
The difference between emotional eating and real hunger
I think we all know the stereotype story of emotional eating. There’s this girl, she’s sitting on the couch, with her pint(s) of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream in her lap, eating ice cream out of the tub with a spoon because her boyfriend just broke up with her. It’s Bridget Jones’s Diary, right? Well [...]
How to super-charge your gluten-free energy
I like to call our cellar the “Silence of the Lambs” cellar. No, it’s not what you think. It’s just that our house was built in 1918 and the cellar is unfinished. It is full of dust, cobwebs and giant spiders who have established residence in those cobwebs. I am scared of spiders. And up [...]
How to cure gluten-free I-can’t-eat-anything-itis
Have you ever had “I-can’t-eat-anything-itis?” It’s a disease in and of itself. I had it this weekend when I finally gave up trying to eat rice. I’ve been grain-free for most of the summer and started introducing foods back into my diet to see how they would go over. I really, really, wanted rice [...]
Are you too polite for your own good?
Here’s the situation. You’re at your friend’s house. You’ve told her you don’t eat gluten (or dairy, or sugar, or whatever). You’ve explained why. According to you, she should know the drill. Only, she doesn’t. She offers you PIE, excitedly. “I think you can eat it!” she exclaims, very proud of herself, while she slices it [...]
When failure isn’t an option
Success is a sexy word, isn’t it? It’s also a very ’80s word for me. It conjures up images of sports cars, upturned collars, swimming pools, and frankly – bad hair (think, Donald Trump). I don’t long for any of those things (especially the bad hair). I like reliable vehicles with low gas mileage [...]
Getting your mojo back
I’ve had one of those weeks. You know the one. The one where you find out your favorite dream might have died? The one where you get bad news and you don’t know how to take it? The one where you do something you regret and then try to change it by editing what you [...]
