Pizza Night and My Gluten-Free Shift

From my Instagram post:
It's pizza night! Lovin' the classic Margherita - tomato, basil, vegan substitute for mozzarella topped with black olives, field mushrooms and spinach on a gluten-free base. No shame, I finished half of this in under 15 minutes; saved the half for tomorrow. 

For those of you who may be wondering why I've moved to a gluten-free diet recently, there are various reasons and factors for the switch. You don't get diagnosed for gluten intolerance overnight. As I learned from a colleague, it took years for her to finally narrow it down to gluten. In my case, I don't usually adapt a diet (as I've done in the past, e.g., pescetarian, lactose-free) just because. This is one of my 'small steps' to rebalance my lifestyle while at the same time helping address some health concerns, with the ultimate goal of understanding the changes in my body better.

For the past few months, I've been having skin reactions on my face that seemed to not go away for good. It could be due to the change in environment (the ever changing and unpredictable weather conditions in London), change in diet (ingredients here may be different than what my body was used to), and/or stress factors. It could be a lot of things.

As almost everything in London is too costly, that means I don't have easy access to an affordable and at the same time dependable facial centre the way I used to when I was in the Philippines. Back there, it will usually take at most two visits, possibly one full facial peel along with regular facials, for my facial woes to go away. (Dermstrata - Greenbelt Branch, I miss you!)

For now, I'm staying away from gluten and dairy to see if my skin reactions have anything to do with these potential triggers. The good news is that there are properly regulated gluten-free and dairy-free options in the supermarkets here and all I have to do is search for them and read food labels diligently.