Suffolkians, I can’t keep my pants up these days. And before speculation begins as to why, it’s because a diet without gluten is starting to melt the pounds off my body and the points off my blood sugar level.

And when something starts to work for you, a couple of things come to mind. Number one, why didn’t this idea of removing gluten from my diet come to me before? It seems simple enough. The notion to give up gluten should have come any number of times while I was enjoying a tuna sub or a nice slice of chocolate cake. There should have been something in me that said, “perhaps there’s something better I could be eating right now.” I could have been enjoying a nice grilled steak instead of that grilled cheese sandwich.

Secondly, who would have thought the subtraction one sticky little protein would make me feel so much better. The back pains are subsiding. My feet are no longer swelling like boiling hotdogs. And the last time I checked my blood sugar, I was only two small points above a completely normal level.

The human body is a strange and wonderful machine, though. It always amazes me how putting sugar into it can give energy and ruin it at the same time. And taking something as seemingly insignificant as wheat out of one’s diet could make such a difference.

So, I’m starting to embrace the science of my body. What I’ve found is that conditioning oneself to avoid a few small speed bump like breads and pasta is a scientific advantage for me. And my lab tests prove that my body is responding well to a life without gluten.

Science aside though, I’m more encouraged by the more visible changes my gluten-free diet is making, which brings me back to my falling pants. It’s been some time since I’ve been able to do the little things — tie my shoes without needing medical attention, sleep on my stomach without feeling like an elephant is napping on top of me, and mostly not feeling like that one button on my shirt is about to fire off with the power of locomotive. I must say I enjoy those things.

Now that my pants are looser, I’m feeling more like moving on to exercising, a task that once only meant bending down several times to pick up a pesky Starburst wrapper. I’m talking about actual, honest-to-goodness exercise, with sweat and workout gear. A gluten-free diet is just that powerful. If it can make me consider exercising, it’s simply amazing.

I can’t wait to start buying my pants at some place other than the stout shop.