Our GF Journey

Baby Girl and I have been gluten-free for three weeks now, and I feel great!  Unfortunately, Baby Girl's meds mask her symptoms; therefore, we really don't know what effect it is having on her, but judging from the differences I see in my own body, I am sure her body is pleased.  Initially, I joined Baby Girl on this journey for moral support, but the further down the path I go, the more I am convinced that this is a much healthier way of eating.  Since going off of wheat, the arthritis pain that has been worsening over the past year in my hands has disappeared.  Not lessened, not barely noticeable, it has disappeared.  I find it easier to wake up in the morning.  My mind is less foggy and more focused.  My appetite has dramatically reduced. I no longer go on insulin-fueled chocolate chip binges (even though I still enjoy my chocolate chips in muffin form) and here is the best part:  my waistline is shrinking.  Shrinking I tell ya!  Poor Mr. Level-Headed was eating his breakfast this morning and out of the blue, I whipped up my shirt and said:

Look at this stomach!  It is amazing!

In hindsight, I am sure he did not mind too much . . . tee hee!

 Anyhoo . . . 

 Like my dry shampoo, going gluten-free is going to be the game changer for this thing they call 37!  I can just feel it.

Now, this is not to say there haven't been any challenges.  The first three days of going gluten-free were miserable.  I was coming off a powerful addiction and I could feel it.  My head hurt.  I was irritable, and all I thought about was doughy goodness.  Then it stopped.  Now, I feel terrific and have no desire to eat it again.  Why would you when you can make all your favourite goodies with less-irritating grains like rice, corn or potatoes?  (The Wheat Belly doctor poo poos on all of these forms too, but we like them)  With the right recipes and sugar (as I reassured my sister Hilary, who follows a balance-in-all-things approach to diet, we are gluten-free with sugar, and this pleased her), you don't have to miss out on all your old standbys like pizza, cake, cookies, or muffins.   And now, my kitchen is officially stocked with not one, not two, but three gluten-free cookbooks (thanks to two gluten-free family members and a birthday Indigo gift card)

The other challenge is that being new to this diet-change, I am spending even more time in the kitchen. All day long, I am in the kitchen trying new recipes, preparing lunches and dinners, and washing up after these "experiments".  Recently, a friend of mine came to pick up her daughter and she remarked:

You are always in this kitchen.

I know.  HELP!

I kid.  Please do not rescue me.  In fact, I enjoy cooking.  I do not enjoy the clean-up, but I enjoy cooking, and I really enjoy eating good food and seeing my kids devour my latest concoction and having them exclaim: 

These are awesome, Mom!

What can I say: it gives me a high.

The final challenge I see is that eating gluten-free is more expensive.  The grains and the gluten-free cereals are a lot more expensive than wheat-based ones; however, you tend to snack way more when you eat wheat (this phenomenon has to do with insulin-spikes and its addictive qualities).  And it's true!. I have been experimenting with my two lab rats named Elliot and Avery.  On mornings they have whole wheat toast for breakfast or a sandwich made on whole wheat bread for lunch, they drive me bonkers begging for more food as early as thirty minutes after eating their meal, BUT when they have no wheat in their diets that day, the only snack they are looking for is our 4pm smoothie break. (I guess you could say 4pm is our Mormon Cocktail hour . . . tee hee!)  Therefore, if we take in consideration that my children are no longer snacking on granola bars, crackers or other pre-packaged snacks, then in the long run we are probably saving money.  Yay!  I get skinnier and we save money . . . see what I mean, this just gets better and better.

Here is just a sneak peak at all the gluten-free goodies we have been enjoying:

The boys call these Godzilla squares: chocolate and plain  Rice Krispy squares melted together (we used gluten-free rice cereal)

Blueberry muffins using rice flour

Lasagna replacing noodles with spaghetti squash . . . to die for!

Fudge!

Meatballs using potato flakes rather than crackers to hold them together

Cheese muffins

Cupcakes using Duncan Hine's gluten-free cake mix . . . yummy!

Pizza with a rice-flour dough

Pancakes using potato flakes and rice flour . . . awesome!

POPCORN!  Sniff, sniff . . . we had to say farewell to our beloved machine because my brother wanted it back.

Chocolate Chip muffins . . . Amazing!

As you can see, we are really not missing our wheat.  Next week, I will be on the hunt for a yummy gluten-free bread recipe . . . wish me luck!  Oh, and if you are interested in going gluten-free, please do some research and don't make the decision lightly. You really need to make sure that your diet is not missing out on essential nutrients and you should also be warned that after going off of wheat for a period of time, reintroducing it into your system is difficult  and can be downright painful.  There, that's my disclaimer.

Have a great day!