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| My new gluten-free LOVE! (uncompensated LOVE) |
Why? You may ask. As a non-fan of jumping on the bandwagon, why go gluten-free? It's just a fad, right? Well, maybe, maybe not. There is a lot of discussion and so-called scientific evidence to support both sides of the argument around gluten-free.
So I decided to be my own guinea pig.
So here is what I've found thus far:
- I have no trouble finding gluten-free foods that I love
- I miss my morning whole-grain toast just a little, but yummy gluten-free granola makes up for it
- Day 3- "stuff" in my head that has been there a long time seems to be breaking up. That's good, right?
- Adding my daily Fiberwise is a good idea (which I've been a little lax on these 3 days. That's how I know.)
My goal is to feel better. Thyroid disease is kind of kicking my butt and traditional diet and exercise, yoga, changing/adjusting meds and other stuff doesn't seem to be making a difference. So this is the next thing on the list. I plan to stick with it initially for 1 week (half-way there) and see if it is a positive change. After that, we'll see.
What is your experience with gluten-free? Does it work for you? I'd love to hear your responses.
10/22/13 - Update: Today is Day 9. Yep, I went past my initial 7 days. I have to say that days 6 & 7 were particularly rough with some serious mood swings/depression. I had pretty much decided by the morning of day 7 that I would give up my little experiment for now, as I really wanted to go back to "normal" eating. However, on Monday morning (day 8) I was feeling good and, miracle of miracles, the scale moved down a couple pounds. Now, I don't attribute this to gluten-free as much as to a severe calorie reduction. I find I am relying on my gluten free bars and shakes for the bulk of my nutrition, since it's a little more effort to find and eat gluten free. I plan to do another post in the near future with a better checklist of my experiences to help you decide whether this is for you or not. For now, it's one day at a time.
10/22/13 - Update: Today is Day 9. Yep, I went past my initial 7 days. I have to say that days 6 & 7 were particularly rough with some serious mood swings/depression. I had pretty much decided by the morning of day 7 that I would give up my little experiment for now, as I really wanted to go back to "normal" eating. However, on Monday morning (day 8) I was feeling good and, miracle of miracles, the scale moved down a couple pounds. Now, I don't attribute this to gluten-free as much as to a severe calorie reduction. I find I am relying on my gluten free bars and shakes for the bulk of my nutrition, since it's a little more effort to find and eat gluten free. I plan to do another post in the near future with a better checklist of my experiences to help you decide whether this is for you or not. For now, it's one day at a time.
4 comments:
It is amazing to me to see how many regular products have wheat listed on the ingredient label. It is so prevalent. I wonder if we went back to using non-GMO wheat how many people could tolerate it in it's more natural form. Hope the rest of your week goes well.
Dr. Steph,you are correct. It is surprising that things like canned beans have gluten in them. I think it is safe to be suspect of the ingredients in any pre-packed foods. The closer we get to foods in their natural forms, the better idea we have of what exactly we are eating.
I am interested to see how your week turns out. I think gluten has been the culprit most of my life - also have thyroid issues and problems with shedding weight and having that "out of touch" feeling after a big gluten binge. I'll keep my eye on this. Thanks for trying it out.
redoME, thanks for your comment. I posted an update in my initial post, but thought I'd comment here, more thyroid specific.
What I have noticed at this point is:
more focus, less fuzziness
more irritability, less patience
weight loss (which is a huge victory but probably more about calories than gluten)
carb cravings that good gluten free products seem to fulfill. Home-baked gluten free has been a bust so far.
fresh fruit is now a heavenly treat. Bananas, which used to make me gag sometimes, are like manna from heaven.
There you have it :-)
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