Follow-up

I never did a follow-up post on going gluten-free. I ended my fast of gluten last weekend (month-long), but honestly I didn't miss the product as much as I thought I would. I've never been a big bread-eater so that wasn't a big deal. I missed the ease of making a bagel or cereal for breakfast, and I missed pizza (although there do seem to be many gluten-free pizza doughs being made, at least in parts of the world where you have sit-down restaurants and grocery stores other than Wal-Mart). Honestly, the hardest part is that I don't cook all my meals. Not because I don't want to, but because as a part of my job, I often eat with others. So I did have to make an exception 2 times-one when my volunteer made a noodle dish for our staff meeting (she said stir-fry and I thought that meant rice to everyone but apparently not), and when I was at a work-related function where ONLY sandwiches were served. Other than that, I did pretty well.

I wish I could say I immediately felt healthier and noticed a huge difference. I really didn't. I will say that I noticed a huge difference in how FULL gluten-filled products make you feel. I was hungry all the time!! And I craved more sugary foods (perhaps partly due to the holiday of Halloween?). I'm not sure why that is, but I know most bread/cereal has sugar in it? I'll have to research that. When you're really hungry, you tend to eat whatever you can find and that's not always healthy, so I didn't like that.

What I did really like was that I had to think about EVERY item I put in my mouth. I also started eating steel-cut oatmeal for breakfast. Although oats are borderline gluten, I decided not to be that strict (or just break my own rule!), and it was the only thing that would keep me full until lunch-even better than eggs.

So here's my conclusion (totally personal, I have no idea if it's really healthier or not)...I'm going to try to continue to eat less gluten. So many dishes have gluten in it...granola bars, crackers, pretzels, soy sauce, lots of soups....it's unbelievable. That may just mean not eating the rolls/bread at dinner or using rice as a good substitute for pasta or other dishes. I would rather fill myself with vegetables and fruit and good protein, you know? But, don't worry, as one co-worker said, "I'm glad you're eating like a normal person now."