Going Gluten Free

I am embarking on a food adventure (of epic proportions), so I figured I might bring back my foodie blog.

About a month ago, I started researching the Paleo/Primal/Caveman/What-have-you Diet. I'd been running to lose weight since September/October, and making healthier, or so I thought, food choices to help. But I wasn't really getting anywhere, so I wanted to see what diets were out there. The primal diet was the first one I checked out, because Weight Watchers, etc, where one has to count points or calories or weigh food just seem like overkill. Anyway, in my readings about the primal diet, I realised that I (and probably a great number of people) have a gluten intolerance.

Mostly, I came to this realization because the book I was reading at the time (Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf) mentioned gall bladder disease as something possibly caused by Celiac Disease. "Huh," I thought, "I had that!" So I jumped online to confirm his numbers; found a great number of studies showing a high incidence of gall bladder disease among Celiacs. Then I thought about my kidney stones. Same thing (though not quite as statistically significant as the gall bladder disease). Combine those two with my IBS and, well, it was kinda self evident.

Anyway, the first day of December I said goodbye to wheat. On the 14th, I ate some Campbell's Tomato Soup, which I love. EVEN THOUGH it lists wheat flour as an ingredient. I thought, well, maybe I'm NOT a Celiac. Maybe I'll be okay. Nope. I felt like shit for five hours after eating (and really enjoying) that bowl of soup. And since I was sick anyway, I had my last saltine cracker. Gods, it was good. Since then, I haven't purposefully eaten wheat. I've been tempted! I'm at my parents' house for the holidays and my mom made poppy seed bread, which has long been a favourite of mine. Even knowing it's delicious, though, I can't bring myself to eat it, because I know it will just make me sick.

After I get home, I plan on cutting refined sugars and all grains from my diet and following the primal diet, more or less. (I think, for now, I won't worry about the corn in baking powder or other small things like that.) The most difficult thing to cut will, of course, be Mtn. Dew. I know it's crap. It doesn't make me feel any better; sometimes it makes me feel worse. There is nothing REAL about it. But the SUGAR! and the CAFFEINE!

I'll be making a (refined) sugar-free and grain free pumpkin pie for my Xmas dessert. Will be taking pictures (via my phone, so they'll be pretty crappy. oh, well) for my first primal/GF recipe post. YAY!