Day 5 Gluten Free: The cravings begin

I am feeling much better, it's true. Aside from the pulled muscle that I created myself by lifting something too heavy, I am having no random aches and pains throughout my entire body. My energy levels are still great despite how busy I've been. I am ingesting less caffeine and still able to stay awake and going for longer.

The food I've been eating has been delicious. I'm eating plenty of whole, naturally gluten free foods and mixing them in with certain convenience foods. My favorite so far is brown rice tortillas that I can use to make myself wraps. No more worrying about the lack of bread for sandwiches! A word of caution, however: heat these before using them.

I found that I get the best results when I cut the tortilla in half, stuff it, and the heat it like a quesadilla or panini. If I cut that in half again, separating the halves with a paper towel and then put it into a ziplock bag, the heat traps some moisture in the bag and the tortilla stays soft and edible until I'm ready to eat it (I make these in the morning and take them for lunch).

Up until last night, my cravings for wheat products were fairly well in check. Last night though, I found I wanted lasagna and cookies. Of course, this was a stress response, because when it is stressed, my body simply wants carbs, fat, and sugar.

I took the high road, however, and still had delicious dessert. I took some non-fat vanilla yogurt and sliced a banana into it. After freezing the entire mixture for about an hour, I put it into a blender with some peach preserves and whipped the whole thing together before putting it back in the freezer. After one more hour, I had a decent soft-serve banana peach ice cream that was well worth the wait.

So far this morning, I am still free from symptoms of illness. I didn't sleep well because of my son's inability to sleep. The lack of sleep is making me noticeably cranky and more easily stressed, but I'm going to fight back with some fun in the kitchen again.

Tonight, I'm making chicken coconut curry with some sauteed veggies on the side. I am looking forward to the smell of ginger, curry, garam masala, and coconut filling my apartment!

Day 4 Gluten Free: Going strong and feeling better

Aside from a slight muscle pull in my shoulder yesterday, I felt great! Waking up with the headache from hell though made me aware enough of my food related symptoms that I actually turned down a free brownie in the afternoon. That says a lot, right there - I do not turn down brownies. The moment I looked at it, my salivary glands kicked in and my brain said "yes, please!" I slowed down though and realized that I didn't want the headache, stomach ache, and exhaustion that was sure to follow, so I passed.

I made a very quick, really delicious dinner last night when I got home: sweet potato soup, garlic chicken sausages, quinoa with roasted veggies, and some sliced avocado. It was a spectacular gluten free meal that I modified slightly for my son, but even he tried bites of everything before being allowed to declare he didn't like it.

I have been very pleased by the relative ease of this change. There are some parts that are harder than others, but with a little creativity I've been able to satisfy all of my wheat cravings so far. I've been able to indulge in pancakes and pasta and have plans for gluten free pizza some time soon. Most of my food intake is coming from naturally gluten free sources rather than specialty foods, but I find I really enjoy some of the specialty things (making a gluten free birthday cake for my son, for example).

The results are striking so far - less digestive struggle, no headaches (except the day I inadvertently ate wheat), my "chronic fatigue" is rapidly fading, my muscles and joints don't ache when I walk up the stairs, and my sinuses don't feel congested every morning. I like where this is going. It is great incentive to be careful about what I put into my body. If I feel this much better when I don't eat wheat, I certainly believe I can live without it!

Day 3 Gluten Free - Well, almost! Wheat and my Headaches

I went home yesterday to a sick partner with a sinus infection. While I am spoiled enough that he usually cooks for me, last night, I made dinner. I cooked a beautiful quinoa/corn spaghetti with red sauce and "meat"balls. I tossed in some spiralized zucchini to bulk it up and add some extra nutrients.

After dinner, I was craving dessert so I made us both a truly decadent treat. Pumpkin and sweet potato cheesecake (sans crust). This turned out more like a mousse or a pudding since it was made without so many of the ingredients that really stiffen up a cheesecake, but it tasted like pumpkin cheesecake and that's all I needed!

I had plenty of energy through the night and even stayed up a little past my bedtime. I felt great! And then... I woke up with a raging headache this morning. I immediately thought "well, I guess there isn't a direct link between wheat and my sick symptoms", but I started detailing everything I ate yesterday just to be sure.

The only thing that I had doubts about was the Gimme Lean® Sausage, so I pulled it up online and checked the ingredient listing. Sure enough, there are no less than THREE sources of wheat in the product, one of which is straight up wheat gluten. Argh! No wonder my head was throbbing this morning!

Unfortunately, when I look back at the night, it wasn't just this morning's headache that clued me in, but was the excessive gas that was causing me discomfort and also smelling up the whole house last night. I was so confused by this as it had been dwindling and I didn't know what I had eaten to cause it. Duh!

This goes one step further toward demonstrating that I am actually wheat sensitive, but I have a long way to go before I'm sure. I have learned a valuable lesson today though - even if you think something is gluten free, always read the labels BEFORE eating it.

Day 2 Gluten Free: Where is my Headache?

Yesterday was my second full day of gluten free eating and so far it hasn't been too painful. In fact, if I ignore the fact that I want to eat a waffle topped with some french toast and sausage and sandwiched between a bagel, it has been less painful.

For the first time in weeks, I woke up this morning without a headache. I was a little tired and groggy when I first awoke, but once I got moving, I was surprisingly awake. I had only half a cup of coffee this morning before switching over to water. I woke up in time to make myself a full breakfast. I even managed to do my school reading on the train ride to work rather than read a page before falling asleep.

Last night, I noticed that I felt as though I was very hungry. This lasted up until about 10:00, when I told myself authoritatively that it was far too late to eat anything, so I would just need to deal with it. I shouldn't have been hungry. A lovely taco salad was prepared for me with organic ground chicken, spices that didn't come out of an envelope labeled "taco seasoning", and a mound of fresh vegetables. There were even some corn tortilla chips on the side.

I wonder what the correlation between wheat and my body's hunger signals? Perhaps it is a correlation with sugar instead? Though my meals are still not the absolute most healthy things in the world, the lack of wheat is also decreasing the amount of sugar I am consuming. It is possible my "hunger" is just my body wondering where those two ingredients have gone that I have fed them for so long.

Either way - I feel good. I am awake and alert and ready to face the day. I don't have to wait for my morning headache to disappear, I don't have to move carefully through my morning aches and pains, and I don't feel like there are little monsters living inside my sinuses. I really hope this positive trend continues and supports that I made the right diagnosis.

Day 1 Gluten Free: Food and Symptoms

Yesterday was my first gluten free day and there were some interesting things to note. In terms of food, I learned that brown rice wraps taste great, but really need to be heated before trying to eat them. They have the consistency of corn tortillas but taste much better!

I was thrilled to find that last night, I wasn't exhausted and feeling run down by dinner time. In fact, I had enough energy to stay up a little past my bedtime and watch more Monday Night Football. As someone who for weeks has been falling asleep on my feet all day long, this was an immediate stand out symptom!

This morning, I still awoke with a headache that I am nursing now with some breakfast and water. **I am avoiding Advil, Excedrin, etc because I want to find out the natural impact of my diet on my body and its pain levels rather than brush them aside temporarily with drugs.**

I am learning just how many of the foods I was eating on a regular basis contain wheat as one of the first 3-4 ingredients. If I am sensitive to it, it's no wonder I've been feeling so sick for so long. My partner and I went on a gluten free shopping spree the other day so I am well stocked with fresh and convenience foods that are wheat free (and many that are also dairy free). I was careful to get new things that I haven't had before rather than sticking with basic staples. If I'm going to do this, I want to make it fun too.

Looking forward to day 2 and seeing how this headache thing goes. Everything I've read says that if ridding yourself of gluten is going to have an impact, it will be noticed anywhere from 3-14 days with some of the changes taking longer to appear as your body works out the residual "toxin" in your body. Let's see how it goes!!

The Last Hurrah

If you've ever changed your diet or been on a diet, you are probably familiar with the concept of the the last hurrah. In fact, if you're a chronic yo-yo dieter, I would almost guarantee that you know it. This is when you find yourself thinking, "tomorrow everything changes, so I better have all the stuff I love today".

Just two days ago, I realized based on some research that a lot of my pain and increased symptoms of sick lately may be coming directly from gluten sensitivity. So, I do the smart thing - I decide to stop eating gluten for a while to see if it makes a difference. But before I can start that, I do the stupid thing... yesterday, I had cereal for breakfast, pizza for lunch, hot dogs (with buns) for dinner with a beer, and then Oreos for dessert. After each of these things, I progressed into feeling sicker and more tired.

This morning, I woke up with a splitting headache, stomach cramps, and exhaustion as though I haven't slept at all despite actually sleeping fairly well.

Having spent the past couple of weeks eating wheat products like they were going to disappear tomorrow - well, now they are. It's time I started my 30 day experiment in gluten free eating to see if it has any impact on me. Wish me luck world!

An update and an experiment

So, for about 4 weeks now, I've been largely without cigarettes. Over the span of those 4 weeks, I think I've had 3 cigarettes. The two packs I had left have been thrown away and even when I drove through the land of super cheap tobacco, I didn't buy any.

My eating habits are awful again because apparently, it's one or the other. The time in my day is being spent focusing on my school work, the increase in time I have with my son, keeping the house reasonably clean, and making sure my new partner doesn't feel ignored. This has destroyed the little bit of free time I may have had left for exercise if I want any relaxing down time during the day.

Still I am happy about the cigarettes and may have stumbled upon an interesting connection yesterday while writing a research paper. It is quite possible that I have a gluten sensitivity. I read an article on CNN.com about a young woman in her early 20s, new mom, working full time and able to run her life like a pro. One day, seemingly out of the blue, she started feeling sick. This is exactly what I went through - achy, joint pain, constantly fatigued, increasing headaches, increasing intestinal distress, moodiness. I, like this woman, saw different doctors numerous times only to be told there was nothing "wrong" with me and that perhaps I had mono.

More persistent than I, this young woman eventually found her way to someone who said she was likely gluten sensitive despite testing negative for Celiac disease and asked her to try eating a gluten free diet for a couple of weeks. Within one week, her symptoms had almost entirely faded and her energy levels had returned. My doctors still haven't given me an answer and I'm tired of constantly feeling drained of energy, cranky, and in some type of pain. Ignoring it and acting like everything's fine when I'm not even 30 and supposed to be much better off health wise is getting old fast.

And so, I think it may be time to run the most challenging side experiment ever. Much like Morgan Spurlock and his McDonald's experiment - only healthier - I'd like to see what gluten free eating for 30 days might do for me. Fortunately, my partner is extremely gluten intolerant and so eating this way at home will be easier. Unfortunately, all of my favorite foods (the ones that I constantly want to shove into my face) are all very high in wheat content.

I have noticed in the past that when I remove a lot of my current carbohydrate content from my diet that I feel a TON better. Most of my carb content is high wheat, high sugar foods. I notice also that potato and rice staying in my diet has not been an issue in the past, so logically, this even makes sense according to the way my body behaves, but it's time to really check it out. Let's see how this all goes!