I went to the doctor a little over 2 weeks ago for recurring stomach pain that I've been dealing with. The doctor suggested I try a gluten-free diet and in just two short weeks it has made a world of difference. It's a big lifestyle change and it's not without difficulties. I'm trying to approach it as an adventure. Some of the major differences (important and silly alike) are:
1. No more stomach pain. Very important, for obvious reasons.
2. Guilt-free shopping at Whole Foods.
3. All wheat products and any product that uses gluten as a stabilizer are out. That means the majority of all processed foods.
I find myself craving fruit now on a daily basis, which was never the case before. My diet has become even healthier, which I honestly did not think was possible. Here is my new typical daily nutrition:
Breakfast: Apples w/ Peanut Butter
Snack: Dried Cranberries, Almonds, Dark Chocolate
Lunch: Chickpea Salad (carrots, cucumbers, cranberries) or Black Bean Salad (red peppers, onions, green peppers, corn)
Snack: Carrots with Hummus & Watermelon or a Banana
We have two favorite dinners that we make each week.
The first is chicken tacos. They are really easy to make and very delicious. We make them with ground chicken that we cook in lime salsa (available at all grocers). The fixings included fat free re fried beans (canned and microwaveable), whole grain brown rice (you can get the 90 second kind if you are lazy), guacamole, and pineapple/mango salsa (from whole foods). I've also tried them with a three pepper salsa and with a papaya/cucumber salsa from Whole Foods and all are magical. We always have leftovers for the next night when we make this.
The second is homemade pizza. We dice a red pepper, a green pepper, and an onion and saute them in olive oil with garlic powder and oregano. Then we put tomato sauce (canned or fresh from Trader Joes) on a gluten-free pizza crust and we load them up with the pepper/onion mixture. We throw a small amount of soy cheese on top.
The other nights of the week we typically do chicken burgers with potatoes, or gluten-free pasta, or sometimes we'll do a nice cut of steak with green beans. Nothing fancy.
As for sweets, Whole Foods carries a good gluten-free chocolate chip cookie and a gluten-free cheese cake for holidays. And they have mixes for things like pancakes, cookies, corn bread, brownies, etc. etc. And Trader Joe's has an extremely decadent flourless chocolate cake. And a complete list of which of their candies are gluten-free. Most grocery store boxed brands of cookies so far taste like absolute crap, so anything sweet I will be spending a bit more money on.
At work I'm pretty limited for now to what I bring with me from home. Thankfully there is a Trader Joe's and Whole Foods within 10 minute walking distance, so if I'm ever dealing with serious cravings I can make a quick run to the store. There is an Argo Tea at the hospital too and they make a gluten-free (DELICIOUS) cookie and a gluten-free chickpea salad. The trouble with Argo Tea is that all the best tasting drinks are expensive.
In other news, I am on track with all of my New Years resolutions, with one exception. Now that I am going gluten-free, I am allowing aged cheeses back into my diet.
Anyway. This blog will probably become more about my adventures in gluten-free living than my diet. Mostly because the gluten-free living now takes priority over my diet. I'm still counting points and trying to follow the weight watcher guidelines, because it's what I know. But I'm allowing for flexibility. This is a big change and it will take a lot of time to make it work for me and my current lifestyle.
