Monday, January 9, 2012

Attack of the Gluten Monster

Week 1 of my Gluten Free diet is over.....


All I am craving is gluten-filled foods. I feel like some kind of gluten monster has taken over my body!
It's driving me crazy! I'm even having dreams about dancing cupcakes, pies, cookies and biscuits.

Despite my obvious withdrawals, I have been doing fairly well with my gluten free for 30 days.
It's amazing how many foods I used to eat have gluten in them! Check this list out:
  • Beer (good thing I'm more of a wine person)
  • Breads
  • Cakes and pies
  • Candies
  • Cereals
  • Cookies and crackers
  • Croutons (but that's like... the best part of the salad!)
  • French fries
  • Gravies (thank goodness Thanksgiving is over)
  • Imitation meat or seafood
  • Matzo
  • Pastas
  • Processed luncheon meats (my bologna has a first name, but it doesn't matter anymore)
  • Salad dressings
  • Sauces, including soy sauce (no soy sauce with my sushi!! ahh!!)
  • Seasoned rice mixes
  • Seasoned snack foods, such as potato and tortilla chips
  • Self-basting poultry
  • Soups and soup bases (no, please don't take my french onion soup away!)
  • Vegetables in sauce
No imitation crab meat?! And you're cutting my soup list down?! Thank goodness progresso makes a gluten-free version of french onion... or you would really see a gluten monster pop out of me!
Thankfully, my friend Chelsea has been a doll and has really given me some great product advice of things to eat/where to buy them/etc so that I'm not going completely insane. I've also started bringing carrots and hummus and containers of fresh fruit to work to munch on instead of trail mix and granola bars/cliff bars like I used to do. The hard part is when I'm home and trying to make something to eat it's hard not to reach for a bagel or make a box of mac n cheese (I have to stock myself up on gluten free pastas and breads).

In all seriousness though, I'm intrigued to see how going gluten-free is going to help my stomach/digestive issues and how it is going to affect my energy levels for when I'm running (or even just throughout the day regularly). If it seems to be helping, then I will extend my gluten-free campaign for another 30 days.

Last week I managed to get in 5 miles total of running and 2 cross training days! Yay!
I am going to the gym after work today for another stint on the treadmill. My goal is a 35 minute run, but if I feel up to it, I may go longer. Then, I'm going to pump some iron and work out my back and shoulders again.
Woohoo!! Can you feel the excitement!!!

3 comments:

Lisa said...

Great job! I missed the post I guess (sorry) where you said you were going gluten free and why?

Well, if you are feeling better and doing well - that's awesome. My friend just went gluten and dairy free because her 4 year old son was just diagnosed with both intolerances. She's surprised that it's in everything as well.

Good luck - hang in there - one step at a time! You've got this1

Unknown said...

I look forward to seeing how you do with this. I hope you get great results!

Anonymous said...

Wow! Best wishes, gluten free is quite the buzz. A book that keeps being recommended is 'Wheat Belly'. I think I will add it to my Amazon shopping cart, yeah I need to get a Kindle... ;)