Apology to My Gut

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Dear Gut,

I owe you an apology.

I am sorry that I pumped foods into you for 44 years that made you congested, bloated and very unhappy.

I am sorry that I was a sugar addict and might have permanently endangered your structure.

I am sorry that I like alcohol and you have to deal with that as well.

I am sorry that I am a carb Queen and that I never met a potato that I didn't love.

I am sorry for all those times I sat on the bed watching a TV show and eating Cheetos.

I am sorry that I never liked vegetables much.

I am sorry for all the pastries.

I am sorry for the chocolate, too. I really love chocolate.

I am sorry most of all that I ignored my "gut instinct" for too long.

I hope you will forgive me and that you are willing to give me a do-over.

If you are, I promise you that I will:

• eat whole, real foods

• eat no food that has more than 5 ingredients in it

• never knowingly eat gluten, corn or dairy casein again

• give you daily probiotics and Omega Oils

• boycott sugar, in all her forms

• avoid alcohol and caffeine

• spoil you with ginger and green teas

And my most important promise, I will listen to my gut.

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Can the Weight Loss Continue?

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As you may have read here yesterday, I lost 8 pounds in ONE DAY. I did it (I think) by using commando eating tactics to nearly guarantee I was not ingesting any gluten, dairy (casein) or corn. I am going with the theory that one of my not fun reactions to ingesting any of those items makes me bloat up and feel fatigued and some might even say grouchy. I am trying to get to an ungrouchy and thin state of being, or least get to a non-bloated state of being.

I have to say that my energy is OUTSTANDING today! I feel healthy! The scary thing is that who knows how long that feeling will last since it seems that I have a pattern of gaining energy and then losing it all too quickly. I also wonder how long I can continue to be this disciplined with such a strict diet. I will never knowingly consume the foods that I know I have an allergy to but I do have some yummy gluten free treats in the pantry that are calling my name!

I did not lose another pound overnight, but I don't see the need to get greedy. :-) I also didn't gain any weight. I did add in a few brown rice crackers and a brown rice protein bar last night. I am now starting to wonder if anything like rice or potatoes will cause me to swell up?

Don't worry, I won't bore you with telling you what I eat every day but so many of you have asked and I am on a quest to figure out once and for all what is making me feel so bloated and if it helps you on your path to healthyville, I am happy to share this struggle.



Here is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast

• big Red Delicious apple

• almonds

Snack

• gluten-free deli turkey

• black olives

• almonds

Lunch

• Chicken Stir fry with onions, green peppers, water chestnuts, and pineapple. YUM!

Snack

• applesauce

• gluten free deli turkey

• almonds

Dinner

• big Red Delicious Apple

• almond butter and brown rice crackers

Snack

• Pure organic Wild Blueberry bar

• ginger tea

Hamburger, French Fries and Pizza Kind of Day

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My husband and I live in Central Texas in a small town NW of Austin. We have 4 restaurants in our town but no one in them has even heard of gluten or caseins so we never eat there. The weather has been very much like living in Seattle lately and since we can't just hop in the truck and go to town for a meal out, we were feeling gloomy. The weather wasn't helping.

So we treated ourselves here at home. I have to count my blessings that my husband is an excellent cook and that he likes to cook. Good thing, too, because if I were in charge of our meals, peanut butter would be on the menu every time. Sometimes if I were feeling adventurous, I would add some celery stalks.

So my husband made us hamburgers with some EXCELLENT gluten-free hamburger buns plus organic, no preservative french fries for lunch. The buns are the best bread we have eaten since going gluten free. The brand name is Kinnikinnick Tabioca Rice Hamburger Buns. They are small so you don't have to have a total pig out and eat a huge, normal American-sized hamburger.

For dinner we some excellent pizzas topped with gobs of veggies; we didn't even miss the cheese. I found some wonderful, thin pizza crusts at Whole Foods. The brand name is Udi's and they are gluten, dairy, soy and nut free and they are delicious! We are going to make the crusts and use them like pita chips for dipping in hummus.

So if you are new to the world of eating gluten or dairy or corn free, keep your chin up and know we do have options . . . we just have to be more mindful of what we are eating and ultimately a whole lot healthier than your average American eater.

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10 Things I Like About Being Gluten, Dairy and Corn-free

1. Give me a minute, I am sure I will be able to think of something.

2. You can't eat mindlessly anymore.

3. I am eating healthier than I ever have in my entire life.

4. Most things with gluten in them are just empty calories with no real nutrition.

5. Okay, there are only five things.

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Ten Things I Hate about Being Gluten, Dairy and Corn-free

1. It is hard to find safe food, fast (you can forget about drive thru's!)

2. I love the smell and taste of fresh bread. Sometimes I think a loaf of Italian bread might be worth the long-term bad health it will bring me. (it isn't)

3. People feel sorry for me, including myself.

4. You can't eat mindlessly anymore.

5. Restaurants are no longer fun but are in fact fairly dangerous to my health.

6. What is left to eat????

7. People tend to think "a little" won't hurt me. (it will)

8. I look normal on the inside but have an abnormal and non-fun reaction to wheat, dairy and corn on the inside.

9. I love baked desserts!

10. I miss yogurt. And cheese.

Here's What We Eat

Every day someone I know tells me they could never go without bread.

Or cheese.

Or corn.

You could, I always tell them, if you knew that it was slowly killing you. And it is slowly killing about 144 million of us.

I also get asked a lot: what the hell is there left to eat when you eliminate gluten, dairy and corn?

I thought I'd share a typical day of food we eat at our house. We do venture out to restaurants now and again but feel safest about the food we prepare at home. I am not going to include recipes since there are countless blogs, websites and gluten and dairy-free cookbooks to find great recipes in. If you see something you like, I am happy to send you a recipe.

Here is what we ate just yesterday:

Breakfast
Omelet with fresh green peppers and onions, hot sauce and bacon

Snack
apple
sweet potato chips

Lunch
Gluten free crackers and peanut butter (lot's of peanut butter!)
mini organges

Snack
pecans

Dinner
Gluten and dairy-free fried Cod
Mixed green salad with strawberries, sunflower seeds, tomatoes + gluten free dressing

After Dinner Snack
Giant Marshmallows (sometimes I put them on gluten free graham crackers)

Not a difficult day of eating at all. In fact the fried cod was better than any I had ever had.

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Gluten and Dairy Free Restaurant Comes to Austin!

Okay, technically this restaurant is in Cedar Park but close enough to the "big city" to call it an Austin establishment. I heard about it from a Facebook friend and we went to the restaurant on the very day we heard about it.

It is worth the drive.

The owners' son was given a diagnosis of Autism at a very young age. The couple researched and researched and decided going gluten-free and dairy-free was one of the best ways to help their son. IT WORKED!

Their son is now making high marks and attends public school. If that isn't an outstanding testimonial about how harmful gluten and dairy can be to some of us -- as well as a testimonial for how great we can feel off that junk -- then I don't know what is.

Here is a link to their restaurant. They have delicious TV-style dinners that taste amazing:

Jeff and I both immediately went for some Italian food. He had a peperoni pizza and I enjoyed spaghetti and meatballs. It was seriously delicious!!

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Did you have a gluten-free Christmas??

I believe that for the first time in my 44 years on the planet, I did enjoy a gluten-free Christmas. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. I do have the advantage of having a loving in-law family that went out of their way to make sure those of us who can't eat gluten had plenty to eat. I am sure I gained the required poundage over Christmas, even without eating all of those yummy Christmas desserts full of gluten!

I found it harder to avoid dairy products than I did to avoid gluten products. Luckily I can take a lactose digestion aide if I think I have had any dairy. I did not think I had a dairy problem but discovered -- oh joy! -- that I feel like I do after eating gluten, which is generally terrible. I do know that researchers are working on a digestion aide that we might be able to take in the future that will work on gluten the same way the dairy-free pills work on lactose.

I hope you did not get glutined over the holidays! I hope you felt what I felt which is a general sense of well-being and no gluten hangovers.

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