Yay!! It's official today has been a full year of eating gluten free!!
For those who don't know, my twin sister was diagnosed with celiac disease. Since I've had stomach problems for most of my life (same symptoms as her and being a twin made me 30% more likely to have it) I decided to go gluten free to see what would happen. Within a week I was a totally different person!!
There are a lot of things that improved, but the most important one for me was going from having nausea 24/7 for years on end to never being nauseous at all!!! The best thing ever!! Anyone who has had chronic nausea for whatever reason knows how bad it is. I feel a million times better than before I went gluten free.
Another side effect of going gluten free is that I lost fifteen to twenty pounds and here's the kicker... a full year later and I haven't gained a pound back!! I was in no way overweight, but I wasn't my ideal weight either. Now I'm back down to what I weighed as a teenager! I never thought I would see that day again. The crazy thing is I haven't increased my exercise and I don't exactly eat healthy either (trust me I eat candy like it's going out of style/still addicted to sugar). So the weight loss was purely from going gluten free. I've stayed at a consistent weight for an entire year. I love it!
A lot of people feel deprived when they decide to try gluten free, but I never really did. I felt so awful that I was willing to try anything. When I started out I was eating meat, fruit, veggies, rice, potatoes and dairy. That's it. All home cooked meals so that I knew the ingredients were safe. Eventually in time I started adding in gluten substitutes like gluten free rice pasta, gluten free flours for pancakes and birthday cakes, (even found gluten free soy sauce!) etc. I still don't eat a lot of those, but it's nice to have them every now and then. I think the main reason I was able to stick with it is because a lot of candy is naturally gluten free so I didn't have to cut those out... I don't know if I would have had the will power to go gluten free while also fighting a sugar addiction. Now that I've been gluten free a year I'll probably try to break the sugar habit too, but we will see.
Now for proof that gluten free isn't torture here is an idea of some of our favorite meals/dishes.
White chicken chili (AMAZING!!)
Cream cheese black bean dip
Chicken salad or tuna salad with corn tortilla chips
Chicken and rice (my favorite meal ever)
Cheesy potato soup
Spinach artichoke dip
Chicken alfredo
Taco salad (or tacos, nachos, tostados, enchiladas, etc.)
Hungarian pork chops
Refried bean dip
Meatloaf (use rice) and asparagus
Sweet and sour chicken wings (homemade sweet and sour sauce using gluten free soy sauce is AMAZING!)
Spaghetti squash, butternut squash, acorn squash (we love squash)
Baked pasta dish with gluten free pasta
Chicken bacon ranch baked potato
Salads of all kinds
Blackened salmon
Stir fry veggies and rice
Sandwich wraps (be careful of gluten in lunchmeat!) in white corn soft tortillas
Taco soup
If you're interested in any of these recipes let me know. I'm a picky eater, but I'm telling you all of this stuff is amazing! So we by no means feel deprived at all! The only thing that is difficult is finding gluten free restaurants to eat at, but we rarely eat out and when we do we found an amazing Mexican restaurant that uses cheese as a thickener in their meat so it's gluten free! Yay!
P.S. For anyone who has a sweet tooth, but is trying to stay away from processed foods, here is a quick snack that totally does it for me. Put all natural peanut butter (you can find some with very few ingredients, it's great!), chocolate chips (there are some with a small ingredients list) and sugar in a bowl. Microwave. Stir. Amazing! It has protein, cuts the sweet tooth and doesn't have an ingredients list that is 5 miles long. Enjoy! :)
Congratulations! Chicken or tuna salad with chips sounds good. I could go for some of that right now. Also, chicken bacon ranch baked potato. I'm still eating bread products. I got as far as going to a gluten-free restaurant and looking up gluten-free foods and recipes, and then I guess life got in the way of me planning out a more responsible diet.
ReplyDeleteThanks!! I can share all of these recipes with you if it helps. You could slowly wean yourself off of the gluten as you have time and as you use up your bread/wheat products. :) Most people don't just go cold turkey like I did. I was desperate for relief from the nausea and other symptoms, so that's why I did it the way I did. Let me know if you want the recipes and I will gather them together and email them to you.
Deletecongratulations!
ReplyDeleteThank you!!!! I'm so proud of myself for sticking with this because I normally don't have the greatest will power lol.
DeleteJust wanted to let you know that I bought tuna salad and chips at the market yesterday after being inspired by this post. Quickest and most satisfying dinner ever. (I know... it should probably be a snack, but I don't eat much for dinner.)
ReplyDeleteYay!! I eat tuna and chicken salad for supper on nights when I don't want to cook and it is very satisfying! I buy the canned chicken for the chicken salad so I don't have to cook and shred chicken. The only ingredients in the canned chicken is chicken, water and salt, so it's gluten free and not full of preservatives or anything. I should probably cut back on how much salt I eat, but one step at a time hehe. Using the canned chicken makes it just as quick and easy to make as the tuna salad though and it's a total lifesaver for those days when I have to work late or if I'm sick or have a really bad headache. It takes a couple of minutes to throw together, is delicious and a great source of protein. :D I'm glad you enjoyed it!!
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