Tuesday, February 25, 2014

2 week update

Yesterday marked 2 weeks since I have made the switch to eating gluten-free. I am getting better at eating GF, but my weight has actually started going up (!) instead of going down. Let me clarify that I have purposely not adapted recipes that involve flours into my GF diet yet, so I have been more careful to avoid carbs this way. I have focused on recipes that naturally don't include flour in them. In doing so, I expected some weight loss and instead I find the scale climbing. I'm frustrated and I'm not sure what to change at this point.

On Saturday, Tyler took me to the Columbus Temple and then we ate at Texas Roadhouse for lunch. I hadn't had anything with gluten in it since I started, and decided I would eat some at Texas Roadhouse. I had two rolls - you know their rolls are delicious - but they didn't taste as good as I remembered them to taste. Odd. I had a salad and then some chicken strips and steak fries. I was surprised that my favorite part of the meal was the salad! Those who know me, know that I'm not a salad fan, but I do like salads with hard boiled eggs on them and Texas Roadhouse has those, so I like to get them. Very interesting that I preferred the salad to everything else I ate. In fact, the chicken strips didn't taste that great to me at all, and the rolls were just "eh". 


Tyler has me reading this book by Carol Alt. I have to say that it has been quite interesting! I don't know that I am going to go to eating 100% raw but I am intrigued by what I have read and might begin eating more raw foods in my diet. Perhaps this would help with weight loss, too?

2 comments:

  1. Hi Jill~ I'm three weeks into gluten-free eating and eating about 1200 calories a day, and I'm JUST starting to notice a difference. My doc also was supportive of gluten free, but she also recommended eating more "real." She wanted me to get back to eating basic foods...she called it "real" food....like vegetables that weren't covered in something (e.g. like cheese sauce), oatmeal with fresh fruit, and broiled/baked chicken. At first it was boring to eat (and kinda still is) and I didn't want ANY of it, but now I'm starting to eat more to fill my body's need, rather than accommodate my taste. My doc mentioned that I'd most likely gotten used to the taste of foods and forgotten what food really is...fuel for my body...and she was right. Anyway...every week I cook up a dozen eggs to have in salads so I'm prepared. I also have a neat recipe for broccoli quiche with polenta instead of crust and a recipe using lentils that we affectionately called "mockloaf." :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good job on your dietary changes! Our Relief Society just did a special night for our cooking club, where we discussed a book called "The Virgin Diet" by JJ Virgin. Some of the ladies have had good success with it. I haven't tried it yet since I didn't want to start it in the middle of spring break, but I may give it a try soon just to see how I feel. (Luckily I'm not trying to lose weight - just to feel better.)

    The premise is that we have food intolerances, which give us problems (like inflammation, which leads to other problems). Her diet is pretty extreme, at least for the first 3 weeks or so when determining what foods you're intolerant to. She says to cut out gluten, soy, dairy, eggs, corn, peanuts, and sugar & artificial sweeteners. Cut these foods out for 3 weeks, and then introduce 4 of the foods 1 week at a time (soy, gluten, eggs, then dairy). She recommends to cut out corn, peanuts, and sugar all together, due to being pro-inflammatory, high glycemic, etc. She has some substitutes to try - for sugar, she allows stevia and xylitol to use as sweetener.

    You already know you're gluten intolerant, but you may also have intolerances for eggs, soy, or dairy. Or you may not and may be able to have those in your diet. May not hurt to give it a try. Of course, you would have to get used to things like almond milk and switch to coconut and olive oil and such. It is amazing at how many foods corn and soy and gluten are found in. You really have to read labels carefully (and some of the ingredients, you don't even know what they are!). She also talks about glycemic index, which is how food affects your blood sugar levels. You might be a lot of the higher glycemic foods that we normally think are pretty healthy, like beets, carrots, and potatoes. Those eaten in small quantities might be okay, but with things like potatoes we tend to eat a whole baked potato, whereas with carrots we may only eat 5 or 6 baby carrots. So even some of the fruits and veggies we think are really healthy could be detrimental depending on the quantity we eat.

    Anyway, it is hard to give up things you have eaten all your life and find new recipes. But in the end, it's worth it to be healthy.

    Good luck! I hope you don't mind me giving feedback or suggesting books and things. :)

    ReplyDelete