Grudgingly Gluten-Free Again

Well, I've basically come to the conclusion that I need to stop eating gluten again (or greatly reduce it). Not NEED to but I guess I want to. James has this skin rash around his eyebrows, hairline, and temples, and it definitely fluctuates in "intensity", so I think it is something I'm eating and I am very suspicious that it's gluten.

Additionally, I definitely don't feel good when I eat high-gluten things like bagels and fake meat, and these were the things I missed when I was gluten free (and BREAD and pizza, of course). Furthermore, I guess it's really not that hard to stay away from it--basically the more I eat it, the more I want it, and the less I eat it, the less I want it . . .

For me it seems to make a big difference when I feel like I COULD eat something if I wanted to. Or being able to have it every once in awhile. The thing that drove me crazy when I was pregnant (especially toward the end), was feeling SO guilty when I would eat it, and so feeling like I really *couldn't*.

So now, while I will definitely be MOSTLY gluten free, I'll still treat myself to the occasional bread, crackers, pizza, etc. Furthermore, with baking things, it is definitely easy to reduce the amount of wheat flour and replace it with buckwheat, oat, millet, or other gluten-free flours. Having just a little bit of wheat can usually affect the desired result.

Honestly I think the hardest thing with changing your diet is re-establishing a shopping list--like figuring out what your normal breakfast, lunch, and dinner foods are . . . and there's plenty of gluten-free products that are just as good, or better, like quinoa pasta (yum yum). And fruits and veggies are gluten-free, thank God.

I also think that I eat healthier when I'm being gluten free because I tend to eat more fruits and veggies instead of filling my diet with bulky grains without as many nutrients and vitamins.

So that's where I'm at. It sort of sucks because I love bread so much, but it is definitely healthier for me, and probably for James David as well, so that's that.