“You need to eliminate gluten from your diet,” my Doctor said to me. Wait, what!?! When I heard those words, that I had to go gluten free and follow a gluten free diet, I thought to myself, “How on Earth am I going to do that? I love bread, I eat sandwiches all the time for lunch, what about spaghetti, and turkey gravy? What about those foods containing gluten that I don’t know about? What about all those foods that my husband cooks and our friends cook when we are at their houses for dinner? This is going to be so hard – where do I even start?”
Do you remember the day you were told that you had to give up gluten forever? Were you as shocked, scared and confused as I was? Did you immediately think about all the foods that you would never again be able to eat? And how much of a pain it was going to be to tell friends or relatives about how you can’t eat this or that? And what about going out to eat? How will I know the restaurants know what contains gluten or not when I tell them I’m gluten free? Will I have to “chance it” every time I eat out? When I tell the waiter or waitress that I’m gluten free will he or she know what I’m even talking about? And what about cross-contamination? What if they use the same utensils on other foods and then on mine? What about sushi? Can’t have soy sauce because it’s made from wheat! I love sushi and so does my husband! It’s all too much to think about!
Do you feel this way too? I understand. I’m here to guide you through the ways to live gluten free daily. It may be shocking and may sound impossible, but I’m here to tell you that it’s much easier these days to live gluten free. Even in the past few years since I went gluten free, there’s so much more awareness about gluten and how it affects us. The amount of foods that can be made to be gluten free is outstanding. You don’t have to give up any of the foods you love to eat.
After I got home from the doctor’s office, I immediately went online to look for gluten free foods. I started ordering all sorts of things like pizza, cheesy bread, gluten free gravy, gluten free vanilla extract, etc. I thought that gluten free items were few and far between to find but this is absolutely not the case. There are so many choices for gluten free living these days in even the regular supermarkets that it should be much easier for you to find gluten free substitutes.
I started a low-gluten/gluten free diet when I got seiours about my fitness.I feel lighter after meals and more able to exercise. Plus my muscle/fat ratio is continually improving. Many people are intolerant to some extent without realising it and many digestive issues can be solved by butting gluten out of the diet.Plus, while a gluten-restrictive diet is not necessarily calorie restricted, the fact that more of your calories come from protein and the fact many snacks are off-limits often translates to a lower-calorie diet, which has obvious benefits for weight loss.I wouldn’t personally recommend Atkins as a diet plan. I understand using it to lose weight in the short term but I think the macro-nutrient profile of the diet is less than beneficial in the long term. As an alternative I would recommend looking at the Paleo or Primal diet. It’s based around fruits, lean meats, root vegetables and so forth. I’ve been doing that but including dairy products and have seen great results.Stuff that contains gluten includes bread, pasta, rice and most empty/bulk carbs. After a while, you’ll get used to checking food labels to see if stuff is gluten free.Good luck!
Thanks, Sneha! I totally agree with your comments. Since going gluten free, I’ve cut down considerably on carbs. I love my protein and I rarely do I ever eat anything processed. I have been looking into the Paleo diet as well – but I do like my brown rice on occasion (and my dairy food items). Good luck to you too!