Month: April 2016

Fitness

Gluten Free:The Easiest Change I’ve Ever Made

ashleylfrancis

I’m two months in to changing my diet to totally gluten free. For someone who is a relatively healthy and active 28-year old I’ve had some bizarre health things that have caused me to have pretty specific things cut from my diet.

The most recent: gluten. No doctor told me to take gluten out of my diet but after several weeks of pretty crippling migraines I decided it (ANYTHING) was worth a shot. (This sounds flippant. It’s not, I’m obsessed with carbs and married an italian man. The very thought of it was brutal.) So a few things I think are worth sharing.

  1. It’s really easy to go to restaurants. I’ve been to lots of quick restaurants (Noodles and Company, Pei Wei, Chick Fil A, Chipotle, and Qdoba) and I had no problem finding something yummy to eat.
  2. I’m sorry if you don’t live near Trader Joes. They really know what they’re doing when it comes to GF. Their whole grain bread, choc chip cookies, pancake mix, brownie mix, and waffles are ON POINT! I can’t tell the difference between traditional and gf in these products.
  3. Brown rice pasta does not taste like pasta. I’ve tasted several brands of it and it’s just not so good. I am a way bigger fan of quinoa pasta.
  4. I’m just eating a whole lot healthier. I eat mainly vegetables as the base to all meals now and am losing weight in addition to feeling all around better. I just feel better and there’s no getting around it. I never feel that gross bloated feeling anymore. I’m serious. Never.
  5. I don’t know if it’s helping my migraines. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a migraine but I tend to have zero patience when it comes to waiting for a migraine cycle to be over. So I changed several things all at the same time. I don’t know if gluten is helping but I feel so much better otherwise that I’m not willing to stop.
  6. I miss eating at social functions. I’m going to be honest, this is the bummer. Every social function has gluten as a major component (if not the entirety) of the menu. While I can go to every restaurant I want, that’s not true for random hangouts and parties. I need to eat before or bring something gf which really is not a huge deal. Have I mentioned this helps in the weight loss department? Goodbye cake, bread based dips loaded with cheese, etc.

Are you scared? Don’t be! If you’ve contemplated going gf I think you should try it. It’s really so easy. Here’s a pic of some favorites!