Posts made in February, 2011
Gluten Free January
Ray asked me to go gluten free with him for the month of January, and I reluctantly said yes. This was the closest I’ve ever come to having a new year’s resolution (I value personal growth, but cave under the pressure of setting goals). Even though it was only to be for one month, I have a spotty history with diet programs. I followed a pretty strict nutrition program when I was working out with a personal trainer a few years ago, but otherwise I can’t seem to stick with any big changes. This time around it was way easier.
First off, understand that I don’t cook, nor do I take much initiative in feeding myself. (I do enjoy baking for some reason.) I eat the same thing for lunch every weekday (brown rice, black beans, cheese, tomato, avocado and hot sauce) and it takes everything I have to remember to purchase those items and bring them to work with me. Otherwise, when Ray is not around, I usually don’t eat, and I mean that literally. Yeah, I get hungry, but then I’m all eh, I’ll just go do something else. In cases of extreme hunger I might eat an orange or get takeout. Guilt prevents me from eating too many ready-made, fast-food items, but I can’t be bothered to feed myself anything else, and that’s a probably a bigger problem for another blog post. Luckily Ray loves to cook, and he feeds me wonderful, tasty things on a daily basis. I do most of the cleaning, so we even out.
Ray did a great job of preparing and freezing a ton of gluten free options before and during our gluten free trial, so there was always a tasty chili or filling mashed potatoes waiting to be baked. We also tested out a few gluten-free restaurant options.
Blue C Sushi
Most sushi is gluten free, you just have to avoid anything with tempura or sauces. To my surprise, nearly all soy sauce has gluten, but tamari is a gluten-free alternative that tastes almost exactly the same. Whole Food sells gluten free tamari soy sauce, and Blue C Sushi offers it upon request.
Jet City Pizza
After cooking delicious meals all week, sometimes Ray needs a break. We tried the new gluten-free pizza dough from Jet City Pizza with Canadian bacon, pineapple and cheese. The dough was very thin, so we polished off a large pizza, no problem. I’d totally order the gluten-free dough again, it was quite tasty. The crust is buttery and a little sweet with a very familiar flavor that tastes a little like a buttered english muffin.
Flying Apron Bakery
This gluten-free bakery in Fremont was just what I needed one day after work. I was running up to Home Depot and needed some gluten-free energy. Of course I had nothing at work but my lunch fixins, so I took a little detour and stopped here for a chocolate-dipped macaroon, which was delish. I picked up an apple turnover for Ray to enjoy later. It was a bit expensive, but worth the convenience.
My favorite thing about going gluten-free was that it caused me to focus more on ingredients in food. Sure, wheat flour has gluten and rice does not – that’s easy. What was eye-opening for me was all of the items that have gluten hiding inside. I’m proud to report that I avoided gluten except for one, stupid mistake. I went out with some girlfriends and had a couple of mojitos and fajitas without the tortillas, like a good, gluten-free girl. But when we migrated to a tavern down the street, the only options were beer and wine. I really hate beer, and I especially hate wine. But with a few drinks under my belt, I decided to keep the evening going by joining in on a pitcher of Bud Light. A few glasses in it suddenly hit me that BEER HAS FUCKING GLUTEN IN IT. Can you believe it? The one time I accidentally cheat is with BEER. I hate beer. I much rather would have eaten a doughnut or a pancake. That said, Bud Light is mostly water so I didn’t beat myself up over it.
After the Bud Light Incident I wondered if I would feel sick or gross after not having gluten for so long. However, I actually felt no different that night or the next day. In fact, I felt pretty normal the entire month, leading me to believe that my body likely has no problems processing gluten.
Weight loss is common when first starting a gluten free program, so I decided to do a before-and-after weigh-in to judge my results. The problem was, I didn’t really feel like finding out my initial weight. Not to be all dramatic and cliche, but that little number on the scale can hold a lot of power, especially for women. I’m totally happy with my body and health, but there’s always room for improvement. Ray suggested that I hold something really heavy while weighing myself so that I would know the difference in my weight, but not the actual weight. Genius!
Naturally, I chose one of our 25-year-old Fisher speakers. Those suckers are heavy!
Side note – This set of speakers has been in my family since I was just a little girl. Here I am around age 5 – see the speaker, with the black cover? Little did I know that in 23 years I’d be heaving that thing onto a bathroom scale.
After carefully teetering over to the scale, being careful not to drop the thing and crush a toe, the speaker and I weighed in at 179. (Get this – after all that work to obscure my actual weight, I had a doctor’s appointment the next week. Where I was weighed. Oh well, this way is more interesting.)
Four weeks later, the speaker and I weighed in at 178. Considering my weight normally fluctuates about 5 pounds anyway, the results were decidedly inconclusive.
I all but abandoned my workout routine this month so I wasn’t expecting huge results. Combine that with the fact that I don’t eat much gluten anyway, and I don’t think Gluten Free January had much impact on my health. But I’m glad we did it!
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