Happy 2012!
So, we are starting another year. Good thing, right. My planner pages got all used up, needed to order some new ones. Got them a few weeks ago, they are in the binder and ready for action.
My big adventure from the last half of this year has been overhauling my diet. I have determined that gluten and I just do not get along. This has been a huge change for me. Growing up I was the bread-queen or the carb-queen. Within a few months of dropping gluten I dropped about 15 pounds. That was definitely needed. I could stand to continue that trend too. On a couple occasions when I have slipped up while eating out and consumed something with gluten in it there have been major repercussions. So much so that wheat products hold absolutely no appeal for me.
Overhauling is an overstatement regarding my diet. Really at this point, I have just eliminated all gluten (wheat, barley and rye). That means no more Coronas, no more Fat Tires, no more micro-brews when I visit Portland. No more “real” bread. I find substitutes and alternatives. Some of them are acceptable, a few are actually good and a lot of them just suck. I do still have my corn chips. I do realize that is not necessarily a good thing.
I mentioned above my love for bread and carbs? My favorite stress relieving activity has been baking up a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Something about the process of mixing up the recipe my Mom always made, waiting for them to bake and then eating them until my stomach hurt was all so soothing. In case you were wondering, I do not consider myself to be a “health-nut”. Elana Amsterdam over at http://www.elanaspantry.com saved my sanity with her chocolate chip cookie recipe. And her Paleo bread recipe.
There have been a couple of my own recipes (ok, not technically my own, but ones that I have used forever) that I have re-tooled to be gluten free. They worked out pretty well too.
I have not fully committed to grain free life, but I notice a positive difference when I leave the grain out of my mouth. Really this has been at least ten years in happening. Slowly but surely the message was getting through my thick skull that what we put in our mouths makes a difference in how we feel. More than that, what I put in my mouth now may leave me feeling ever so icky in a few hours, even days (other than weight gain). Can you say carb crash? I knew you could.
Anyhow, about this new year thing. I agree it is arbitrary, but it’s got to happen sometime. Why not now? I don’t really have any New Years resolutions. For me it will be a continuation of what I started in July – figuring out how to give myself options on the food front that support my feeling good long term.
