So, since receiving the suggestion to try a gluten free diet for a few weeks at my Wellness FX consultation a few days ago, I’ve been doing some research, planning, and, um, eating.
I’ll discuss the eating first. I feel at the moment that I’m being pulled in two directions. While I have totally decided to follow through with the gluten free experiment, these last two days have been spent either trying to finish up the gluten filled food in my cupboard, or thinking that I should start small and start to eliminate some of the gluten in preparation for the total no gluten thing.
So, while I haven’t had any of my cereal for the last three days, and I skipped my beloved rye toast yesterday, today was spent devouring several slices of toast (hate to waste!), finishing up a tofu quiche that I made last night, and eating my last Subway veggie delight. Today I went shopping and picked up a few things, including the most expensive bread I’ve ever purchased, Udi’s Gluten Free Multi Grain. I’m hoping that it will make my transition a little easier. I also picked up some Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Oatmeal. Did you know that oats are gluten free, but in the processing of the oatmeal it may get cross-contaminated with wheat, barley or rye? See, I’m learning things! Of course, you pay a high price for the purity of gluten free oatmeal. It costs about twice as much as good ol’ Quaker Oats.
I have decided to start Monday morning with my gluten free and vegan plan. New week, new diet. Actually, tonight’s dinner will qualify because I’m making a spaghetti squash with asparagus. My meal plan so far (and as I’ve commented on a few blogs that are about meal plans, I really suck at this, so it is kind of vague):
Breakfast: Smoothie and one slice of the gluten free toast. I’ll make a big smoothie that will use up the 3 or 4 servings of fruit recommended by the dietician, saving part of it for later in the morning. I’ll throw in the suggested tablespoon of chia or flax. I might add some greens to get in some of those extra veggies she ordered too. Because I work so early, I usually have a second breakfast around 9:00, so I will have the oatmeal then along with the rest of the smoothie.
Lunch: Okay, here is where my lack of planning will challenge me. I’m hoping I’ll have some leftovers from tonight’s dinner. If not, I’ll take the final slice of quiche, remove the crust, and have it with a slice of the precious gluten free bread.
Dinner: Right now I’m planning a big salad that will use some leftover quinoa, plus beans, nuts, veggies and basically everything but the kitchen sink (or anything with gluten).
So, after making it through the first day, I’ll worry about day two when it arrives. My easiest lunch plan during the work week is to bring leftovers from the night before. It’s really the dinner menu that will challenge me. To that end, I’ve found several vegan and gluten free blogs to follow (I will share those in a future post). I also realized that I already had a vegan/gluten free cookbook on my Kindle app, The Gluten-Free Vegan
So, here we go!
This weekend I rode my bike for the first time in a long time (June 9 according to my Garmin!) Only my sixth ride in 2012. That shocked me. It was a beautiful day, and I tried to focus on that and not how sore my seat felt. With cross country season almost over, I plan to ride a little more. Alan and I always have a great time riding together.
Yes, I managed about 17.5 miles. We’ll see how I feel on Monday.
On Saturday, we had the cross country team meet us in La Quinta to run on our trails. Our final meet is on Wednesday, though our varsity girls should be moving on to the CIF semi-finals. In spite of losing a few (they run ahead because they are faster and, um, younger that we are, then don’t know where to go), we had a great run. Yes, we did find the lost ones.
I know. I look like a giant on the end there. Penny was with us, but she didn’t want to be in the picture. She wanted to run. Although, she always waits for me:
Most of the team was running ahead of us at one point, and in spite of being told to stay right, they veered left. Fortunately, one of the girls was wearing a bright yellow top and I saw her off in the distance. Alan has a pretty loud voice and they finally heard us and came back. Here, they return, whining about a little downhill that they have to take. I guess they’re getting tired.
As for me, I managed to run 5.2 miles on Saturday and ride 17.6 miles on Sunday. How were your weekend workouts?
I look forward to hearing about your adventures in gluten-free. Taking it day by day is a good idea.
Forgot. . . you should try Daiya Cheese – it’s vegan, gluten and soy free. The shreds taste good melted and the block variety taste good both raw and melted. Have fun!
Thanks! I love Daiya. I use it probably more than I should :-). I’ve used the Havarti melted into sauces and it is really yummy.
Im not a ton of help on the GF because Im a boring eater 🙂 but always feel free to email me too!!
Thank you so much. I’m pretty boring too for breakfast and lunch, but I like to get a little adventurous at dinner time.
Going gluten-free would be so tough for me. I would definitely have to start slow if I ever did it! This weekend was good for me, I had a 6-mile race that I was totally unprepared for. It went well! Luckily
I’m glad your race went well. I’ve run races when I wasn’t prepared and it is always challenging. Good job.
I decided to jump right in (after a few days of planning/thinking about it), because that works best for me. When I quit smoking, I went cold turkey (that was a really, really long time ago). When I went veggie, and finally vegan, it was overnight. All or nothing, baby!
Good luck on your new way of life! You’ve got a great motivator in your health. 🙂
Thank you! Wow, if I can get rid of or reduce my migraines! Talk about a motivator!
I just love where you live! I would give my eyeteeth to have those trails nearby.
Good luck with the diet changes. I’m sure it will take some work to adjust but then it will become second nature.
It is beautiful, isn’t it? I am so fortunate to live only about a 1/2 mile away from those trails.
I sure that the diet change will be similar to when I became vegan. Lot’s of label reading, know what you’re looking for, and be creative.
Good luck with the changes!
Glad to hear you got on your bike and had a great ride 🙂
Thank you. The ride was great, and even better, I feel good today (my last ride was a disaster on my back). Looking forward to riding again.
I was fascinated by your wellness results- read it yesterday and didn’t get to comment. I’m so glad you had a good experience and such a helpful consult. Sounds like you’re very prepared to tackle this gluten free and less-carb lifestyle. Keep us posted!
I loved the experience. It felt so personal! I’m actually excited about trying all these changes and hoping for good results. You know that I will keep everyone posted 😉
Good luck on the changes as well. Keep us updated. I’ve been trying to eliminate wheat from my diet, slowly, so I’m kind of in the same boat…day-by-day.
I had never even considered eliminating wheat, but now I am totally on board. At least for the three week experiment, then if it makes a difference I’ll be in for life.
If you have a Trader Joe’s nearby, I recommend their oats. They have a large bag, certified gluten free, and it is much less expensive than Bob’s! Good luck!
Thank you! I was at TJ’s a little while ago and I looked for those oats. I didn’t see any in a bag, just their Quaker look-alike tube containers. I read the list of ingredients, and it just said oats, but nothing about certified gluten free. I didn’t ask because I just bought that big bag yesterday, so maybe I just didn’t see it.
I am so excited to hear how your adventure with gluten free goes. I’ve been having crazy stomach-aches lately, so I might be looking to test it out. Definitely will be following you for inspiration. 🙂
Thank you! You know I will be writing about the whole experience 🙂
Good luck with the gluten free experiment. I find it is pretty easy once you figure things out, the toughest part (being both GF and veg) is eating out. I love the Udi’s bread, but tend to make a lot of my own foods to avoid the high prices. Quinoa, rice, polenta, spaghetti squash are great options, I have a lot of recipes on my blog if you are interested.
Thank you. I added your blog to my new gluten free/vegan go-to list! I also bought a loaf of TJ’s Rice bread today. It’s probably better just to eat less bread, but I need a little transition time.
I’m so naive, but shocked that oats generally aren’t gluten free? I don’t think I was eating them when I followed a gluten free diet, but really, I’ve always been under the impression they aren’t. That’ll teach me for quitting label reading!
Oats themselves are gluten free, but it is the processing that may contaminate them with gluten. (I just learned this too.)