Step One: Becoming Socially Awkward...... aka Gluten Free

For the last several years I've known more and more people who for various reasons are "gluten free." I've always found these people a little bit irritating.  People have been eating wheat forever. So why is everyone today all of a sudden allergic to wheat? To be honest, I believed it was something people just did out of ignorance. Most "gluten free" people I knew had been eating gluten all their lives, and one day decided they were allergic to it. In my mind, this supposed wheat allergy was nothing more than an annoyance to everyone else in the real world.  Sure, I knew about celiac disease, but because it effects such a small percentage of the population I felt that most gluten-freer's were just making life more difficult than necessary.

Then my husband and I read the book Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis.  In his book, Dr. Davis makes an argument for eliminating all wheat productions from one's diet.  He does so by explaining that today's wheat has been so genetically modified that it looks nothing like the wheat of the Bible or even the wheat of 100 years ago.  Due to this genetic modification, even a slice of all natural organic whole grain bread (such as Ezekiel bread) will raise blood sugar as much as a candy bar. What?! I thought my organic whole wheat bread was good for me.

Dr. Davis also provides many examples of individuals with varying health issues who removed wheat from their diets and found their health concerns had vanished.  Since his trademark tagline is "lose the wheat, lose the weight" and we were in the market for a little weight loss, we decided to give it a try.

For the last couple months we have not eaten any of the wheat products we used to love.  It was difficult at first, but through the removal of wheat our eyes were slowly opened to a wide array of other real foods....like fruits, vegetables, nuts, meats, eggs, etc.  Of course we always knew we should be eating more of these types of foods, but convenience usually won. Opening a box of crackers for a snack or pouring a bowl of cereal for breakfast was (and unfortunately still is) just a lot easier. But little did we know, we were paying a price for convenience.

Since removing all wheat products from our diet, my husband has lost over 20 pounds and my chronic acid reflux has vanished. For the record, we've given wheat a second chance on a couple occasions. For both of us, the reintroduction of wheat caused heart burn and stomach irritation that made the taste of the wheat containing foods just not worth it.

Two months later we are still "gluten free" and yes, somewhat socially awkward.