Hi loves! I can't believe how long it's been since I've actually sat down and written a post. I have a bunch of drafts saved with maybe one or two lines of text that I just gave up on over the months. Ever since moving to Florida, I have been so so sooo busy. Thanks to the self quarantine, I've been able to pick up a lot of the stuff that I had unfortunately neglected over the past few months that I used to love doing. I'm planning on doing a huge update post- talking about why I moved to FL, what I've been up to, and what my plans are soon so stay tuned for that :)
The Reason I Said See Ya to Gluten
In January of 2020, Paul and I decided to cut out gluten from our diet. The reason why is because Paul has hyperthyroidism, which means his thyroid produces too much testosterone (which means hello muscles w/o even trying!) He was prescribed meds from his doctors over two years ago, but we decided to look into a more holistic approach of healing his thyroid. After some initial research, we found out that gluten can be one of the biggest triggers for hyperthyroidism. After that, we decided to really start eating clean and cut out gluten from our diet. And here's the thing - I cut out gluten for moral support of my Pauly, because it would be nearly impossible for him to live gluten free while I'm sitting right next to him eating a fat a$$ slice of pizza. I figured I'd try it out and if I hated it I'd switch, but it turns out... I truly never want to add it back into my diet ever again.How Its Made Me Feel
The things that I noticed after cutting out gluten:
- I feel so much less bloated
- I hardly get any headaches/migraines (right before, I was experiencing headaches all of the time but now I can confidently say experience them 80% less of the time)
- I'm less tired/fatigued
- I've been sleeping SO much better than ever before
We really noticed a different in Paul too - he lost a lot of weight and slimmed down like crazy (and he doesn't even work out super often so imagine if he did!) We also don't eat *most* dairy products and that's something I've been doing for a few years (like I drank almond milk/almond creamers but I would still eat ice cream, cheese, etc), but now we are trying to be a little more strict with our dairy intake by substituting ice cream for dairy free, almond cheese substitutes, etc. (Cutting out dairy is SO hard for me because I love it so much, so it's definitely still a work in progress!)
Was It Hard?
Cutting out gluten has got to be one of the easiest things you can do for your body. There are literally COUNTLESS gluten free substitutes and alternatives & I swear you can hardly notice a difference in the taste. From pasta to bread, pizza, even bagels! Gluten can cause intestinal symptoms, even in people without celiac disease that include altered gut function, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and gut microbiome changes. Cutting it out will help reduce the chances of getting these symptoms and will help heal your gut.
Of course, when you first start cutting something from your diet it can be very difficult and cheat days are expected. It wasn't until maybe around one full month that we were 100% clean from gluten that I cheated by eating a slice of pizza and I realized how well my body was doing without gluten & how reactive it became when I added it back into my diet. My stomach was seriously doing FLIPS and I could hear it having a hard time trying to digest the gluten. After that, I decided I was never going to go back.
Our Favorite Gluten Free Items
When it comes to cooking, I now home cook almost every single meal. Our meals consist of mostly whole foods like vegetables & fruits. There are hardly any processed foods in our dinners. We're mostly plant based but we sometimes eat meat here and there (like chicken and ground turkey). Here's what we couldn't live without in our pantry:
Fruits & Vegetables: (these are what I am constantly buying at the grocery store - we aim to get mostly organic from Wholefoods or Publix)
- Onion (yellow + red)
- Garlic
- Sweet potatoes
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Whole ginger
- Parsnips
- Asparagus
- Sliced mushrooms
- Tomatoes (cherry + plum)
- Cucumbers
- Spring salad mix
- Kalamata olives
- Celery (Paul has celery juice every morning)
- Eggplant
- Avocados
Pantry & Frozen Items:
- Trader Joes Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Jovail Organic Gluten Free Brown Rice Penne Rigate
- Costco Gluten Free Cheese Pizza
- Udi's Gluten Free Multigrain Bread
- Cinnamon Chex Cereal (our alternative to Cinnamon Toast Crunch!)
- Kind Breakfast Bars
- Vans Gluten Free Waffles
- Garden Lites Superfood Veggie Cakes
- As I'm writing this list I'm realizing that there are literally SO many pantry items that are gluten free that we're obsessed with and it would take me hours to write everything LOL - just go to your grocery store & you'll be able to find so many!
Resources + Articles
- Thyroid Healing by Medical Medium - really good info on healing the thyroid through holistic measures
- AIP (The Autoimmune Protocol Diet) - this diet can help people with thyroid problems help discover exactly what kinds of foods trigger their autoimmune symptoms by eating non-trigger related foods and then slowly introducing different kinds of foods one by one to see which causes a reaction in them
- Understanding Gluten / Celiacs Disease
- Celery Juice by Medical Medium - Celery juice can literally change your life. The Medical Medium explains it all here
- Omega Juicer
I hope this post helped in some way! Have a happy Wednesday
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