For the last few years, I have been having problems with my digestion. It has been out of wack, and several trips to the doctor proved to be fruitless, so I had basically become resigned to the fact that it would probably never go back to normal.
In the spring, I ran into someone who recommended I give a nutritionist a try. She said that she had had similar problems for most of her life, and the nutrionist had suggested some changes to her diet which had cleared up her problems. I thought I might as well give it a shot.
About 2.5 weeks ago, I went to see the nutrionist, and she suggested that I should cut out food that are difficult to digest. For example, raw broccoli, cauliflower and peas, anything acidic like citrus fruit and coffee, and finally, wheat products.
So for the last two and half weeks, I have been doing my best to be wheat free.
Although wheat free is not quite gluten free, it is close, and I have been trying a lot of gluten free options. I didn't find the first week too difficult, but since then, it has been more and more torturous.
For breakfast, I used to eat yogurt with some cereal that would act like a granola. The cereal contained wheat, so I have switched to a corn-based gluten free granola. This has been my favorite of all the substitutes I've had to use.
Corn-based gluten free granola.
For a morning snack, I almost always ate a granola bar-- which, you guessed it! Contained wheat. I have managed to find a few rice-based substitutes, (they have a consistency of a Rice Krispie square), but are not particularly tasty. I've also taken to storing rice cakes and peanut butter in my office as another quick alternative.
Rice cakes and peanut butter.
The bread in my sandwiches has been replaced by 100% corn tortillas, which will never, ever be my favorite. And the biggest sacrifice is my wheat pasta... I love pasta. Tom and I eat pasta almost every week.
First we tried rice pasta-- which wasn't terrible. It was just a little chewier or gummier in texture. But next we tried quinoa pasta, and it has a surprisingly similar texture and taste to wheat pasta.
Quinoa pasta.
The last few weeks have definitely been a trial. In particular, the Thanksgiving weekend was a struggle. Turkey stuffing has never smelled so good in my entire life! And in one case, I had to scrape the pumpkin filling off the pie in order to eat it.
But not all things have been terrible. In fact, on Saturday, Jeff had us over for a gluten free BBQ. And by "BBQ" I mean extensive multi-dish meal. There were pork ribs, potatoes and mushrooms, asparagus, tomato salad, polenta and spaghetti squash. And to top it all off, Jeff made a spectacular flourless chocolate cake, topped in fresh berries and chocolate shavings.
Flourless Chocolate Cake.
I have never been so thankful for Jeff's cooking as I was this weekend! The whole meal was amazing, but the cake was spectacular!
The problem is, I'm not sure if this change in diet has had any affect on my digestion issues. I haven't noticed any kind of change yet.
And now we're off to China on Saturday, and I will do my best to stick to rice while we're gone. You'd think that wouldn't be too hard. But flour is sneaky... It's even in soy sauce!
Any time Amanda! That was so much fun! Hopefully all this will narrow down the problem, and at the very least, it's great that your finding other things you like along the way.
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