A Diet Experiment

The other night I decided that I was going to do a little experiment. I “diet experiment” if you will.  I was thinking, how am I supposed to council people on their diet if I don’t know much about it specifically.  So for the next couple of weeks I’m going to experience some different diets myself in order to better understand what certain people have to go through.

This week: I’m going Gluten-Free.

Normally people who have Celiac disease or who have gluten intolerance should go on a gluten-free diet.  Recently however it’s become a fad diet. I’m not too happy about that but that’s another story.

Let’s get into a little background first. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley.  Oats, while typically gluten-free, can sometimes have cross-contamination as well from the factories.  For people with celiac disease, gluten causes damage to the lining of the small intestine leading to malabsorption of nutrients, abdominal pain, bloating, gas, constipation, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting (among other symptoms).  Those with gluten intolerance usually don’t have the damage to their intestinal wall but do still experience some of these symptoms.  While there is no cure for celiac disease, it can be treated by a gluten-free diet. (Source)

So if in the future I work with someone with Celiac disease, I will know a little bit more about what they have to go through after this week!

WebMD offers a great list of have and have nots for those on a gluten-free diet.

Don't eat:
Wheat and all its forms, including semolina, spelt, kamut, einkorn, and farro
Rye
Barley
Triticale
Oat bran
Wheat germ
Bran
Graham, gluten, or durum flour
Farina

Do eat:
Amaranth
Quinoa
Buckwheat
Popcorn
Cornmeal (polenta and tortillas)
Millet
Breads, cereals, crackers, and pasta made of corn, rice, potato, soy, arrowroot, tapioca, sago, flax, and hominy.

 

So I started yesterday and let me say –it was pretty tough! We have bread, english muffins, Vitamuffins, granola bars, etc all in the house and all contain gluten! But I managed.

Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Mighty Hot Cereal made with skim milk. Almond butter. Cantaloupe (I ended up only eating 1/2 of all this since it filled me up quickly!)

Stir fried veggies (red bell pepper, onion, asparagus, tomato, garlic) on top of spinach

Honey Chobani

Leftover stir fried veggies with brown rice and egg (it was supposed to be like a faux fried rice dish but it ended being more like a frittata i guess?)

On to day 2!