Obesity has been a lifelong battle for me. I went on my first diet when I was 12 years old. I was only five pounds overweight, but true to my personality, I didn't want to let this thing get out of hand. It was the low fat diet where you eat 20 grams of fat or less each day. I remember eating copious amounts of gummi bears. Obviously not a good solution. Since adulthood I've believed my problem was sugar. I enjoy sweets way too much. I thought if I could conquer my sugar addiction, I would loose the weight. WRONG! I was so discouraged when I went off sugar last year and gained .5 pound in three weeks!!! I just gave up. I thought that was the solution. If that didn't work nothing would. A dear friend was adamant that my problem was gluten intolerance, and she insisted that as long as I consumed gluten my body was going to continue hanging onto the fat. I kept shrugging her opinions off and refusing to try it. I felt that if Jesus said He was the Bread of Life, that bread couldn't possibly be bad for you. (In moderation, of course.) Last fall I seriously began wanting to at least give going gluten free an honest try. I waited until Thanksgiving and Christmas were over, and then I began the GF/SF trial. I am only eliminating gluten containing foods and refined sugar. I still eat fruit, honey, and other natural sweeteners, but no refined sugar whatsoever. (I can't afford real maple syrup at this time and sorghum does weird things to my throat that can't be good!) I am THRILLED to report that I have lost nine pounds with this new lifestyle. In addition, I am feeling better. Before I felt exhausted all the time. I had to pry myself out of bed each morning, and that tired feeling never went away. Now, I feel alert and have energy to do the things I need to do each day. I am even wanting to exercise! Before, I had to force myself to exercise. I did not want to do it at all, but I knew I needed to. Then, for the past several months, I didn't exercise at all. I just couldn't make myself do it. I was too tired.
I've had one lapse in my journey. Our school ordered pizza from a local pizzeria that I could safely consume before this diet. I planned to have it for lunch, without remembering that I can't have gluten! I went ahead and ate it along with a tiny can of Sprite for lunch. I can't believe how horrible I felt. Within an hour I began to feel sluggish and like I couldn't think clearly. By the time I got home from work, I told my husband that I couldn't cook supper and I was just going to bed. I knew I wasn't ill, but even thinking about cooking was too much.
Another interesting thing is that I've never been able to tell how certain foods made me feel. I know that sounds crazy, but I never felt any different based on what I was eating. Now I do! Some foods make me feel energized and satisfied, and others make me have the munchies for the rest of the day after eating them, and also less energized, though nothing compared to how I felt pre-1-1-11!
Hooray for GF/SF living!
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