Lynnie
SoWal Insider
I gave up gluten and lost 30 pounds. That was over two years ago, and it's still off without any effort on my part. First time in my adult life that I have not had to fight to stay at a size 8. (I know that's huge for some of you, but it's skinny for me.) As an added bonus, no more arthritis in my fingers and knees. I did not substitute other grains for the gluten-filled kind. I do eat Ezekiel bread, and rice pasta (Tinkyada's our favorite), and organic potatoes and rice. I eat organic butter and cream and an avocado nearly every day and am convinced that eating fat will not make you fat any more than the cholesterol in eggs will raise the cholesterol in your blood (for most folks). Giving up gluten meant giving up nearly all processed, packaged and prepared foods. Inconvenient? You bet, but worth it. After all, we aren't born knowing how to approach the drive-though window at the fast-food joint; we needed to learn it. So, I decided to unlearn it.
My weakness is still sugar, though I eat far less of it than I used to. Your body processes simple carbs and alcohol as pure sugar. It's the drop after the spike that causes the craving for more. That's why it's preferable to eat some fat and/or protein with sugar/simple carbs. It slows the absorption and moderates the spike. That's why fat free snack foods are a disaster. They send your blood sugar sky high. Cutting back on sugar is hard, but if you can ignore the craving for about 72 hours, it will miraculously disappear. I swear.
Soappedaler, I just received Gary Taubes' new book from Amazon, and look forward to reading it.
Gluten is basically some nasty glue.....not even worth sniffing. Glad you're off it - my house is headed in that direction!! Thanks for this post!
