Welcome to Flawed yet Functional! Thanks for stopping by today to catch the last post Baby Steps to Eating Healthier Food | Eliminate Gluten and Processed Food. If you’re a new reader, you’ll soon find out I’m fanatical about eating real, healthy, whole food. Why? It’s primarily because of my diet change that I’m able to manage Type 1 Diabetes without insulin. It is simply amazing what eating real food can do to heal your body! Are you ready to eat healthier food? Let’s take a look at gluten!
Catch up on the first two posts in this series:
Now I know what you’re thinking. The anti-gluten movement is a fad! It’s just the newest thing to blame our health issues on, a new scapegoat will arrive soon!
If you had spoken to me two years ago, I would have agreed with you 100%. However, I no longer believe this way. Eliminating gluten from my diet allowed me to stop taking fast-acting insulin that very same day! I weaned myself off the long-acting insulin over the course of several days. Who knew gluten was affecting the production and use of my insulin? Well, actually many people know, but the ones who need to know the most, medical professionals, are skeptical or completely in the dark.
If you are still on the fence about gluten, check out this documentary and these posts on the topic:
I recommend going cold turkey on this one. Go through your pantry, freezer, and fridge and throw everything with gluten away. Check all the labels on all the things. It will be in more places than you realize (soy sauce for example!). Don’t worry about how much money you spent on those groceries. They are nutrition-less at best and causing major health problems at worst.
Don’t fret at this step about what you will eat! Remember, you’ve already stocked your home with healthy food. Trust your planning and shopping. You have plenty to eat in your house!
To be completely honest with you, it took me at least 2 big purges to get rid of all the gluten in our house. While I stopped buying gluten items immediately it took me months to go through my freezer and pantry. I wish I had done it sooner. You will feel like a new person because likely, you will empty half or more of your freezer and pantry!
If you feel too guilty throwing it away, find a food pantry to donate the unopened items to or perhaps family or friends will take them off your hands.
I’m going out on a limb here where I could offend you, my dear friends, but I need to tell you this: processed food, even made without gluten, is still not good for you. It is still junk. To be your best, healthiest self, don’t eat any of it.
Do I make exceptions? Yes, I do buy Simple Mills Almond Crackers for our sack lunches. I do ration the quantity we eat at meals though because they are “simply” not good for us. Ha! Get it? I want us filling up on the carrots, pickles, olives, meat, and fruit that I’m often serving with the crackers, not the crackers themselves.
Should you make exceptions for you and your family? Sure, depending on your health goals and family dynamics. Just keep it to the bare minimum. It is a slippery slope to the land of easy processed food, don’t make it easy on yourself. Get rid of as much as you can.
Baby step #3 hurts your heart (and maybe your wallet). While the previous step was serious hard work (changing your food planning and purchasing) this one is emotionally challenging. We love our food and are far more addicted than we realize. Trust me on this, the cravings will subside, the energy will increase, hormones will balance, and you will find yourself in the best health you’ve lived in a long long time. It is worth it, my friend. You can do it. Get rid of the junk.
Have you purged your home of all the junk food that isn’t good for you? Care to share how you felt? It’s hard. I know. I understand.
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Thanks for giving malls address gluten free diet