Wheat/Gluten Free - Week 1 Update

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

It has been an interesting week. Not without obstacles, but much easier than I expected.

I've been reading a lot of food labels and it is absolutely mind-boggling to find wheat contained in foods where you don't even expect it, like canned vegetable/beef soup and potato pancakes. What's it doing in there?!?

Pros:
„« Cravings - gone. Seriously! The minute I stopped eating wheat containing products all cravings stopped. Just like that. I've had a bag of Dove chocolates (my #1 guilty pleasure) sitting in my pantry for a week now. It hasn't called me yet.

„« Stomach bloat - gone!

„« Brain fog - improved. That is an ongoing problem, especially in the afternoon, where concentrating on anything is just too painful. I've seen improvement here also.

„« Weight - instantly and seemingly automatically dropped back down to my ideal maintenance level.

Difficulties:
„« Energy level - while I'm feeling perfectly fine during the day I seem to be running out of steam during my workouts (say Zumba, hiking). This means that I have not yet figured out how to substitute correctly. Will need to figure this out before my Saturday hike. Can't be running out of steam halfway through an 8-hour hike. (Suggestions are welcome.)

„« Never hungry (well, maybe that's a pro, but no cravings and not hungry often makes for not enough food intake). No, I won't start tracking my food. I've worked long and hard to get away from that.

„« Not sure what to eat any more. I'm definitely consuming more protein and also more veggies, but have not yet found my new balance. Will work on that going forward.

Overall my week 1 was successful and I will continue with my little experiment.

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Crappy Eating

Tuesday, May 07, 2013

Crappy eating does not necessarily mean weight gain. All it means is that once it catches up with you it makes you feel, well, crappy.

2 months of crappy eating finally caught up with me on Sunday night, when all of a sudden it dawned on me that the brain fog, the stomach bloat, and the cravings were something that I could probably combat with proper nutrition.

Exercise is not the issue, I've had no changes in my exercise routine. Hiked another 10,000+' mountain last Saturday (actually the same one, but on a longer route).

So, I did some thinking.
Hmmm.

Looking back over my food choices these past couple of months I decided that I would experiment by cutting out wheat/gluten for the rest of the month.

Yesterday was my first wheat/gluten free day and I'm already beginning to feel much better. No cravings (yet :)), less bloat, clearer head.

Curious to see where this will lead me.
I'll report back.

Crossing this mountain ridge was my favorite part on last Saturday's hike.

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Life has no purpose ...

Friday, May 03, 2013

... you have a purpose and you bring it to life.

Intrigued? Check out Marc and Angel's blog, it's always a good read.

www.marcandangel.com/2013/05/02/5-co
re-skills-your-life-depends-on/

Find your happy today - weekend's almost here.

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Happiness In The Moment

Friday, April 26, 2013

A friend titled this picture of me and my puppy
"Happiness in the moment".
I love this caption, and thought I'd share.

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10,000'+ I CAN do it!!

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Hiked my first 10,000+ peak this past weekend.

I'm living at sea level, and having experienced altitude sickness on a previous hike, I was a bit worried going into this one. I did go in much better prepared though, which made all the difference.

At an elevation gain of about 900' per mile, this one was moderately steep. It surprised me to find out that my heart rate does come down a lot slower at higher elevations. This, of course, makes sense.

I'm proud of my first 10,000+ adventure. It was exhilarating. I'll be playing above 8,000' a lot this spring and summer.

Here is my summit picture.


The views were magnificent.

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